Reference no: EM133315745

Question: You are the Director of Human Resources at Gateway Construction in Langford, B.C. The past 18 months have been very challenging, first with delays to building construction due to COVID-19 outbreaks among the construction crew, and then due to atmospheric rivers, which are heavy rains that have caused flooding on Vancouver Island. Last year, issues related to flooding prompted closures to the Malahat Highway, which is the main corridor between Greater Victoria and the rest of Vancouver Island. Approximately 40 percent of the employees at Gateway Construction live north of Victoria, in the Cowichan Valley, and rely on the Malahat Highway to get to work. Last fall, when the Malahat was closed for 2 days due to flooding, not enough employees could get into work to meet WorkSafeBC safety regulations, so the company had to stop construction of an 8-storey business tower for that time. That cost the company $90,000 in lost productivity and wages, and angered the client because construction was already behind schedule.

Given how common these climate-change-related weather systems are becoming, senior management met and decided that employees are responsible for getting themselves to work and need to make that a priority, otherwise the company won't be