Eastway Tank, owner plead guilty in workplace blast that killed 6

The company at the centre of one of the deadliest workplace incidents in Ottawa has pleaded guilty to two charges, while the owner of the company has pleaded guilty to one.

On Jan. 13, 2022, Eastway Tank, Pump and Meter Ltd. employees Rick Bastien, Etienne Mabiala, Danny Beale, Kayla Ferguson and Russell McLellan died in a blast that destroyed the decades-old business on Merivale Road.

A sixth employee, Matt Kearney, succumbed to his injuries in hospital the next day, while a seventh person survived but suffered severe injuries.

Eastway and its owner Neil Greene were accused of breaching Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) "on or about" the day of the explosion.

On Friday, the company was ordered to pay a total fine of $600,000 for the two counts it's facing, alongside a 25 per cent victim surcharge.

Greene has been ordered to pay a $80,000 fine and a 25 per cent victim surcharge.

The corporate fine is the highest ever issued against a company of Eastway's size in the history of the OHSA, and the fine against Greene is among the highest ever for an individual charged under the act.

No penalty can bring back the victims, Justice Mitch Hoffman said in his decision.

Hoffman said he took into account the lack of any prior OHSA convictions against Greene or the company, and the high level of remorse shown by Greene's guilty plea. Hoffman called the penalty "entirely appropriate," and said it should serve as a warning to other businesses.

'Failed to take every precaution reasonable'

In a joint submission, read out in court Friday, the Crown and defence lawyers for Greene agreed he and the company would plead guilty to failing to ensure that diesel fuel to be used for the wet testing of trucks was not contaminated with gasoline or any other flammable liquid of substance.

The statement outlined how the Office of the Fire Marshal found gasoline involved in the explosion was the result of "contaminated diesel testing fuel being used in the wet test."

Wet testing involves loading a tanker with diesel or gasoline in order to calibrate equipment inside it.

They also agreed that there were two sources of gasoline cross-contaminating the diesel, which led to the explosion.

"Eastway failed to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances in the protection of workers at a workplace," the submission reads.

The company also pleaded guilty for failing to provide adequate information, instruction, and supervision to workers on safe fuel storage and handling procedures to protect the workers from the hazard of diesel fuel, used for the wet testing of trucks, becoming contaminated with gasoline or any other flammable liquid or substance.

Clockwise from top left: Matt Kearney, Etienne Mabiala, Danny Beale, Rick Bastien, Russell McLellan and Kayla Ferguson were killed by the Eastway Tank explosion. (Submitted photos)

Both company and owner faced charges

Eastway, founded by Greene's father, had been in business for more than 50 years at the time of the explosion. Greene took over the company at the age of 20, when he was still a university student.

One year after the disaster, Ontario's Ministry of Labour charged Eastway and Greene with three identical counts each under the province's Occupational Health and Safety Act.

A months-long trial was scheduled to begin last month but was abruptly called off. The ministry told families instead to expect a guilty plea and for the matter to be "resolved" on April 5.

In the first charge, the ministry alleged Eastway failed to ensure that the process of loading and "wet testing" a truck happened a safe distance away from ignition sources.

Six employees at Eastway Tank, Pump and Meter were killed in an explosion in January 2022. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)

The second charge accused Eastway of "splash" loading fuel into the truck.

That's what happens when someone opens a tank lid and "just pumps product into the opening with no control," said Chris Revers, who managed a tank manufacturing plant in Alberta for 16 years, in a previous interview with CBC.

"The product just splashes all over the tank, spilling on the tank [and] creating a fire or explosion hazard," Revers said.

The third charge alleged Eastway did not properly instruct workers on safe fuel storage or handling procedures.

'Our world fell apart'

The packed courtroom included family members of the six dead, and Tanner Clement, who was severely injured in the blast.

In a victim impact statement, Beale's mother, Jean Schade, said she was notified late that night of her son's death when a police officer showed up at her door.

She described the pain of having to tell his twin and other sister.

"Our world fell apart," she said. "The pain you feel when a child dies is a deep physical ache."

She told the court she no longer enjoys watching It's a Wonderful Life, a film she used to watch with her son.

Danny Beale's photo along with his Eastway hat sit by a decorative box holding his ashes. (Submitted by Meghan Beale)

One of Mabiala's daughters, Celeste, also addressed the court on behalf of her sister and mother, describing her gentle and patient "genius" father who would "give everything he had for someone in need."

Since her dad's death, the sight of oil trucks makes her sick and she's constantly checking to see if they have an Eastway logo.

"The worst was seeing all the things my dad loved," she said. "The whole house was filled with his memories and everything that he touched."

In a statement read by one of Kearney's sister's she described the unimaginable loss and pain of losing a son and younger brother that has "left a palpable void in the hearts of all who knew him."

Kearney, who died the day after the explosion, had called his family from the ambulance. They sat by his hospital bed in his final hours.

"People say time heals all wounds, but this one does not get better," she said.

'I will never be the same again'

Louise Martel, Bastien's fiancée, was joined by his children, Josh Bastien and Tracy Pritchard.

"On January 13, 2022, my life changed forever. The love of my life left for work and never came back," she said.

"[It was] one of the worst nightmares a person can experience."

Martel said she wasn't told right away about what had happened at the Merivale Road worksite and was worried when Bastien didn't come home and she couldn't reach him by phone. Then she found out about the explosion through social media.

"That day will always be ingrained in us, and we must live with that forever," she said. " I will never be the same again."

Bastien's son and daughter expressed concerns over Eastway's safety before the accident.

His son Josh Bastien called for more snap inspections of worksites, while his daughter, Pritchard, talked about how, just weeks earlier, her dad had been waiting to hear back about another job.

"If Eastway was so safe, this would never have happened," she said through tears.

An aerial shot of the work site after the fatal explosion. (Ottawa Police Service)

'I feel robbed'

"The very second we found out, it was like our entire world stopped turning. It felt like we were the ones who died," Tara Henderson, Kayla Ferguson's sister, wrote in a statement read by the Crown.

She described the unique bond they held as sisters and the anger she feels over Ferguson's "senseless" death at the age of 26.

"I feel robbed of the life she was supposed to have and the life we as sisters were supposed to have together," she said.

"We were supposed to grow old together. We have her ashes and memories."

With his mother sitting beside him, Tanner Clement gave his own victim impact statement.

He described his anger over how his life took a drastic turn that day in an incident that was "preventable" and "unacceptable."

Clement had been rushed to The Ottawa Hospital's General campus before being transferred to a Toronto hospital because his injuries were so severe, suffering third- and fourth-degree burns, for a while he had no use of his hands.

"I am mentally scarred for life," he said, recalling running from the building on fire and seeing his co-workers dead.

"The sight of Matt [Kearney] and his injuries will haunt me forever."

Former employees testify having 'full faith' in workplace safety

According to Donald Bayne, one of Greene's defence lawyers, both Eastway and its owner had a long history of compliance with safety and regulatory procedures.

Prior to the January incident, Greene and Eastway had no OHSA convictions.

In a letter read in court by the defence, two former Eastway employees said they had "full faith" that "no danger was present" in the workplace.

Greene's defence lawyers pointed to his guilty plea as a "significant" factor to consider during sentencing, arguing it has spared the families of those killed and the survivor of the blast from testifying in what would have been a complex trial.