WorkSafe Overhaul Report Issued
Prince George, B.C. – WokSafe B.C. Administrator Gordon McAtee has presented his report on the overhaul of WorkSafe BC. He calls for a change in the manner investigations are carried out and stiffer penalties.
Among his 44 recommendations:
WorkSafe investigative teams be split into two, 15 person units. When one is examining the occupational health and safety aspect ( cause and prevention investigations) and the possibility of criminality arises, it would stop its investigation, and the second investigative team would start the investigation all over again to ensure proper warrants are issued and charter of rights respected. There would be no information or involvement from the initial investigators. He calls for an MOU with police and the Criminal Justice Branch be signed.
“WorkSafe enforcement tools are either very soft or very hard,” says McAtee, He suggests a new suite of enforcement tools for discussion and consideration, including:
Ticketing workers who fail to wear the proper equipment.
Banning certain repeat offenders from the industry
He calls for more WorkSafe inspectors in the field saying work carries on 24/7, inspections mainly take place Monday to Friday.
He says 85% of sawmills in BC are in compliance with the dust control orders, and while noting the 85% have spent millions to upgrade systems and come into line, he says there should be extra effort for the 15 % who are not. He calls for daily inspections, and those daily inspections would continue until there is a record of a straight 30 days of no violations.
Jobs, tourism and Skills Training Minister Shirley Bond started her comments on the report by addressing the families who suffered loss in the fatal explosions at Babine and Lakeland Mills. “The actions taken today will ensure that families will not have to face what they had faced.”
“Government is accepting all of the recommendations” says Bond. Implementation will start immediately.
She says the development of the two investigative units is “doable” and that steps will be taken soon to make that happen.
She agrees in the additional consequences outline by McAtee. “Consequences change behaviour” says Bond who adds that there are several repeat offenders and it has taken too long to get to the level of consequence that would bring about that change.
McAtee has agreed to stay on as the “Special Advisor” to WorkSafe.
You can read the full report here.
Comments
They also need to start going after employees that are dangerous drivers. They put everyone at risk on our hwy’s.
Why just not have the first team qualified to do the entire job rather than pass it off is there is a possibilty of criminal charges ? Seems two fold here.. one is one team thats incompetant who needs another team to make sure they make no mistakes. Pay twice for the same service..
Must be governement run. Complete waste of tax dollars for sure.
Complete waste of tax dollars for sure.,,, I agree with that. do you realize that if your hurt at work,and pensioned off,, that you get put on the BC disability,, which is part payed by tax dollars.. ICBC does the same..
dontknow.. yeah.. great scam for sure.. they just gouge us left right and center and wonder why we dont trust any level of government.
Wonder how many new managers there will be included in this “overhaul”?
The reason there are two different teams is because a cause and prevention investigation for compliance to occupational health and safety rules is a lot different then a criminal investigation.
The first team is called a scapegoat, so when they botch the investigation like they have in the past the lawyer for the defense can destroy them to show their incompetance and get the guilty party off ( usually the employer)
If you think work safe is for the workers you have not been around very long.
By the way… these are only recomendations so they mean nothing really.
No need for me to contribute, I think P Val has addressed all my concerns accurately, and succinctly.
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