Driving a tractor without a seatbelt nets Kelowna orchards $13,500 in fines

Two Kelowna orchards have been fined $13,500 after workers were caught not using seatbelts while driving a tractor.

Krazy Cherry Fruit Company was fined $12,207 for driving a tractor on a public road without wearing a seat belt, and Fresh Acres Enterprises was issued a $1,400 penalty.

According to a recently published Sept. 18 WorkSafeBC penalty notices, inspectors arrived at both sites and witnessed drivers not wearing seatbelts.

“WorkSafeBC observed a worker of (Fresh Acres Enterprises) operating a tractor to tow a trailer on a road. The worker was not wearing a seat belt and the tractor’s rollover protective structure was in the down position,” the penalty notice reads. “The firm failed to ensure mobile equipment was used with a ROPS and that mobile equipment riders used seat belts whenever the equipment was in motion.”

In Krazy Cherry Fruit Company’s case, the tractor was on a public road and the driver wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

“The firm failed to ensure mobile equipment riders used seat belts whenever the equipment was in motion,” the penal notice reads.

WorkSafeBC says for both firms they were repeated violations. The difference in the amount of the fines is due to how WorkSafeBC calculates fines based on the company’s history of violations and the size of the company’s payroll.

Last July, the Krazy Cherry Fruit Company was fined after it demolished a house without first conducting a hazardous materials survey. In 2011, it was issued a $12,000 for having an insufficient number of first aid facilities for the number of workers on site.

In recent years, numerous fines have been given out for drivers not wearing seatbelts on tractors.

In 2024, Jealous Fruits received a $7,000 fine after a worker died when a tractor rolled over on a Lavington cherry orchard. Early this year, the same company was hit with a $145,000 fine after a worker was seriously injured jumping out of a tractor that began to slip down a steep slope.

Last year, Kelowna packinghouse was left on the hook $42,500 after inspectors found eight out of 14 seatbelts on a work van unusable, and in 2022 a Thompson ranch was hit with a $27,000 fine for using a tractor without a seatbelt.

In 2023, a Kelowna orchard was issued a $40,000 fine for failing to have a seatbelt on a tractor.