The union has been made aware that on August 5^th, an incident occurred at the Delta Distribution Centre where, due to a battery leak created by a lift truck battery, several workers were transported to the hospital to seek medical attention.

BCGEU has been working with your local leadership and OHS representatives to address the issue. While the employer has found the source of the leak and remedied the immediate hazard, we are still getting reports from members about odours lingering in the DDC.

If you are feeling faint or light-headed while at work, please report to your supervisor and seek first aid.

If you missed work due to the incident, be sure to file a WorkSafeBC Claim. Instructions are here.

If you did not experience any symptoms, but were at the site on the day of the incident, you can report the exposure to WorkSafeBC here.

You have the right to refuse unsafe work. If you encounter a task that you believe is unsafe, follow these steps:

Step 1: Inform your immediate supervisor or employer you are refusing unsafe work as per Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) regulation 3.12. The employer must investigate your concerns and make it safe for you. If the employer disagrees with your belief that the work is unsafe, go to Step 2.

Step 2: The employer must include a union representative or OH&S representative to investigate your concerns. If no representative or OH&S person is available, then the worker gets to choose another worker to assess the situation. If after the investigation, the worker still believes the work is unsafe, go to Step 3.

Step 3: The worker and employer together call WCB to inform them of a refusal of unsafe work. WCB is expected to investigate without undue delay and assess and make their determination. In the meantime, the employer can assign you to a different task while the investigation in ongoing. Only when WCB says it is safe to resume the refused work should you carry out the work.

Please see here for air quality information.

In addition to dealing with the specific incident, we are in communication with your employer on how to prevent battery leaks from happening in the future.

If you have any further questions or concerns, you can reach out to your OHS representative, steward or local elected representative. You can also reach us at [email protected]. For more information on OHS at BCGEU, please see http://ohs.bcgeu.ca.

Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP