WorkSafeBC is reminding employers, specifically in primary-resource industries, that they are required to identify, assess, and mitigate avalanche risk.
Primary-resource industries identified by WorkSafeBC include oil and gas, forestry, pipeline construction, highway maintenance, and mining.
“If they think that there may be a risk of avalanches, they are required under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation to have that assessed and it may be necessary, depending on the work, for them to have an avalanche safety plan and or program,” says Prevention Officer Carole Savage.
There are certain tells for identifying a potential avalanche spot, according to Savage.
“We look at three factors when we look at the risk of an avalanche,” she says.
“That is the snowpack, the weather, and the terrain.”
Since 1998, WorkSafeBC has seen three worker deaths and 52 accepted time-loss injury claims, including two in 2017, across the province.
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