Braya Renewables, owner of the refinery in Come By Chance, confirmed the man’s death shortly after the union representing the workers made a Facebook post in his honor.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragic death,” Braya Renewables said in an email to The Canadian Press.

On September 2, eight workers were hospitalized after the explosion that occurred about 150 kilometers west of Saint-Jean. Six of the eight workers have been able to return home, while one remains hospitalized.

United Steelworkers Local 9316 President Glenn Nolan said the deceased worker was Shawn Peddle. In its social media post, the union mentions that Mr Peddle died after “fighting for his life for the past six weeks”.

“It is an extremely sad day,” the publication reads, in which the local union also offers its condolences to the family of the deceased.

The cause of the explosion and the resulting fire is currently under investigation by the police and the provincial occupational health and safety department.

Braya Renewables claims it is “doing everything possible to learn from this tragedy and prevent another such event” but the local union insists the incident was “avoidable”.

Steelworkers Local 9316 is urging the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate the blast under the Westray Act and ‘leave no stone unturned’.

Bill C-45 – also known as the Westray Bill – was introduced in 2003 to amend the Criminal Code to add new statutory responsibilities for occupational health and safety and impose penalties for violations that result in death or injury.

The law was named after the Westray mine disaster, in which an explosion killed 26 miners on May 9, 1992 in Plymouth, Nova Scotia.

The Come By Chance refinery, a major employer in the area, was once an oil production facility but is currently being converted to renewable diesel and sustainable fuel.

Braya Renewables said Mr Peddle is a “known employee of the company” and an “integral” part of the team working on the refinery’s conversion.

This article was produced with financial support from the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.