{"id":1077,"date":"2017-07-17T10:13:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T15:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/safety-violations-laid-in-divers-death-at-nova-scotia-power-plant"},"modified":"2017-07-17T10:59:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-17T15:59:45","slug":"safety-violations-laid-in-divers-death-at-nova-scotia-power-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/safety-violations-laid-in-divers-death-at-nova-scotia-power-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety violations laid in diver&#8217;s death at Nova Scotia Power plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content\" class=\"wrap12 story-head\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"colfull\">\n<p>A small commercial diving company in Hammonds Plains, N.S.,&nbsp;has been charged with four offences under the province&#8217;s Occupational Health and Safety Act following the death of an employee two years ago today.<br \/>\nLuke Seabrook died on&nbsp;July 15, 2015 after getting stuck underwater in a sluice gate&nbsp;at the Nova Scotia Power tidal plant in Annapolis Royal.<br \/>\nThe 39-year-old commercial diver from Dartmouth&nbsp;was working for a company hired by the utility to inspect the&nbsp;gates controlling the flow of the powerful tides of the Annapolis River.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wrap8 story-primary\">\n<div id=\"leadmedia\" class=\"story-leadmedia col8\">\n<div class=\"figure\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4207001.1500133518%21\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_620\/luke-seabrook.jpg\" alt=\"Luke Seabrook trained to become a commercial diver in Ontario.\" width=\"100%\" height=\"349\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Luke Seabrook trained to become a commercial diver in Ontario. (Seabrook family) Luke Seabrook, 39, died in 2 years ago today after getting stuck underwater in a sluice gate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wrap8 story-bodywrapper sclt-storybody\">\n<div id=\"sharecount_gig_containerParent\" class=\"story-middle col2\" role=\"complementary\">\n<div class=\"story-author module sclt-authorbio\">&nbsp;Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-relatedlinks module sclt-relatedlinks\">\n<div class=\"story-relatedlinks-body module-body\">\n<div class=\"story-relatedlinks-submodule story-internallinks module\">\n<div class=\"story-internallinks-body module-body\">\n<ul class=\"story-internallinks-list\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/diver-death-luke-seabrook-work-safety-1.3683206\"> &#8216;Enough&#8217;s enough&#8217;: Safety standards could have prevented diving death <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/luke-seabrook-diving-death-accident-tidal-power-plant-1.3678009\"> Family of diver Luke Seabrook seeks answers a year after death <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/diver-luke-seabrook-died-after-nova-scotia-power-dam-gate-left-open-brother-says-1.3172533\"> Family of diver who died at Nova Scotia Power dam questions &#8216;insane&#8217; gate safety <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-body\" role=\"main\" aria-labelledby=\"storyhead\">\n<div class=\"story-content\">\n<p>A small commercial diving company in Hammonds Plains, N.S.,&nbsp;has been charged with four offences under the province&#8217;s Occupational Health and Safety Act following the death of an employee two years ago today.<\/p>\n<p>Luke Seabrook died on&nbsp;July 15, 2015 after getting stuck underwater in a sluice gate&nbsp;at the Nova Scotia Power tidal plant in Annapolis Royal.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old commercial diver from Dartmouth&nbsp;was working for a company hired by the utility to inspect the&nbsp;gates controlling the flow of the powerful tides of the Annapolis River.<\/p>\n<h2>4 charges<\/h2>\n<p>According to court&nbsp;documents,&nbsp;Paul&#8217;s Diving Services Inc. is alleged to have: &nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>failed to provide information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to address water flow hazards at the tidal generating station;<\/li>\n<li>failed to take precautions &#8220;to ensure that employees, and particularly the supervisors and foremen were made familiar with&#8230; hazardous water pressure differential that may exist at the sluice gates&#8221;;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>failed to ensure a written dive plan was in place that met the requirements of the province&#8217;s Occupational Diving Regulations;<\/li>\n<li>failed to ensure that a dive was not conducted in hazardous water-flow conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The charges have not been proven in court. A representative of the company is due in Digby provincial court on&nbsp;July 24 to enter a plea.<\/p>\n<p>An official from the company declined to comment on the matter, when reached by phone Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>If convicted, penalties could include a fine as high as $500,000, up to two years in jail, or both a fine and&nbsp;a jail term.<\/p>\n<p>Seabrook&#8217;s family was&nbsp;told&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/diver-luke-seabrook-died-after-nova-scotia-power-dam-gate-left-open-brother-says-1.3172533\">the gate was not fully closed and powerful water pressure sucked him into the&nbsp;gap<\/a>. His helmet was wedged in the opening, trapping him underwater.<\/p>\n<h2>Charging &#8216;the little guy&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>The province has up to two years to investigate and lay charges in workplace incidents. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/diver-death-luke-seabrook-work-safety-1.3683206\">Seabrook&#8217;s family and diving safety advocates have&nbsp;been raising the&nbsp;case as a &#8220;catalyst for change<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a letter emailed in May to provincial officials, including Premier Stephen McNeil, the family urged the province to consider laying charges against Nova Scotia Power.<\/p>\n<div class=\"figure\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4207011.1500135554%21\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/nsp-annapolis-tidal-station.jpg\" alt=\"NSP Annapolis Tidal Station\" width=\"100%\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">A wreath at the Nova Scotia Power Annapolis Tidal Station where Luke Seabrook died. (Dave Laughlin\/CBC)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Seabrook&#8217;s mother Angela Seabrook said she feared labour officials might be &#8220;apprehensive about laying charges further up the line&#8221; and that the Occupational Health and Safety Branch had not fulfilled&nbsp;its mandate for workplace safety &#8220;based on the decision to only charge the little guy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/luke-seabrook-diving-death-accident-tidal-power-plant-1.3678009\">No closure for family of diver killed at Nova Scotia tidal plant a year ago<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Too many large corporations escape being held accountable for hiring third-party contractors,&#8221;&nbsp;she said.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;No evidence&#8217; against NSP<\/h2>\n<p>The province disputed that. Daniel McNeil, a spokesperson for the Labour Department, said &#8220;no evidence was gathered to support laying charges against Nova Scotia Power Inc.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For its part, Nova Scotia Power spokesperson Tiffany Chase said in an email that&nbsp;Seabrook&#8217;s death was a &#8220;terrible tragedy. Our thoughts are with his family. Workplace safety is integral to our corporate culture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The CEO of the Diver Certification Board of Canada, David Parkes, said he agreed that Nova Scotia should not be charged because the utility was&nbsp;not Seabrook&#8217;s employer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Slight improvement&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Parkes said he expects only a &#8220;slight improvement&#8221; in the commercial diving world as a result of the charges. He said diving contractors will be &#8220;more and more conscious on doing things like dive plans, taking a better job safety analysis before they start work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"figure\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4207008.1500134390%21\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/david-parkes.jpg\" alt=\"David Parkes\" width=\"100%\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">David Parkes is CEO of the Diver Certification Board of Canada. (Elizabeth Chiu\/CBC)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He said Nova Scotia lags behind New Brunswick, which has trained nine general inspectors in diving issues since the accident.<\/p>\n<p>Parkes said he would&nbsp;like to see Nova Scotia adopt&nbsp;regulations that&nbsp;require contractors to notify the Labour Department 24 hours in advance of a dive project. That&#8217;s the law in Ontario and British Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Donovan, a diving safety expert, said relying solely on regulations isn&#8217;t the answer. He said it&#8217;s up to commercial diving contractors to adopt best practices to ensure a diver&#8217;s safety.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"spaced\">By&nbsp;Elizabeth Chiu, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/cbc-news-online-news-staff-list-1.1294364\">CBC News<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"delimited\">Posted: Jul 15, 2017 2:45 PM AT<\/span>Last Updated: Jul 15, 2017 2:45 PM AT<br \/>\nDirect Link: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/safety-violations-diver-death-nova-scotia-power-tidal-plant-1.4206991\">http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/safety-violations-diver-death-nova-scotia-power-tidal-plant-1.4206991<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(CADC NOTE: The adaption of the CSA Dive Standards as a minimum operating criteria goes a long way to ensuring diver safety. It is CADC&#8217;s goal to have &#8220;One Country &#8211; One Dive Standard&#8221;. However, unless there is adherence to the standards (and eventual adaption into regulations)&nbsp; AND enforcement of them, there will continue to be an inherent danger in the profession. In all provinces, a requirement for the dive operator to file a notification of project 24 hours in advance of a project would go a long way to insure diver safety. If the jurisdiction having authority knows where and when a dive operation is to take place, then the dive operator will conduct operations to insure compliance to the regulations &#8211; or the standard in place. This one simple requirement to file a notification of project 24 hours in advance is a giant step forward to the protection of our underwater workers. It is a crucial key.) &#8211; Doug Elsey &#8211; CADC Executive Director)<br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; top: 148px; left: 20px;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; top: 148px; left: 20px;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; top: 3038px; left: 20px;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c  no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; top: 3038px; left: 20px;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A small commercial diving company in Hammonds Plains, N.S.,&nbsp;has been charged with four offences under the province&#8217;s Occupational Health and Safety Act following the death of an employee two years ago today. Luke Seabrook died on&nbsp;July 15, 2015 after getting stuck underwater in a sluice gate&nbsp;at the Nova Scotia Power tidal plant in Annapolis Royal. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-safety-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1088,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions\/1088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cadc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}