Siding company hit with $18k fine over lack of fall protection

A failure to ensure workers on the sixth floor of a Coquitlam apartment building were using fall protection resulted in WorkSafeBC issuing an $18,282 penalty to Onyx Exteriors.

On March 20, the inspector walked through the construction site, which consisted of two six-storey wood-frame apartment buildings. At the time, workers were finishing up the carpentry, drywall, flooring, painting and siding on the project.

The inspector spotted “multiple workers” doing the siding on several sixth-floor balconies. None of the workers were using personal fall protection and there were no raised warning lines on the site. Some of the workers were wearing harnesses, but none of those harnesses were connected to a lifeline, according to the inspection report.

The workers said they’d received fall protection training. However, an Onyx representative couldn’t provide a written fall protection plan, according to the report.

The inspector also detailed the installation of fiber-reinforced cement boards on the building’s exterior. The crew reported sometimes using a saw to cut the boards.

Due to the hazard of respirable crystalline silica, the only worker who used a saw to cut the boards wore a respirator and had the saw attached to a vacuum.

Because crystalline silica particles can settle deep in the lungs and stay there for a lifetime, using compressed air or dry sweeping silica dust is prohibited.

Respirators and personal protective equipment are supposed to be used, “in addition to other more effective control measures,” the inspector stated.

Onyx Exteriors received two citations for infractions related to fall protection. The company subsequently complied with both issues.

Onyx had been contracted by Jayen Homes Ltd.