This photo was taken by Cathy Cove sometime around 6 a.m. the day after the tornado, Aug. 22, 2011.
HEATHER BOA Bullet News GODERICH – The five-member jury in a coroner’s inquest into the death of Sifto’s salt mine worker Normand Laberge during a tornado that ripped through Goderich and area Aug. 21, 2011 delivered recommendations ranging from installing a town-wide siren system to more timely dissemination of information during emergencies tonight.
After four hours of deliberations, the jury delivered 14 recommendations for Sifto Canada Corp., federal and provincial agencies, and local municipal government to help prevent similar deaths in the future. (See list of recommendations at bottom of story.)
It also reviewed two days of evidence from witnesses who worked with the loading boom operator and experts in emergency management to fulfill its requirements under the Coroner’s Act of answering five questions: who the decreased was, and how, when, where and by what means the deceased came to his death. The jury determined Laberge died on Aug. 21, 2011 at 6:49 p.m. at Sifto’s salt mine in Goderich, Ont. He died as a result of multiple injuries as a consequence of crushing by industrial equipment due to a tornado. It was an accident.
“On behalf of the Office of the Chief Coroner, it is our hope that through this inquest process not only have the answers been given to the questions regarding Normand Laberge’s death, but that through these recommendations from the jury, some significant changes may result that lessen deaths in similar circumstances,” said Dr. Rick Mann, the coroner who presided over the inquest.
Laberge was operating a ship loading boom as it filled the Algoma Navigator with salt in late afternoon on Aug. 21, 2011 when a tornado came in from Lake Huron, pushing the boom along its track before tipping it over. Just 10 minutes earlier, he had requested and received permission to shut down the boom because a storm was moving in.
Mann thanked Laberge’s daughter, Jocelyne for participating on behalf of the family in the inquest.
“I can only imagine how difficult this process would have been but I am grateful that you were able to share with us a bit of who your father was and what he meant to so many people,” Mann said.
In arguments to the jury before its deliberations, Jocelyne, who is Normand Laberge’s youngest daughter, gave an address to the jury prepared by her and her sister, Marie-Louise.
“I am here today to represent my family, so that you have an idea of the wonderful man my father was. My father was the hardest worker I knew, and his dedication to his job was admirable, which is what make the circumstances of his death all the more heartbreaking,” she said.
Normand hailed from the Montreal area, born into a family of furriers. Jocelyne said as children they felt special in coats made for them and for their dolls.
“When we were little, it felt like he could do anything- he was our entertainer, our coach, our mentor. My dad was brilliant, and it felt as though he could make anything come to life for us, whether it was our playhouses, or our very own hockey rink. My father took great joy from creating things that made others happy,” she said.
In 2008, he married the love of his life, Brenda. They lived in their dream home, with space for animals and his gardens. His life was “a simple one, filled with the people he loved.”
Jocelyne said many people lost something on Aug. 21, 2011, whether it was homes, valuables or a sense of security. She said they lost their father, part of their hometown, and many reminders of their childhood.
“All of us were so harshly reminded Mother Nature controls our reality far more than we like to believe. Over the past 18 months, I am sure we have all struggled with how to heal from these losses. The challenges that both my family, and the people of Goderich, have faced have been enormous. For me, an important factor is being part of this process, learning how we can be more prepared,” she said.
She urged the jury to consider how to make Goderich a safer place, relying on the experts to give advice on how to improve the system.
“ We’ll never know if different policies would have saved my father, but please don’t let his death be in vain,” she said.
The jury recommendations are as follows:
To Environment Canada
1. Explore the feasibility of adding the Marine Tornado Warning banner on the weatheroffice.gc.ca town/city/municipality (current conditions and forecast) page so that all warnings (public and marine) appear in the one location for each affected town/municipality.
2. Explore the feasibility of including notification of Marine Tornado Warnings on the weather radio, for affected shoreline communities.
To Environment Canada, Emergency Management Ontario and Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission
3. Strongly encourage and recommend all broadcasters to participate in the National Alert Aggregation and Distribution System (NAAD.)
To Environment Canada, Emergency Management Ontario, Ontario Provincial Police, County of Huron and the Town of Goderich
4. Explore enhanced ways of timely dissemination to the general public of weather warnings that pose a risk to life. Such dissemination should consider the reach of social media (Facebook, applications, Twitter, and e-mails) and the limitations of social media; and also include other forms of notifications that do not depend on technology.
To Emergency Management Ontario
5. Work with municipalities to explore the feasibility of a municipal siren system for emergencies that has a consistent tone that is standardized across Ontario.
To Emergency Management Ontario, Ontario Provincial Police and County of Huron
6. Explore the feasibility that all emergency response bases (i.e. 9-1-1, fire, police, ambulance) be required to have a weather radio in a suitable location to permit the monitoring of weather warnings.
To Sifto Canada Corporation
7. Consider the use in Central Control of a Marine radio with a trained and licensed operator to permit the monitoring of marine weather warnings.
8. Review and update Operating Practice OP517 to include changes in the procedures since the tornado with a focus on the automatic shutdown of the ship loading boom and operator evacuation.
9. Ensure the ship loading boom operators are re-trained on the new procedures and equipment for the ship loading boom.
10. Continue ongoing training regarding emergency preparedness.
11. Review the emergency preparedness plan with respect to the need for radio replacement batteries at rally points.
To Town of Goderich, County of Huron and Emergency Management Ontario
12. Engage in ongoing public sector education and private sector communication regarding emergency preparedness focused on, but not limited to, the value of weather radios.
To Town of Goderich
13. Consider the implementation of a siren system for public alerting in emergencies.
To Ministry of Labour
14. Explore and consider the requirement of weather radios within workplaces with equipment that may be affected by weather warnings.
2 Comments on "UPDATE: Town-wide emergency siren among recommendations in Laberge inquest"
Very thorough coverage of this inquest.
Great idea about the siren but why not a webcam constant streaming at the lighthouse showing the lake, sunsets, moonsets and total weather? We have asked for this many times and have been denied by Mr. McCabe, Mayor and Council. Time to really show the inland / drylanders what really we are all about. Kincardine does it. Grand Bend does it. So why are we still living in the 20th century??