The Ontario Federation of Labour and opposition critics at Queen’s Park have called for a criminal investigation into the death of a temporary agency worker at North York industrial bakery Fiera Foods, the fifth temp to die at the factory or one of its affiliates since 1999.

The victim was a 57-year-old sanitation worker who had worked at Fiera for several years through an Etobicoke-based temporary employment agency, the Star has learned. He is believed to have been crushed by a machine that turned on while he was cleaning it, according to multiple sources.

The father of two immigrated to Canada from the Philippines several years ago. He had been looking forward to the birth of his second grandchild in December, his loved ones told the Star.

The Star is not naming the worker as some family members have not yet been informed of the tragedy.

Following Wednesday’s death, the Ministry of Labour issued Fiera Foods with six requirements to ensure compliance with health and safety laws.

Fiera’s general counsel David Gelbloom said the company is “co-operating with all appropriate authorities to determine the cause” of the accident.

“Over the next number of days, we will be placing all our efforts into finding answers while supporting the victim’s family and our entire team,” he said in an emailed statement.

OFL head Chris Buckley said he was “disgusted” by the death, and said he spoke to the province’s labour minister Monte McNaughton Thursday morning to demand the government “act immediately.”

“We expect a criminal investigation to be completed,” Buckley added.

Provisions under Canada’s criminal code allow police to launch investigations into workplace fatalities and hold negligent employers criminally responsible. These proceedings are separate to occupational health and safety charges that the Ministry of Labour can bring against employers.

A Toronto Police Service spokesperson said in dealing with industrial accidents, ministry officials usually “take the lead right away.”

“Once completed, TPS will review the findings and go where the evidence takes us,” she said.

In a statement to the Star, McNaughton said his “thoughts and prayers are with this worker’s family, friends and colleagues.”

“The health and safety of every worker is one of our government’s top priorities. We’re building Ontario’s future by investing in health and safety, including 1,500 inspections every week,” the minister added.

“As there is an investigation into this specific case it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

New Democrat health and safety critic Wayne Gates said he supported calls for a criminal investigation.

Four other temp agency workers have died in industrial accidents at Fiera Foods and its three affiliated locations.

In 1999, 17-year-old temp Ivan Golyashov was crushed to death in a dough mixer that was accidentally turned on by a co-worker while he was inside cleaning it.

In 2011, Aydin Kazimov, a 69-year-old security guard, died after he was run over by a transport truck in the factory’s parking lot.

In 2016, 23-year-old Amina Diaby died after her headscarf became entangled in an improperly guarded machine.

Last October, a 52-year-old worker — who the Star is not naming in accordance with his family’s wishes — died after he was hit by a tractor trailer near a loading dock.

The Ministry of Labour laid health and safety charges against Fiera affiliate Upper Crust over the 2018 death last week. The charges include failing to take all reasonable precautions to protect a worker and failing to provide necessary instruction or supervision to keep a worker safe. A first appearance is scheduled for October.

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In the three prior deaths, Fiera pleaded guilty to violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Two years ago, a Star reporter worked undercover at Fiera for a month, finding employment through a temp agency and receiving about five minutes of safety training with no hands-on instruction. The Star’s investigation found that for two decades, the company had been repeatedly slapped with orders for health and safety violations for everything from lack of proper guarding on machines to unsafely stored gas cylinders.

Earlier this year, a Star investigation found that the ministry launched a series of proactive inspections at Fiera in early 2018, focused on the company’s main facility and the temp agencies that supply it — but not its three affiliated factories.

The inspections did not include any visits to Upper Crust, one of Fiera’s partner plants, where the worker was killed by a tractor trailer last October, four months after the ministry’s probe wound down.

Fiera Foods is one of the continent’s largest industrial bakeries. In 2013, Fiera received a $3.2 million federal business loan. The following year, Fiera was awarded a $1.5 million grant from the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to expand capacity. At the time, the company was lauded by Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne for providing “good jobs” to Torontonians.

Documents obtained through a freedom of information request show that Ontario Premier Doug Ford was scheduled to participate in a tour of Fiera’s main facility just 15 days before the October 2018 death at its affiliated factory.

Asked whether Ford attended the tour, and whether any other meetings with Fiera leadership had taken place, a spokesperson said the premier “regularly meets with businesses from all across the province.”

The worker who died Wednesday was hired through Etobicoke based temp agency First Choice HR Solutions, its co-owner Romi Malik confirmed.

Malik said he was “shocked” to learn of the death. He said his workers received health and safety training before being sent to job sites.

“That’s mandatory, we have to do that,” he said. “We have a whole package, whatever the rules and regulations of Ontario are.”

Under Ontario law, companies who use temp agencies are not liable at the workers’ compensation board for their injuries, which critics have long argued is a financial incentive to use them.

Ontario’s previous Liberal government initiated a measure that would have ensured all companies who use temps are liable for their injuries at the workers’ compensation board, which workers’ advocates have long argued is a key financial incentive to protecting temps.

But the Liberals did not create the regulations necessary to enforce the new law before being booted from power last year. The Ford government has not moved to implement the measure, and also repealed new temp worker protections introduced under the Liberals such as the right to equal pay for equal work.

“This has to stop,” Buckley said. “The government of Ontario has the power to help the labour movement stop these deaths.”