If you kill someone in a traffic accident or a bar fight in British Columbia, you are likely to go to jail. But if you are an employer whose recklessness contributes to an employee's death, the public record suggests you will, at worst, be assessed a modest fine.

Negligent Bosses Go Undercharged for Worker Deaths, Critics Say read more

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The penalty paid for a company's role in the death of a B.C. worker in 2012 was, on average, less than $22,000.

A report by WorkSafeBC, the province's worker compensation board, shows that of 149 worker deaths accepted for compensation payments in the 2012 reporting period, six prompted fines against employers, for a total of less than $129,000.

Over half of the deaths were related to past asbestos exposure, and a smaller number to silicosis, according to Al Johnson, WorkSafeBC's vice-president of prevention services. Another 15 to 20 per cent were caused by motor vehicle accidents, leaving about 40 deaths caused by trauma inflicted on the job.

As for criminal penalties, not a single company executive or manager has ever gone to jail in B.C. under the Westray Act, passed in 2004 after a decade of trade union lobbying to hold reckless managers accountable when their decisions kill workers.

Six firms fined

All six fines imposed by WorkSafeBC in 2012 were related to worker deaths that occurred several years ago, as the inspection and penalty assessment process can be lengthy.

Lexspan Ltd. Partnership of Burnaby drew the highest fatality-related fine of 2012, assessed at $58,820.05 for the 2009 death of a worker killed after the gooseneck hoist on a flat bed truck fell, caught and crushed the worker. The WorkSafeBC inspector cited the firm for "inadequate health and safety planning." According to the inspector, "this employer has not provided the workers with adequate information, instruction, training to ensure the health and safety of those workers in carrying out their work and to ensure the health and safety of other workers at the workplace."

The next highest death fine was levied against Integrated Production Services Ltd. of Dawson Creek, charged $31,617.86 for the 2008 death of a worker in an Encana natural gas well site explosion that also left two other workers badly burned. The inspector noted the "...lack of [a] job specific fire and explosion hazard management plan" as a factor in the death and injuries.

At Seaward Kayaks, Ltd. in Chemainus, a worker welding on a metal drum was killed in 2009 when acetone vapours in the drum exploded. WorkSafeBC fined the company $13,612.60, citing "inadequate supervision" as a factor in the death.

Weather Tight Supplies Ltd. of Sechelt was fined $6,961.10 for a 2011 worker death that resulted from a roofer's fall through an unprotected opening nearly 18 feet above a hard surface. The inspector's report cited lack of fall protection and lack of adequate supervision in this death.

In 2007, a forklift tipped over and killed an employee of MGA Italstone Ltd. of Surrey. The inspector found the company "failed to take sufficient precautions for the prevention of work related injuries or illnesses," and imposed a $4,554.35 fine.

A $3,250 fine was imposed on Chiman Homes Ltd. of Surrey for another lethal fall, a 15-foot plunge suffered by a watchman working alone at night at a job site in 2010. In this case the inspector also said the employer "... failed to take sufficient precautions for the prevention of work related injuries or illnesses."

WorkSafeBC allows employers to appeal fines. For example, while the U.S.-based construction giant Kiewit was fined $250,000 dollars in 2011 for its part in the death of Sam Fitzpatrick at the Toba Inlet project, on appeal the company saw its penalty reduced to $100,000 despite the appeal tribunal's comment that Kiewit "...committed high risk violations with reckless disregard" for consequences.

Fines levelled against employers in 2012 could still be reduced or eliminated on appeal.

'One death is too many'

Johnson called the penalty amounts for worker deaths "appropriate."

"Don't get me wrong, one death is too many, and we take every death and injury very seriously," Johnson said in an interview. "But our purpose is not so much to find fault as it is to ensure accident prevention in the future. Besides, how can you put a dollar value on a human life?"

Johnson said that once an employer is found at fault in a worker death, the size of the fine is determined by a complicated formula that takes into account the size of the employer's payroll. A smaller firm will be fined less than a big one, even for similar injuries or deaths.

The most important number related to worker deaths isn't the size of the fines, said BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair.

"The important number is how many workers died. In almost every case, death was avoidable," Sinclair said. "It is clear that the present system isn't working. We have to end the double standard that treats deaths at work differently from deaths anywhere else."

This month, the United Steelworkers union is launching a national campaign, "Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law," to highlight what they say is woeful under-enforcement of the Westray Act, the legislation intended to hold reckless management in Canada accountable for actions that lead to worker deaths.

"Over the past years, Crown counsels in this province have turned down recommendations for criminal charges in workplace deaths whenever they were made by law enforcement officers. We are deeply concerned about this," Sinclair said.

A public event about the Stop the Killing Campaign will be held in Vancouver on Monday, Oct. 28 and will include a panel of family members of workers who died on the job. Relatives of John Wilson, a union member who drowned in a tailings pond at the Craigmont Mine outside Merritt in 2008, will participate. Wilson was trapped in an excavator that was improperly modified in a way that blocked the escape hatch.

Steelworker officer Ron Corbeil said the union was considering an attempt to lay a private prosecution against mine managers in Wilson's death.

Sinclair said he's cautiously optimistic that change is coming to how workplace deaths are dealt with in the province.

He said a meeting between labour leaders and Attorney General and Justice Minister Suzanne Anton is planned for the near future. Sinclair hopes it will lead to the government adopting a new protocol for investigating workplace deaths that more clearly spells out roles for RCMP, local police and WorkSafeBC investigators, ultimately leading to better enforcement of the Westray Act.

"Implementation is going to be key," he cautioned. "It is going to take efforts from everyone concerned."