SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Several members of Yellowknife's construction industry are voicing concerns about the new occupational health and safety regulations being proposed by a ministerially-appointed safety advisory committee, saying the changes, if put into law, would hinder their operations and drive up costs.

Michel Beaudoin works at the construction site of the new Indian and Northern Affairs building in downtown Yellowknife. Several Yellowknife businesses have raised red flags concerning proposed changes to the territory's occupational health and safety regulations. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

And even though they've been given another two months to respond to the draft regulations, some are saying that that's not enough time to adequately address industry's concerns.

In 2008, Robert C. McLeod, the minister responsible for the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC), appointed a seven-member safety advisory committee - chaired by Judy Kainz, the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission's chief safety officer - to draw up new regulations that would modernize and replace the territories' outdated Safety Acts, which date back to 1990.

The updated regulations were posted in a 361-page document on the WSCC's site on Sept. 1. Companies were originally given until Oct. 31 to respond. That date has now been extended to Jan. 10.

"I'm glad to see we got an extension on it, which is great, but I don't know if by January we're going to be successful. It's a pretty tight time frame ... We've got a lot work ahead of us," said Mike Suchlandt, safety manager for RTL Robinson Enterprises Ltd.

At a meeting held last week between staff at the WSCC and several Yellowknife businesses, company representatives listed off a number of new regulations they take issue with. The most hot button item has to do with the reporting of "high hazard" work to the chief safety officer.

According to the draft regulations - which will ultimately be approved by the minister - "An employer shall give notice to the Chief Safety Officer of an intention to begin an activity that constitutes high hazard work not less than 30 days before the activity begins."

An appendix later lists "construction (sic), isolated work in extreme weather, power line construction and maintenance, road construction, tunneling and trenching," among other things, as activities that constitute high hazard work.

"Aside from being misspelled, it's not quite well defined. I mean, what is construction? Where does maintenance start and construction begin?" said David Tucker, CEO of NCV Industrial Inc., which owns Ryfan Electric.

Suchlandt echoed Tucker's thoughts.

"A lot of times we'll get a government contract job and they say 'You've got to start that job tomorrow.' So how in the hell do you give 30 days notice to anybody?" said Suchlandt. "What you're going to do is you're going to climb into your equipment and you're going to go to work. That's the reality of life."

Niels Konge, owner of Konge Construction, agreed.

"When the power goes out in Yellowknife, what are we going to do?" he asked.

Phil Moon Son, executive director of the NWT Construction Association, also said the 30-day notice clause was unreasonable.

"Even if a customer calls someone to build a deck, because of our short season they have to act fairly quickly. They can't wait around (for) 30 days," said Moon Son.

Tucker also took issue with another regulation suggesting that employers will need to pay for their employees' personal protective equipment (PPE).

"There are some real practical difficulties when you bring a labourer on site for the very first day and have to provide them with hard-toed shoes or boots and then he doesn't show up the next day," said Tucker. "Each of us construction companies is basically going to be at the bowling alley with a rack of boots and a spray can to disinfect them when they come back from the guys who quit (and) didn't last for a week."

Dave Grundy, vice president of prevention services for the WSCC, said it is likely there will be further public consultation after the extended Jan. 10 deadline.

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