Baldy Mountain Resort located in South Okanagan, BC has been fined $7,000 in connection to an employee’s death. The fine was issued in May by WorkSafeBC. The Penticton Herald reports the fatal incident happened back in February 2021 when a 70-year-old worker, whose name hasn’t been made public, was crushed under a groomer:
“The machine parked and one of the workers exited the machine. The machine then inadvertently moved forward and the worker was caught under it, sustaining fatal injuries. WorkSafeBC’s investigation determined that the machine’s tiller had malfunctioned, preventing the operator from reversing the machine after the injured worker was caught. In addition, neither worker had been adequately trained on this machine, which lacked an interlock mechanism to automatically apply the parking brake when a door of the cab was opened.” –WorkSafeBC
The regulator further determined Baldy Mountain Resort hadn’t developed safe work procedures or hazard identification for the job the workers were doing. WorkSafeBC explained the penalty amount was calculated using a wide range of factors.
“The amount of a penalty is based on the nature of the violation, a company’s history of violations, and the size of the company’s payroll. Penalties can be greater if certain specific factors are present, such as for high-risk or intentional violations, or if the company has received a prior penalty for substantially the same violation in the past three years.”
images from BaldyMountainResort FB & WorkSafeBC FB
