BRITISH COLUMBIA

Mill ordered to pay $724,000 in penalties, levies for 2012 fatal fire

The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, July 29, 2014 5:21PM PDT

A large fire burns at the Lakeland Mills sawmill in Prince George, B.C., on Tuesday April 24, 2012. (Andrew Johnson / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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VANCOUVER - Penalties and levies totalling more than $724,000 have been imposed on a company that owns a northern British Columbia sawmill which was flattened by a fire.

The May 12, 2012 blaze at Prince George's Lakeland Mills Ltd. claimed the lives of 43-year-old Alan Little and 46-year-old Glen Roche.

The province's Criminal Justice Branch announced earlier this year it would not lay charges against the company because it feared the evidence collected wouldn't be admissible in court.

But WorkSafeBC, the agency that investigates workplace accidents in the province, says it has completed an inspection report and found the company breached the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.

It has ordered the company to pay a $97,500 penalty and a $626,663 levy for breaching the act and the regulations.

Lakeland Mills president Greg Stewart says in a statement that it will take time to review the report and only then will his company be in a position to comment.