Workers’ safety commission probes unsafe workplace report at Iqaluit Northmart

The fire at Iqaluit’s Northmart, as seen early in the morning of Nov. 8. Health inspectors continue to scrutinize the impact of the blaze on parts of the store. (FILE PHOTO)

A online complaint made to the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut triggered an inspection of the Northmart store in Iqaluit, which opened last Saturday, nine days after a fire destroyed the warehouse beside the store. (SCREENSHOT)

A worker at the Northmart store in Iqaluit, which was ravaged by a Nov. 8 fire in its adjacent warehouse, but re-opened nine days later to the public, has made an online report of unsafe work conditions to the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, noting concerns after the store’s first day of operations.

That was enough to immediately prompt inspectors to carry out a site visit on Monday, Nov. 19, said Bert Hausauer, the WSCC’s chief safety officer.

“If it was an unsafe work place, the doors would have been closed,” Hausauer said Tuesday, in a telephone interview from Yellowknife.

Hausauer had been in Iqaluit on the day of the fire, watching the spread of the fire’s dark smoke, although he did not carry out this week’s store inspection.

After the visit from inspectors, the WSCC drew up what they call directions, for the Northmart store, which is owned by the North West Co., he said.

Hausauer said he can’t divulge these directions.

If Northmart meets the directions from the WSCC, the results will be shared with the worker who filed the online complaint, but the file will then he closed.

The goal of such a report, he said, is to improve employer response to a potentially unsafe workplace.

He said the WSCC takes complaints about unsafe work environments seriously, no matter what community in Nunavut workers report them from, and he encouraged calls or online reports to the trilingual website.

In a statement supplied on Monday to Nunatsiaq News, Derek Reimer, the NWC’s director of business development, did not make reference to the WSSC inspectors’ visit.

Reimer said the NWC had received approval to re-open the Northmart store following thorough inspections by the Fire Marshal’s Office and the Nunavut’s Department of Health.

“We take the welfare and safety of our employees and customers seriously, so we will continue to collaborate with local officials to ensure that we offer a safe and welcoming environment in the store,” Reimer said.

Reports by inspectors carried out by Government of Nunavut environmental officers, before and after the reopening of the store, reveal what had to be done.

GN health inspectors, who visited Nov. 9 and Nov. 17, provided direction on cleaning, ventilation, cooling equipment replacement and product disposal.

Greg Thibault, an environmental health officer, said in a Nov. 13 letter, given to the NWC and then given by the GN to Nunatsiaq News, that the amount of soot in the store varied by location.

The retail area closest to the warehouse showed a heavier accumulation of soot, he said, while the front of the store showed minor settling of soot.

Thibault did not make a specific reference to what is found in that kind of soot, but a smoke remediation expert, speaking to Nunatsiaq News, referred to it as a “toxic soup.”

Noting the “invasive nature of smoke and chemicals contained in smoke from a building fire,” Thibault said, “packaging that is solid such as glass, metal or heavier rigid plastic (plastic that holds it shape) can be considered to be unaffected and safe for consumption upon opening.”

However, open foods, foods with soft covering such as thin plastics, cardboard or paper is at risk of smoke permeating the product and is to be discarded, he said.

And food wares and utensils, such as spatulas and pans, may be used but should be washed or come with some direction to wash prior to use, he said.

The GN told Nunatsiaq News on Tuesday that the store has replaced its ceiling tiles, washed all surfaces and installed air scrubbers.

“The Department of Health continues to work with Northmart staff to ensure a thorough cleaning of the facility and the selling of safe, non-exposed food products. Potentially smoke-exposed foods, medicines or medical supplies have been disposed,” the Health Department said in a statement.

On a site visit on Nov. 17, a day after the store open, Azreer Gill, another GN environmental health officer, visited the site, finding it in his letter to the NWC to be “satisfactory.”

“Floors seemed to be cleaned and washed prior to start-up. Dust, dirt and grime buildup on the floors throughout the store was present possible to customer traffic,” he said.

On that day, some shoppers complained that, after their visit to the store for its sale, which offered 50 per cent off on all general merchandise, they suffered from breathing troubles and headaches.

Qikiqtaaluk Environmental Inc., which performed air quality testing, showed air quality results indicating that particulate levels were acceptable.

Air quality was again tested after the WSCC inspectors visited Northmart.

“Health and other agencies will continue to address any potential health concerns related to the fire,” said the Health Department’s statement.