Gearbox ‘released and lifted forcefully upward’
Metro Vancouver has been fined about $170,000 after a worker was seriously injured during a confined‑space operation on a water main in New Westminster in 2024, according to a report from The Canadian Press.
The penalty follows a WorkSafeBC investigation into a valve maintenance task involving heavy equipment inside an underground chamber.
WorkSafeBC says it issued the administrative penalty to the regional district on March 12, 2026, in connection with the incident, which occurred on March 15, 2024. The case arises from an operation in which gearboxes were being removed from a water main valve, The Canadian Press reported.
According to WorkSafeBC, the incident took place while two workers were removing gearboxes from the valve. The workers were positioned inside the confined space as part of the lift, while a crane was used from above to move the gearboxes out of the chamber.
In 2020, the Metro Vancouver Regional District was fined $637,416 by WorkSafeBC.
WorkSafeBC’s findings and violations
In the latest case, the workers were using pry bars while the gearboxes were being lifted with a crane when one gearbox “released and lifted forcefully upward,” injuring one of them. The agency says the gearboxes were being lifted out of the confined space using a crane at the time of the incident.
WorkSafeBC says its investigation identified several high‑risk violations, including a failure to plan and identify hazards before conducting the operation, according to The Canadian Press report. The agency characterises the issues it found as “high‑risk violations.”
The regulator says Metro Vancouver did not ensure that health and safety activities were coordinated and failed to develop written procedures to reduce the risks of working in confined spaces. It says the violations also included the lack of an adequately trained supervisor on site and a lack of adequate training for the workers involved.
Employer response
Metro Vancouver, in a written statement quoted by The Canadian Press, says it has “taken comprehensive corrective actions” around workplace safety since the incident. The statement says the regional district has complied with all WorkSafeBC orders issued after the incident.
The regional district also comments on its overall safety record in the statement. “Metro Vancouver has one of the strongest workplace safety records among comparable organisations in B.C., and we remain focused on continuous improvement,” it says.
