A well-known dairy company that used to operate in Mississauga and is now based just across the border in Toronto has received an $80,000 fine following an incident where one of its employees was hurt in a fall last year.
This week, the Ontario Ministry of Labour announced that Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited pleaded guilty in Provincial Offences Court in Guelph on September 18 for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Gay Lea Foods, Ontario’s largest farmer-owned dairy co-op, has been situated in Etobicoke near Toronto Pearson Airport since 2025 after spending nearly two decades in Mississauga.
The incident took place on March 23, 2025, at a Gay Lea Foods dairy processing facility located in Guelph, which is west of the Greater Toronto Area, according to the ministry.
“A worker was injured after falling from the top of a milk transport truck while collecting milk samples. Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited failed, as an employer, to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker with respect to the safe setup and operation of a hatch access system (gantry),” the ministry’s news release stated.
The ministry explained that before unloading milk at the Guelph plant, receivers take samples of it.
“Samples are collected from hatches located on top of milk transport trucks. Workers access the hatches using an elevated hatch access system, known as a gantry, which is equipped with steps and guardrails to help prevent falls,” said the Ministry of Labour. “To speed up the sampling process, some workers would step onto the top of the truck and walk to the second sampling hatch instead of repositioning the gantry.”
“On March 23, 2025, a milk receiver stepped from the gantry onto the top of a truck and was no longer protected by the guardrail system. The worker slipped on the wet surface of the truck and fell to the floor below.”
A follow-up investigation by the ministry revealed that “the employer failed to provide adequate information, instruction and supervision regarding the safe setup and operation of the gantry.”
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Along with an $80,000 penalty handed down by a Justice of Peace, there’s also a mandatory victim fine surcharge set at 25 percent per Provincial Offences Act guidelines. This surcharge goes into a special provincial fund designed to help victims of crime.
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