The B.C. provincial government has promised to implement 43 new recommendations in the WorkSafeBC review and action plan conducted by Gordon Macatee.
The recommendations in the report concern the events and conditions that lead to two fatal sawmill explosions, one at the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake on Jan. 20, 2012 and the second at the Lakeland mill in Prince George on April 23, 2012.
Two workers were killed and another 20 were injured in the explosion and subsequent fire that occurred at the Babine sawmill two years ago.
Minister of jobs, tourism and skills training and minister for responsible labour, Shirley Bond said that the all the recommendations have been accepted.
"Action will be taken immediately on key recommendations around worker safety," Bond said.
Key recommendations that will see immediate implementation include, moving forward with the development of occupational health and safety policies to specify reasonable steps for employers, workers and supervisors to take to address combustible dust hazards.
A report on those developments was presented to WorkSafeBC's board of directors on July 17 with a recommendation for approval.
In accordance with the combustible dust initiative, phase four of WorkSafeBC's inspection of sawmills saw an improvement in compliance rate from 58 per cent in phase three to 84 per cent in phase four in sawmills province wide.
However, other wood manufacturing operations, such as wood pellet plants, pressed board manufacturing and oriented strand board manufacturing plants didn't fare so well.
Inspections of 15 these various plants yielded only a 40 per cent compliance rate.
"Their 40 per cent compliance rate was a disappointment, especially in the wake of all that's been said and done to this point," Bond said.
The accepted recommendations highlighted the need for continued inspections and penalties for sawmills and a separate investigative unit.
WorkSafeBC levelled Babine Forest Products with fines totalling more than $1 million as a result of the explosion, which the company is appealing.
Crown prosecutors declined to lay charges in the two explosions.
"This action plan addresses the pressing need to both restore confidence in WorkSafeBC investigations and to make sure workers and families never again face circumstances like those at Babine and Lakeland," Bond said.
Seven of the 43 recommendations will be implemented right away, including the sustained compliance plan for sawmills, as well as developing a plan for ongoing inspections of other wood product manufacturers and pellet mills with appropriate enforcement to bring the sector into sustained compliance.
"While we have seen continued improvement, mill operators need to achieve better compliance and the action plan will ensure that occurs," Bond said.
Steve Zika, Chief Operating Executive for Hampton Affiliates says that the industry has been working extensively with WorkSafeBC the last two years to develop a regulations and inspect process that address key exposure areas.
Zika also notes that neither the Decker Lake or Babine mills has ever received a stop work order from WorkSafeBC.
"Ever since the Babine tragedy we have learned much about the explosive nature of pine beetle dust and have made major equipment and process changes to mitigate the risk," Zika said.
Some of the other recommendations moving forward include, Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with police services and with the Criminal Justice Branch should be signed, WorkSafeBC should retain the ability to develop and approve occupational health and safety regulations, implement a new investigation model that preserves the ability to conduct both cause investigations and prosecution investigations and Develop and implement performance measures to assess the health and safety awareness levels among workers, the health and safety culture of the business enterprise, the effective engagement of WorkSafeBC officers and the effectiveness of compliance activities.
"I'm glad there are more safeguards in place for the workers safety," Wilf Adam, Chief of Lake Babine Nation said, "I still request an independent inquiry to what happened at Babine Forest Products."