WorkSafeBC says employers need avalanche protection plan for backcountry workers

RICHMOND, B.C. — Employers in British Columbia have been warned they need to develop plans to keep their workers safe from avalanches. WorkSafeBC, the provincial occupational health and safety authority, tells employers in a news release that workers in the backcountry, including self-employed workers, face a potential risk of serious injury in what is an active avalanche season. …Patrick Davie, WorkSafeBC manager of prevention field services, says employees in the oil and gas, forestry, pipeline construction, highway maintenance and mining industries are at the greatest risk. …Since 1998 in B.C., avalanches have caused the deaths of three workers and 52 time-loss injury claims, including two injury claims in 2017, the release says.