There is an old adage that there’s safety in numbers and there is a lot of truth to that statement.
Whether it be on the battlefield, the school yard or in the workplace, when it comes to an individual’s safety, often more is better.
It is something the Alberta government should take into account when it considers bringing in new prepay or pay-at-the-pump gas legislation.
The government announced it is looking at bringing in the legislation as a response to the tragedy in Calgary on June 7 when a gas station employee, Maryam Rashidi, was struck and killed in an attempt to stop a gas and dash.
The proposed legislation is long overdue if you ask the Alberta Association of Police Chiefs. Since 2011, the association has been calling for this type of legislation, saying that it would prevent crime and free up police resources.
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) supports bringing in pay-at-the-pump legislation.
Gil McGowan, AFL president, said that it is long past time for Alberta to enact a law to protect gas station attendants, pointing to B.C. as an example.
Currently, B.C. is the only Canadian province with prepaying pump laws. The regulation, known as Grant’s Law, was enacted in 2008 after gas attendant Grant DePatie was dragged to death over a $12 theft in 2005.
Besides making it mandatory for drivers to prepay at the pump, other safety provisions include having at least two employees on any night time retail shift or installing a safety barrier between the worker and the customers.
However, it didn’t take long until WorkSafeBC, the province’s equivalent to Alberta Occupational Health and Safety, amended the regulations in Grant’s Law, stating that it wasn’t feasible for retailers to hire additional staff or erect barriers.
The truth is, many businesses, in all likelihood, didn’t make much of an attempt to comply. Two years after Grant’s Law came into affect, WorkSafeBC spot checks found that close to 80 per cent of businesses were in noncompliance. Instead of handing out violation tickets to the majority of the businesses they visited, the agency responsible for safety in the workplace decided it was easier to change the regulations.
Instead of having two people on shift, convenience stores can follow other safety procedures, including time-lock safes that can’t be opened during late night hours, video surveillance, as well as keeping limited amounts of cash and lottery tickets on hand.
Yes, enacting a pay-at-the-pump law would help stop gas and dash crimes and protect a small percentage of gas station workers, but there are other options like having more than one person on during a shift.
Hopefully the government will take this opportunity to investigate all the possibilities to help keep retail workers safe and not just take the easy way out and enact pay-at-the-pump legislation.
