Fifteen per cent of the penalties imposed against B.C. companies for work-related health and safety violations were related to exposing workers to asbestos, according WorkSafeBC’s 2011 annual report.
WorkSafeBC imposed 352 penalties in 2011 and handed out $4.9 million worth of fines for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and the Workers Compensation Act.
Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. earned the highest fine – $250,000 – for a fatality in which a worker was killed when he was hit on the head by a falling 1.5-metre-wide rock dislodged from a slope above his worksite.
The firm was found to have allowed work to proceed without clearing loose material uphill. WorksafeBC found the company failed to adequately train workers for the land-clearing work.
WorksafeBC handed out 16 penalties related to workplace fatalities in 2011.
“Monetary penalties are imposed on employers for repeated or serious violations of occupational health and safety regulations and to motivate to comply with their legal responsibilities,” said Jeff Dolan, WorkSafeBC’s director of investigations. “An employer is not penalized if they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent risks to their workers.”
In 2011, WorkSafeBC stepped up monitoring and enforcement of contractors working in the construction industry over concerns about workers being exposed to asbestos during demolition.
The workplace watchdog developed an eight-person team of prevention officers, who have identified a network of contractors whose “substandard practices” have been putting workers at risk.
Many of the 300 homes demolished each month in the Lower Mainland are likely to contain asbestos, and WorkSafeBC has found some contractors are failing to properly identify hazards and provide for safe removal of the material. Exposure to asbestos can cause asbestosis, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.
As a result of stepped-up efforts, 54 of the 352 penalties imposed in 2011 were for violations related to workers exposed to asbestos in residential demolition.
