Former SaskEnergy worker believes cancer is linked to gas exposure on the job
Brian Hodgkinson always knew there was benzene in natural gas — after all, he spent 40 years working with it for SaskPower, then SaskEnergy.
Hodgkinson, 68, retired from SaskEnergy in 2014. A year later he discovered he had leukemia — blood cancer. Now, Hodgkinson and his wife — also a former SaskEnergy employee — are suing both companies because they think his exposure to gas at work led to his leukemia.
He never thought about the benzene much until his wife approached him six months ago.
“She asked me one day, ‘Is there benzene in natural gas?’ I said, ‘Oh, yeah.’ Well, she says, ‘it’s linked to cancers.’”
His wife Josie started researching the links between benzene exposure and the risk of developing leukemia, she even convinced one research group to share their raw data with her so they could bring it to an occupational medicine specialist in Saskatoon.
The doctor was convinced. In November, he wrote a letter to their family doctor supporting their claim that his leukemia was work-related.
“As I noted in my first letter dated Sept. 27th, benzene is a known (Group 1) carcinogen causing leukemia,” said Dr. Niels Koehncke of the Occupational Medicine Clinic at the University of Saskatchewan.
“I realize we don’t have accurate exposure information for Mr. Hodgkinson specifically during his time with SaskEnergy. Nevertheless, I feel these potential exposure levels, particularly over the course of a working lifetime, represent a risk of developing leukemia and support the work-relatedness of his leukemia.”
Hodgkinson now looks back on his 30 years of fieldwork with new eyes. He says workers were constantly exposed to gas and weren’t given appropriate protective gear.
He says workers were required to perform “sniff tests” to measure odorant in the gas.
“It’s where you go up to the gas meter in the house and you, you sniff natural gas and compare it to a machine.”
When called to the site of a ruptured gas line, he says they worked unprotected, he claims.
“No respirator, no nothing. Just a pair of goggles on.”
In a statement of defence filed in November, both provincial Crown corporations deny any wrongdoing.
They deny Hodgkinson suffered any loss or injury and say — even if he did — it was caused by his own negligence, claiming he failed to follow safety procedures.
Hodgkinson says the procedures weren’t clear.
Workers were trained to use respirators, and a few were available in the office, but staff were never directed when to use them, Hodgkinson said.
Safety consultant Brooks Paisley from Daxx Safety Group in Regina says most companies working around hazardous gases have very clear rules about respirators.
“There are safe work procedures, safe work practices, company rules that are in place as far as PPE, having an assigned respirator that is, you know, tight fitting, and assigned to the end user,” Paisley told CTV News.
Hodgkinson says he knows two other field workers from his Saskatoon office who also have blood cancer, and he can think of many who died in their 50s.
Now, dying at home from leukemia and stomach cancer, he said he feels cheated.
“It seems to me like they feel that the field workers are disposable.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.