'The whole idea of this directive order is to give the employer a chance to produce all this documentation to show they have done due diligence and something else has gone wrong'
A retired WorkSafeBC investigator has testified that one employer provided little safety documentation following the 2012 workplace fatality of one of its workers, according to a report.
The incident occurred on October 11, 2012, when a retaining wall collapsed into a trench during a sewer replacement project by J. Cote and Son Excavating Ltd. in Burnaby.
In the incident, 28-year-old pipe layer Jeff Caron was fatally crushed. Meanwhile, Thomas Richer, a co-worker, sustained injuries.
The company and its foreman, David Green, are currently on trial, facing charges of criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing injury.
Testifying in the B.C. Supreme Court last Thursday, former WorkSafeBC fatal and serious injury investigator Lonny Bouchard detailed his role in investigating the accident. He explained that part of the investigation involved reviewing employer safety procedures and compliance with occupational health and safety regulations.
Bouchard stated that WorkSafeBC directed J. Cote to produce several safety-related documents, including worker training records, health and safety protocols, excavation safety procedures, hazard assessments, and joint health and safety committee meeting minutes. However, the company failed to provide substantial documentation, according to a report from Burnaby Now.
"The whole idea of this directive order is to give the employer a chance to produce all this documentation to show they have done due diligence and something else has gone wrong," Bouchard said in the report, which is also posted in Castanet.
When asked by Crown prosecutor Louisa Winn whether he received the requested documents, Bouchard replied:
"I know that they had an old safety manual," Bouchard said. "I don't believe we received very much, if anything."
Following the investigation, WorkSafeBC issued multiple orders to J. Cote under the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. These included directives to improve worker training and supervision, implement hazard assessments, provide young-worker orientations, report dangerous conditions, and establish a formal occupational health and safety program.
One of these orders specifically required the company to conduct regular safety meetings, according to the report.
"It formally says you have to have meetings pertaining to health and safety," Bouchard told the court, as Burnaby Now reported.
Canada’s Westray Law
The trial, which began last month, marks a rare application of Canada’s Westray Law, which holds individuals and companies criminally responsible for workplace safety failures resulting in serious harm or death.
Green also faces an additional charge of manslaughter. Both he and the company have pleaded not guilty.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
This trial represents only the third instance of a Westray Law prosecution in British Columbia since the amendments were introduced to Canada’s Criminal Code in 2004. The law was designed to enhance accountability for workplace safety by targeting negligence at all levels of an organization, from frontline supervisors to corporate executives.
