BURNS LAKE, B.C. — The sister of a man who died in a sawmill explosion in Burns Lake, B.C., says her brother was working on a day off to earn extra cash for his daughter's high school graduation.
Lucy Campbell said on the opening day of a coroner's inquest that 42-year-old Carl Charlie was known for his "incredible smile, great big hugs, handshakes and waves."
He had worked at Babine Forest Products for more than 18 years, Campbell testified Monday.
When Charlie was first reported missing, the family hoped he would be found alive after the Jan. 20, 2012 blast, Campbell said.
"Little did we know that the job he was working at was at the heart of the explosion. Our only hope as family is that he didn't feel a thing because he didn't deserve to die like this. No one did."
Maureen Luggi sobbed while telling the inquest about her husband, Robert Luggi, who also died in the explosion that injured 20 others.
She described the father of four as a happy, hard-working guy with a sense of humour.
Luggi said her husband, who had worked at Babine for more than 22 years, had been transferred to a new shift at the start of that year and was training to become a lead hand.
The mill had been shut down for a time in March 2011 due to a fire, she said, adding Luggi was working seven days a week during that time to help get it operating again.
Once the mill had resumed production, she said Luggi took on a weekend position and was in charge of the cleanup crew. That lasted until November 2011, when the family was finally able to have weekends together.
"He did come home and tell me about the dust levels at Babine Forest Products," Luggi said. "He told me that WorkSafeBC was at the mill, they were doing inspections and they were discussing the dust levels with the superintendents."
She said levels had reached the point where some workers were wearing dust masks.
Luggi also recalled that during the week leading up to the explosion, the weather was exceptionally cold, with the temperature dropping as low as -40 C.
In later testimony Monday, Amy Cronin, a U.S.-based consultant on industrial safety, said cold weather can make dust drier and create static electricity because the air doesn't hold as much humidity.
She said dust concentrations cause breathing hazards long before they become explosion hazards.
Cronin said a company needs to be most responsible for safety issues because regulators such as WorkSafeBC must keep an eye on such a wide variety of industries.
"It's my personal opinion that the company needs to be well aware of all the hazards in their industry, and there are a lot of ways to do that."
