B.C. company fined after worker killed by falling tree

The worker was killed near Beaton, B.C., located on the shore of Upper Arrow Lake. (Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)

A British Columbia construction company has been fined by the province’s workplace safety regulator after a worker was killed by a tree that fell from an overhead cliff face.

WorkSafeBC says the fatal incident occurred on a forest service road near the community of Beaton, southeast of Revelstoke.

Road maintenance contractor Crescent Bay Construction Ltd. was performing work on a roadway bridge deck when the tree fell from a cliff above the worksite and struck the worker, according to the safety regulator.

The company was fined $8,995.26 for the death after WorkSafeBC determined the contractor “did not adequately identify the hazard of dangerous trees or assess the risks they presented to workers,” according to a summary report published recently on the regulator’s website.

“The firm failed to conduct a dangerous tree assessment by a qualified person before work began and failed to ensure the health and safety of all workers at the worksite, both high-risk violations,” the summary said.

Incident report ‘being redacted’

A WorkSafeBC spokesperson declined to provide a copy of the incident report related to the case, writing in an email to CTV News the document “is in the process of being redacted” and would only be released if compelled through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The regulator also refused to confirm either the date of the incident or the approximate age of the worker.

The B.C. Coroners Service is still investigating the death. A spokesperson for the agency said details about the victim and the date of the fatality would not be released until the investigation had concluded.

Penalties for fatal workplace safety violations in B.C. are calculated “primarily based on the payroll of the employer, but also on the nature of the violation and the history of violations,” WorkSafeBC spokesperson Yesenia Dhott said.

“A penalty is a regulatory tool to motivate employers to follow occupational health and safety requirements, but it is not meant as a means of punishment, since no amount could ever reflect something as tragic as a loss of life.”

Crescent Bay Construction Ltd. has not responded to a request for comment on the incident.