It’s not uncommon for construction crews to work into the evening and over the weekend during the summer and now safety inspectors will be doing so as well.
The province announced Tuesday that Occupational Health and Safety officers will be increasing inspections on work sites over weekends and other periods outside regular working hours through the busy season.
“Each summer, work ramps up on residential construction sites as crews take advantage of the good weather and longer daylight hours,” Minister of Labour Christina Gray said in a statement.
“OHS officers will be out in force to make sure employers and workers are taking their workplace safety responsibilities seriously.”
The province said officers will visit work sites outside regular working hours until the end of September.
The officers can write tickets on the spot and have the power to issue “stop work” and “stop use” orders. Both individual workers and employers can be fined. Ticket amounts range from $100 to $500 per violation.
Between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016, OHS officers issued 1,605 orders on residential construction work sites. More than half were related to fall protection, a statistic that has remained constant over the past two years.
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