Canadian tug company charged over 2021 fatal capsizing incident off British Columbia

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has stated that charges have been filed against a local vessel operating company and one of its directors over a capsizing incident that left two people dead in the waters off British Columbia two years prior.

Prince Rupert-based Wainwright Marine Services and company director James Bates face charges under the Worker’s Compensation Act in connection with the fatal capsizing of the tug Ingenika as it was towing a barge laden with cargo and supplies on February 11, 2021.

The tug was approximately 35 nautical miles south of Kitimat when bad weather and strong winds caused it to capsize, the RCMP told local media shortly after the incident.

The RCMP and the Canadian Coast Guard subsequently recovered the remains of two deceased crewmen. The third crewman, the incident’s sole survivor, was later found on shore not too far from where the tug capsized.

The RCMP said the charges against Wainwright Marine Services and Mr Bates allege that they failed to perform the following:

• Ensure the health and safety of workers;
• Maintain protective equipment, devices, or clothing in good condition;
• Ensure that pieces of equipment were capable of safely performing the functions for which they are used;
• Ensure that pieces of equipment were operated, tested, and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions;
• Provide their workers with the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure the health and safety of those workers in carrying out their work;
• Ensure that young or new workers were given proper health and safety orientation or training specific to the use of personal protective equipment in their workplace, and/or failed to document such orientation or training;
• Develop and implement appropriate written procedures for a workplace over water and in which a need to rescue or evacuate workers may arise; and,
• Hold annual drills to ensure awareness of emergency procedures, and/or to ensure that a record of such drills was kept.

Mr Bates and Wainwright Marine Services are scheduled to appear in Prince Rupert Provincial Court on March 15, 2023.