Assessments
State of Safety 2025
Smart, Risk-Driven Assessments
Assessments are used to verify that owners and duty holders are meeting the requirements of the Safety Standards Act and its associated regulations. We use a combination of advanced analytics and human decision-making to find the most significant sources of potential harm to British Columbians. This helps us target our efforts to the sites with the highest risk while optimizing efficiency and scale.
For electrical and gas equipment, every installation permit assessment request is initially evaluated using a predictive algorithm that estimates the likelihood of identifying a moderate or high-risk hazard. Safety officers then apply this information, along with their professional expertise, to determine the most appropriate assessment method, which could be an accepted declaration, a remote assessment, or an in-person physical assessment.
47,792
Total physical and remote assessments completed in 2025
5,183
Total hazards found during assessments in 2025
82
Pass rate in 2025
Safer Together
Safety is a shared responsibility, and we are working with our clients and safety partners to continue to reduce risks, enhance public safety, and promote a proactive safety culture across the province.
Learn how we use Structured Resource Allocation (SRA) to help our safety officers prioritize assessing high-risk hazards across the province.
Learn How We Prioritize Assessments
Learn how we use risk analysis and incident data to target the biggest risks to BC's safety system.
Understanding our Assessment Approach
Assessments versus Inspections
Assessments refer to our evaluation of whether a system or equipment possesses safety risk. We use any combination of the different tools available to us when evaluating safety – from video calling to checking submitted documents, using predictive machine learning, and more. Onsite inspections are a type of assessment where safety officers perform physical inspections in places where high hazards are more likely to be found.
In-Person and Remote Assessments
We use a combination of physical, in-person assessments and remote assessments to support our mandate. Remote assessments are performed by safety officers and allow us to increase our reach and presence, especially in outlying parts of BC. When combined with physical, in-person assessments, remote assessments are useful in detecting areas of high hazards, while helping us improve client experience and reduce our environmental impact.
Structured Resource Allocation
Risk-based oversight refers to using data and insight tools to find regulated work with a higher chance of safety hazard or risk. The structured resource allocation framework, made up of five drivers, determines how we assess regulated work and equipment.
We use a machine learning model that takes data from past assessments, adds real-time data, and applies the expertise of people and machine learning to predict areas with higher safety risk.
We identify and assess a representative sample of permits in order to draw broader conclusions about risk.
We establish policies that identify areas where our tolerance for risk is low and assess all systems that fall within those policies.
Our safety officers use their expertise, local knowledge, and discretion in determining where hazards may lie.
We gather and address hazard notifications from the public.
Remote Assessments
Similar to audits, remote assessments usually include a review of photos, videos, and other documentation, as well as communication with the client through phone calls, video calls, and email. While a safety officer is reviewing documents and communicating with clients virtually, a remote assessment is not categorized as an in-person assessment.
In-Person Assessments
In-person assessments refer to safety officers assessing or inspecting work on site.
Compliance of Duty Holders' Work
A duty holder is a person who owns regulated products or performs regulated work.
They have a responsibility to comply with the Safety Standards Act, regulations, and any applicable technical code associated with the products they own, or work they perform.
When assessing a duty holder’s work, our safety officers provide one of the following ratings: pass, conditional pass, or fail, except in the electrical; gas; boilers, pressure vessels, and refrigeration technologies, which do not have a conditional pass category.
Ratings and the application process for assessments
Compliance of Duty Holder’s Work in 2025
(Physical Assessment)
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Hazards Found, by Category 2025
(Physical Assessment)
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Compliance of Duty Holder’s Work in 2025
(Remote Assessment)
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Hazards Found, by Category 2025
(Remote Assessment)
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