Burnaby MLA Raj Chouhan is hoping a coroner's inquest into the deaths of three Langley mushroom farm workers will bring change to the industry so similar tragedies never happen again.
"What we have seen, and I heard today is it's not just the lack of regulation. The problem is enforcement," Chouhan said. "In this particular farm, the workers who worked there mainly spoke Vietnamese. It seems like they did not have any safety instructions provided to them in their own language."
The B.C. Coroners Service is holding the public inquest in Burnaby, examining the deaths of Ut Tran, Han Pham, and Chi Wai (Jimmy) Chan, workers who died on a Langley mushroom farm in 2008 after they entered a pump house where toxic gases had accumulated. Chouhan, the NDP's labour critic and a founder of the Canadian Farmworkers Union, is attending the inquest, which is expected to wrap up next week. "In my view, the Workers' Compensation Board has to make sure all farms with confined spaces must be inspected on an annual basis, and if they do not pass the inspection, they should not be able to maintain their licence," Chouhan said. "We have to show some seriousness here, or workers will continue to work in unsafe conditions that lead to other tragedies."
The point of the inquest is not to assign blame but to hear evidence from subpoenaed witnesses to determine the facts surrounding the deaths. The jury can make recommendations to help prevent future deaths in similar circumstances.
"I want all these issues to be in front of the jury here so people know what steps were missed and what steps were taken and what more can be done in order to prevent this," Chouhan said. "People don't really understand the safety issue at workplaces, especially farms."
At the inquest on Monday, two paramedics described a grim scene when they arrived at the farm. Lacking the equipment or training to handle toxic gases and confined spaces, they stood by helplessly, as the men succumbed to the deadly fumes. One of the paramedics treated a man in respiratory distress outside the shack, while the other peered inside and saw two men face-down in the water, another unconscious, and fourth screaming for help, trying to hold up his coworkers. Chan, Pham and Tran died on the scene, while two others suffered brain injuries.
Chouhan described the tale as horrible.
"It's so sad. You can't stop having teary eyes, when you hear the family or see one of the workers, in a wheelchair for many years, who doesn't know what's going on," he said. "It's just really heart wrenching. It's so horrible."
Once the inquest concludes, a report on the findings should be released within a month.
- With files from Jennifer Saltman, The Province.
