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Province takes action on work place safety

Legislative changes seek to address Babine’s inquest recommendations.
Province takes action on work place safety
Mayor Luke Strimbold.

The province is taking steps to ensure workplaces are safer following the accidents that occurred at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake and Lakeland Mills in Prince George in 2012.

“The government has taken action to improve workplace safety in British Columbia so that workers come home to their families at the end of the day,” said Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Responsible for Labour.

With the introduction of Bill 35, government seeks to address the Lakeland and Babine coroner’s inquest recommendations that were directed to the ministry of jobs.

Bill 35 builds on the legislative changes made under Bill 9 earlier this year that strengthened WorkSafeBC’s ability to promote and enforce occupational health and safety compliance in B.C. workplaces. The changes introduced will:

Require employers to immediately report to WorkSafeBC all workplace fires or explosions that had the potential to cause serious injury to a worker;

Require employer investigation reports be provided to the workplace health and safety committee or worker health and safety representative, or be posted at the worksite;

Specify meaningful participation for worker and employer representatives in employer accident investigations;

Specify a role for workplace health and safety committees to provide advice to the employer on significant proposed equipment and machinery changes that may affect worker health and safety; and

Allow WorkSafeBC to proactively assist workplace health and safety committees in resolving disagreements over health and safety matters.

Burns Lake council had recently met with minister Bond and Suzanne Anton, Minister of Justice, to ensure that the coroner’s inquest recommendations were being implemented. The meeting took place during the 2015 Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) held in Vancouver last month.

“I must say when council met with minister Shirley Bond at UBCM it was very evident how important this was to the minister and the provincial government,” said Strimbold. “It was clear to me that Minister Bond understands the impact the mill explosions had on our communities and how important it is to make sure action is taken in response to the coroner’s inquest recommendations.”

Strimbold also stressed how important it was for the families of victims and the entire community to see a quick response by the provincial government.

The province says the workers compensation act amendments are part of the “ongoing, co-ordinated work” government has undertaken to make workplaces safer.

“I hope the proposed legislative changes signal how seriously we take the inquest jury recommendations, and represent a lasting legacy and some degree of closure for the families of the workers who lost their lives or were injured,” said Bond.

When the inquest into the deaths at Babine Forest Products concluded on Aug. 31, 2015, 41 recommendations were made to improve safety in the industry. Two of these recommendations were directed to the ministry of jobs. Seven recommendations had already been made to the ministry of jobs following the Lakeland Mills inquest, concluded on May 14, 2015.

One of the recommendations was about building and refitting mills to the highest possible standards. While construction standards do not fall under the mandate of the ministry of jobs, the ministry says industry standards “continue to evolve to better support safe facilities.”

A recommendation concerning employer accident investigations was addressed with recent Bill 9 legislative changes related to Gordon Macatee’s action plan. His plan provided 43 recommendations to ensure a world-class inspection and investigations regime at WorkSafeBC. Those changes to Bill 9 included WorkSafeBC:

Implementing a new investigation model that preserves the ability to conduct both cause investigations and prosecution investigations;

Implementing the sustained compliance plan for sawmills as outlined in the report; and

Significantly shortening the timelines for issuing administrative penalties and to develop a hierarchy of enforcement tools.

The province says the work to address the outstanding recommendations from the inquest jury continues across government.