View cases - Stewart McKelvey

two lime kilns, heated to over 2,000 degrees. The NCG system piped various poisonous gases tothe recaust area from elsewhere in the mill to be burned off in the kilns.[15] Perhaps the most dangerous gas leak that could occur in recaust is a hydrogen sulfideleak. Hydrogen sulfide is colourless and odourless except at very low concentrations. It can belethal: exposure can knock a person out in seconds and a single breath of pure hydrogen sulfidecan kill instantly. The exposure limit for hydrogen sulfide set by the industrial health and safetyregulations is 10 parts per million (“ppm”).[16] Workers at Skeena always carry bite block respirators to allow them to escape in theevent of an emergency gas leak. Both bearded and clean-shaven persons can safely wear biteblock respirators. However, they do not allow the wearer to remain in a gas-contaminatedenvironment for any length of time. A person who must remain in such an environment, forexample to shut down equipment, conduct tests, or rescue someone, must wear an SCBA toprotect them from an unacceptable level of gas exposure.[17] Mr. Pannu testified that, after he appeared at work with his beard in 1983, he was sent fora “fit test” to see if he could safely wear an SCBA. He could not wear the SCBA properlybecause of his beard. When he was told his beard was unsafe, Mr. Pannu explained that he worea beard for religious reasons. Mr. Pannu testified that his supervisor at the time, Mel Hubbard,gave him a copy of Skeena’s 1981 beard policy (Ex. 12). This policy designated a number ofpositions within the mill for which being clean-shaven was a requirement. No recaustdepartment positions were so designated. Mr. Hubbard told Mr. Pannu that this meant he wouldnot have to shave.[18] Mr. Pannu continued to wear a beard and to work as a Recaust Operator until September1991, when he was sent for another fit test. Again, Mr. Pannu failed the test. Again, he wasasked to shave and refused. And again, nothing changed.[19] In the spring of 1993, workers monitoring gas levels in the recaust control room recordedconsistently elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, sometimes as high as 50-80 ppm. Everyone inthe area, including Mr. Pannu, was worried because the source of the gas leak could not befound. On April 29, 1993, a “near miss” incident was reported in the recaust department, as4