Workplace investigations must follow the evidence: police

The Ontario Federation of Labour has called on Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen to ensure a criminal investigation is conducted into the Oct. 20 death of Glencore miner Richard Pigeau.

“Every time there's a fatality in a workplace in Ontario we call for these investigations,” said Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, which represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario.

Pigeau, 54, died at the 1,660-metre level of Glencore's Nickel Rim South Mine when he was struck by a piece of equipment.

On March 31, 2004, Bill C-45, an amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code commonly called the Westray Bill, became law, and imposed the possibility for serious criminal penalties against employers for workplace injuries and deaths.

But Ryan said only a handful of employers have been charged for criminal neglect since the bill became law.
Every year, he said, around 80 workers in Ontario are killed on the job.

“When employers start to feel the pinch, and they feel they can be held criminally responsible, that's when I think we're going to see this number of 80 really diminish,” Ryan said.

Greater Sudbury Police Staff Sgt. Craig Maki said in an email to NorthernLife.ca that local police are still involved in the investigation surrounding Pigeau's death, along with the Ministry of Labour.

“We review the evidence that we find, and if if that evidence reveals that a criminal offence has occurred we will investigate it from that perspective,” he said. “It is important that when police conduct an investigation that we do not go in with tunnel vision and that we go where the evidence takes us.”