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Fire report missed Lakeland manager

Lakeland Mills' general manager Mike Richard never received a copy of an internal report on a major fire at the sawmill just a day before the Babine Mills explosion until after a similar blast rocked Lakeland three months later, a coroner's inquest h
Lakeland Mills
Lakeland Mills is seen from the air following an explosion and fire which destroyed the mill on April 23, 2012.

Lakeland Mills' general manager Mike Richard never received a copy of an internal report on a major fire at the sawmill just a day before the Babine Mills explosion until after a similar blast rocked Lakeland three months later, a coroner's inquest heard Tuesday.


As a result, Richard said he was not aware dust had burned in the air when the blaze ignited at the sawmill's large headrig on Jan. 19, 2012. Richard said he heard about it two days afterwards and it was not described to him as a fireball but was assured an investigation was being carried out.


In other testimony, the incident has been described as coming close to what occurred at Babine on Jan. 20, 2012 and what would occur at Lakeland three months later, on April 23, 2012.


Supervisor Alan Little and large headrig operator Glenn Roche died from the extensive burns they suffered and 22 other workers were injured in the explosion at Lakeland.


Asked by coroner's counsel John Orr why the information he received was not complete, Richard said "I don't know how to answer that."


Richard also said he was not aware the workers involved were not interviewed as part of the investigation, carried out by three Lakeland supervisors, and agreed with United Steelworkers counsel John Rogers that they should have been.


Richard said Lakeland became more concerned about the level of sawdust in the mill following a Feb. 6, 2012 visit by two WorkSafe B.C. officials, but still considered it to be a fire hazard not an explosion hazard.


He said workers who were on a call list after being layed off when a new sorter was installed, were brought in to provide more clean up around the mill and management began looking at a vacuum system.


Since mid-2011, the mill had been running a third shift adding up to 36 hours on weekends in addition to two 10-hour shifts from Monday to Thursday.
"I could see we were being challenged by the shifting we were on and we needed to do a better job," Richard said.


In other testimony, Jenny Giene, who was Lakeland's safety administrator at the time, said a sales rep for an industrial vacuum maker did not tell her that the accumulations of dust he saw during a tour of the sawmill 11 days before the blast posed a risk for explosion.


"Had he said that, I would have e-mailed Mike Richard right away and rousted the superintendent right away, to let them know," Giene said when questioned by coroner's counsel John Orr. "The rest of that tour would've been completely different. The tour, as it was, was a sales pitch."


On Monday, Anh-Tai Vuong testified he did warn Lakeland representatives of the danger when he was taken to areas where particularly large amounts of sawdust had accumulated. He also took photos which he gave to WorkSafe after the explosion.


Giene said Lakeland was "very interested" in purchasing a system to improve efficiency, ease the back strain on the cleanup crews who relied on shovels and brooms to pick up debris, and eliminate the use of compressed air, which simply moved dust from one area to another.


"We wanted something where it just picked it up once and it was more ergonomically friendly for the dust," Giene said. "It was an issue when we cleaned up the floors because there was different levels of the sawmill and it would just get pushed to the next level and then the next level. This way, it would suck it up and it would be cleaned up once, you didn't have to do it a few different times."


Giene also said WorkSafe officials who visited the mill on Feb. 6, 2012 never told her they were there in response to an anonymous phone call raising a concern about an explosion at the sawmill. However, she said the officials did raise a concern about the level of debris and agreed one had said it was the dirtiest he had ever seen Lakeland.


At a subsequent meeting the same day, Lakeland management decided a more thorough plan regarding cleanup was in order. By Feb. 15, Bob Sutton, a supervisor at Lakeland, had a plan ready that "had a more thorough structure to it."


Orr presented an e-mail Giene sent out in October 2009 telling workers to refrain from using compressed air to clean off their clothes. The e-mail included a section from regulations saying compressed air also poses a fire and explosion hazard but Giene said the focus was on workers hurting themselves.


Workers continued to use compressed air to clean away dust from machines and areas around the mill. Roche had been blowing down the large headrig, which he operated, at the time of the April 23, 2015 explosion, according to earlier testimony.


Giene said she had received no training prior to becoming the safety administrator in September 2008 but was sent to a course in Vancouver and did take further classes in subsequent years. At the time, she said responsibility for safety was divided between various people.


"Now things have changed, now they have just one person who deals with safety," said Giene, who no longer works at Lakeland.


Also on Tuesday, Brad Evans, who was the Sinclar Group's human resources and safety manager at the time, said an industry group met with WorkSafe representatives in Vancouver in March 2012 to get an update on the Babine incident.


"We were told they didn't have a lot of information to give to us," Evans  said. "They didn't know what the cause was, they talked about it being a very complex investigation, they had a number of different agencies onsite investigating."


Shortly after the explosion at Lakeland, Evans said WorkSafe hosted another meeting at its Prince George where focus was put on cleanup standards. He said Sinclar shut down its two other mills temporarily to talk about what happened.


At Sinclar's Apollo Mill, he said a schedule was established for clean up around the facility and a charge hand was appointed to check for sawdust on a regular basis.


Like others who have testified, Evans said the explosive potential of sawdust was not known until after the Lakeland disaster. "I would say it was an unrecognized hazard," he said.


The inquest continues today at the Prince George courthouse, 9 a.m. start. The last of the testimony is now scheduled to be heard on March 24.