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As the city is calling for stronger fines and bylaws for buildingsafety code violations, the province is planning sky-highpenalties. Amendments to the Safety Codes Act, which call for raising finesfrom a maximum of $15,000 to $100,000, are being finalized. Forrepeat offenders the fine would rise to $500,000. "We expect that to come in this fall," said a Municipal AffairsDepartment spokesman, Parker Hogan. The changes to safety and building code fines come as cityofficials are planning to introduce a bylaw to ensure regularexterior maintenance of buildings. The city wants a stronger bylawto hold building owners more accountable. Tuesday's wind storm shut downtown streets as material flew aboutand a piece of a sign on a 40-storey highrise dislodged. News that stiffer penalties may become law was welcomed by cityofficials. "It's going to be something people are going to have to payattention to," said the city's chief building inspector, MarcoCivitarese. "The industry is well-versed in occupational safety.What they haven't come to the realization of is public safetyimpact." After the 2009 death of a three-year-old girl, killed by debrisfrom a 9th Avenue S. construction site, two construction companieswere each fined the maximum $15,000. A judge called the safety code penalty "woefully inadequate." "No one, until the death of Michelle Krsek, has said we're going toactually kill somebody if we're don't take care of this piece ofconstruction. We're going to affect public safety if we don't,"said Civitarese. "Now they are and now they will." Other proposed changes to the legislation include expandinginvestigation time from a six-month window to lay charges to threeyears. "Sometimes you don't know all the pieces of the puzzle. Some timesit takes longer than six months to conduct an investigation," Hogansaid. Calling the effects of Tuesday's wind storm on the downtownbuilding an anomaly, the Building Owners and Managers Associationsays higher fines aren't the answer. "It's an unjustifiable leap. A fine won't prevent it," said BillPartridge, BOMA's executive vice-president. "Fines are after thefact, so how does after the fact action take care of anything? Weneed to put the brakes on here and let sober minds prevail. "Our industry adheres to very stringent guidelines. We're in thebuildings business, but we're also in the keeping people safebusiness," Partridge said. Safety and building codes are examined about every five years aspart of national reviews. Roads were reopened around Western Canadian Place, home to HuskyEnergy, on Wednesday. Crews were able to safely remove ametal-framed canvas that had been hanging off it, forcing officialsto block several roads since Tuesday afternoon. Wind gusts of up to 80 km/h were cited for dislodging a piece ofmetal, part of the Husky sign, near the top of the 40-storeybuilding. Some pieces travelled as much as a block away when they flew off. The pieces struck and damaged the windshield and body of onevehicle, and the body of another. The city's investigation continues. It is the second time in recentmonths that material has come loose from Western Canadian Place. szickefoose@calgaryherald.com. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China sanyo projector lamp , epson projector lamp Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit sanyo projector lamp today!
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