Penner International Inc., headquartered in Manitoba, was recently convicted on one charge on the Ontario Environmental Protection Act as a result of a spill of solvent from one its transport trucks in 2017. The company was fined $100,000 plus a victim surcharge of $25,000.
The driver of the vehicle involved in the solvent spill was also personally charged and convicted. He was fined $35,000 plus a victim surcharge of $8,750. He was given 12 months to pay the fine.
In spill occurred on July 20, 2017 in the Town of Gwillimbury, approximately a 1-hour drive of Toronto. A Penner tractor-trailer driven a by independent contractor was heading north on Highway 400 when it rear-ended a pick-up truck that swerved in front of it, ultimately leading to a spill of solvent VORTEX WPM onto the highway.
The VORTEX PM had been picked up by the driver earlier in the day from a Mississauga, Ontario distribution company and loaded onto the trailer. The load consisted of twelve stainless steel 1500-kilogram. The distribution company did not secure them to the trailer. The driver did not inquire as to whether the totes were secured or not before he closed the doors to the trailer and drove off.
During transport and at the time of the rear-ending incident, as the totes were not properly secured, they shifted and the valves on two of the totes were knocked open. Solvent spilled from the trailer onto the highway and some also ran down gradient onto the soil of an adjacent construction site.
A one-kilometre evacuation zone was also established around the spill site. The closure remained in force for 10.5 hours, and the construction site’s operations were affected for a few days.
Hundreds of motorists were trapped on Highway 400, where the spill occurred, for up to five hours before they could be re-routed to ancillary roads.
VORTEX WPM is an organic solvent that is flammable. To clean up a large spill of VORTEC WPM, the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for VORTEX WPM states: “Eliminate all ignition sources. Persons not wearing protective equipment should be excluded from area of spill until clean up has been completed. Stop spill at source. Prevent from entering drains, sewers, streams, etc. If runoff occurs, notify authorities as required. Pump or vacuum transfer spilled product to clean containers for recovery. Transfer contaminated absorbent, soil and other materials to containers for disposal.”
Penner International Ltd. was founded in 1923 and specialized in truckload dry van, international, and Canadian transport.
