A fire at a Canadian pine wood pellet manufacturer, Pinnacle Renewable Energy, injured three workers. An official investigation into the cause has yet to be launched.

Sawmill owner Lakeland Mills Ltd. faces more than $750,000 in administrative penalties and a claims cost levy by WorkSafeBC, the provincial worker safety agency in British Columbia. A 2012 fire and explosion there killed two workers.

WorkSafeBC has issued orders that include the imposition of an administrative penalty and a claims cost levy against Babine Forest Products Ltd.

WorkSafeBC officers have embarked on a new round of inspections at sawmills and other wood processors as part of the safety agency's ongoing, comprehensive combustible dust initiative.

On November 1, WorkSafeBC officers will begin another round of inspections as part of the ongoing, comprehensive combustible dust initiative to focus sawmills and other wood processors in keeping worksites safe.

Electrified plywood in shocking video, a sawmill reopens following devastating combustible dust explosion, and Redbook's hottest wood species report were in the wood industry's most viewed reports this week.

Lakeland Mills Ltd. announced today it will build a new sawmill to replace the one destroyed in an explosion and fire on April 23, 2012, that left two employees dead.

Hampton Affiliates, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation (BLNDC), Burns Lake, B.C., responded today to the WorkSafe BC announcement that they have completed their investigation on the cause of the explosions at Babine Forest Products Limited (Babine), Burns Lake, and Lakeland Mills Ltd., Prince George.

Babine Forest Products and Lakeland Mills could each face fines of up to $652,000 if found guilty of violating the Workers Compensation Act. Combustible dust explosions racked the two sawmills earlier this year, killing four and injuring 52 others.