A Milton food processing company has been fined $50,000 after a worker was critically injured while clearing a blockage at the base of a sugar silo.
Chudleigh’s Ltd., of 8501 Chudleigh Way in Milton, pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice in Burlington. Justice of the Peace Trevor J. Howard imposed the fine, along with the 25 per cent victim fine surcharge that Ontario adds to every provincial offence penalty. The conviction was entered May 29, 2026, and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development published the court bulletin on September 4.
The incident took place on January 23, 2024. According to the ministry, a worker in the plant’s ingredients room reached into a valve at the base of a sugar silo to clear a blockage. The equipment moved unexpectedly and the worker was critically injured.
The ministry investigation found the company failed, as an employer, to acquaint the worker with the hazard, contrary to section 25(2)(d) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. That provision requires employers to make workers aware of any hazard in the work they are doing and in the handling, storage or use of equipment.
The gap between the injury and the penalty is more than two and a half years — a span that is not unusual in Ontario workplace safety prosecutions, where charges are typically laid within a year of the incident and resolved well after that.
Source: Ontario court bulletin, September 4, 2026.
