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Abbotsford siding company fined $100K by WorkSafeBC in last two years

Penalties incurred for infractions in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Port Coquitlam
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WorkSafeBC has issued more than $100,000 in penalties to an Abbotsford company in the last two years. (Google Street View)

An Abbotsford company has been fined more than $100,000 by WorkSafeBC in the last two years for infractions in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Port Coquitlam.

In a press release, WorkSafeBC says the company has been issued six penalties in the last four years.

The most recent penalty – $20,000 – was imposed in January of this year.

That incident occurred in Abbotsford when the firm was installing siding and gutters at a two-storey house under construction.

The press release states that when WorkSafeBC was inspecting the site, a worker was seen on a ladder-jack scaffold system.

“No fall protection was in place, exposing the worker, who was in the line of sight of a representative of the firm, to a fall risk of up to 4.9 metres (16 feet),” the release states.

RELATED: WorkSafeBC says slips, trips, falls account for 20% of all workplace injuries

WorkSafeBC categorized this as a “high-risk violation.” The agency said the company also failed “to provide its workers with the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety.”

Sea to Sky Siding and Gutter was also fined $40,000 in July 2022 in relation to a job installing exterior cladding at a home under construction in Chilliwack.

A worker there was seen on a ladder-jack scaffold system, while another worker was seen passing siding to that person from a second-storey roof without any fall protection in place, the press release says. The fall risk was 25 feet (7.6 metres).

The company’s largest fine of the three was more than $45,000 in April 2021 related to a house under construction in Port Coquitlam.

In that incident, WorkSafeBC saw a worker walking on the sloped gable roof and two workers installing siding near the edge of an elevated patio at a height of 27 feet (8.2 metres).

Again, no form of fall protection was in place, the press release states.

The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation requires workers to use fall-protection systems at a height of 10 feet (three metres) or more or where a fall from a lesser height could result in serious injury.



vikki.hopes@abbynews.com

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Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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