Dawson Creek traffic control company fined over $18K

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — A Dawson Creek traffic control company faces an $18,450.06 fine from WorkSafeBC for six violations, including using traffic control persons when speed limits exceed 70 kilometres an hour.

The violations were regarding the safety of the traffic control persons.

According to the inspection notes, Troy Lockhart, a WorkSafeBC employee, was driving along the 212 Road when he saw single-lane alternating traffic control being conducted by SL Enterprizes on September 25th, 2023.

Lockhart wrote that the westbound traffic control person was at their station when he approached, and as he drove through the work zone, he noticed there was no eastbound traffic control person, so he turned around and conducted an inspection.

For the first violation, Lockhart wrote that the 212 Road is rural with a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour, but there were no traffic control signs to reduce the speed limit to 70 kilometres per hour or lower for the work zone.

Lockhart did not see the westbound traffic control person at their station when he drove through again. The traffic control person only returned from their vehicle when Lockhart approached. The second traffic control person was not at their station, resulting in the second violation.

When Lockhart stopped to discuss traffic control, he was told the second traffic control person was on a required break.

He reviewed the paperwork for the job and found an incomplete risk assessment that contained errors and omissions, which was the third violation.

The fourth violation occurred when he reviewed the traffic control plan from the risk assessment and found it was incomplete and contained insufficient instructions. It also did not have all of the required signage in the diagram.

He said the work zone should have been controlled by other means, such as an automated flagger assistance device, rather than traffic control persons due to its location, which caused the fifth violation.

Lockhart added that the sixth violation was due to the employer not having an effective means of supervising the site because the risk assessment and traffic control plan were incomplete and contained errors and omissions.  Traffic speeds were not reduced to the required level when the traffic control persons were on site, and staffing levels resulted in a lapse in coverage when workers were on break.

According to WorkSafeBC, these were repeated violations.

The report was emailed to SL Enterprizes LTD. on September 27th, 2023.

SL Enterprizes LTD had until October 6th, 2023, to submit a report detailing how it complied with WorkSafeBC’s orders. The report from WorkSafeBC states the orders were still outstanding.

SL Enterprizes LTD was fined $18,450.06 on December 13th, 2023. 

Energeticcity.ca reached out to SL Enterprizes LTD but did not receive a response by publication time.