The Eastway Tank explosion: What we know about the investigation so far

One month after the fatal Eastway Tank explosion, investigators say it could take a while before they reach any conclusions about its cause.

"It will potentially take months," a spokesperson for Ontario's Office of the Fire Marshal said.

The Jan. 13 explosion and fire at Eastway Tank Pump & Meter Ltd, which builds and services tanker trucks capable of carrying a variety of fuels, became Ottawa's worst industrial incident in decades.

It left six Eastway Tank employees dead: Rick Bastien, Etienne Mabiala, Danny Beale, Kayla Ferguson and Russell McLellan died at the scene, while Matt Kearney succumbed to his injuries in hospital the next day. 

A seventh worker was taken to hospital in Toronto and has been moved to a rehabilitation centre for people recovering from life-changing injuries, according to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

"We don't have many incidents, even if you look across Canada, with this scale of injury in one incident to workers," said Cheryl A. Edwards, a former prosecutor for Ontario's Ministry of Labour who now defends businesses. 

Parallel investigations

While the Office of the Fire Marshal is focused on the origins, cause and circumstances of the blaze, a knot of other agencies have mounted parallel investigations, including the Ottawa Police Service (OPS), the provincial Ministry of Environment, and the Office of the Chief Coroner.

It would be "quite some time" before the OPS could comment on the cause or "draw any other investigative conclusions," a spokesperson for the force said.

A spokesperson for the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, which has expertise in fuels safety and is assisting investigators, agreed, particularly given the "extensive damage" at the site.

Police services may gather evidence in support of charges under the criminal code, a future coroner's inquest, or both, Edwards said.

Ottawa police declined to indicate either way, citing the integrity of the investigation.   

The coroner's office, which may make recommendations on how to prevent similar future deaths, said it has spoken to the families of the dead and their names have been released.  

While the explosion could be the subject of a discretionary coroner's inquest, that would only happen after all investigations and legal actions have wrapped, a spokesperson said.

Workplace policies, training under review

Ontario's Ministry of Labour, which inspects workplaces for safety issues and looks into all workplace fatalities, has also launched its own investigation, one that includes a review of Eastway Tank's workplace policies and employee training. 

"Our first priority is to identify contraventions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and Regulations, issue compliance orders and prevent further accidents," a spokesperson said. 

Under the act, the ministry must lay charges against a company within one year of an incident, unless inspectors become aware of further issues later on — something that "would be extraordinarily rare," Edwards said. 

Typically, police services lay charges much more quickly than the ministry, she added.

Police Chief Peter Sloly has said every available officer is being used to respond to the two-weeks-and-counting occupation of downtown Ottawa by people protesting COVID-19 public health mandates.

Asked if that effort has delayed or affected the Eastway Tank investigation in any way, a police spokesperson said some "investigative resources" are focused on the demonstrations and the "impact to other ongoing investigations cannot be qualified at this time."

Safety issue flagged in wake of explosion  

Since launching its investigation, the Ministry of Labour has issued one order and three requirements to Eastway Tank.  

While an order means the ministry determined a company contravened health and safety laws — requiring the business to address the issue or else potentially stop work — it's not necessarily a prelude to charges under the occupational health and safety act, Edwards said. 

The ministry's website outlines a number of potential requirements demanded of companies. They include everything from leaving a workplace undisturbed to allow for an examination to hiring an expert to test equipment. 

As of Thursday, Eastway Tank had complied with the order and one of the three requirements, according to the ministry. 

The ministry did not comment further but said Eastway Tank continues to co-operate with their investigation. 

CBC News has reached out to Eastway Tank for comment, but as of publication had not received a reply.

Some businesses simply might require more time to do what's asked of them, Edwards noted.

No complaints since 2018

The Ministry of Labour previously confirmed four orders were issued to Eastway Tank after a June 2017 inspection found problems related to exhaust pipe ventilation, welding safety and training, and exposures to hazardous chemical substances.

The field visit was made in response to a workplace health and safety complaint.  All of the 2017 orders were soon complied with.

The ministry returned to Eastway Tank in September 2018 after a public complaint about workers not wearing personal protective equipment, but found the company to be in compliance.

Since then, there have been no safety complaints from current or former employees or from the public about Eastway Tank, which former workers say was not unionized.

"We know that complaints are less likely from non-union workplaces," said Steven Bittle, an associate criminology professor at the University of Ottawa.

"Non-union workers are hesitant to report because they fear losing their jobs or they might not be made aware of some of their rights to safe work."

29 field visits over 17 years

CBC News asked the ministry for information about any Eastway Tank inspections and orders prior to 2017, and which of the inspections were proactive versus those based on complaints. 

The ministry has declined to say what safety issues, if any, were uncovered at Eastway Tank from 2004 to 2016, citing the ongoing investigation.

But the ministry did say it visited the company 29 times from July 2004 — the earliest period information was readily available — to January 2022. 

Nearly three quarters of those inspections, 21, were proactive, with the rest being reactive, including follow-ups. 

By comparison, one third of the 33,647 field visits conducted by inspectors across Ontario last year were proactive, the ministry said.

The ministry has "no set target for how many times a workplace may be visited," a spokesperson said.

Edwards said she's heard inspectors say in court and at coroner's inquests that they can only do so much in a day.

"They can't necessarily visit every business in their jurisdiction. And so some businesses don't receive any proactive inspections," she said.

'The dead can't speak' 

Some former employees have alleged a history of past safety lapses at Eastway Tank prior to the Jan. 13 blast. 

The allegations include fires, improper storage of flammable chemicals and "hot" trucks — tankers that still contained fuel or flammable residue — being exposed to sparks from welding and other activities at the company's Merivale Road facility.

"It was a very dangerous place," said one former employee, who worked there for several years in the 1990s. CBC has agreed not to name him because he fears reprisal. 

"I need to speak because the dead can't speak."

The former employee said he witnessed hot trucks inside the shop, workers smoking inside tanks, fires in garbage cans and five-gallon cans of fuel left open in the boiler room. 

The worker said he was concerned about underground tanks he said were used to store fuel drained from trucks. 

"Environment needs to inspect every inch of that property," he said. 

The Ministry of Environment, meanwhile, said it is taking the concerns of former employees about historic practices "very seriously."

"A review of these concerns is being incorporated into the ministry's ongoing assessment at the site," a spokesperson said. 

The ministry added it sampled an undamaged well on the Eastway Tank property, and water "directly beneath the site remains suitable as drinking water."