Store closed by WorkSafe in ‘deplorable’ condition: ex-managers

The downtown Dollar Tree store, closed after crumbling asbestos floor tiles were found, poses “a high risk of serious injury, serious illness or death to a worker,” according to a WorkSafe B.C. inspector’s report.

WorkSafe B.C. issued a stopwork order for the store at 1420 Douglas St. on Feb. 21.

The report, released Wednesday, says the tiles “were found to be in poor [pulverized] condition. Workers are required to work in this area.”

Further, “the employer has not controlled the material by removal, enclosure or encapsulation. Workers access this space and are required to move materials across these floor tiles.”

Asked about the status of the case, WorkSafe B.C. spokeswoman Trish Knight Chernecki said in an email: “At this point, we let the inspection report speak for itself. The employer is required to post the inspection report in a location employees can access.”

A Dollar Tree official could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Asbestos was commonly used in building materials the 1960s and 1970s. Exposure can lead to serious health issues, WorkSafe B.C. says.

In 2016, 1,224 inspections were conducted in B.C., resulting in 36 stop-work orders and nine administrative penalties, all related to asbestos.

The building, which is more than 100 years old, is owned by Bernard Pastoral Ltd. of Saanich.

No building permit has been taken out at Victoria City Hall to remediate any problems. No construction work is immediately obvious when looking through the windows of the store.

Former assistant manager Stephanie Reader said she contacted WorkSafe B.C. about the state of the building.

The quality of the air in the building was “horrible,” she said.

Reader said that crews worked on a broken floor tile next to where she was on duty in the store last summer.

At that time, the store’s layout was changed, meaning that staff moved shelves and merchandise around the main floor. Reader is concerned because she was often kneeling on the floor, in contact with the tiles.

Francis Weckermann, the store’s manager until August 2016, said the building has other problems, as well.

“The whole building is deplorable,” Weckermann said.

Bird and rodent droppings could be found throughout the third floor of the building, he said, and holes in basement walls had black mould.

On the main level, “the entire floor is warped,” Weckermann said. During rainstorms, water runs down into the second floor and then through the ceiling onto the main level, he said.

A minimum of about 15 staff were employed at any given time, he said.

The store, part of a chain, sold a wide variety of items at low cost, including housewares, cleaning supplies, food, party supplies, and books, according to Dollar Tree’s website.