BC Building Trades continues to call for better safety after latest workplace death toll from WorkSafeBC

IT was another deadly year for construction workers in British Columbia.

Thirty-nine construction workers died in 2023, the latest year for which fatalities are confirmed by WorkSafeBC. Seventeen of those workers died due to trauma, while 22 died due to exposure.

“It is deeply disheartening to see another year where the death toll in the construction industry is so high,” said Brynn Bourke, executive director of the BC Building Trades Council.

Bourke and other construction union leaders are calling for significant safety improvements to the industry. Those include universal access to appropriate personal protective equipment, increased workplace safety inspections, improved regulations that require comprehensive safety training and more consistent and larger penalties for companies that break the rules.

“We as a province and an industry need to do better,” said Bourke. “Those 39 construction workers went to work to provide for their families and build this province. They deserved to come home alive, with their health and safety intact.”

Members of the BC Building Trades, its affiliate unions and political leaders including Premier David Eby gathered on Tuesday, January 7 at the Bentall Memorial to honour those who have died working in the construction industry. The Bentall Memorial commemorates one of the worst workplace incidents in B.C. history.

On January 7, 1981, Gunther Couvreux, Brian Stevenson, Donald Davis and Yrjo Mitrunen plunged 36 floors to their deaths when their fly form on the Bentall IV tower collapsed. It was a catastrophic incident that, to this day, illustrates the need for strict safety measures and enforcement on construction sites.

“(We need to) make sure kids and families have those loved ones who are providing for them come home not injured, safe,” said Eby at the event. “It’s a goal we can achieve but we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

While the latest worker death statistics are from 2023, this event follows a year plagued with crane safety incidents, like the one at the Oakridge Redevelopment that killed a worker in February. According to WorkSafeBC, there were 22 crane safety incidents between 2019 and 2023.

Chris Vilness knows crane disasters all too well. He is the father of Cailen Vilness, a 23-year-old who was killed in the Kelowna crane disaster of July 2021. Chris spoke at the Bentall event.

“Why do we have to wait for more and more disasters and more death to make meaningful change?” said Vilness

“Cailen died on July 12, 2021, but for me, he dies every single day.”