VANOC hit with $75,000 safety penalty

Published Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 9:54PM EST2 comments

WorkSafeBC has fined VANOC $75,000 for less than Olympian safety practices during the post-Games dismantling last year of the snowboard stadium at weather-plagued Cypress Mountain.

According to a safety inspection report dated last March and disclosed this week, workers were climbing to the top of scaffolding by using footholds on vertical poles, rather than by ladder, as required by provincial construction regulations.

Although the workers were employed by a subcontractor, VANOC was listed on the safety report as the site’s prime contractor and hit with the penalty.

The name of VANOC CEO John Furlong is listed on the form as “employer representative”.

VANOC was assessed the fine in September and ordered to pay the money to the Workers’ Compensation Board Accident Fund.

In the board’s brief decision, officials said the penalty was imposed because VANOC “has not maintained a safe workplace or safe working conditions; and did not exercise due diligence to prevent these circumstances.”

They added that a fine was needed “to motivate the employer to comply” with required building code practices.

No injuries occurred at the site, as workers took down the temporary bleachers erected for the 2010 Winter Games’ snowboard competitions.

The maximum penalty for a first offence such as VANOC’s is $535,000.

VANOC spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade said the organization questioned whether the fine was justified, but paid it anyway, in order to close the file.

“It made more sense to pay it than engage legal support and try to find the former VANOC people who would be needed to testify,” Ms. Smith-Valade said. “So, yes, we paid it.”

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