Listowel trailer maker fined $50,000 after a worker was critically injured by a load that slipped from a hoist
Weberlane Manufacturing pleaded guilty after a dump trailer tilt deck fell from its rigging at the company's Listowel plant in July 2025.
A southwestern Ontario trailer manufacturer has been fined $50,000 after a worker was critically injured when a trailer component slipped from its rigging while hanging from a hoist.
833993 Ontario Inc., which carries on business as Weberlane Manufacturing, pleaded guilty in Stratford Provincial Offences Court, according to a court bulletin the Ontario government issued on Nov. 12. The company makes highway and agricultural trailers in Listowel.
Justice of the Peace Michael Cuthbertson imposed the fine. The court also added the 25 per cent victim fine surcharge required under the Provincial Offences Act.
What happened
The incident took place on July 2, 2025, at the company's workplace at 5036 Line 82 in Listowel. Two workers had finished fabricating a tilt deck component for a dump trailer and used a two-ton hoist and a two-leg chain sling to lift it off its support stands.
The workers then moved the suspended tilt deck by hand, without tag lines or guide ropes. The load became unstable, slipped from the rigging and critically injured one of them.
What the ministry found
An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that the rigging method was inconsistent with safe lifting practices. It also found the workers had not been given adequate information, instruction or training on lifting trailer components safely, on proper rigging techniques and equipment, or on the use of tag lines or guide ropes.
The ministry said the crane training the company gave workers was theoretical rather than practical, was not specific to the workplace and did not include a practical evaluation or competency assessment.
The company was convicted on Sept. 3, 2026, of failing, as an employer, to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker on the safe use of cranes, hoists and rigging equipment, contrary to section 25(2)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Why shops should take note
That section of the Act applies to every Ontario employer, including truck and trailer repair shops that lift heavy components with hoists and chain slings. The ministry's findings in this case centred on two gaps: training that never moved from the classroom to the shop floor, and suspended loads being guided by hand instead of with tag lines.