Close X
Thursday, December 12, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. Rally Held Against Changes To Rules Named For Killed Gas Station Attendant

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 17 Apr, 2016 01:02 PM
    VANCOUVER — The father of a gas-station attendant killed while trying to prevent a robbery is calling on British Columbia's workplace-safety agency to reverse changes to regulations inspired by his son's death.
     
    Doug De Patie says WorkSafe B.C. opened the door to unsafe conditions for workers in 2012 when it amended a set of rules known as Grant's Law, named after his son Grant De Patie.
     
    "I think they basically sidestepped the regulations, found a back door and made it possible, if not probable, for workers to be put at risk and be killed," he said on Saturday.
     
    The father made the comments four years and a day after the changes took effect. The B.C. Federation of Labour's Young Workers' Committee held an annual overnight sit-in Saturday outside convenience stores in Victoria and Vancouver.
     
    Grant De Patie, 24, was dragged to his death in Maple Ridge, B.C., in 2005 after trying to prevent a gas-and-dash robbery of $12.30 worth of fuel. Three years later, B.C. became the first province to enact a regulation that required customers to pay for fuel before filling up.
     
    The province also brought in rules to protect late-night workers that required employers to install protective barriers or staff more than one person on overnight shifts.
     
     
    But in 2012, WorkSafe B.C. amended the late-night worker rules to allow companies a "third option" to avoid installing barriers and staffing multiple workers if they put in measures including surveillance cameras, a time-lock safe and a panic button.
     
    "None of those administrative measures, we think, are enough to protect workers," said B.C. Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger. "The government clearly put the interests of the business community ahead of the safety of workers."
     
    Al Johnson, vice-president of prevention services at WorkSafe B.C., said it's the employer's obligation to assess the risk and ensure protocols are in place to address it.
     
    "The regulation is a performance-based regulation where we expect employers to ensure the health and safety of workers," he said. "When it comes to violence, it's based on their violence risk assessment and then they have a number of options available to them."
     
    Johnson said in the early trials of barriers, they didn't prove to be effective for a number of reasons, including that they prevented employees from interacting easily with customers.
     
    He pointed out that the regulation requiring pre-payment before filling up had not been amended and that it has greatly reduced gas-and-dash incidents in B.C.
     
     
    The death of a Calgary service-station worker last year has prompted calls for a pay-before-you-pump law in Alberta.
     
    B.C.'s Minister Responsible for Labour Shirley Bond didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
     
    Caitlin Davidson-King, chairwoman of the B.C. Federation of Labour's Young Workers' Committee, said the annual rallies have grown in recent years and Saturday marked the first time an overnight sit-in was held in Victoria as well as Vancouver.
     
    "The reason why we're asking for Grant's Law to be reinstated is because workers are vulnerable," she said. "When they're alone at night, there are certain emergencies that might come up and there's nothing to protect those workers."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Watch: Toronto Zoo Investigating Video That Shows Woman Hopping First Of Two Fences At Tiger Exhibit

    Watch: Toronto Zoo Investigating Video That Shows Woman Hopping First Of Two Fences At Tiger Exhibit
    Toronto Zoo officials are investigating after a video surfaced that shows a woman jumping over the first of two fences that separate zoo-goers from Sumatran tigers.

    Watch: Toronto Zoo Investigating Video That Shows Woman Hopping First Of Two Fences At Tiger Exhibit

    5 More Attawapiskat Kids Attempted Suicide On Friday Evening, Chief Says

    5 More Attawapiskat Kids Attempted Suicide On Friday Evening, Chief Says
    ATTAWAPISKAT, Ont. — The chief of a remote northern Ontario First Nation that declared a state of emergency on April 9 says more young people have attempted to take their lives.

    5 More Attawapiskat Kids Attempted Suicide On Friday Evening, Chief Says

    Group Wants Better Education About Genocide For Canadian High-School Students

    Group Wants Better Education About Genocide For Canadian High-School Students
    Her late mother, Ann Kazimirski, was a Holocaust survivor who championed the cause until her death 10 years ago.

    Group Wants Better Education About Genocide For Canadian High-School Students

    Mothers Of Drug Victims To Carry Their Children's Voices To United Nations

    Mothers Of Drug Victims To Carry Their Children's Voices To United Nations
    May's daughter Jac, 35, died on Aug. 21, 2012, after overdosing on pain medication prescribed to help her cope with a flesh-eating disease she'd contracted after years of addiction and life on the streets.

    Mothers Of Drug Victims To Carry Their Children's Voices To United Nations

    Signs Point To End Of 16 Years Of NDP In Manitoba Election Tuesday

    WINNIPEG — One of Canada's two remaining NDP governments finds itself on the ropes as it heads into an election Tuesday with polls suggesting Manitoba voters are ready to turn to the Progressive Conservatives.

    Signs Point To End Of 16 Years Of NDP In Manitoba Election Tuesday

    Precarious Work, Technological Advances Drive Basic Income Interest

    Precarious Work, Technological Advances Drive Basic Income Interest
    The amount increased depending on the number of people living in each household, maxing out at $3,969, or nearly $23,500 in 2016 currency, for a family of five or more.

    Precarious Work, Technological Advances Drive Basic Income Interest

    PrevNext