Vancouver Island companies were fined more than $190,000 for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and the Workers Compensation Act last year, according to the organization which promotes the prevention of workplace injury.
In its annual penalty report, WorkSafeBC documented 21 violations of the Act, totalling $191,113.72 on the Island. Across the province, WorkSafe B.C. imposed 260 penalties against 225 employers, totalling $2.9 million.
There were six incidents in which an employer was penalized due to a fatality.
The highest single penalty was against Vancouver Canucks owners Francesco Aquilini and Roberto Aquilini and Elisa Aquilini.
The Aquilinis, cited as being repeat offenders, were fined for failing to maintain in safe operating condition a farm vehicle the employer used to transport farm workers at a Pitt Meadows blueberry farm. They were fined $125,277.
The largest single fine on Vancouver Island was handed out to Mount Washington Ski Resort, which was fined $66,875.16 after a worker was “seriously injured while de-icing a conveyor system that was still running.”
WorkSafe B.C. said the conveyor system was “inadequately guarded while the de-icing was in progress” and because it lacked safeguards the firm was required to ensure that it was de-energized and its hazards effectively controlled before de-icing began.
“The firm failed to do so. The firm’s actions demonstrate its failure to provide its workers with the instruction, training, and supervision needed to ensure their safety,” said the report.
Last year’s violation and fine totals are well below those recorded in 2011, when there were 351 penalties totalling $4.8 million. However, WorkSafe B.C. vice-president of prevention services Al Johnson said the numbers do not necessarily reflect improved compliance around the province.
“It’s hard to compare year to year. There are so many factors that are different,” he said, noting the violations often reflect economic realities as some sectors such as forestry and manufacturing may not be working to capacity.
It is also a product of focus, as WorkSafe B.C. will key on some sectors in a given year.
“A lot has to do with how employers operate in a given year and where we focus our efforts,” said Johnson, who noted WorkSafe B.C. established residential construction and asbestos “working groups” to focus on problem areas.
That focus resulted in the documentation of 13 violations by roofing companies on Vancouver Island last year.
“We do have a lot of roofers being killed. In the construction sector, the likelihood of someone being seriously injured is from falls from ladders or rooftops,” he said.
Employers from the construction sector accounted for almost 85 per cent of all penalties. Most of those were related to inadequate use of fall protection (59 per cent).
The other area of particular concern is asbestos exposure, which accounted for 14 per cent of all construction-sector penalties.
Johnson singled out one company in particular as a repeat offender that has moved beyond the monetary penalty stage.
Burnaby-based Skylite Building Maintenance, now operating as Seattle Environmental, was handed a total fine of $227,500 for three separate violations for repeatedly exposing workers to asbestos.
“We have done everything we can to get them to comply,” said Johnson, adding Skylite has been cited more than 19 times over the last few years. “We take asbestos seriously and this particular employer time and time again demonstrates they don’t want to do things the way they should be done.”
WorkSafe B.C. is now pursuing court action to force compliance from the company.
