Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
Issue link: https://digital.thesafetymag.com/i/1262450
U P F R O N T F I N E S A N D P E N A L T I E S 8 www.thesafetymag.com/ca CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FINED $662K FOR REPEATED WORK SITE VIOLATIONS BRITISH COLUMBIA-BASED construction firm Peace River Hydro Partners Construction Ltd. was fined $662,102.48 in March following a work site inspection by WorkSafeBC. The work site, a hydro dam construction project based in Fort St. John, was found to be in violation of several health and safety guidelines. These violations were observed with regards to the use of wheel chocks and curbs for rock trucks, training and documentation, emergency facilities, chemical labelling and ventilating in a lab. In its report, WorkSafeBC found that the construction firm had failed to install adequate curbs where there was a danger of a vehicle running off the edge of an elevated area and failed to ensure that each piece of equipment was capable of safely performing its functions. Additionally, it was found that Peace River Hydro Partners Construction failed to provide its workers with the training necessary to ensure workers' health and safety and to keep adequate training records. Furthermore, the firm failed to take action to correct reported unsafe work conditions without delay as well as failing overall to ensure the health and safety of all workers at its worksite. WorkSafeBC reports that these were all repeated violations. Jamie Bodnarchuk, a spokeswoman for Peace River Hydro Partners Construction, said in a statement: "While cited for orders of non- compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation resulting in the administration of a penalty, PRHP has since complied with all written orders associated with the penalty, and undertook immediate steps to put operational improvements in place to prevent future occurrences." This is not the first time that the construction firm has been fined by WorkSafeBC. It was fined a similar amount in 2019. Indeed, Peace River Hydro Partners Construction had already been fined $662.102 last year in August, after a worker at the Fort St. John site accessed the main circuit breaker in a high- voltage electrical cabinet on the firm's tunnelling equipment and sustained an electrical shock injury. WorkSafeBC inspected the site and observed that the main electrical breaker extensions on the exterior cabinet door were not functioning, the de-energization switches had been circumvented and the main breaker switch-box isolation covers were in disrepair. In addition, WorkSafeBC determined in its report that it was a standard work practice at this site to access the main circuit breaker without following lockout procedures. A stop-use order was issued for the tunnelling equipment. WorkSafeBC found that Peace River Hydro Partners failed to ensure that its equipment was capable of safely performing its functions and failed to provide its workers with the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety. These were both repeated violations. The firm also failed to effectively isolate and control hazardous energy sources, a high-risk violation. Calgary company fined $280K for incident in Saskatchewan Trinidad Drilling has been fined $200,000 plus a surcharge of $80,000. The company pleaded guilty to contravening subsection 19(4) of Saskatchewan's occupational health and safety regulations: failing to ensure that no worker is permitted to perform work unless the worker has sufficient experience to perform the work safely and in compliance with the act and the regulations or is under close and competent supervision, resulting in the serious injury of a worker. Charges stemmed from a work site incident in which a worker was injured when a pressurized hose came into contact with a rotating pipe. "While cited for orders of non-compliance with the OH&S Regulation resulting in the administration of a penalty, PRHP has since complied with all written orders associated with the penalty." Jamie Bodnarchuk, spokeswoman for Peace River Hydro Partners Construction Film production company fined $289K following death of stunt double Following an investigation into TCF Vancouver Productions Ltd. and its work site, WorkSafeBC has fined the company $289,562.63 following a fatal motorcycle accident that occurred during the filming of Deadpool 2 in August 2017. During the filming of a stunt scene, the double was ejected from a motorcycle and sustained fatal injuries. WorkSafeBC found that, among other things, the employer had not conducted an adequate assessment of the risks associated with this work activity. It was also found that TCF Vancouver Productions failed to ensure that the operator of the motorcycle wore the appropriate and required headgear. Second offence results in $112K fine for window manufacturer Aluminum Window Designs is required to pay a total of $112,500. The company was fined $90,000, plus a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge of $22,500. In 2014, the company was fined $75,000 for another offence. On June 28, 2018, the worker was using a punch press to cut pieces of aluminum window frame. A piece of aluminum became stuck in the machine. The worker attempted to remove this jammed piece. While pulling at the part, the top die section of the machine moved downwards. The worker suffered critical injuries.