A Burnaby medical mask and respirator manufacturing business has yet to pay a $13,154.99 fine it was issued this fall after repeated incidents of workers getting caught in mask-making machinery not properly equipped with safeguards, according to WorkSafeBC.
“The company is committed to keeping Canadians safe by creating a new standard of PPE products and is constantly innovating to develop best in class, ethical products for the health and safety of our communities,” stated a September 2020 Vitacore news release. The worker was caught between the rollers and sustained “serious injury,” but the specific nature of the injury or the part of the worker caught between the rollers was redacted for privacy reasons, according to WorkSafe.
It wasn’t the first time a worker had been caught in one of the company’s machines or the first time Vitacore had been warned about inadequate safeguarding.