Prince George, B.C. – WorkSafeBC  has  completed 13 of the  43 recommendations in the Macatee report which  was aimed at  improving safety in sawmills, and  establishing a clear  process for investigations that  could lead to a criminal prosecution.

That report ordered in the wake of the Crown determining there would be no charges  laid in the  Lakeland and Babine  mill explosions and fires largely because  the manner in which the investigations were  conducted would have  seen much of the  evidence deemed inadmissible in court.

18 other recommendations from that report are in progress and 12 require legislative change.

Report author and WorkSafe Special advisor, Gord Macatee, says WorkSafe has hired a new CEO, Diana Miles will be  heading up the  organization.

But even with the progress made, there are still wood dust issues at saw mills and pellet plants.

The latest round of inspections of 118 locations  resulted in two mills  being  given combustible dust orders for deficiency  in the company’s overall dust management program,  and  one  was issued a short, stop work order for  dust accumulation.

“This is  a dramatic improvement from where it stood six months ago” says Macatee, “but it also indicates there is still work to do.”

Macatee says Pellet Mills face a particular challenge with dust control, and  when he released his report last  July, about 40% were in  compliance. “Planned inspections are ongoing and as of November 23^rd,  17 inspections  have been conducted on the ten mills and   3 of them  received dust orders and one  received a  stop work order.”

Macatee says the dual investigation system,  (which has one stop and  a new, independent,  team take over and start over when it’s  suspected charges could be laid) has been  called into play  in  one recent investigation, however,  as it is  an ongoing investigation details  are not being released.

“One of my recommendations was for daily inspections for sawmills that had been out of compliance in the last round of targeted inspections, and to continue that until compliance had been sustained for a full three month period.  At the same time, I also encouraged mills that were in compliance to do voluntary daily inspections to ensure their dust control measures would be sustainable.  To date, 96 mills have chosen to conduct daily inspections, with weekly reporting to WorkSafe, and  2 others have chosen to have WorkSafe BC  continue to do focused inspections at their mills.”

Macatee says  he is impressed “with the level of engagement and  I think  this is strong evidence of the  industry being serious about managing combustible dust and doing it  to ensure  sustainability in the long term.”

WorkSafe is still in the consultation process with workers, union and companies about  the possibility of  issuing individual workers “fines” if they are found to be in violation  of safety requirements such as wearing hard hats or other protective  gear.  A decision on whether or not that will move forward is expected in the new year.

Macatee says his role as special advisor to  WorkSafe will wrap up before the end of June when he expects all remaining  recommendations will have been implemented.