TRIPLING FINES URGED IN NEW SAFETY PROPOSAL

Tripling fines for companies guilty of providing unsafe workplaces, and
broaching the sticky subject of workplace drug testing are among a package
of reforms headed for a Tory policy committee today.

A document prepared by the Department of Human Resource and Development
proposes an increase in first-offence maximum fines to $500,000 from
$150,000 for companies found guilty of providing unsafe conditions for
employees.

A second offence could see penalties up to $1 million, suggests the paper
to be reviewed by Tory policy-makers.

It has also recommended work site inspections and prosecutions be
drastically increased, and the $500,000 now collected in penalties each
year be funnelled into a fund to pay for public safety-awareness campaigns.

The initiatives got full-blown support from the Alberta Roadbuilders and
Heavy Construction Association, which represents more than 500 Alberta
companies.

"Companies that are found to have provided unsafe workplaces, we say throw
the book at them," said Heidi Harris, spokeswoman for the association. "We
have no tolerance for that -- safety is our absolute priority."

The recommendations spring from Workplace 2.0, a strategy designed to slash
job-site injuries in Alberta by 40 per cent, or 15,000 fewer accidents.

Workplace injuries are measured in the lost-time claim rate, which measures
the number of times workers miss work because of injury.

In 2000, the rate was 3.4 claims per hundred person-years worked; the
target is 2.0 by 2004.

Fines under existing maximums have begun to stiffen over the last two
years, starting in 2000, when Calgary's Fiesta Party Rentals was charged
$100,000 after a worker was electrocuted by touching a power line with a
tent pole.

Since then, similar convictions in Alberta have reached that mark,
including a record $172,500 penalty imposed on Millar Western Forest
Products following the death of a student cleaner at its Whitecourt
sawmill. Penalties generally include a 15 per cent surcharge that goes into
a fund for crime victims.

Proposals from Workplace 2.0 also call on government to "review legal
options for addressing substance use."

The notion of any kind of mandatory drug testing has government leery, and
would violate recent decisions from the Canadian human rights commission.

However, it's a notion zealously championed by some members of industry in
Alberta.

The Petroleum Services Association of Canada has called on the provincial
government to convene a meeting between industry players, politicians,
union leaders and lawyers to debate the idea.

Patrick Delaney, association head, said not all of his group's 260 members
- -- representing 40,000 workers in the province -- back drug and alcohol
testing, but a good number are coming to believe hard action is necessary
to deal with unsafe situations on work sites caused by abuse.

Delaney said some companies in Alberta use pre-employment tests and random
drug testing.

Delaney wants government to set policy that would allow for drug tests.

"An employer's first responsibility is to his workers and the public," said
Delaney. "That has to take precedence over accommodating people who use
illegal drugs."

Human Resources Minister Clint Dunford couldn't be reached.