Court upholds man's ban from asbestos removal industry
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a lower-court ruling that prohibits Mike Singh and Seattle Environmental Consulting from working in the asbestos removal industry.
In the lower court ruling, a 2019 B.C. Supreme Court decision, Singh and Seattle Environmental were found in contempt of an earlier court order that prohibited Singh from breaching the rules of the Workers' Compensation Act. The lower court ruling permanently barred Singh and the company from engaging in the asbestos abatement industry.
Singh was sentenced to one year's probation and six weeks' house arrest.
Proceedings against Shawn Singh, Mike Singh's son, were dismissed.
In a unanimous decision issued in December 2020, the three-member Court of Appeal dismissed the issues raised as grounds for the appeal. Those included errors related to constitutional rights, the Supreme Court judge's interpretation of the Workers' Compensation Act and its regulations, and findings of fact.
“The judge made none of the errors identified by the appellants on substantive matters,” Madam Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon wrote in the 29-page decision.
Fenlon noted the judge correctly applied a contextual approach in concluding that the Workers' Compensation Board (known as WorkSafeBC) did not breach the appellants' Charter rights by gathering evidence using its regulatory powers.
“The judge did not err in imposing the injunction, as a permanent injunction was reasonable given the appellants' repeated breaches of the Act. Nor was the sentence unfit; the judge took into account all relevant circumstances,” Fenlon wrote.
The Court of Appeal did allow an appeal to go ahead on the issue of who is responsible for paying court costs of the parties in the lower court suit.
The decision determined that it was not open to the lower-court judge to offset Shawn Singh's court costs against those owed by Mike Singh to WorkSafeBC. Often, the loser in a civil suit is responsible for paying some court costs.
As a result, Fenlon wrote, the costs' order is changed so that Shawn Singh is entitled to costs against WorkSafeBC and WorkSafeBC is entitled to costs against Mike Singh and Seattle Environmental.
Singh has 60 days to make an application to appeal at Canada's high court from the date of the Appeal Court decision on Dec. 17.
In 2019, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Francesca Marzari had found Seattle Environmental was responsible for repeated and egregious breaches of the Workers' Compensation Act and regulation, including significant failures to properly dispose of asbestos waste, to ensure adequate containment during high-risk work and to provide safe supervision of workers.
Asbestos removal work commonly takes place at older homes slated for demolition or renovation. Those homes can contain materials with asbestos such as drywall compound, loose insulation and vinyl tiles.
Marzari found Singh breached the workplace safety laws more than 20 times at 11 different work sites — including homes in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and West Vancouver — between 2013 and 2017.
Seattle Environmental and Singh had argued their case was not egregious and the evidence showed they complied with orders after WorkSafeBC inspections. Seattle and Singh also argued that WorkSafeBC inspections regularly find deficiencies at other work sites as well, and they have been unfairly targeted for inspections and breaches.
Exposure to asbestos — tiny fibres that can't be seen, smelled or tasted — can result in permanent damage to the lungs and is the leading cause of death in the construction industry, according to WorkSafeBC.