A labour tribunal has ruled in favour of a sugar refinery worker who says he got cancer because of radiation from an X-ray machine.
Michel Plante says the company, Sucre BBR in Trois-Rivieres, didn’t properly inform its workers of the risks.
Plante was working as the director of quality control at the refinery, and one of his jobs was to use the X-ray machine to ensure the sugar was free of metal.
He spent years working with the machine, and ended up contracting bladder and prostate cancer.
The machine was later sold to a company in Ontario, where the machine was tested — and it was discovered to have emitted higher levels of radiation than are permitted.
Plante then contacted Quebec’s workers’ health and safety board, the CNESST, to report the problem. After a period where there was no followup to his claim, he contacted lawyer Sophie Mongeon, who brought his case before a labour tribunal.
Mongeon suggests the safety code on machines emitting radiation haven’t changed in decades, and desperately needs revision.