The BC government is introducing legislation that would allow for the prosecution of negligent employers whose actions seriously injure or kill workers.
Covering four specific objectives, the legislation is expected to provide range of new safety enforcement tools, shorten the process for finalizing financial penalties to improve their effectiveness as an enforcement tool; ensure timely employer investigations of workplace incidents and reports, and enhance workplace safety expertise on the WorkSafeBC board of directors.
Labour Minister Shirley Bond says the legislation she will table Wednesday afternoon will allow for on-the-spot penalties and is based on recommendations in a report looking into two separate sawmill explosions that killed four workers in 2012.
WorkSafeBC administrator Gord Macatee says the bill provides exactly what he intended in the report he forwarded to the government last July.
A new team of WorkSafeBC investigators has been trained to step in for cases that could result in negligence charges, Macatee said. And extra inspectors have been hired to monitor sawmills and other businesses on nights and weekends.
“At this point we have 16 prevention officers on regular night and weekend shift schedule, and 26 additional officers have been recruited who will be working on those shifts as well,” Macatee said.
