A Cape Breton family says they’re one step closer to clearing their son's name after he died in an explosion in 2016.
David Williams, 30, of Scotchtown, N.S., was doing maintenance work in a hydrogen compressor building on Jan. 15, 2016, when there was an explosion.
Williams, along with 52-year-old Drew Foster, died as a result.
Nexen Energy, the company owning the facility, blamed the two men for the accident. A spokesperson for the company said in a news conference, "After an extensive investigation they found the explosion was caused by staff doing work they weren't supposed to be doing."
“This was a disgrace, as far as I’m concerned,” says Williams’ father Michael Williams, “how (Nexen Energy) came out and placed the blame on their workers.”
Nexen Energy, a Calgary-based subsidiary of Chinese oil giant CNOOC Ltd., is now facing eight charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The charges relate to ensuring the compressor was properly serviced and making sure staff had read the operating manual and safety rules.
The Williams family says David was unfamiliar with the part of the plant he was working in, as we usually worked in a completely different area. They’re questioning why he was even in the new area.
“Feeling relieved at the fact that we’re finally, after two years, start getting some answers on what happened,” says Michael Williams.
Those answers have been hard to come by. The family says the stress of it all is taking its toll both mentally and physically.
“It's changed our lives forever,” Michael Williams says. “It did a big change to our lives.”
Nexen Energy did not reply to CTV News’s calls for comment. The company will appear in Fort McMurray provincial court on Feb. 14.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
