On January 3, 2002 Blair Hallet and Hy-Mark Construction Inc. will be sentenced for violations of the Health and Safety Act and Regulations that led to the death of Hallet’s 14 year old nephew Shane Stecyk.

Shane was killed when he fell 5 stories while working on Hy-Mark’s building site. Hallet pleaded guilty to the charges on September 16, 2001.

I’m hoping that the prosecution of Hallett and Hy-Mark Builders represents a tipping of the scales of workplace justice in this province.

On the positive side, Alberta Justice has assigned a skilled and committed prosecutor to concentrate on violations of the Health and Safety Act and Regulations.

On the other side of the scales is Alberta’s abysmal history of prosecution and flyweight penalties in cases involving workplace safety.

From 1997-1999, over 1500 compliance orders were issued to violating employers. Only 4 convictions were obtained, all involving fatalities.

To make matters worse, fines in Alberta average less than $30,000 each. And there has not been a successful prosecution involving a non-fatal workplace injury since 1994.

Coddling employers has not made the province a safer place to work. Each year in Alberta the Workers Compensation Board records over 115 official workplace fatalities, and the accident rates are rising, not dropping.

In the Hallet/Hy-Mark case, the Crown is calling for a fine of between $100,000 and $120,000 for all charges. Observers are hoping that a fine in this range, along with the $100,000 fine levied against General Steel this summer for violations leading to another fatality, represents a trend to higher penalties.

But is this sufficient to deter corporate criminals? Hy-Mark Builders, a construction company, was working on a condominium complex owned by Hy-Mark Properties, a development company. The sole director and shareholder of both companies was Blair Hallet. There are 70 condo units in the complex, each was expected to sell for up to $160,000. A fine of $100,000 would represent approximately $1428 per condo unit. Deterrent? You be the judge.

Hallet and Hy-Mark have been flaunting the law since at least 1995, leaving their workers vulnerable. (see Sidebar) On ten occasions since that time, officers from Occupational Health and Safety have been forced to intervene and either issue stop work orders to Hy-Mark Builders Inc. or to direct the company to immediately rectify unsafe work conditions. They were essentially the same types of violations- lack of guard rails and unguarded openings - that contributed to Shane’s death.

The point is that no one needed to die while working for Blair Hallet. Earlier intervention, with serious consequences may have saved Shane’s life.

Consequences for those in control of companies who put their workers at risk need to reflect an understanding of corporate motivation and corporate culture. Fines and penalties need to be felt both by the corporation and personally by the individual corporate manager.

In addition to higher, more meaningful financial penalties, treating the Hallet’s and Hy-Mark’s of the world like other criminals might begin the public redefinition of safety violations as unspeakable acts.

Imagine the scene. Instead of writing a cheque and shrugging off the death of a worker, Blair Hallett ends up wearing orange coveralls and picking the trash in the ditches outside of Bowden penitentiary. How long do you think it would take for corporate shareholders and top executives to take health and safety seriously? Not long, I suspect.

We already have some of the tools in place to deal with the problem of corporation that ignore health and safety standards.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act provides Officers with the power to enter any workplace, at any time, to inspect the conditions of work and to enforce the regulations.

The threat of this happening needs to be uppermost in the minds of those who control the workplace. Workplace Health and Safety needs to be given additional resources and the political support to apply a policy of active random inspections, and active prosecution BEFORE serious accidents or occupational exposures take place.

Workers also need to be reminded of their right to refuse unsafe work (a right most Albertans don't even know they have).

A public awareness campaign which encourages workers to report violations, and which changes public perceptions of workplace hazards could also help prevent workplace tragedies from being swept under the rug.

Such campaigns have been successful in making drunk driving socially unacceptable. But it must be backed by the law.

Finally, as individual workers and as citizens who elect and influence government we must become involved in identifying and pursuing those who threaten our health and well-being on the job.

So it doesn’t happen again.

A tragedy in the making: 
A chronology of Shane Stecyk’s death

1995

• Hy-Mark Builders Inc. issued a stop-work order for violations of fall protection regulations.

1996

• Hy-Mark given warnings on on four separate occasions. Multiple infractions cited each time.

1997

• Superintendent for Hy-Mark Builders assures investigators that concerns have been addressed. Despite these assurances, Hy-Mark receives reprimands from OH&S investigators on 6 separate occasions, citing multiple violations each time. On two occasions stop-work orders were issued.

1998

• On July 29, 1998 Officers inspect a new Hy-Mark site, finding several violations. Hallet was advised "that any serious violations of OH and S legislation will not be tolerated."

• July 8, 1999, Officers inspect a construction site where Hy-mark is the prime contractor (and responsible for sub-contractors), finding multiple violations. Hallet promises to deal with concerns.

• July 19, 1999 Officers return to the same site, observing multiple violations. Compliance orders are written to the sub-contractors and Hy-Mark is made aware of them.

2000

• July 10, 2000 14-year-old Shane Stecyk is hired by Blair Hallet, sole owner and director of Hy-Mark Builders, Inc.

• July 11, 2000 14-year-old Shane Stecyk falls five stories, to his death, while working on a condominium project. Labour department finally decides to prosecute Hy-Mark.