This May marked the 20th anniversary of the
Westray Mine disaster, where 26 workers were killed as a result of dangerous
and illegal working conditions. One
of the outcomes of the Westray deaths were amendments to the Criminal Code to
allow for prosecution of companies for worker’s deaths. Steve Bittle (UOttawa)
recently released a book addressing criminal liability for OHS after Westray.
A conference will be held at the University of Ottawa on
October 24-25 to discuss the enforcement of criminal laws regarding
occupational health and safety. The
program for the event is available here. The conference will be live-streamed here.
Several artists have written songs about the Westray disaster.
One of the more poignant mining disaster ballads is (believe it or not) from
the Bee Gees. Their first hit was New York Mining Disaster 1941 (inspired by
the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales).
-- Bob Barnetson
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