Sinclar Group president Greg Stewart declined to comment Monday about the possible cause of the massive explosion and fire that destroyed the mill, killed two workers and injured numerous others.
In a statement, Stewart said finding those answers is ultimately up to WorksafeBC and its investigators conducted interviews with all employees who were presumably were given the opportunity to provide their opinions.
"But as you know, WorkSafeBC has not released the results of its investigation," Stewart said. "Not knowing conclusively the cause of the explosion, we can't speculate on what more might have been done to prevent it."
WorkSafeBC media and government relations director Donna Freeman said the investigation into the disaster, as well as the Jan. 20, 2012 explosion at Babine Forest Products near Burns Lake, were completed in November but are now in the process of being referred to Crown counsel to look at possible charges under the Workers Compensation Act.
As a result, she said WorkSafeBC cannot comment further on the findings.
"It is a legal process, it's a fairly complex one, but it's an ongoing one," Freeman said. "We have dedicated staff who are doing nothing but working on this referral to Crown."
Stewart said he knows employees continue to feel anger and frustration.
"They have endured more emotional upheaval in the past year than most people do in a lifetime," Stewart said. "Many are still grieving. And we understand many will still be angry about what happened."
He also expected today, the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, will be extremely emotional for the community and Lakeland employees, "particularly those on shift April 23 last year."
