Investigators at Worksafe NB are having trouble getting near the “hot zone” from Monday’s explosion at the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Most of the investigation team was able to be on scene on Tuesday.
Assistant Director of Investigations, Eric Brideau tells us says it gave them the chance to get a sense of what they have in front of them.
“The building, the process, the people involved and from there we requested documentation to get things started,” Brideau says.
Brideau expects the investigation will take months noting the many other players involved in this situation. We asked what kind of information they are looking for as they interview the employees who were there at the time of the explosion.
“What did they see, hear, smell at the time or just before the explosion and any other information they can provide and there certainly is potential for a lot of interviews,” Brideau stated.
He says they are already working with many other agencies on this.
“Mainly the boiler and pressure vessel inspector, the fire marshall and the Irving employees are getting a list of who was on site, the contractors and their names because obviously there could be a lot of witnesses,” Brideau says.
Up to 3000 employees were on site at the time of the explosion as the Irving Oil refinery as part of the annual fall maintenance program, known as a turnaround.
(photo credit Joe Comeau)
