Over the last several years, members and your union have been raising issues about the safety culture and specific safety incidents in CVSE. Members have been making complaints to WorkSafeBC and your union has been raising safety concerns to the ministry as well as WorkSafeBC.

As a result of the perseverance and solidarity of members in raising these issues, WorkSafeBC conducted a series of inspections at various CVSE worksites and recently issued a "Compliance Agreement" to the MOTI regarding CVSE. 

Here's what you need to know about the agreement:

• Your employer is required to provide a copy of the agreement to all CVSE workers. If you have not received a copy, ask your supervisor directly or seek the assistance of your shop steward.
• The agreement requires the involvement of your local Occupational Health & Safety Committees. If you don't know who is on your committee or if you have concerns about the structure of the committee to meet the needs of the CVSE members, please contact your steward or email us at [email protected]
• The agreement focuses on violence prevention at CVSE and includes the following:
  o A Violence Risk Assessment must be conducted for the work of CVSE staff, including assessments at all CVSE worksites (inspection stations, mobile inspections, off site facility inspections, etc.)
  o The employer must review CVSE's violence related policies, procedures, training and work environment arrangements and make improvements, including to training for officers.
  o CVSE's email-based threat warning system is not effective, and needs to be improved or replaced to meet the regulatory requirement to inform workers of persons with a history of violence they may come into contact with.
  o The employer must conduct a review of their working alone risk assessment.
  o Incidents of violence must be investigated as per the Act. This includes that a worker representative participate in the investigation, a full incident investigation must be completed within 30 days, and reports must be provided to the JOHS committee.

The BCGEU is committed to supporting our members who work in CVSE, their OHS committees and stewards to ensure full compliance with the agreement and that both emerging and ongoing safety issues within CVSE are addressed. We are working with your OHS committees to ensure issues are raised at your Article 29 committee. We are also meeting with a group of members from CVSE to strategize how to improve safety in your worksites. In addition, we are reviewing the present structure of your OHS committees to ensure that there is an OHS committee structure that addresses the safety issues specific to CVSE.

We know that you face many challenges when you go to work, including not knowing what you may encounter out there and whether you will be subjected to violence, the threat of violence or other safety hazards. We have heard the stories from many of you about aggressive and frightening situations that many of you have had to face. 

We are proud of the work you did to raise these issues and push WorkSafeBC to conduct the investigations that inform this agreement. Although there is much more work to do in the coming months, we are optimistic that this agreement is a step in the right direction towards making your workplaces, including those out on the roads, a safer place.

Download PDF of notice here