The Lakeland Mills tragedy was preventable, according to Sinclar Group president Greg Stewart.
Steps were missed by many that could have averted the deadly explosion that leveled the Lakeland Mills sawmill, Sinclar Group president Greg Stewart said March 25 during testimony at the coroner's inquest into the incident that left two people dead and 22 others injured.
Asked by coroner's counsel John Orr to give his opinion on what went wrong, Stewart said it is a "very complex issue."
"It was a dust explosion that occurred and the question is how did we get to that point," Stewart said. "And when we take a look, there are a number of factors and it's quite complex to determine why we got to where we are.
"And all along the way, as I keep replaying this over and over, there are steps that individuals, companies and organizations could take that could have stopped the chain of events, and they were missed."
Asked to elaborate, Stewart said it was the "lack of knowledge around the hazard that we have in our mills and the opportunity to identify what those hazards were and the opportunities to get more knowledge about those were missed."
