Alberta to introduce new penalties for health, safety and trade violations

Alberta workers and employers who violate safety rules and fair trading practices are facing new penalties and significantly greater fines.

The changes will be introduced under Bill 6: The Protections and Compliance Statutes Amendment Act and will establish new administrative penalties and increases fines for penalties that already exist.

“There will be no more slaps on the wrist in Alberta,” said Human Services Minister Dave Hancock. “A worker or employer who puts health and safety at risk, or is misleading or unfair in their business dealings, will be held accountable.

It affects three pieces of legislation: the Safety Codes Act, the Fair Trading Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Among the notable proposed changes are:

• increased maximum fines through the courts for Safety Codes Act violations — from $15,000 to $100,000 for a first offence, and from $30,000 to $500,000 for subsequent offences
  
• new administrative penalties for Fair Trading Act violations of up to $100,000, and increased maximum fines through the courts — from $100,000 to $300,000
  
• New administrative penalties for Occupational Health and Safety Act violations — up to $10,000.

Administrative penalties are an addition to the enforcement toolbox and fill an enforcement gap that exists between two extremes: orders or warnings, and court prosecutions. Another addition — which will allow occupational health and safety investigators to issue tickets for on-the-spot violations — will come through regulation in 2013, Hancock said.