(Photo credit: CFJC Today).

By Stephanie Swensrude

worksafe fines

Brocklehurst bakery explains background behind WorkSafe BC fines

Mar 14, 2022 | 5:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — Craig Einfeld woke up Sunday morning (Mar. 13) to social media posts and phone calls about an article that was reporting his bakery had been fined more than $8,000 by WorkSafe BC. That was true, but Einfeld said that wasn’t the entire story.

“I saw comments on social media [saying], ‘I have been buying my bread at Craig’s for 15 years. Have I been buying asbestos bread?’ No, of course you have not,” said Einfeld.

Like many buildings built before 1990, Craig’s Bakery had asbestos in the floor tile. One choice was to have it removed, a costly process that would have closed the bakery for a long time. Instead, Einfeld chose to have a concrete floor poured over the tile — a process known as encapsulation. It would be effective, less costly and would allow the bakery to open sooner.

Keenan Ratushniak is a project manager at ServiceMaster of Kamloops and he works on asbestos-related projects — though not this one specifically.

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“Encapsulation is one method for controlling asbestos where you can lay another material on top of it. Removal is the best option, but it can be done in certain situations, but you want a qualified professional to determine that,” said Ratushniak.

Einfeld said he asked the contractors he hired if encapsulation would be safe.

“I pressed that issue continuously, to be WorkSafe compliant, and I was told that we would be WorkSafe compliant.”

WorkSafe received a complaint about the work being done. They found that, in the encapsulation process, tiles had been disturbed. A Stop Work Order was issued along with fines. Later, WorkSafe conducted safety tests.

“The air quality test passed with flying colours. We brought in a hazmat crew to clean us from top to bottom. And then WorkSafe came in and opened us up again, no problem,” Einfeld said.

Einfeld said there was no risk to the public as the bakery was closed when work was being done.