Worksafe BC Orders Safety Inspections At All BC Mills
Prince George, BC – WorkSafe BC is issuing orders to all BC sawmills to conduct safety inspections with a particular focus on sawdust accumulations in the aftermath of Monday’s fatal explosion at Lakeland Mills.
The devastating blast and ensuing fire blew out the walls of the mill, injuring 24 employees – one of whom passed away a few hours later in hospital. The shift supervisor, 43-year-old Alan Little, succumbed to his injuries at UHNBC early yesterday morning. A second Lakeland employee passed away in hospital in Edmonton, where he’d been transferred for specialized care, early last evening.
The tragic incident comes three months and three days after a similarly-described explosion at Babine Forest Products sawmill in Burns Lake, which killed two.
WorkSafe BC’s Vice-President of Corporate Services, Roberta Ellis, says, "We recognize that there are similarities between the explosions in Burns Lake and Prince George – both are sawmills, dust was present in both, as in all sawmills, and both mills were working with beetle-infested wood."
"However, we cannot speculate, based on these similarities, as the the cause of these events."
Ellis says WorkSafe does not have reasonable legal grounds to order sawmills closed. She says, "The agency will not hesitate to take such action should circumstances warrant it."
While a few industry experts are speculating beetle kill timber, which is drier than healthy pine, may be to blame, Prince George Fire Rescue Chief, John Lane, and WorkSafe BC’s Director for the Interior and North, Todd McDonald, both said it was far too early in the Lakeland investigation to even contemplate the question.
Meantime, WorkSafe is directing all sawmill employers to conduct a full hazard identification, risk assessment, and safety review with a particular focus on combustible dust, dust accumulations, and potential ignition sources. Ellis says WorkSafe BC officers will be following up on these orders to confirm they’ve been carried out and that the sawmills are in compliance with the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation in regard to combustible dust and potential safety hazards.
Comments
I have been burning beetle kill wood for quite a while now and I find that it pruduces less heat due to the lack of sap and resins that are present in green dried wood. It does burn up much faster. I have seen the results of grain dust exploding. It is also quite dry.
But it was not an explosion that levelled the building. It simply caught on fire and then burned.
@supertech
There was an explosion, even broke a door frame at the forestry museum across the road from Lakeland.
The fire chief mentioned that he has seen a security camera video that showed the whole building was involved in initial blast.
Although we don’t know for sure, it seems likely that both the Burns Lake and Lakeland tragedies were due to wood dust. Why are dust levels not continuously monitored? I don’t know the cost of dust samplers, but I would think that, given the relatively large particle size, the same technology as used in photoelectric smoke detectors would do the job. If that is correct, detectors should be cheap and able to run continuously. Why aren’t dust level monitors installed all over the mill?
Becuase in this tight economy … belts are tightend …. in every industry in the world .. when its time time to tighten belts … its always Cleaning crews that gets downsized ….
If shutdowns and cleaning crews had been done properly with the proper amount of time and staff levels … I have no doubt that both of these incidents could have been avoided
Now watch what will happen to the Sawmills when Worksafe BC says that they will all have to install dust extraction systems.
That was the first thing they cut at Rustads. Clean Up crews are the first to be cut back.
Everyone has the right to refuse unsafe work conditions. I’m bet there are a whole lot of sawmill workers who don’t feel safe at work anymore.
“If shutdowns and cleaning crews had been done properly with the proper amount of time and staff levels … I have no doubt that both of these incidents could have been avoided”
Sure they could of been. But who decides when too much is too much? You could blow down the beams and by the end of the next shift the dust is back. Most places use air hoses to clean up which makes matters worse.
The other issue is that wood dust is an IARC-listed carcinogen.
Worksafe, what’s in a name, not much. Totally needless tragedy.
“The other issue is that wood dust is an IARC-listed carcinogen”
Precisely!!!!!! There are many safety reasons to monitor and reduce dust.
Any extremely fine particle is not very good for you including the fine silica dust we are forced to breath in every spring while waiting for the sweepers to do the streets.
I never toured Lakeland but imagine it did have a twin or quad bandsaw. These saws and the associated chipping section generally are open to the mill and any fine dust can float around suspended in the air.If a mill is processing beetle kill it may be necessary to isolate these saws by framing in that portion of the line and have a dedicated air filtration system.
In modern mills other machines such as edgers and trimmers do a pretty decent job of containing dust either through a separate extraction system or because of the amount of water added to the sawbox for cooling.
The debarking area is another area that could be looked at.
Finally clean up crews should be introduced to a shovel and a broom and never allowed to use an air hose for general clean-up.
lonesome sparrow@Why is an air hose worse than a shovel and broom?
When moving material with compressed air it essentially separates it by size. The heavier material remains on the floor but the fine dust and powder becomes airborne.
When the suspended particles reach a critical level all it takes is one spark to create a dust explosion. Google “pellet plant explosion” to see what happens when fine dust meets an ignition source.Plants all over the world have blown up including the local one.
If clean up is done with a broom, a majority of the fine stuff will remain in the pile until it is shoveled into a conveyor
Furthermore I shutter when I hear that mills like the ones in Fort St. James and Mackenzie are shutting down to clean up the mill.
The phrase normally connected with this is “mill blow down” With a bunch of people with air hoses blowing dust off perlins and beams at one time the critical level for a dust explosion would be reached in short order.
I do have a call in to worksafe but as you can imagine a bit hard to get through to an officer at the moment.
lonesome sparrow@Thanks, makes sense.
Comments for this article are closed.