The North York industrial bakery where a 23-year-old temp worker died last September pleaded guilty Thursday to Ministry of Labour charges relating to the death. Fiera Foods, which mass produces baked goods for grocery stores and fast-food chains around the world, was fined $300,000 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act plus a 25 per cent victim surcharge, following a joint submission with the Crown.The fine is double what the company paid in 2002 following the death of 17-year-old temp Ivan Golyashov. Amina Diaby, a refugee from Guinea, was working at Fiera’s Marmora St. factory on Sept. 2, 2016, when her hijab became “entangled” in machinery, strangling her. She was hired through a temporary help agency and had been working for the company for a little more than two weeks.Diaby’s husband, Sanunu Jabbi, cried quietly as the facts of the case were read out.“What happened to Amina Diaby was a tragedy,” David Gelbloom, Fiera Foods’ general counsel and human resources manager, told the Star outside court. “She died at our facility and that shouldn’t have happened. We take health and safety very seriously at our company. It is a top priority for us. We have to do better and we will do better.”Crown attorney Shantanu Roy told court that Diaby was not wearing a lab coat at the time of her death, and that her hijab was not secured. It got stuck in a conveyor belt that was not adequately guarded and did not have an emergency stop button within reach. There were no witnesses to her death. Ashley Brown, the lawyer representing Fiera Foods at Thursday’s hearing, said the company recognized the “magnitude of the incident” and had taken numerous measures to improve safety at the factory. Within the last two years the company has invested $500,000 in health and safety initiatives, she said, while they updated uniform regulations and improved training following Diaby’s deat ...
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