The director of a Metro Vancouver construction company is headed to jail after repeated workplace safety violations in defiance of a court injunction.

Dalwinder Singh Kandola and G & D Construction Ltd. (GDCL) were found in contempt of court last month. The company was fined $25,000 and Kandola was sentenced to 14 days behind bars.

Kandola and his business have previously been ordered to pay more than $43,000 for violations of the Workers Compensation Act and civil contempt, according to a May 18 judgment from B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheila Tucker.

But so far, she said, those penalties have had “little to no effect.”

“In my view, a penalty that goes beyond monetary is required,” Tucker wrote.

“In treating the fines imposed to date as a cost of doing business, Mr. Kandola has put GDCL’s workers at risk of harm, shown disrespect for the court and created the appearance of operating with impunity.”

WorkSafeBC won an injunction against Kandola and his company in October 2017, when a B.C. Supreme Court justice ordered him to comply with workplace safety laws.

Most of the safety violations to date concern dangerous conditions for people working at heights and lack of protection from falls, according to the judgment.

It details several WorkSafeBC inspections of worksites between 2018 and 2020 that found missing guardrails and fall protection plans, a lack of safety training, and a failure to abide by stop work orders for construction above 10 feet.

Those findings led to administrative penalties of more than $30,000 and a total of $8,000 in court-ordered fines for contempt.

Keep reading on CBC News

• 
•