Editor: Re: Contractor nets $20,000 WorkSafe fine for safety violations at Burnaby site, Burnaby NOW, May 12.
Thank you for highlighting a problem that is far too rampant in the construction industry: the idea that safety regulations are just a guideline and contractors don’t actually have to follow all of them.
The contractor in this case, Modern Touch Construction Ltd., has been called out by WorkSafe for “repeated and high-risk” violations going back several years and for committing these violations “knowingly or with reckless disregard.”
The contractor’s defence?
According to the story, the owner told the NOW that his workers, who were not wearing fall protection, “were not that high,” and that he complied with “most” of WorkSafe’s orders.
You can’t make this stuff up.
The leading cause of death for construction workers, except asbestos, is falls from heights.
Residential construction has the worst record. While multiple and increasing fines for consecutive offences is a deterrent for the contractor, it means nothing to the worker who ends up laying on the ground with a piece of rebar sticking out of his or her back.
Tom Sigurdson, executive director, B.C. Building Trades, New Westminster
