The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour is demanding that companies responsible for workplace fatalities are made to do more than simply pay a fine when found guilty of failing to provide a safe workplace.

Last week, two companies and a foreman were fined in connection with the death of 26-year-old Chris Fifield who fell 100 feet to his death at the site of the Hilton Garden Inn in St. John’s in May of 2018.

Federation of Labour President Mary Shortall says it is “shocking and unacceptable” that a worker can die because of negligent behavour by their employer, yet provisions under the Criminal Code of Canada which can charge and convict employers, are still not happening.

Shortall was responding to the penatlities given to companies found guilty of health and safety violations that she says are neither firm nor fair.

She says police investigators received training to look at workplace serious injuries or fatalities through a criminal lens, yet no charges have been laid in this province, even in cases where negligence has been found under OHS laws.