Kelowna traffic control company fined $15,000 for not protecting workers

A Kelowna traffic control firm has been fined $15,000 by WorkSafeBC after its traffic control measures were deemed unsafe.

According to a recently published Dec. 9 WorkSafeBC penalty notice, Fox Traffic Control used flaggers to control vehicles at a job site when an automatic traffic light should have been used.

“One traffic control person was controlling southbound traffic from behind their vehicle, however the second traffic control person was controlling northbound traffic from an unprotected location… adjacent to moving traffic,” the inspection report reads. “No barriers or other effective means had been deployed to protect workers from the hazard of traffic moving adjacent to the work zone.”

A WorkSafeBC inspection report says that when it arrived at a construction site on Dilworth Drive near Enterprise Way last September, it found two excavators operating in the centre of the road along with two workers.

WorkSafeBC found the site required traffic lights due to the volume of traffic, which was at 3,000 vehicles per hour.

“There was a speed reduction to 30km/h, however, I observed vehicles to be travelling noticeably faster than the reduced speed limit,” a WorkSafeBC Inspection Report reads.

WorkSafeBC then issued a stop-work order to the main contractor until traffic lights and concrete barriers to protect workers had been set up.

“The risk assessment which was carried out by the employer identifies moving traffic as a hazard to workers and the employer opted to use traffic control persons to directly control traffic when the use of higher controls, such as automated flagging assistance devices was practicable,” the report reads.

“The firm failed to minimize worker exposure to traffic in a work zone by applying appropriate control measures, a repeated violation,” the penalty notice reads.

WorkSafeBC issued a $15,106 fine.

This was the second time in 2025 the firm had been fined by WorkSafeBC.

In June 2025, it was fined $7,553 for failing to make sure that flaggers weren’t positioned in the road where vehicles were travelling and for failing to make sure that flaggers were adequately supervised and oriented to the job site.