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SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015
Keith Ambler, right, shares a hug with Donna Flood, executive director of the Prince George Hospice House, on Friday as Ambler announces he would be making a significant donation to the Hospice House. Harvey Sawyer, long-time partner of Ambler, died in March at the Hospice House
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
A machine cuts through the Babine Forest Products mill in this file photo.
in Babine inquest
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
Bridging communication gaps and having a more diverse workforce emerged as key elements requiring attention to prevent another tragedy like the one at Babine Forest Products, according to recommendations issued Friday from a coroner’s inquest.
The five-man, two-woman jury, which heard testimony from nearly 50 witnesses over two-and-a-half weeks during an inquest, held in Burns Lake, into the Jan. 20, 2012 explosion that killed two employees and injured dozens more, began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon. The group was charged with deciding whether the deaths of Carl Charlie, 42, and Robert Luggi, 45, were natural or the result of either accident, suicide, homicide or undetermined.
Ultimately, the deaths were ruled accidental, but the jury issued 33 recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents like the sawmill explosion that destroyed the community’s largest employer.
Ultimately, the deaths were ruled accidental, but the jury issued 33 recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents...
Many of those recommendations focused on strengthening communication, whether it was at the employer or union level or within WorkSafeBC.
Among the nine recommendations directed at Babine Forest Products, the jury called on the employer to post and update safety notices and minutes of occupational health and safety meetings as well as to discuss all WorkSafe and B.C. Safety Authority reports, alerts and investigations.
The inquest heard from workers who said they never saw the results of inspections and investigations and were not aware of notices and meeting minutes.
The jury also called on updates to Babine’s employee orientation process to add more emphasis during the job-shadow stage on workers’ rights and responsibilities.
Mill owner Hampton Affiliates was called on to share health and safety information across its entire organization. During the inquest, the jury heard that though information on the explosive nature of wood dust was publicly available as early as 2008, it wasn’t effectively broadcast across all of Hampton’s milling operations.
At the union level, the jury recommended that United Steelworkers develop an easily scrutinized system of communication between all levels of the union, as the inquest heard that pertinent health and safety information wasn’t always making it to the shop floor.
Communication-related recommendations were also directed to WorkSafeBC, which was called on to create an information-sharing system with a focus on making sure that there’s accountability for receiving info as well as a suggestion to host an annual meeting of industry representatives to share best practices. — see NEWELL HIGHLIGHTED, page 3
Showdown at Lombardy
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff
Efforts to comply with a city clean-order left an employee at Lombardy Mobile Home Park shaken Friday afternoon after an upset tenant pulled out what appeared to be a firearm.
Property manager Lucienne Hannah said the incident occurred around 2 p.m. as she was helping to hand out eviction notices.
Prince George RCMP confirmed Friday that a woman was arrested and in custody after waving around a replica pellet pistol at the mobile home park and that charges were pending.
Hannah said she was driving park manager Kal Sall and operating as a witness to the eviction notices when the incident occurred.
“My boss gave her the notice and she promptly tore it up and started hollering and screaming and cussing and swearing and (saying) ‘you can’t do this’ and ‘it’s illegal’ and on and on and on,” Hannah said. “I thought she was just tearing the paper up and throwing it aside and the next thing I know she’s up with a gun pointed at me.”
Hannah, who has served as the property manager since last April, said she’s never experienced anything like it before - and hopes to never experience it again.
“I froze. I didn’t know what to do,” Hannah said. “My boss just said, ‘don’t say anything, just let it go, let’s go.’ And she promptly turned around and went back into her yard and I drove away.”
Park management had about 30 eviction notices to serve to tenants who refuse to allow them permission to come on to their property.
In early July, city council approved a remedial action order requiring the demolition of 16 derelict trailers and to complete overall clean up on the site by July 20. On Monday, Lombardy management appeared before council asking for a reconsideration of the order which was not given.
“So we have given them (tenants)
30 days notice for just cause of not cleaning up their yards or removing vehicles or whatever it is the city is after us for,” Hannah said.
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