Contractors who provide workers for British Columbia farms could lose their licenses for safety violations under legislation introduced Thursday.
Labour Minister Olga Ilich on Thursday introduced amendments to the provincial Employment Standards Act which provide for a farm labour contractor’s license to be cancelled or suspended for violations of WorkSafeBC or Motor Vehicle Act regulations.
The new amendments are also expected to make such a suspension or cancellation a more serious punishment for an offending contractor, by requiring farmers to hire only licensed labour contractors.
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Plus, when an unsafe vehicle belonging to a farm labour contractor is taken off the road following a roadside check, the contractor will be required to pay for alternative transportation to the workplace, the province said.
“These changes to the Employment Standards Act are part of our package of farm worker protections and reaffirm our commitment to ensure the safety of all workers in our province,” said Ilich in a release Thursday.
Other recent regulations in said package have included mandatory seatbelts for all passengers in a vehicle carrying farm workers, and translated safety information in such farm vehicles.
B.C.’s regulations for vehicles carrying farm workers have come under added scrutiny after some notorious accidents in recent years, including a 2007 crash in which a van carrying farm workers rolled and three of its occupants were killed.
