Labour leader, families call for tougher measures to prosecute workplace deaths

VANCOUVER – The families of victims in five workplace accidents are joining the B.C. Federation of Labour in calling for a series of changes to ensure negligent employers are prosecuted and sent to jail.

The federation and several families met with the province’s attorney general and labour minister to raise concerns about what they describe as lax enforcement of Criminal Code provisions targeting employers.

Specifically, they say the federal and provincial governments, police and the Crown have failed to enforce laws enacted after the Westray coal mine disaster in Nova Scotia, which killed 26 workers in 1992.

Federation president Jim Sinclair says his group wants the provincial government to set up a dedicated prosecutor to handle incidents of workplace negligence and ensure police are better trained to handle such cases.

Sinclair says he also wants a policy requiring police to investigate all deaths and serious injuries on worksites.

He says the ministers have committed to look into the issue further and meet back in several weeks, and that he’s confident the government is open to change.