Saskatchewan dairy farm fined $80K for worker’s death in 2020

A company that operates a dairy farm near Summerberry has been fined $80,000 in connection with the death of a worker in November of 2020.

Jimlee Farms Ltd. pleaded guilty in Fort Qu’Appelle Provincial Court on Feb. 17 to one charge under The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.

It admitted to contravening a clause of the regulations for failing to provide “an effective safeguard where a worker may contact a dangerous moving part of a machine, resulting in the death of a worker.”

The charge arose from an incident on Nov. 19, 2020.

According to court documents, Jesus Heinar Zavala Guevara — a 34-year-old temporary foreign worker from Veracruz, Mexico — worked at the farm near the town about 120 kilometres east of Regina.

The farm milks approximately 230 dairy cows twice daily and maintains a herd of other dairy cattle for breeding purposes.

The court’s decision said Guevara was feeding the cattle and processing barley for feed by running or rolling grain through a grain mill powered by a tractor via a power take off.

“It appears that while Jesus was attempting to visually inspect the rolling process, his clothing became snagged by the unguarded PTO shaft running between the tractor and the mill,” the decision read.

“His clothing was wrapped around the PTO shaft several times. His hands and face had come into contact with the chain and the gears driven by the PTO shaft.”

The decision said the likely cause of death was asphyxiation secondary to chest compression.

Court heard there wasn’t guard in place to prevent contact with the power take off shaft, input gears and chains. There had been one in place when the equipment was manufactured, but it was removed in July of that year so repairs could be completed.

The company was fined $57,143 plus a surcharge of $22,857.