It’s now available in a mobile-friendly format.

WorkSafeBC’s Penalties Database is a list of fines given to employers in BC for health and safety violations. Chances are, you’ve seen it at the back of WorkSafe Magazine or on WorkSafeBC’s Incident Investigations web page.

You can search for this information on a computer, smart phone, or tablet.

A new version of the database is now available to view on a tablet or smartphone, including a new design and new ways to search. And, of course, you can still see it in a desktop version on your computer, as well.

“This new database augments the magazine and is a powerful tool to search or browse for penalties that may be relevant to your business or operations,” said Philip Leung, an Internet content lead with WorkSafeBC.

So far, it’s been popular. More than 1,300 views of the search page were noted in September 2015 – quadrupling the average amount per month before the new database.

Philip works with WorkSafeBC’s business information and analysis team to upload new data every month.

“We upload the penalties data from the report to the same database platform many newspapers use,” Philip said, when I asked for a layperson’s explanation of the technology behind it.

Sharing data on emerging issues

Creating this database is part of WorkSafeBC’s commitment to fulfilling recommendations of the Macatee Report commissioned after a tragic sawmill explosion in BC. Justice Macatee’s report included 43 recommendations on how to “further strengthen worker health and safety, build a world-class inspection and investigations regime at WorkSafeBC and ensure increasing dust mitigation compliance in sawmills and other wood manufacturing operations,” says WorkSafeBC in a press release from February 2015.

The new database is a tool that will “make data sharing between partners and jurisdictions possible to help employer and industry leaders proactively plan for and manage emerging issues,” reads the above.

Data goes back to 2013, and you can search it by:

* Amount
* Industry sector
* Year
* Firm name
* Any word or number

Thanks to all for telling me about this new resource that looks very promising.