All rinks, arenas in New Brunswick to be inspected by end of March

A full inspection is coming to an arena and curling rink near you. In March, more than 100 hockey rinks and curling arenas will be inspected as part of a campaign to adopt an updated, more consistent and efficient inspection system.

“We will look at all of them, all at the same time and try and get a clearer picture if we have weaknesses,” explained Eben Creaser of Technical Inspection Services.

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More than 100 arenas and curling rinks have been notified that they will be inspected during the month during a campaign to adopt an updated, more consistent and efficient inspection system.

“I think it’s a good idea, not every facility is in good shape,” says Jacques Robichaud, the president of the Moncton Curling Club.

Rinks using refrigeration systems are inspected by the province but not on a re-occurring basis.

Inspectors from the Technical Inspections Services division and Work Safe New Brunswick will conduct the inspections and if problems are found, the discrepancies will be brought to the attention of the owners and a timeline for remedial actions will be laid out.

“Any other systems upgrades would likely be undertaken through the Department of Justice and Public Safety as they have the legislation on the operational matters,” explained Richard Blais, a compliance officer with WorkSafeNB.

This comes on the heels of a tragedy last year in Fernie, B.C., where three people died as a result of an ammonia leak from refrigeration equipment. Since then, provinces across the country have started redesigning their inspection processes.

“You can’t put the safety of the members of the public that come into your facility, you can’t put their safety in question,” said Robichaud.

The new inspections will include a checklist system that will help the province establish a more consistent system.