Excerpt from the OH&S Canada magazine (Oct. 2016)
Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety fined three employers for unrelated contraventions of the OH&S law.
According to two statements from the provincial government, Saskatchewan firm C. & F. Installations Company (1984) Ltd. pleaded guilty on August 29, 2016, and was fined $32,900 for its role in a July 15, 2014, incident, in which a worker installing irrigation pipes was trapped under a trencher at a worksite near Swift Current. An additional charge against the company was dropped.
The following day, Darcy Rask Construction Inc., in Birch Hills, was ordered to pay $23,800 for a fatal incident on September 15, 2014. An employee was killed when a tractor’s crane struck an overhead high-voltage line near Coleville. The Ministry fined Saskatoon employer Dave Bernier $2,800 on August 31, 2016, for failing to make sure that employees used protective headwear and fall-arrest gear.
The third conviction followed an incident on January 14, 2016, when an inspector observed three of Bernier’s workers shingling a roof without wearing fall-protection equipment.
My opinion
Can you believe the low-level fines issued here? $23,800 for a workplace fatality! Wow. That would be the equivalent to coffee money for a year.
Sounds to me, Saskatchewan wants to be more like other provinces that feel large fines are unnecessary as a deterrent.
As a safety professional, this type of fine structure will never make any changes there. The cost of the investigation would have been much more than that!
HRS Group Inc. has a great team that can help you with all your health and safety needs including ‘Due Diligence’ and ‘Standard Operating Procedures’. Contact Deborah toll free at 1-877-907-7744 or locally at 705-749-1259.
Ensure your workplace is a safe place.
Remember – In Canada, “ALL Accidents are Preventable”
‘Work’ and ‘Play’ safe.
Daniel L. Beal
CHSEP – Advanced Level
CEO & Senior Trainer
HRS Group Inc.