TransLink is facing a six-figure fine from WorkSafeBC over an employee who was injured on the job last year.
The BC Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC), the TransLink subsidiary that operates the SkyTrain, has been fined more than $600,000 for the incident, which involved a worker being hurt by an electrical explosion.
A WorkSafe BC report found that BCRTC broke two health and safety regulations while the work was being done at the Nanaimo SkyTrain station in May, 2017.
According to WorkSafeBC, the incident happened while a worker was feeding wires into the station’s air conditioning electrical room.
The agency found that an electrical panel involved in the process should have been completely locked out before work began, something it ruled could have happened after the station was closed.
It found that BCRTC’s safety documentation did not have specific written procedures for lockout procedures for the panel.
“These documents are general in their content and do not provide specific written safe work procedures for working on electrical panel D-1 in the Air Conditioning Electrical Room at the Nanaimo Sky Train Station in an energized state,” states the report.
In an emailed statement to Global News, TransLink said it “takes safety seriously, and has a well-developed safety program to protect its staff, customers and the general public.”
It says in the wake of the incident, BCRTC immediately reviewed and adjusted relevant practices and procedures, and ensured staff were made aware of the changes.