Chalmers asbestos charges revised, extended
Date range of four WorkSafeNB charges against Horizon Health Network lengthened
The Horizon Health Network’s first court appearance on charges it placed employees at risk of asbestos exposure at a Fredericton hospital was marked by replacement charges alleging a longer timeframe.
WorkSafeNB laid four charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act last month in Fredericton provincial court against Regional Health Authority B, also known as the Horizon Health Network.
The counts alleged Horizon failed to observe an established code of practice regarding work around asbestos, failed to advise workers of the risk inherent in handling asbestos, didn’t inform workers of the presence of asbestos in workspaces and didn’t take precautions to protect employees from exposure.
Those original charges alleged events at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton between Nov. 7, 2017, to June 30, 2022 - a period of almost five years.
Horizon’s first appearance in provincial court was Monday morning, but Crown prosecutor Derek Weaver moved to withdraw those previous charges, and WorkSafeNB laid a new, replacement information with four counts as well.
The difference between the old and new charges is the timeline. Now Horizon’s offences are alleged to have occurred between Nov. 7, 2017, and Oct. 6, 2022 - a little more than three months longer than the previous counts
Matthew LeBlanc, a lawyer with the firm of Cox and Palmer, appeared on behalf of the health authority Monday.
He noted his firm had just received disclosure of the WorkSafeNB file last week and needed more time to review it and discuss it with the client.
Judge Cameron Gunn set the case over to Oct. 16 for pleas.
Laragh Dooley, WorkSafeNB’s executive director of corporate communications, previously said the asbestos exposure referred to in the charges was in an area inaccessible to the general public and most hospital workers, including health-care personnel, so there hadn’t been a risk to many individuals.
“The investigation uncovered that potential exposure to asbestos occurred with employees working in the interstitial space (area between floors),” she wrote in an email to the Fredericton Independent earlier this month.
The maximum fine for these Occupational Health and Safety Act charges is $250,000, Dooley said.
Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the end date of the revised charges was Oct. 6, 2002, in it should have read Oct. 6, 2022. We regret the error.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
Can Horizon just pay the fine, admit no guilt and get a list of recommendations on how to improve? This will cost the tax payers a lot more than $250K (if it hasn’t already) to try it.