Company Official Fined for Refusing OHS Investigator Interview without a Lawyer

An OHS officer investigating a workplace fatality asked to interview a company official and 4 workers who witnessed the incident. All 5 men showed up but refused to go through with the interview unless their legal counsel was allowed to be present. The officer refused and issued AMPs of $5,000 against the official and $1,000 each against the workers for not going through with the interviews. The Alberta labour board upheld the penalties, finding that the legal authority of OHS government investigators to do interviews without counsel doesn’t violate the Charter and that the men’s refusal to be interviewed constituted obstruction [Appeal of an Administrative Penalty of an Officer brought by Volker Stevin Contracting Ltd., Board File No. OHS2020-17, July 20, 2021].