Two asbestos contractors have been found not guilty of contempt of court this morning.
Mike and Shawn Singh were accused of repeatedly and knowingly exposing workers to the deadly material and jeopardizing the health and safety of their employees, despite many warnings.
The B.C. Supreme Court found in 2013 the Singh’s company, Seattle Environmental Consulting Ltd., was in contempt of court for not adhering to protection rules and were fined a total of $15,000.
The group was accused of breaching the same protection orders in new allegations facing the court.
READ MORE: Asbestos removal company owners accused of jeopardizing health of employees
In today’s ruling, Justice George Macintosh said the previous order was not clear, adding the regulations are too complex and that there is room for debate.
“Shock and dismay is probably the only way we can talk about this,” said Lee Loftus with the BC Insulators Union. “This makes us take a look at what we do in the workplace and take a look at the law. Here we have an employer that has hundreds of violations. He knows what the law is, he knows what the regulations are, and the judge has ignored that.”
Loftus said they were hoping for a powerful message from the judge that any asbestos contractor who fails to follow regulations would be severely punished or even sent to jail, but their expectations came short.
“Today, we heard that despite 237 orders by WorkSafeBC to follow the asbestos safety regulations between 2007 and 2012, that despite 37 counts documented by WorkSafeBC since 2013 – all that doesn’t matter because it’s too ‘complex’ to deal with,” Loftus said.
Meanwhile, Mike Singh said he intends to make no changes to how his company conducts business.
“We follow the rules and regulations,” says Singh.” I want to make it clear to all the media here – we don’t expose people to asbestos.”
The Singhs have also made allegations of racism directed against them, but he judge called those allegations “baseless.”
WorksSafeBC is now reviewing the decision.
BC Insulators Union is calling on WorkSafeBC to appeal the ruling and is asking the province to introduce mandatory licensing for all asbestos removal and testing firms in British Columbia.
With files from Grace Ke and the Canadian Press
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