British Columbia’s workplace health and safety agency has fined a construction company more than $43,000 for a “high-risk and repeated violation” at a Victoria job site.

WorkSafeBC says it imposed a penalty of $43,359.04 against the Vancouver-based VPAC Construction Group on April 20, after a safety officer observed a worker installing sheeting on the roof of a residential building without any fall-protection equipment.

“No fall protection was in place, exposing the worker to a fall risk of about 6.7 metres (22 ft.),” the workplace safety agency said in a statement on the penalty Monday. “The firm failed to ensure fall protection was used, a repeated and high-risk violation.”

An inspection report for the subject property at 540 Dallas Rd. shows work was temporarily halted at the address while a proper fall arrest system could be established.

The address is home to Amica Somerset House, a retirement home on the Victoria waterfront.

The report says the worker was on a gable roof with a 30-degree pitch, approximately 6.7 metres above a paved driveway, when the infraction was recorded.

Construction workers in B.C. have an injury rate of 3.37 injuries per 100 workers, which is higher than the provincial average of 2.24 injuries per 100 workers, according to WorkSafeBC.

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