Asbestos is the No. 1 killer of workers in B.C. with 600 accepted claims for deaths related to exposure in the past decade
Kochher was hit with a $20,000 fine plus victim surcharges, and is banned from work that involves managing, handling or disposing of“WorkSafeBC’s investigation determined that Mr. Kochher had failed to ensure the health and safety of between 13 and 15 workers, by knowingly exposing them to asbestos-containing material,” said the workplace safety agency in a news release on Wednesday.
Kochher had defied a stop-work order that was issued on Sept. 21, 2019, by a WorkSafeBC officer who inspected a work site and found asbestos. He also failed to tell a third-party contractor about asbestos on-site when he called the workers in on Nov. 11, a statutory holiday, while the stop-work order was in place, and failed to provide any personal protective equipment as is required by law.Article contentCharges were laid in November 2021 and he entered a guilty plea in March.
“More than half of all work-related fatalities are from occupational diseases, of which the majority are from exposure to asbestos,” said Al Johnson, head of prevention services at WorkSafeBC. “We cannot, and will not, tolerate employers endangering the lives of workers. There are profound consequences for this kind of egregious disregard for worker health and safety.”
Asbestos is the No. 1 killer of workers in B.C. There have been about 600 accepted claims for work-related deaths from asbestos exposure in the past decade.Get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites for just $14/month or $140/year. Subscribe now through