Several B.C. firms have been fined for violations related to asbestos, including one firm that runs a motel that was caught falsifying an asbestos clearance letter.
The violations and fines are listed on the WorkSafeBC penalty summaries page.
According to WorkSafeBC, 1357640 B.C. Ltd., which, according to online records, operates Mount Hope Motel, was fined $40,000.
The WorkSafeBC penalty summary suggests that the Hope, B.C., motel was undergoing renovations when the provincial workplace safety agency conducted a follow-up inspection of the site to obtain a clearance letter.
The letter was supposed to indicate that all asbestos-containing materials, or ACMs, had been safely removed.
WorkSafeBC says that the firm supplied a clearance letter that they later determined was falsified.
“The firm knowingly provided a WorkSafeBC officer with false information,” the summary states.
The firm also failed to comply with regulatory requirements and orders, and these were repeated violations.
This violation committed by the B.C. motel was just one of many asbestos-related violations across the province in November.
In Coquitlam, Clearpath Asbestos Removal was fined $5,000 because the firm failed to take necessary steps to protect workers before allowing work that would disturb ACMs. The same firm was fined $2,500 for a similar violation in Victoria.
“The firm also failed to ensure that workers carrying out asbestos abatement work held valid certificates, a repeated violation,” WorkSafeBC said.
One additional firm in Coquitlam, named ABCE Construction, was fined $5,000 after WorkSafeBC issued a stop-work order after observing that there were deficiencies in the firm’s procedures.
“The firm failed to ensure it effectively ventilated a containment, and failed to provide its workers with the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety. These were both repeated violations,” WorkSafeBC said.
In case you missed it, WorkSafeBC recently fined two firms over $1.3 million in connection with the tragic crane accident that occurred at the Oakridge construction site last year.