While all fatal accidents are tragic and preventable, all accidents are not equal and there is a category that rarely is seen, but must remembered, is one that demands criminal prosecution under Bill C-45 that was passed in Parliament in 2004.

Bill C-45 is often called the Westray Bill because it came about because of a coal mining disaster in 1992 that resulted in the deaths of 26 men. The inquiry into the accident found that there had been repeated complaints and warnings about conditions in the mine that were ignored by management and ownership and the methane explosion resulted from ownership's inaction. The problem was that the ownership was based in Ontario while the mine was in Nova Scotia and because Safety Legislation was a Provincial matter, the ownership was largely off the hook. This lead to years of lobbying to create  a Federal criminal offense in safety related accidents that one can think of as criminal negligence causing death  that could be used where ever the negligence occurred in Canada.

This recent accident brings C-45 to mind. While we do not know all the facts, the ones we do know are shocking and unacceptable. The people I talk to think it should not be treated as business as usual by the Ministry of Labour.  Some have called for a full provincial inquiry, but general opinion seems to be you don't need an inquiry when the facts seem pretty black and white and we have laws in place that need enforcing. We have mandatory fall protection training, we have inspection and enforcement as the Ministry of Labour is reported to have visited the site twice and issued orders. What we did not have was compliance and possibly negligence. What we want to know is what happened and are the police investigating and contemplating criminal charges.

What we do not want is for the Ministry of Labour to follow standard practice where charges are not filed until 11 months and 29 days after the accident.  By the time charges are laid and the case goes to Court it is often over 2 years before an outcome and the urgency is lost on both the industry and the public. The same thing happens when you go the inquiry route. We want a prompt police investigation while the tragedy is still fresh.