By GLEN SCHAEFER
Delta police are investigating after five farm workers were injured when the van they were riding in was involved in a crash with a passenger car at Nordel Way and Brooke Road.
The workers suffered minor injuries in the crash, and the van operated by farm labour contractor BKS Enterprises had enough seatbelts for its passengers, a police spokesman said.
“They are licensed and registered,” Delta police Const. Leisa Schaefer sad Tuesday.
Police and paramedics were called to the crash site just after 8 p.m. on Monday. The workers were heading home after work.
The van was to be inspected as part of the crash investigation, Schaefer said.
WorkSafe B.C. released four inspection reports done on the company’s vehicles in the past year, indicating that the firm had complied with that agency’s orders. Roadside checks are done in partnership with police, as WorkSafe B.C. doesn’t have the authority to pull vehicles over, a spokesman said.
B.C. Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger said farm-worker safety remains a concern nine years after three women died in the Abbotsford crash of a van that was found to be unsafe.
“We don’t know all the details about (the Delta accident), but inspections aren’t happening at the rate they should be happening,” Lanzinger said.
She reiterated the federation’s call for mandatory independent annual inspections of worker transport vehicles, adding that after the 2007 Abbotsford fatalities a blitz of inspections led to 35 per cent of those vehicles being taken off the road because they didn’t meet safety standards.
The Vancouver Sun
