Trends in Safety
Incidents
Overview
Incidents involving work or equipment regulated by the Safety Standards Act are required to be reported to the appropriate safety manager. We investigate many of these incidents to gain an understanding of safety hazards in BC and what actions can be taken to manage them.
Key Statistics
558
incidents reported to us in 2018.
+17%
increase in number of incidents reported to us compared to 2017.
72
incident investigations completed to understand root causes.
Incidents Reported to Us
In 2018, we received 558 notifications of incidents involving regulated equipment or work, compared to 475 in 2017. We attribute this increase to both a bump in the frequency of certain incident types as well as improved reporting discipline by our clients.
Categories are:
Click on 2018 to view number of incidents by technology.
Severe Incidents in 2018
In 2018 there were 4 incidents rated as severe:
- 3 railway incidents
- 1 electrical fire incident
Major Incidents in 2018
There were 19 incidents rated as major, detailed below. Technical Safety BC completes investigations on certain incidents reported to us in all technologies but Rail.
We investigate incidents reported to us when:
- Regulated work or regulated equipment is involved (note: We do not have jurisdiction to investigate Railway incidents)
- Evidence is available to help determine causes and contributing factors
- A learning opportunity exists to understand and document what caused the incident, and to inform prevention of similar incidents.
In cases where we completed an incident investigation into a Major incident, it has been linked below.
Fire incidents (6)
- Power bar kept in damp area causes electrical fire
- Boiler room fire in apartment building
- Unit heater fails and ignites warehouse fire
- Work on energized electrical panels results in arcing, then fire
Railway incidents (4)
Escalator step pile-ups (3)
- Misaligned steps lead to escalator pile-up
- Incorrect setting causes escalator step pile-up
- Lack of maintenance contributes to escalator pile-up
Component failure/broken component (2)
- Weld component fails in personnel hoist
- Tube ruptures and engulfs boiler building in high-temperature steam
Electrical shock/arc flash (1)
Fall unloading from passenger ropeway (1)
Rider reported to have had a seizure during ride on amusement device (1)
Line hit and underground gas line damaged (1)
Report an Incident or Hazard
Incidents and hazards for the technologies we regulate can be reported to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, online or by phone.
Incident Investigations
See All Incident Investigations
Faulty wiring causes shock
Faulty electrical wiring energized a houseboat, which impacted kids swimming nearby.
Ammonia release in Fernie
Our investigation into a fatal ammonia release at a Fernie ice rink that killed three workers.
Steps on escalator collide
An escalator shut down after multiple steps collided with each other.