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WorkSafeBC announces penalty as a result of a New Westminster sawmill death
Investigation Report
- Investigation report (PDF 1.6mb)
Richmond, B.C., March 15, 2007 — WorkSafeBC has proposed a penalty of just over $297,000 against Weyerhaeuser Canada. This amount includes a $250,000 penalty and a claim cost levy of $47,120.80. The penalty is associated with a workplace fatality that occurred at a New Westminster sawmill in 2004.
“This penalty recommendation reflects the seriousness of the violations cited by our investigator,” said Roberta Ellis, vice-president of the Investigation Division of WorkSafeBC. “Our investigation concluded that the employer was aware of the hazards associated with this fatality — and had been for a long time.”
WorkSafeBC's Investigation
The incident occurred on November 17, 2004. The worker was killed when he was engulfed by wood waste material while cleaning out a “hog” machine at the New Westminster sawmill owned by Weyerhaeuser. This machine pulverizes waste-wood products and workers had to climb inside to manually remove waste-wood products and clear out any plugs. A hog is essentially a “confined space” as defined in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
WorkSafeBC's investigation concluded that Weyerhaeuser was made aware of safety hazards associated with the hog machine and workers were exposed to the hazard for several years. In fact, twelve individuals in management or supervisory roles were aware that the existing process for clearing the hog posed a significant risk to workers, but the employer made no significant changes to address the hazard until after the fatality.
The employer's prior knowledge of the risks associated with the hog raised the question of criminal negligence and WorkSafeBC referred the matter to New Westminster Police for investigation under the Criminal Code of Canada. After conducting a lengthy investigation, the police submitted a report to Crown Counsel on September 1, 2006. In November, 2006, Crown Counsel advised that they would not be proceeding with criminal negligence charges and referred the matter back to WorkSafeBC.
The WorkSafeBC investigation concluded that:
- The Firm failed to adequately ensure the safety of their workers, (Section 115(1)(a) of the Act)
- The Firm failed to ensure that workers must not enter into any place where there is a danger of engulfment or entrapment (Section 4.44 of the Regulation)
- The Firm failed to identify the hog as a confined space or comply with any of the other requirements for confined spaces (Part 9 of the Regulation)
- The Firm failed to adequately investigate a report of an unsafe condition and failed to take immediate corrective action (Section 3.10 of the Regulation)
Penalties
WorkSafeBC calculates the amount of an administrative penalty using a formula that is based primarily on the size of the employer (the assessable payroll). In certain circumstances, the organization may increase the size of the penalty when all three of the following factors are present:
(a) The incident involved a fatality or serious injury;
(b) The incident arose from a high risk violation;
(c) The violation(s) are committed wilfully or with reckless disregard
The investigation determined that all of these factors applied in this case. If a penalty had been calculated by formula alone, it would not have been deemed proportionally “significant” to an employer as large as Weyerhaeuser, or reflect the seriousness of this case where the employer had a high level of awareness of a hazard over an extended period of time but failed to take significant action to address it.
“WorkSafeBC recommends penalties as a last resort,” said Ellis. “Penalties are meant to be deterrents and to motivate the specific employer — and others — to take their legal health and safety responsibilities seriously. Failure to do so — as was the case in this incident — can be fatal.”
A penalty recommendation initiates a legal process. The employer will have the opportunity to reply to the proposed penalty before a final decision is made. Following that decision, the employer and other parties have the right to request a review of the penalty and claim cost levy to the Review Division of WorkSafeBC and can appeal a Review Division decision to the Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT).
A copy of the investigation, which has been severed as per Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation, is available at www.worksafebc.com.
All WorkSafeBC investigation reports can be requested through the organization's Freedom of Information office. WorkSafeBC proactively releases investigations where there has been a significant public interest in the matter and/or where there are lessons to be learned from an incident that could prevent a similar event from occurring in the future.
Serving nearly two million workers and more than 188,000 employers, WorkSafeBC is a provincial statutory agency governed by a Board of Directors and funded by employers. WorkSafeBC was born out of a compromise between B.C.'s workers and employers in 1917 where workers gave up the right to sue their employers or fellow workers for injuries on the job in return for a no-fault insurance program fully paid for by employers. WorkSafeBC is committed to a safe and healthy workplace and to providing return-to-work rehabilitation and legislated compensation benefits to workers injured as a result of their employment.
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| Donna Freeman
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