Americold fined after worker hit by rolldown door

Nova Cold Logistics, operating as Americold, has been fined $65,000 in Ontario court after pleading guilty to contravening the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

A worker at a warehouse operated by Nova Cold Logistics operating company Americold in London, Ontario was critically injured by an automatic roll-down door while operating a lift truck. The court found that Americold failed, as an employer, to ensure the bottom edge sensor on the roll-down H-Door was maintained in good condition.

On November 24, 2022, the worker at the London facility was instructed to move pallets of product from a loading dock to a freezer room with an electric lift truck.

After the pallets were moved into the room the worker drove toward the exit. A co-worker was standing in front of the exit door, known as the H-Door.

The H-Door is a large (8-foot wide, 12-foot high), high-speed, roll-down door operated by pull cords. Once a cord is pulled the door ascends quickly and remains open for seven seconds, after which it descends quickly unless the cord is pulled again.

As the co-worker saw the worker on the lift truck approach, the co-worker pulled the cord to open the H-Door.

The worker standing on the lift truck throttled it forward towards the door while looking backward and speaking to the co-worker. By this time, the door had started to descend and came in contact with the worker causing a critical injury. The door did not reverse when it struck the worker.

The H-Door was equipped with a sensor in its bottom leading edge. When it functions properly, the sensor causes the door to reverse if it meets resistance. The sensor was not functioning at the time. There is no other means of closing or stopping the descending door in the event something is under it. There was no means of warning or alerting a worker that the door was descending and that it would not reverse.

A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that Nova Cold Logistics ULC o/a Americold failed to ensure that equipment, materials and protective devices provided by the employer were maintained in good condition, as required by Section 25(1)(b) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.