There’s no secret to any of it and yet everybody’s struggling with it.
Left kind of being under the impression, well, accidents, things happen.
Basically everybody says shit happens, well, sure it does but there’s no need for it to happen.
He’d gone to work, I think, about four o’clock, five o’clock, and
it was about six o'clock we were having supper and…
We had a phone call from one of his friends looking for him saying there’s been a bad accident,
serious accident, at the mill and he wasn’t here so I just kind of ignored it.
So, we finished supper...
Somewhere about 7:15, 7:20 I was sitting in the chair watching TV and the wife was downstairs.
The doorbell rang and she answered the door…
And that changed everything.
One of the most profound symptoms associated with tragedy in the workplace is
retrospective guilt, the “if onlys”.
If only I had said, had done, or whatever, rational or irrational.
The most profound and that’s where we beat ourselves up for things which we didn’t
intend to happen, we didn’t wish for it.
Sometimes it’s irrational—we couldn’t have changed a thing…
Sometimes it is, sometimes it was a lack of due diligence and that’s where the guilt can eat somebody up.
So there’s an intense amount of scrutiny
that’s brought to bear upon the supervisors and I’ve always told the supervisors—
I call it the news hour test—you’re going to get 20 seconds with a camera in front of your face to
explain why you behaved the way you did and you’d better have a good answer
as to why you did what you did.
From the prosecutor’s point of view the worst thing that can happen to you, I suppose,
is being charged with either criminal negligence causing death or manslaughter, which are indictable
offences, criminal code offences, and they carry significant jail time.
Well our stats show us that the young worker 15-24 gets hurt more on the job than anywhere else.
Often it’s amputations and/or death, so we get called to all the gruesome ones.
It can happen within a heartbeat, not even realizing something’s going on.
You might not have any control over an accident.
It could be the result of somebody else.
Something happens where you don’t quite realize the danger that you’re putting yourself in
and whether you’re thinking about the production, whether you’re looking for the easy way out…
Something happens that you don’t look at the danger because I had enough nightmares
I would say and my stomach being nauseated and feeling—
you know when you feel you let somebody down?
Not only let him down but let his mom and dad down.
After a tragic event when the supervisor is close with this individual or the memory of
that individual can haunt people forever, and you can have a flashback or the image
of the individual will come back or a dream that will wake you up with kind of a metaphor
for what happened at work, but the image of the individual, or the image of the scene,
that kind of stays with you forever.
And so where are you in your dream?
The warehouse, again.
I’m scared.
It’s a dream, a nightmare.
But we know that dreams are important, okay?
It’s a way we understand our feelings.
I never wake up.
Or I am awake.
I can’t tell the difference.
It’s getting stronger; the feeling of him, his anger, his disappointment.
He blames me.
But it wasn't your fault, was it?
No!
You should have been more careful.
Oh I should have been more careful?
Well, blame, responsibility…
I mean what does it matter when this shit happens?
But you’re dead.
No kidding.
I mean didn’t you see my blood on the warehouse floor?
You bastard!
Good, find that place, okay?
Tell him how you feel.
Okay.
I killed you.
I’m sorry.
You were my friend.
Yeah well my friend Joe wanted to be a supervisor, and he was by far the best man for the job.
When the old man got rid of Howie…
(You’re fired! Get out of here!)
It was his big chance.
Joe!
Joe, you're in charge now.
You know the work, you know the crew, you know what I need.
I had a few ideas about…
Good, I like ideas, but not now.
Look kid, I’ve got a lot of work to do and so do you. So we’ll talk another time, okay?
Okay.
He was a keener.
You know the type: good boss, tries to please everybody.
Couple weeks go by, he starts getting pissed off.
Management wants more production; the workers need more training.
He’s the new pig in the middle.
I warned him!
Joe!
Welcome to your world.
I don't think we should do it that way.
We’ve always done it that way; the other way is slower.
The new guys need more training; I need more time with them.
Yeah, yeah. They get all the training they need.
Look, shouldn’t you be doing inventory today, paperwork?
I think we should…
Look, if you can find a way that doesn't waste time, doesn't cost any more, and gets me what I need, then fine.
But otherwise, you know the drill.
You're not here to babysit, okay?
Okay.
A lot of young workers are injured all the time in places just like this.
Cuts, bruises, breaks, rips, blood, guts, and gore.
You know, the workplace accident.
Check!
The way I see it, they were lucky.
Oh yeah.
Fortunate.
I mean, look at me.
Seriously…
I'm dead.
Yup.
Dead as a doornail.
Me and hundreds of others.
We leave our families behind in what they call the prime of our lives.
Bye bye.
See you later.
Sayonara.
Life is tough, but like I said…
Shit happens, right?
I should have been more careful.
No, it’s not here.
I don’t see it Tony.
You told us to come up here!
You told me to do it!
You told him!
(Get some help!)
Oh my God.
(Somebody help!)
All right, who's the supervisor here?
Me.
I was at my work station…
He should have known better...
This isn’t my fault.
Okay.
We're gonna need your statement.
So you just sit tight.
You understand?
’Attaboy.
Like I said,
shit happens, right?
No it's not right!
It shouldn't have happened! I tried!
I tried. Not right!
Yes, you tried.
Hey...
I forgive you.
I’m sorry; I’ve told you my part of the story.
Please answer the question directly, sir.
Were you in fact aware of your responsibility, under the Workers Compensation Act, to ensure
the health and safety of all your workers?
No, I guess I wasn't.
He never gave me any training as a supervisor!
Well, here’s what I know.
Did you provide any ongoing supervision to ensure that the deceased was performing his job safely?
I tried.
Work, work, and work some more.
There are so many other things for me to take care of.
We had a new contract…
I was under a lot of pressure.
Make a few bucks.
Are you aware, sir, that as a supervisor for this company…
Do it again.
It is your responsibility to only assign jobs to workers for which they are properly trained?
No, I’m not.
I wasn’t.
I didn’t know.
And after a while we’d get used to it.
Better to say yes than to rock the boat, am I right?
In other news, the family of a young worker is speaking out about their son’s
tragic death at a downtown warehouse.
The family claims he hadn’t been properly trained or supervised to do the work that
resulted in a terrible, fatal accident.
We warn our viewers that the pictures in this report may not be suitable for all members of the family.
But what happens to Mr. Supervisor?
(Tragic death at a downtown warehouse…)
Our hero.
(Please answer the question directly, sir…)
Well here's the real story, Jack.
(Where are you in your dream?)
All rise.
One bad move.
The wrong choice.
This case has troubled me like no other I have heard in this court.
The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the employer’s conduct was negligent…
(Yeah, yeah. They get all the training they need…)
Reckless…
(You're not here to babysit, okay? Okay!)
And sufficient to constitute a breach in Section 115 of the Workers Compensation Act.
One second, a blind, innocent, uninformed decision…
In my view…
And everything changes.
A fine of $150,000 levied against the employer…
Nice job, boss.
On or before the date determined by this court.
(I depended on you, asshole! Now I’m ruined!)
(You told him!)
Joe.
Joe!
What did you say?
I think it’s important for you to remember what you and I decided.
Yeah?
Do you want to run that by me again?
You remember what we talked about last week.
This is a process…
Okay, you want to send your guys on up the back to get started until the materials arrive?
And in the meantime let’s get started on this hole.
Okay, shouldn’t we get a gas sniffer in here first?
You want a frickin’ safety meeting or what?
No, I was just thinking…
Just do it!
Sometimes it’s going to feel like two steps forward, one step back, but you just have to be patient.
My name is Gary Glover, I live in Port Alberni, and I lost my son Christopher
in an industrial accident in 1997, seven years ago.
Bearing in mind that it cannot be so high a penalty that one cannot ever be expected to pay it,
I think at that point jail is the only other realistic option and not a very palatable one for many
but there you have it.
Due diligence means I’m doing everything within reason to ensure worker safety.
If they can honestly say that and back it up with some documentation in training records with workers
in that they’ve inspected work performances, that is what we call due diligence
and it's very important for a supervisor to actually prove that when we do an accident investigation—
we are going to be asking for that from them.
What have they done to prevent anybody from being injured?
They’ll say to themselves why didn’t I do this, you know?
It’s today; what happened today; and what did I do about it?
And if you did nothing, that’s where the trouble begins.