This 75-year-old mixer will require a shield around the lip of the mixing bowl, according to an order from the Ministry of Labour.
UPDATED: HEATHER BOA Bullet News GODERICH – On its 39th day of business since a tornado ripped through Goderich’s downtown, an order from the Ministry of Labour has temporarily stilled kitchen machinery at Culbert’s Bakery.
Over the next three weeks or so, co-owner Darin Culbert will work with his equipment suppliers to bring an aging mixer, bread loaf maker and two bread slicers up to current safety standards and get the doors open to catch the rest of a busy tourist season.
“I hear it’s supposed to be hot tomorrow. Good day to go to the beach,” joked Culbert, after spending a few hours assessing the situation and deciding how to comply with the ministry’s orders. He spent 10 months repairing damage caused by the tornado and received a warm reception from the community when the business opened again May 11.
Culbert initially posted a hand-printed sign on the front doors to tell customers the shop was close indefinitely, but by late afternoon the sign was down, customers were buying the day’s baking and he was resigned to a temporary closure.
After a 1.5-hour inspection of the 135-year-old bakery on West Street, inspector Ron Elliot attached plastic red tags to a number of pieces of equipment with stop work orders that they not be removed until he returns. His orders were also written in a report that lay on Culbert’s baking table.
While Elliot is out of the office this week doing field inspections, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Labour said the stop at the bakery was “proactive inspection.”
“Our inspector did a straight-forward inspection and found the machinery was not guarded, which it has to be by law for the protection of workers. It’s a requirement until the Occupational Health and Safety Act and it’s just fortunate no one’s been injured,” said Matt Blajer.
H pointed to the example of 18-year-old David Ellis, who was working his second day at an Oakville bakery cleaning dough from an industrial mixer when the machinery accidentally became activated. He was drawn into the mixer by the rotating blades and struck his head. He was taken to hospital and died of massive head injuries six days later.
“Once the machines are guarded, the stop work order will be lifted and he’ll be free to operate,” Blajer said.
A 75-year-old Hobart mixer that makes the dough for bread, cookies, donuts and other treat requires a shield around the lip of the steel bowl to prevent the baker’s hands from accidentally becoming caught in the mixer while it’s operating. It will need to be custom-made by the equipment manufacturer because there were not shields on machines when it was made.
“I’ll have to turn the machine off and take it all apart to dig something out of the bowl or add something to it,” Culbert said, adding no one would put their hands into a machine with the blades running.
“If you’re stupid you would. But why would you? It’s just common sense,” he said.
Once the equipment is fixed, Culbert will fax information to the inspector to trigger another inspection.
A machine that shapes dough into a bread loaf and two bread slicers will also require guards.
“We’ve never had the Ministry of Labour here. Nobody’s ever hurt themselves on any of the machines we have here,” said Culbert, who has co-owned the shop with his father for the past 35 years. It’s been in his family since 1942. He said health inspectors from the Ministry of Health made routine visits.
7 Comments on "Culbert’s Bakery temporarily closed to comply with stop work orders"
I can’t wait to see the comments you will be posting from the Ministry of Labour. They will likely go something like this…. No Comment!
The folks from Culbert’s have worked hard to get up and running again. Perhaps a more appropriate approach from the Ministry would have been an order with a timeline to correct any safety issues.
Thanks for the story Heather.
Whatever happened to “good old common sense”? What’s next, we need guards on our stand mixers at home? Fences around our bathtubs and showers?
Seriously MOL, there are many other things that you should be concerned about.
Kevin and Mom…how right you are. I was thinking exactly the same as I read the article.
Thank you curmudgeon commenters… it’s a plastic shield for goodness sake. They’re not asking him to put in all new equipment. Even a slight risk of injury that can be mitigated should be if it’s reasonable to do so.
Having worked in dangerous industries, I can tell you from personal experience that calling 911 for a friend even once is once too many and I’ll tell you what, once _you_ have looked for someones fingers on the ground in the hope they might be reattached you can come back and talk to me about the ridiculousness of safety.
Good article Heather Boa. Unfortunately it raises more questions from me about the standards and practices of the Ministry of Labour than it does about Culbert’s.
EB – does it not seem at all peculiar to you that in the days (and years) before the tornado ruined this business that neither the MOL had EVER inspected this place?
What’s not clear to me is who gave the all-clear for Darin to open in the first place…..40 days ago?
It’s not Darin or Culbert’s whose got their wires crossed (safety tested of course), it’s the inspectors from different arms of the government mixing things up.
OK, so Culbert’s has been operating for many decades with a flawless safety record, what does the McGuinty Nanny-State care?
The Liberals won’t stop with their endless ludicrous regulations until every last private sector business is suffocating and groaning and closing under the burden. This isn’t the first bakery to face closure by Sunshine List MoL inspectors.
Hey McGuinty, leave small businesses alone! We’re trying to stay afloat to pay for your deficits!
Listen up people: Unless we get a change in government, we’ll all eventually be fighting for a spot in the public sector, because they will be the only jobs left, just like in Greece!
I am personally involved in the bakery business and have been in bakeries from Windsor to Huntsville and everywhere in between. What this inspector did is totally uncalled for. There was no need for this action. He could have simply asked Darin to make the proper corrections and given him 30 to 45 days to do so. These correction are not cheap and have to be customized to each piece of equipment.
The problem as I see it, is that this inspector saw that Darin was getting some attention from news sources and just figured hey we’ve never been there in 134 yrs let’s make an appearance. I have seen much worse in bakeries and wonder how in God’s name are they still open and could name a few but won’t and yet not one inspector has made an appearance. If these government inspectors want to do the job properly then let’s be fair right across the board, pick one city one town and go to all bakeries not one here one there.