Cleanup progressively became less of a priority at Lakeland Mills as the focus turned increasingly to simply keeping the mill running, heard an inquest into the explosion that killed two workers nearly three years ago as it continued Tuesday (March 3) at the Prince George courthouse.
Longtime employee Lorne Hartford testified that as more and more beetle-killed wood was processed, more and more dust would accumulate in the mill.
When the dust collections system stopped working, he said the air became so thick with dust workers could not see from one end of the mill to the other.
"(It was) to the point where we though we should not be working in that environment, but we all knew that we were running a third shift, we all knew that we were struggling as a mill... so every single person there was of the attitude that we got to run the mill.
"We weren't concerned about the sawdust as much as anything, we were more concerned about keeping the doors of that mill open."
