Blaming homeowners doesn’t make workers safer
The death of a roofer working on former premier Gordon Campbell’s vacation home was a preventable tragedy. The finding that Campbell was personally responsible was a farce, however. It is an example of the worst kind of regulation — a rule that is almost impossible to follow and is routinely ignored — yet carries consequences for people who are unlikely to know of its existence.
Worksafebc released an investigation report this week into the death last summer of a roofer who was working on Campbell’s vacation home on the Sunshine Coast.
It found a number of safety regulations weren’t being followed at the time, a couple of which could have prevented David Lesko from falling through an open skylight to his death. Lesko’s employer may face fines for the violations.
The report also found that Campbell was personally responsible because, under Worksafebc regulations, any workplace where two or more employers are working at the same time must have a prime contractor. Where there is no written agreement designating anyone as the prime contractor, the homeowner is deemed to fill that role.
Under the Worksafebc rules, the prime contractor is responsible for ensuring that systems are in place to guarantee all employers and workers at the site are following health and safety rules.
Employers should be held responsible for the safety of their employees, especially when dealing with well- documented dangers.
But ordinary citizens who hire contractors to work on their homes cannot, and should not, be held responsible for whether contractors who are already registered with Worksafebc are following all the rules.
To start, it is unreasonable to imagine that a homeowner would be able to know all of the health and safety regulations that have to be followed for any particular job. Without that knowledge, how can they be held responsible for violations that lead to injuries?
Where the role of prime contractor is deemed necessary, homeowners should expect to have to pay someone to fill it. However, it should be up to individual contractors to ensure that either they are able to meet the safety requirements for their own workers or determine who is responsible for coordinating multiple trades before getting started. Homeowners cannot be expected to understand the intricacies of Worksafebc regulations.
It is reasonable to require homeowners to take an interest in ensuring that men and women who are working in their homes and on their property are working in safe conditions. They have both a moral responsibility to protect the people who are working on their behalf and a financial interest in limiting their liability for any accidents.
At most, however, homeowners should be responsible for making sure that any contractor they hire is registered with Worksafebc. That should be accomplished through a simpler system than is now available, especially for small jobs. An online registry would be one way of finding out whether a contractor is in good standing.
Worksafebc also needs to do a much better job in ensuring that homeowners know what their responsibilities are when they either hire workers directly, whether it is the teenager from next door to mow their lawn or a full- time nanny for their children or when they get work done through contractors.
Until Tuesday, there was nothing on the main webpage of Worksafebc to indicate that homeowners have any responsibilities when they hire contractors or what they are.
We note that despite finding Campbell responsible as the prime contractor, no penalty was assessed. We hope that means that Worksafebc understands that its regulations making homeowners responsible for issues they can’t control are not making workers safer and that changes are needed soon.