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It's now up to five members of a coroner's jury to sift through amorass of contradiction, alleged neglect and missed opportunitiesto determine what should be done differently to prevent anotheraccident like the one that killed three mushroom farm workers in2008. Testimony at the inquest into the deaths wrapped Tuesday withtearful family members begging for workplace safety improvements. "Today I'm not here for my benefit, I'm here to help the people whoare still working," said Nga Trieu through an interpreter. Trieu's husband, Han Pham, was one of three farm workers killed onSept. 5, 2008, when hydrogen sulfide gas was released from a pipein a composting facility pump house. 'When you look at that farm, I would say they just about got it allwrong.' B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair Pham, Ut Tran, and Jimmy Chan died from the gas release, whileMichael Phan and Thang Tchen were left severely brain damaged. "A lot of Vietnamese workers don't speak English and cannot findwork," said Trieu. "They have to work at mushroom farms, andwhatever treatment they get from the boss, they have to suffer." Added Tran's wife, Hong Dang: "Every time I think about theaccident, I cannot breathe. But I've been trying my best to come[to the inquest], because I'm thinking about the families of otherworkers." The three family members told jurors they are struggling to get byon the income provided by the Workers Compensation Board, and urgedfurther protection for farm workers. Jim Sinclair, the president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, toldthe inquest earlier in the day there has been some pressure on thefamilies from the Vietnamese farming community to keep theirdispute within the community and not make a fuss at the inquest. Sinclair thanked the family members for their courage in testifyingat the inquest. "When you look at that farm, I would say they just about got it allwrong," Sinclair said. Series of missteps Over seven days of testimony, jurors heard of a series of misstepsthat led to the likelihood that someone would get hurt. Jurors heard the chief investigator for WorkSafeBC testify manymore could have been killed or injured that day. Ha Quan Truong, the farm's owner, told the inquest he relied on hismanagers and supervisors to keep the farm running safely and withinregulation. The farm had no safety procedures in place and had repeatedlyfailed to send monitoring reports as required by provincialregulations on composting facilities. Many other people who spoke at the inquest, including D'Arcy Ashe,the farm's former general manager, portrayed Truong as a stubborn,neglectful owner unwilling to spend money on safety and maintenanceequipment. Ashe told the inquest no expense had been spared when building thecomposting facility, but a contractor and an environmental engineerboth said the facility started malfunctioning within months of itsopening in November 2005. The inquest heard the facility never received a final inspection bythe Township of Langley and began operating without an occupancypermit. The township first sent a letter to Truong in September 2006,ordering Truong to cease operation until an inspection was passed. Over the next two years, Truong and the township were in a constantstruggle to bring the farm into compliance with bylaws andregulations. Defiant testimony During Truong's defiant testimony, which was done through aninterpreter, he told the jury he had always followed the township'sinstructions, despite evidence of two separate court actionsagainst his farm. "Don't say that I didn't do what I was asked to do," Truong angrilytold Ryan Berger, the township's lawyer at the inquest. "If I didsomething wrong, the police would have arrested me." In 2008, the township's general inspector was visiting the farmalmost daily, documenting its regulatory breaches. The inquest was told the composting facility's piping system wasclogging every two to three weeks with straw and manure. On Sept. 5, 2008, when workers were killed by the gas release whiletrying to unclog a pipe with a screwdriver, the township's lawyerswere in court trying to have the facility closed. It was scheduled to shut down the day after the accident. Truong told the inquest he lost everything due to the accident. Heasked family members not to think of him as an enemy, saying he hadbeen victimized too. He said he was sorry the workers died and said he felt the familymembers' pain, saying he didn't know the accident would happen. His words fell flat with his workers' families. "We can't go home and turn the page," Tracey Phan, daughter of thewheelchair-bound Phan, said Tuesday. "I don't want this to happen to anyone else. No 'I'm sorries,' no'I understands' can ever make it up." With files from the CBC's Aarti Pole. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Die Cast Aluminum Manufacturer , China Zinc Die Casting, and more. For more , please visit Custom Plastic Injection Molding today!
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