Upcoming Changes to WorkSafeBC’s Occupational Health and Safety Policy Regarding High Risk Violations. 
What else will change? WorkSafeBC is exploring changes to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Policy D12-196-2, which sets out how WorkSafeBC determines whether or not a violation is “high risk”. Typically, “high risk” is regarded as a circumstance that involves a high risk of serious injury, serious illness, or death. WorkSafeBC is soliciting feedback from the public until October 17th, 2014 on these proposed changes.
How does this policy affect employers? Whether or not a violation is determined as high risk affects whether a warning letter or a penalty can be issued if there are no prior violations, the amount of any penalty issued, and whether or not WorkSafeBC may issue a penalty that departs from the standard payroll-based amounts.
What will the new policy look like? Under the proposed version, the policy identifies six circumstances as “high risk”, and provides criteria for determining whether circumstances beyond the identified high risk circumstances qualify as high risk violations…Continue reading at www.safecarebc.ca.
