Wood product manufacturer Weyerhauser is among the first companies to be face criminal prosecution under 2004’s “Westray amendment,” which makes it legal to charge companies with criminal neglect. In an investigation following the death of an employee, supervisors and management were found to have been well aware of safety issues and had actually avoided fixing the problem. A Vancouver Sun article has more details:
An investigation by WorkSafeBC found that there was a high level of knowledge about the hazard by Weyerhaeuser management but they did nothing. The violations were committed wilfully or with reckless disregard, WorkSafeBC vice-president Roberta Ellis said in 2007 after the safety agency completed its own two-year investigation into the accident.
Weyerhaeuser was fined the highest amount ever by WorkSafeBC, $297,000. In a blistering report, WorkSafeBC said senior Weyerhaeuser management had resisted work orders from line managers to make the hog (a type of wood processing machine) safe, saying it would cost too much money. The work was done after Hewer was killed. It cost $30,000.
Management condoned a culture “where complacency in the face of danger became the norm,” the report stated.
This case is not only one of the first to be tried under the Westray amendment anywhere, but the very first time a private prosecution has filed such a case in Canada. Because this case will likely be high profile, Weyerhauser should expect to be doing as much crisis management in the court of public opinion as they do the actual courthouse.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/