SURREY, B.C. – Two companies and three owners of a Langley, B.C. mushroom farm where three men died after being overcome by toxic fumes have avoided jail time.
Instead, the judge levied a total fine of $ 350,000.
Investigators found that a pipe carrying a compost mixture broke at the plant in 2008, releasing toxic gas.
A trio of fellow workers rushed to the aid of two men who initially succumbed to the fumes in the shed. The two died, as did one of the would-be rescuers. The remaining two suffered neurological damage.
All five were fathers with school-aged children.
Tracey Phan, whose father Michael suffered permanent brain damage, fought back tears as she described her anger over the sentence.
“Three years and there’s still no jail time,” she said outside court, referring to the length of time for the families to hear the final outcome of the case.
“This sends out a message to others saying your life isn’t worth as much as you thought. You can just go and order people to their deaths and you’ll just have to pay a small fee to get away,” she said.
The fines were handed to the companies A1 Mushrooms and HV Truong, and their three owners, who pleaded guilty last May to failing to educate and supervise their workers and failing to follow proper safety guidelines.
The Crown had recommended fines of totalling up to $ 600,000, saying it didn’t want the penalties to seem like they were just the cost of doing business.
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, said it’s disappointing the judge didn’t impose jail time on any of the owners.
Fines just don’t cut it, he said.
“This was a catastrophic accident. And somebody was responsible for it — the companies — and they should have been given even token jail time. It would have sent a message.”
The Opposition NDP called on the provincial government to convene a coroner’s inquest into the incident.
“The families of the three employees who died and the two left critically injured want the inquest so lessons can be learned and applied at a systemic level to improve workplace safety,” said leader Adrian Dix.
In handing down the fines, the judge said the families of the victims have gone from profound happiness to severe grief.
Despite the fines, one company is bankrupt and can’t pay its share. (News1130)
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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