The Hogg’s Hollow Disaster of 1960

Following the Hogg's Hollow Disaster, Italian Canadians took to the streets protesting discrimination and unsafe working conditions.

Less than three years after the Dresden cave-in, tragedy struck again in Ontario, this time at Hogg’s Hollow, in Toronto. I’m not sure whether this project was under the auspices of the Ontario Water Resources Commission, but it’s the type of water infrastructure work that was being done across the province at that time, just like the pumping station and treatment plant that had been built in Dresden.

In Hogg’s Hollow, close to where the York Mills subway station is today, water mains were being installed in tunnels 35 feet below the surface. March 17, 1960, near the end of the workday, a fire broke out. One man was pulled out alive, but the heat of the fire, and rising water prevented rescuers from reaching five other workers. The body of the first victim, Pasquale Allegrezza, was brought to the surface eight hours later, but it took five days to recover the bodies of the other four men: Giovanni Battista Carriglio, Giovanni Fusillo, and Alessandro and Guido Mantella, who were brothers.

At the inquest two weeks later, it became clear that there had been serious safety deficiencies: For a start, the men were not wearing protective equipment, like hardhats or work boots. Unbelievably, they worked in the dark since no flashlights had been provided, and there were no fire extinguishers or breathing equipment in case of emergencies. Inside the tunnels, the air was pressurized, to prevent water and silt from seeping in. Workers needed to enter a decompression chamber before returning to the surface, but it turned out that the operator didn’t know how to use the decompression chamber properly because the instructions were in English. Just like the Dresden excavation, the Hogg’s Hollow work site was a disaster waiting to happen - and in both cases, it was immigrant workers who paid with their lives.

Demanding change

Unlike the Dresden work crew, however, the Hogg’s Hollow workers were unionized. While the families of victims were disoriented and in shock, just like the Dresden families, in a city there were others who could organize and take up their cause. Union officials attended all press interviews and public hearings, keeping the focus on the safety issues and the broader issue of immigrant worker vulnerability. Italian Canadian workers went on strike and protested against discrimination. Italian immigrants were urban and lived in the same city neighbourhoods, so it was easier to organize, whereas the Dutch immigrants where distributed around the countryside. Both the Dresden tragedy and the Hogg’s Hollow disaster were headline news but the ongoing efforts of the unions and the Italian Canadian community meant that Hogg’s Hollow was kept in the public eye - and that led to a very different outcome.

And they got help from the press. The Toronto Telegram, in particular, took up the causes of workplace safety and the poor treatment of immigrant workers. Growing public sympathy put pressure on the government and Premiere Leslie Frost. Within one month of the Hogg’s Hollow disaster, a Royal Commission was launched. The commission was tasked with a comprehensive review of safety standards, practices, and outcomes in all industries across the entire province

The Royal Commission

This was a pivotal moment in Ontario’s history and ultimately laid the foundation for today’s health and safety legislation. Organizations were invited to submit reports on their work and 120 individuals testified, ranging from head’s of government departments to labourers (who were identified only by their first names, presumably to protect their privacy). The Royal Commission worked through the rest of 1960, delivering their findings in December. That report, along with all of the submissions are now in the Ontario Archives, Where I reviewed them last year. One day, I hope someone will do a proper study of the material and write a report about this milestone in our history.

What about Dresden?

In all of that work, however, there is one glaring omission, which I still can’t quite believe: there is no mention of the Dresden cave-in. At that time, it was still Ontario’s worst workplace tragedy in terms of fatalities and and it had happened only a few years earlier. Even more astonishing, John Ohrt, the Department of Labour Inspector who took charge of the recovery operations in Dresden, was one of the witnesses who testified before the commission. On top of that, the Trench Excavators Protection Act, the relevant legislation in the Dresden case, was discussed in some detail. Just two years earlier, the Dresden case had raised an important legal question (e.g. what excavations are covered under the act) and would have been exactly the type of safety issue that the commission was intended to examine.

Instead, the one written submission on this topic, a short history of the Trench Excavators Protection Act, focused on how well municipalities were implementing the legislation. At the end of that document, almost as an afterthought, it’s mentioned that charges had been laid under the Act only three times. In two cases the contractors were convicted and fined, and in the third, the contractor was acquitted because it wasn’t clear whether that excavation had met the criteria of a “trench” - and therefore whether the legislation applied. Of course, this was the Dresden cave-in. The number of fatalities in was not even mentioned.

Similar tragedies; different outcomes

Dresden and Hogg’s Hollow happened during the same era and share important similarities, but one of these events triggered a process leading to the modernization of our workplace safety standards and laws, while the other turned into an anonymous footnote in less than three years.

This reference to Ontario's worst workplace tragedy was buried in a submission and not even mentioned in the Royal Commission's final report.

Why we need your help

The disappearance of the Dresden tragedy is a striking example of a Canadian problem: We don’t preserve or tell our stories. Here’s another example: although the Hogg’s Hollow disaster is well-known, as far as I can tell no one has even written a book about it. And if we don’t know about the major events, how will we ever learn to remember and honour individual tragedies, never mind the rich tapestry of immigration stories that are so central to the character of this country?

Please help to shine a light on the “Dresden 1957” documentary project! It’s not easy to fund a film these days, but with a large community of supporters, we can do it. By making this film, can ensure that this story, and stories like it, are never again forgotten. Help us tell this story.

Learn more about the Dresden 1957 project or how you can support it.

Filming for "Dresden 1957" inside the now abandoned water treatment plant in Dresden, Ontario.