The Opposition New Democrats have introduced a bill into the B.C. legislature aimed at strengthening criminal and regulatory investigations into workplace deaths.
NDP labour critic Harry Bains said stronger legislation is necessary because there has been a failure to secure a single criminal charge for any company despite many workplace deaths as a result of negligence.
"In 2004, 12 years after a mining disaster that took the lives of 26 miners, the federal government enacted the Westray bill which allowed for employers and managers to be criminally charged for workplace deaths," said Bains.
"There have been more than 1,350 deaths in British Columbia since the Westray bill was passed, and yet no prosecutions have yet been made to hold employers or managers criminally accountable for unsafe working conditions."
The NDP's Workplace Accountability Act would:
- ensure a Crown prosecutor is dedicated and trained to deal with workplace fatality and serious injury cases so the likelihood of conviction may be determined more accurately.
- ensure both police and WorkSafeBC inspectors are trained on the section of the Criminal Code related to the Westray bill. "This would ensure that these parties understand this law and its application and would in turn lead to better collection of evidence to support Crown Counsel's decision making," the NDP said in a press release.
- require mandatory police investigations of all workplace fatalities and serious injury cases, in order to determine whether criminal negligence exists.
- call for the Crown and police to develop a specialized prosecution policy for workplace fatalities or serious injuries cases, similar to what is done in domestic violence cases.
The bill was tabled Monday, the same day as the annual Day of Mourning into workplace deaths and injuries. It also comes after Crown counsel decided against pursuing charges against the owners of the Lakeland and Babine sawmill explosions and criticized the WorkSafeBC investigations in the process.
The disasters occurred within three months of each other in early 2012 and between the two, left four people dead and another 41 injured in total.
"Passing this bill would show that this government is ready to do something to bring about justice in such cases," Bains said.
The provincial government did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Monday.
