MINISTRY OF LABOUR TO INVESTIGATE

The Saturday, November 4, 2017 the Waterloo Region Record reported on a serious farm accident. The title of the story was "Man hurt in Flamborough farm accident". The farm worker's injuries were described as "life-altering". That is extremely unfortunate as the man had been trapped by the legs in an agricultural machine. Until he was finally released after two hours, amputation had been considered as a last resort. I have not heard of any followup articles in the Record regarding this case.

The victim was in his 40s which is not the usual age category for major injuries on the job. Unfortunately far too often it is inexperienced young workers in their early 20s who suffer catastrophic or worse injuries on the job in Ontario. This is not solely because they are inexperienced workers. It can also be that they are inexperienced in telling supervisers or employers that no they will not risk life and limb in order to save a few minutes time. Far too often in this province speed and a lack of care are conflated with productivity. If that is what occurred in this case and the article was not clear about that; then this man's life-altering injuries have done absolutely no one any good whatsoever.