Wednesday, July 29, 2015
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Volume 95 - No. 30
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www.ldnews.net
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$1.30 GST inc.
BURNS LAKE
LAKES DISTRICT NEWS
Regional district overtime pay A CAO does not receive OT for the performance of their regular duties MICHAEL RIIS-CHRISTIANSON The Regional District of BulkleyNechako’s overtime compensation policy is generally consistent with that of other local governments in Northern B.C., though most do not pay senior employees for additional time spent on regular duties. Information provided recently by the Regional District of BulkleyNechako (RDBN) indicates that nine of its employees – most of them senior staff members who manage departments – received significant overtime remuneration last year. Most of that additional expense, which totaled more than $100,000, was earned in connection with the regional district’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), which stayed open for 92 days in 2014 and resulted in 1,001.17 hours of staff overtime. Gail Chapman, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the RDBN, said last week that Emergency Management B.C., created in 2006 to be the lead provincial agency for all emergency management activities in the province, covered overtime expenses incurred by the regional district in connection with the EOC. She said, however, that some senior employees did receive overtime compensation for performing their regular duties. “Emergency Management B.C. paid for the RDBN OT,” she stressed. “As a result of the huge amount of staff time spent dealing with emergencies (EOC), there was some necessary RD ...see RDBN OVERTIME ▼ P6
Ground Hog Day A Francois Lake resident has a family of ground hogs living at their house. The mother groundhog has lived there for four years and this year she had seven babies and these four guys were the only ones not camera shy.
Hampton Affiliates CEO, Steve Zika takes the stand
“I was unaware that dust was explosive,” said Steve Zika FLAVIO NIENOW Steve Zika, Chief Executive Officer of Hampton Affiliates – the company that owns Babine Forest Products -, took the stand at the inquest into the Babine Forest Products mill deaths. Zika, who participated in the inquest voluntarily, took the stand on July 22, 2015, at the Island Gospel Fellowship Hall in Burns Lake. Babine Forest Products used
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to be owned by West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. Hampton Affiliates bought the mill in 2006 and owns 89 per cent of the company while the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation owns 11 per cent. Inquest counsel John Orr started by asking Zika about his role at the mill. Zika said he visited Babine Forest Products about four times a year and always did a walk through the company, observing the operations of the mill and speaking to employees to see how they were doing. Orr asked Zika if he was aware of dust accumulation in the mill. Zika said that he was aware of the dust accumulation. “I was aware of our dust situation,” he said. “It was not getting better because of the pine beetle
wood.” Zika explained that the pine beetle wood caused more dust because the wood was dryer than normal. He added that mill management took “extra precautions” to make up for this. Zika said management was aware that breathing in dust was hazardous to workers, but that he was not aware that dust was explosive. “I had never ever heard of a dust explosion in a sawmill until this catastrophic explosion happened,” he said. “Not in a million years did I expect that [the explosion].” At the time of the explosion, Babine Forest Products had over 200 employees, but only about 20 workers testified at the inquest. Although many of the ...see HAMPTON ▼ P5
Administrative Assistant ...... September 8 Health Care Assistant ............ November 2 Industrial Mechanic/ Machinist ...................... February 15, 2016
CNC Office Closed July 20 to August 3
Phone: 250.692.1700 • Fax: 250.692.1750 • Toll Free: 1.866.692.1943 545 Highway 16 West • PO Box 5000, Burns Lake, BC • V0J 1E0 Email: lksdist@cnc.bc.ca • Website: www.cnc.bc.ca/lakesdistrict