 |
||||
|
|
 District 5Shocking safety infractions not unusual (October 2007) By Mike Spiruda, Member Representative As the building boom continues throughout the province, not all construction sites use the safe work practices that we, as union members, are accustomed to. WorkSafeBC is working with different industries to establish safety associations, which in turn leave employers to regulate their own safety practices. Self-regulation can be an accident waiting to happen, as you can see from these photos of the construction of the hotel/casino project in Fort St. John. The pickers moved into position at about 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon to set up the rigging to lift a ground-built roof structure. As we all know, WorkSafe safety representatives are not available after 5 p.m. As soon as the slings were hooked, the structure was hoisted about 4 feet. As you can see, a few of the crew members moved right underneath the suspended load to make some last-minute adjustments. Then, a tug of war began between two pickers as they struggled to get the load between their booms and up into place. All the while, the structure was swinging precariously over their heads. They did manage to get it into place by 7 p.m. and luckily without incident. I wonder what kind of safety training these people might have received. If a sling or truss gave way, the result would have been disastrous. This is the same project where only a few months earlier the contractor figured an injured worker only needed cash and a jug of whiskey in place of a claim filed with WorkSafe. There are many more sites around the province where safety infractions happen regularly. Organize for everyone’s safety on the job! |
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Home / Contact us / International Union |
||||