A former employee of the propane plant that exploded in northwest Toronto more than a week ago says he witnessed a host of unsafe practices at the facility.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Henry Dufour said he was not surprised there was an accident at the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gas plant.

"When you're looking to save a buck, you're looking for trouble," he said.

After a series of explosions at the plant a week ago Sunday, thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. Parminder Saini, an employee working at the Sunrise plant when the explosion happened, has been missing since the blast, and Toronto firefighter Bob Leek died at the scene.

'It is apparent that the local health and safety inspections failed to either take place or receive appropriate followup.'

—Kate Tagseth

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Meanwhile, Dufour, who worked for Sunrise until February when he was laid off, said he saw practices there that he had never seen anywhere else during 10 years working in the propane business.

For example, he said other companies had several emergency shut-off valves, but Sunrise had only one.

"If the guy's in the kiosk, he has to run across the yard to the dock to shut it down if there's an accident," he said. "He won't make it in time, I'll guarantee you that. Propane explodes very fast."

Dufour also said workers would smoke at the facility, would fill propane tanks that were past their expiry date, and would improperly load full tanks into the trunks of cars. He added that training was limited.

"Employees who don't know the equipment properly, who don't know how to spot a leak properly, who don't know the mechanical aspects of the job — [that] can result in accidents like this," he said.

When Dufour was laid off in February, he was given the option to return, which he planned to do in October.

When asked why he didn't report his concerns to the provincial body that regulates the industry, Dufour said he needed the job.

"[You] do a lot for your kids, including making the wrong choices and one wrong choice was not reporting it," he said.

A spokesperson for Sunrise said the company is not making any public comments given the many investigations into the explosions that are underway.