The price of death

From a 22-year-old fatally injured on her second day of work at a B.C. quarry to a 65-year-old Manitoban who died just 13 days before retirement, these profiles tell the stories of a fraction of the roughly 350 people who die on the job every year in Canada.

These seven cases from across the country include different age groups, occupations and legal outcomes. The one constant is the mourning family left behind.

The profiles are part of a CBC News investigation into the consequences employers face when they are convicted of violating workplace laws in connection with a fatality.

Drawing from a sample of more than 250 cases from across Canada, CBC News found fines varied widely across jurisdictions, and the median fine for the country as a whole was $97,500.

In only a handful of cases, someone did time behind bars.

For some families, the search for justice is never-ending as they struggle with fines they believe are too low and penalties they argue will not be a catalyst to make other workplaces safer.

Here are their stories.

Kelsey Anne Kristian was searching for adventure, and a spring spent hauling rocks near Mission, B.C., seemed like a perfect fit.

The 22-year-old started work at a quarry on May 16, 2007.

The next day she died.

She hadn't been adequately taught how to park the 30-tonne truck she'd been driving and it rolled, crushing her, court documents say.

"Here she was, a new, young worker. Kelsey had never been in one of those kind of trucks before, never had any qualifications," said her mother, Tara Kristian, in Stuart Island, B.C.

There was a whole line of things that went wrong, and that is what has to change. Somebody has to be held responsible."

Tara Kristian says the job at Stave Lake Quarries was an escape for her daughter, a way to make some money while figuring out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

Her passion was working with kids. In her short life, she worked at the Zajac Ranch in Mission, B.C., a camp devoted to working with kids suffering from chronic illnesses and disabilities. She also worked at YMCA camps and ultimately wanted her career to focus on helping kids.

"It was good money and she was just sort of [going to] bide her time there," her mom said.

It took years, but in 2015, the British Columbia Crown counsel laid a charge of criminal negligence causing death against Stave Lake Quarries Inc., two supervisors and a numbered company. It is one of only a handful of times in Canada's history that a company has been charged under the Criminal Code following a workplace death.

Relying on the agreed statement of facts, Judge Robert Hamiltons 2016 sentencing decision offered details about Kelsey Kristian's training and the events preceding her death.

The supervisor who hired her was a family friend and there was no evidence she ever submitted a resume, the decision said.

On Day 1 she was trained to operate the 30-tonne rock hauler and supervised while driving it. She sat in the passenger seat for part of the day, watching her supervisor, before switching spots.

By Day 2 she had begun what was described in court documents as "entry-level" work, loading and unloading cargo using the truck.

That afternoon, her supervisor had to leave and she was instructed to park the vehicle. She didn't immediately, but once the workday ended, she parked it on the top of a slope.

The truck was only secured with air brakes, and when the pressure in the air brakes bled off, the truck went sliding down the slope.

She attempted to get in the cab of the truck, but couldn't the handle was secured with a bungee cord because the door handle was missing, court documents say.

As it slid, it hit something and rolled over, and she was crushed to death.

Hamilton stated Kristian had never driven a truck of that magnitude and her training only involved an oral review with her supervisor on the use of air brakes.

No books, manuals or written materials were used and she was never tested on what she had learned.

"There was a near total absence of any safety precautions put in place to ensure Kelsey's safety," Hamilton said when he sentenced the company on Oct. 27, 2016.

"Kelsey died, paying the ultimate human price for the defendant's criminal negligence."

The company pleaded guilty to the charge, while charges against the supervisors and other company were stayed. After a joint submission was made by the Crown and the defence, Stave Lake Quarries was fined $115,000 a figure Tara Kristian sees as a slap on the wrist.

Requests for comment by the company or the lawyer who represented the company were not returned.

Hamilton noted in his decision that no serious accidents or injuries had occurred at the quarry since Kristian's death. He also said the company had implemented better record-keeping and training, and started ensuring all employees sign an acknowledgement stating they have read the training manual.

While the charge was initially celebrated by labour advocates as a move toward greater accountability for workplace deaths, the eventual outcome of the court proceedings drew heavy criticism from Tara Kristian.

She still feels no one was held to account.

The B.C. Crown stayed the charges against the supervisors after they reviewed the file further and determined there wasn't enough evidence to secure a conviction, the B.C. Prosecution Service said.

"I would have loved to see someone go to jail, even if it was just for a year, house arrest. I would have loved to see someone pay," Kristian said.

"If you have to pay $100,000, you are still having Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas with all your family. I won't have any of those with Kelsey anymore."

The last words Patrick Desjardins said to his parents were: "I love you mom and dad. I'll see you tomorrow."

It was Jan. 4, 2011, and the 17-year-old was off to spend the night at a friend's and then go to work the next afternoon at Walmart's Tire and Lube Express in Grand Falls, N.B.

That evening, Desjardins cleaned the floor of the shop using a floor buffer purchased at a garage sale. It was plugged into a makeshift extension cord protected partially with a rag wrapped around it.

He died after he was electrocuted while using the buffer.

"I have never called my son's death an accident, because it wasn't," said Fabien Desjardins, Patrick's father.

"We lost our son because of that machine that was bought at a yard sale and an extension cord that was frayed. Really? They sell extension cords 20 feet away at the store. Why? It shouldn't happen whatsoever."

Walmart Canada faced eight charges under the New Brunswick Occupational Health and Safety Act, while a supervisor faced two charges.

The agreed statement of facts read during Walmarts sentencing outlined the details of WorkSafe New Brunswicks investigation following his death.

The investigation found employees had previously been shocked by the buffer. While it was an unauthorized piece of equipment, supervisors were aware the used buffer existed and had repaid the employee who purchased it with the store's petty cash.

"And in spite of its obvious age, it was not inspected prior to being put into use," the agreed statement of facts said.

On Jan. 5, 2011, Desjardins was cleaning the floor with soap and water using the buffer. As he coiled the extension cord, his knees buckled and he fell onto his back.

He pulled the buffer on top of him, landed on the wet floor and then suffered electrical shocks for 25 seconds.

He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The investigation found the shock insulation built into the machine was no longer effective, nor was the machine ever part of monthly inspections. Because it was never an official piece of equipment, employees were never trained how to use it.

In 2012, Walmart Canada pleaded guilty to three new charges for failure to ensure the polisher was inspected, failure to ensure the equipment was suitable and well-maintained and failure to take reasonable precautions to ensure the health and safety of an employee.

The supervisor pleaded guilty to failing to provide a healthy and safe workplace for employees and failing to inform employees of the dangers of using the floor polisher in the garage.

He was fined $880.

After a joint submission was made by the Crown attorney and the defence, the judge agreed to fine the company $120,000.

"The machine should have never been in there. Those children should never, ever, have touched that machine with water," said Dorie Desjardins, Patrick's mom.

"He was 17. He was full of life."

She described her son, who was in Grade 12 at the time of his death, as a "teddy bear" a young man who loved the outdoors and fishing and hugged her every day. He offered advice to his girlfriends and hated bullies.

"He was the love of my life, next to his father, and they took him away," his mom said.

Provincial court Judge Paul Duffie said in his decision the charges and fines were "appropriate, fit and reasonable in the circumstances."

He said Walmart showed remorse and admitted its responsibility by pleading guilty. He also applauded the remedial measures the company had taken, including a countrywide search for similar unauthorized equipment and ensuring its immediate removal.

"It's a job well done," he said of the joint submission.

Patrick Desjardins's family doesn't agree.

"Walmart can earn $120,000 in 15 seconds," his father said.
"[It's] not enough, but what is enough? It's trying to put a price tag on my son and you can't do it. As far as I am concerned, if these workplaces get caught those fines should be increased, big time."

A spokesperson for Walmart called Desjardins's death "an absolute tragedy" and outlined a series of steps the company has taken since his death to increase safety, including establishing a national compliance team that monitors compliance and safety programs.

The last post Guy Ouellette made on his Facebook account said: "14 hour day and still rigging. The things I do for money."

The 39-year-old oil rig worker from Estevan, Sask., died two weeks later, on Dec. 14, 2009, when he was crushed under a drilling platform that collapsed where he was working near Kisbey, Sask.

Nearly five years later, the Calgary company that owned the rig, IROC Energy Services Corp., operating as Eagle Well Servicing, pleaded guilty to two charges under Saskatchewans Occupational Health and Safety Regulations and was fined $18,200.

IROC contravened regulations by failing to ensure a guy line needed to stabilize the rig had been attached. It also failed to ensure a log book was reviewed and signed each day by a supervisor.

PetroBakken Energy of Calgary, Alta., owner of the surface lease at the rigs location, pleaded guilty to two charges under Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, for failing to ensure that a rig was properly inspected and failing to take action immediately when an unsafe condition is identified. PetroBakken was fined $28,000.

In both court cases, the Crown and defence agreed the breaches that led to the guilty pleas did not cause the accident.

But a lawyer for PetroBakken told court a consulting report by a leading expert in metallurgy concluded the collapse of the rig occurred because of the failure of a number of aluminum welds that had been improperly made on that rig.

An agreed statement of facts in the IROC Energy case said "a number of causes contributed in unison to the tragic accident." Although the charges were called "serious breaches," the records say they had not "caused or contributed" to the death of Ouellette, who was the rig manager.

No one was ever fined in connection with the allegedly improper welds on the rig. While a third company was charged relating to the welds, that charge was stayed.

IROC acknowledged in court that expert opinions indicated there was a problem with the rigs beams, and after the incident it said it had to replace and repair 25 beams at other locations at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars.

"It's really upsetting," Ouellette's widow, Cory Ouellette, said of the fines.

"They were not even a slap on the wrist. In my opinion, the companies that was just pocket change to them. I don't believe it had an impact," she said.

Cory Ouellette still talks to people working in the oilpatch, and feels some companies are still cutting corners. "Some have changed, but there's still the mentality of 'get the job done at whatever cost' just do it. And that's scary."

When the conviction and fine against IROC Energy Services were announced in 2014, the Saskatchewan government said in the preceding decade, there had been 31 workplace deaths in the province's oil and gas industry.

Since then, seven more people have died.

"I think the fines should be higher. I think there is too much coddling of the oil industry," said Dianne Ouellette, Guy's sister. "My brother overall did like working on the rigs, so I never bashed the rigs in any way, but I do think the fines need to be greater, and I think it will have more impact on the companies if the fines are greater."

In the prosecutions that followed Guy Ouellettes death, the Crown was in agreement with the amounts of the fines against IROC Energy and PetroBakken. The Crown told court the missing guy line didnt cause the accident, and that even if it had been properly installed, it wouldnt have prevented the collapse of the oil rig.

The Crown also pointed out that Ouellette made mistakes, such as failing to sign off on the rigs log book that tracks inspections.

Court was also told that while Ouellette was working on the rig, he failed to attach an auxiliary escape line a mandatory device meant to provide a worker with a means of escape in an emergency. Even so, the Crown said the rig collapsed so suddenly that use of an escape line wouldnt have helped Ouellette.

A filmmaker, Dianne Ouellette reacted to her brother's death by making a documentary, entitled Rigger, to honour his life.

She wanted to show how Ouellette's death affected the family, including his wife and two children, who were 12 and six when their father died.

"My message is that if you feel unsafe or you feel unsure, walk away, because your job is not worth your life," Dianne Ouellette said.

After her husband died, Cory Ouellette began a career as a safety adviser in health care.

"Your family doesn't deserve for you not to come home. They shouldn't have to go through what we went through," she said.

Ouellette's employer, Eagle Well Servicing a division of IROC Energy Services was purchased by Western Energy Services Corp. in 2013. Western Energy declined to comment for this story.

PetroBakken is no longer in business. The company changed its name to Lightstream Resources in 2013, and in 2016 Lightstream entered bankruptcy protection.

The company's former CEO, John D. Wright, said it "was a horrible tragedy and obviously there would have been a way to prevent it in the long term, if all the proper safety precautions had been taken."

"We would have wished things had been different. We would have wished that our supervisor had been on site, and noticed that the rig didn't have its guy wire set," Wright said.

"I'm not sure that greater fines are the answer. I think the statistics in the industry are showing that safety continues to be a high priority for everyone."

After the accident, "we doubled down on our safety meetings and reinforced our safety protocol through the company. We worked very hard to make sure there was not just adequate supervision, but competent supervision, in all the field sites that we had," said Wright.

"It is a very safety conscious industry. It's just, unfortunately, things happen."

Estella Hickey's son bravely battled kidney disease his entire life, but in the end, he lost his life to injuries from an explosion at work.

"He had a lot of health issues and died by something that was preventable that is the sad part," she said.

Kyle Hickey, 22, spent his life in and out of hospital, but he was doing the job he loved when an explosion ripped through the collision centre where he worked.

He suffered burns across his body that left him unrecognizable and he died the next day.

The exact reason for the 2008 explosion at O'Regan's Collision Centre in Dartmouth, N.S., was never determined. A barrel holding a highly flammable solvent stored on site that day was identified as where the explosion originated, court documents say.

There was no evidence the barrel was properly labelled or stored, said an agreed statement of facts read out at the sentencing hearing two years after Hickey died. It was also determined there was no documentation that Hickey had been given site-specific training on the hazardous chemicals in use at his workplace.

The company, O'Regan Chevrolet Cadillac, pleaded guilty to one count of failing to take every precaution reasonable to ensure the health and safety of a worker, a Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act offence. The company was fined $38,750; four other charges were stayed.

Hickey began restoring automobiles at the collision centre after earning a diploma in automotive collision repair in 2007.

The work suited him perfectly because he got to use his hands every day and he was liked by staff, his mom said.

"When Kyle walked into a room, you knew it. He lit up a room when he came into it. He was just popular and well-liked."

On March 13, 2008 the nine-month anniversary of his employment at the autobody shop the explosion occurred.

The CBC report that day said the blast sent 15 people to hospital for medical treatment.

The Crown attorney had asked for a fine of $150,000, but provincial court Judge Pamela Williams said that figure did not fit the company's culpability.

The safety violations the company pleaded guilty to did not directly cause the explosion or Hickey's death and the company had no prior safety violations, she said.

In response to Hickey's death, it built a "robust supervisory and compliance system" that cost $19,000, she said.

"This sentence expresses deterrence and denunciation for the lapses in O'Regan's workplace safety policy and procedures in March of 2008," Williams said in her 2010 decision.

Estella Hickey said a figure that low isn't enough to entice companies to make the workplace safer.

"The fine should have been higher and then employers would make sure the workplace was safe, if they were fined," she said.

O'Regan's declined an interview, but in a prepared statement, company president Sean O'Regan said their thoughts and prayers go to the Hickey family.

"The appropriate fine level is best determined by the courts, based on Nova Scotia law, not by our company. Regardless of the amount of any fine levied, as a company we are committed to doing our best to protect the safety of our employees," he said in the statement.

"O'Regan's never wants to see another family go through what the Hickey family has experienced since Kyle's death."