Premier Christy Clark is laying the blame for a failed investigation into a fatal sawmill disaster squarely on WorkSafeBC.
"I am deeply disappointed with the way WorkSafeBC conducted this investigation," Clark said at a press conference February 13.
"The fact pattern is absolutely clear: WorkSafe should have known what was required by the Criminal Justice Branch in order to proceed with the case to court."
On January 20, 2012, an explosion and fire destroyed the Babine Forest Products sawmill in Burns Lake. Two workers were killed and 20 more were injured.
WorkSafeBC conducted an investigation and forwarded recommendations for charges under British Columbia's Workers Compensation Act. However, on January 10, 2013, B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch said it would not approve any charges because of flaws in WorkSafeBC's investigation that would likely have made some of the evidence inadmissible in court.
A review of WorkSafeBC's handling of the case is now complete. Clark said her government would immediately accept all of the recommendations in the report and that she is committed to fixing the problem.
Clark said the problems with WorkSafeBC's investigations go back as far as a 2006 incident at a Langley mushroom farm that killed three workers.
There will be no public inquiry into the matter because it is unlikely an inquiry would result in the charges being laid, Clark said.
