A recent fire at Port Moody's Pacific Coast Terminals that sent four workers to hospital has the union representing employees raising concerns over the company's safety protocols.
Jerry Yamamoto, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union executive, said PCT is not following federal regulations when it comes to workplace safety and incident reporting.
"Upon initial investigation, we found immediately they're not compliant in many areas," he told The Tri-City News this week.
Port Moody Fire Department confirmed a blaze occurred Jan. 9 while contractors were doing welding work inside the sulphur train dumper.
According to Local 500, four people were taken to hospital and one has not been able to return to work.
Yamamoto said when the incident occurred, there was no emergency callout to workers, staff or the fire department until one of the affected workers dialled 911.
Even more concerning, he said, is that he has since learned of two other fires on the waterfront site that were not reported to the union's safety committee. The lack of transparency is problematic, he added, because assessing incidents, even if they are minor, helps ensure that they do not occur again.
"That is the whole purpose for the language behind occupational safety," he said. "Those documents are all meant to be preventative measures."
Yamamoto said he has concerns over how large the fire could have grown if a worker hadn't dialled 911.
"The potential there isn't being taken seriously," he said, noting sulphur dust is rated as a combustible material. "What were to happen if no one was in the dumper itself and we had a fire? At what point would we have notification? How severe a level?"
Last month, PCT celebrated having the best safety record of all terminals in Port Metro Vancouver. According to the company, it has not had a lost-time accident for 1,519 days (more than four years) in the company's maintenance division and it has been more than six years since employee time was lost due to a safety incident.
"We are proud to celebrate the professionalism and commitment of our staff in ensuring the safest and healthiest workplace," former vice-president and general manager Ken Catton said in a news release at the time.
But Yamamoto said lost-time incidents are the wrong statistic to be using for basing safety recognition.
In a statement to The Tri-City News, PCT said during last month's fire the company halted operations and evacuated personnel immediately. The company wrote in a statement that the fire was extinguished within an hour and the workers were sent to hospital "as a precautionary measure" and discharged within 24 hours.
"These types of incidents are very unfortunate and we're deeply concerned when any of our personnel are affected," the statement said. "We have a strong culture of safety at PCT, including extensive procedures and specialized equipment that help us to prevent and respond to incidents."
The company said it would be reviewing the Jan. 9 incident with the joint safety committee, which includes representatives from Local 500.
But in a response to follow up questions, Andre Olivier, PCT's vice-president and general manager, acknowledged that another fire occurred in the sulphur train dumper last August that was not brought to the union's attention.
He said while workers were unloading a train, "smoke was observed in the sulphur dumper for approximately 20 seconds. Work was halted and water was applied and when no further smoke was observed operations resumed."
Because the incident was deemed minor, it was "not discussed at the joint safety committee, as there was not assessed risk to worker safety stemming from that incident."
Port Moody Fire Department told The Tri-City News it has protocols in place for dealing with emergencies at PCT. Deputy Fire Chief Jason Harper said firefighters have worked with the company to ensure fires are extinguished on the site quickly.
"Our department has worked very closely with PCT and understanding the hazards of their site and how our best approach is when we have different kinds of emergency incidents," he said. "Our response to fire incidents are similar with all industry as we have to ensure the safety of our personnel before we can actively commit to fighting any fire."
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