WorkSafeBC and Your Strata: When the Corporation Becomes an Employer

A council hires a roofer, a sheet metal contractor and a scaffolding company for a re-roof. Three separate employers, one site, nobody appointed to coordinate between them. A worker falls. WorkSafeBC arrives and asks who the prime contractor was.

The strata's honest answer is that nobody thought about it. That answer means the strata corporation was the prime contractor, with everything that follows. It is the single most under-appreciated liability a volunteer council carries, and avoiding it costs one paragraph in a contract.

This article is general information about occupational health and safety obligations in BC and is not legal advice. WorkSafeBC's own guidance and your contract wording govern; get advice before a major project.

Two separate ways a strata is caught

As an employer. If the strata corporation employs anyone — a live-in caretaker, a concierge, an on-site manager, a gardener, a cleaner paid directly rather than through a contracting firm — it is an employer under BC's workers' compensation legislation. That triggers registration with WorkSafeBC, premiums on assessable payroll, an occupational health and safety programme proportionate to the operation, incident reporting, and the general duty to ensure the health and safety of workers.

Councils frequently do not realise they have crossed this line, because it happens informally. The retired owner in 102 who is "paid a bit" to do the gardening every week may be a worker rather than a contractor, and the label on the cheque is not what decides it. Where you are unsure, get it assessed rather than assumed.

As an owner of a workplace. Far more common, and the one that catches every strata. When work is done on your common property, the site is a workplace. The owner of a workplace carries duties under BC's OHS Regulation — broadly, to provide information about hazards known or reasonably foreseeable at the site, and to ensure the requirements around prime contractors are met.

That second duty is the one worth understanding properly.

The prime contractor rule, in plain terms

Where a workplace has more than one employer working at the same time — a multiple-employer workplace — someone has to coordinate safety across all of them. That is the prime contractor.

The rule that matters to councils: the owner must ensure a prime contractor is designated in writing. If there is no written designation, the owner is the prime contractor by default.

For a strata corporation, that default is a serious position to be in. The prime contractor is responsible for coordinating the health and safety activities of every employer on site, for establishing and maintaining a system to ensure compliance, and for doing what a coordinating party would be expected to do — which a volunteer council plainly cannot.

So the practical rule is simple. Any time more than one contractor will be on site at once, name a prime contractor in writing before work starts. Usually the general contractor. Sometimes the largest trade. Almost never the strata.

Where a single contractor is on site alone, the multiple-employer situation does not arise — but note how easily it does. A roofer and a separate crane company. A restoration firm and the plumber the strata called first. A painting contractor while the elevator modernisation is running. Two trades booked for the same Tuesday by accident.

What to check before any contractor starts

Make it a standing part of how council awards work.

A WorkSafeBC clearance letter. Confirms the contractor's account is in good standing. If a contractor is in arrears on premiums, the party who hired them can be held liable for the amounts owing — so this is protecting the strata's money, not just its conscience. Clearance can be checked directly with WorkSafeBC, and it should be current, not from two years ago.

Proof of coverage, including for subcontractors and for owner-operators who may have opted in or out of personal coverage.

Liability insurance certificates, naming the strata corporation, with limits appropriate to the work.

A written prime contractor designation where more than one employer will be on site.

A site-specific safety plan for anything substantial — envelope work, roofing, elevator modernisation, parkade membrane replacement.

Hazard information from you to them. The owner's duty runs in this direction: tell contractors what you know about the site. Asbestos and lead in a pre-1990 building. Confined spaces. Live electrical rooms. Roof anchor locations and their last inspection. Where the gas main runs.

That last item is not a formality. Disturbing asbestos-containing material is one of the most serious failures on a BC construction site, and since 2024 BC has required asbestos abatement contractors to be licensed and their workers certified. Any pre-1990 building needs a hazardous materials survey before demolition or renovation work begins — see asbestos in BC strata buildings.

Roof anchors, and the trap in the maintenance contract

Fall protection anchors on a strata roof are a recurring problem. They are permanent equipment on your common property, they require periodic inspection and certification by a qualified professional, and window cleaners and roofers rely on them.

Two failures are common. The anchors have never been certified, or the certification lapsed years ago — and a contractor who uses them is relying on the strata's implied assurance that they are sound. Or the strata assumes the window cleaning company handles it, and the company assumes the building does. Read the contract, and if it is silent, resolve it before the next clean.

Volunteers doing the work themselves

Councils in small buildings often maintain the property personally: shovelling, changing bulbs, clearing gutters, pressure washing.

Two things to weigh. Coverage. A volunteer council member is generally not a worker, which sounds like good news and is not — it means no workers' compensation coverage if they are hurt. Where the strata directs the work, questions about the corporation's liability can follow. Risk. Ladders, roofs and pressure washers cause serious injuries, and a strata with no employees, no coverage and an injured volunteer on a ladder is in an unpleasant position.

The reasonable line for most small stratas is that volunteers do ground-level, low-risk tasks, and anything involving height, electricity, gas or a confined space goes to an insured contractor. Snow removal and winter maintenance is the seasonal version of exactly this decision.

What enforcement looks like

WorkSafeBC officers can inspect any workplace, including a strata's common property during construction. They can issue orders requiring compliance, stop-work orders halting a project entirely, and administrative penalties. Penalties are directed at the responsible party — which, on a multiple-employer site with no written designation, can be the strata corporation.

A stop-work order in the middle of an envelope project is expensive in a way that has nothing to do with the fine: schedule, weather exposure, and a building open to the elements.

Serious incidents must be reported immediately, and the scene generally must not be disturbed except to attend to the injured or prevent further harm. If something happens on your site, the council's job is to call, preserve, and notify the insurer — not to tidy up.

What council should actually do

Put four things in place and most of this is handled.

A contractor checklist used every time, covering clearance letter, insurance certificate, prime contractor designation and safety plan. It takes ten minutes and it is the whole defence.

Standard contract wording designating the prime contractor for any multi-employer work, prepared once and reused. Ask your manager or a lawyer to draft it.

A hazard file for the building — hazardous materials survey, roof anchor certifications, confined space locations, asbestos register — kept current and handed to every contractor.

A minuted decision for each project recording that these were obtained. If a council can point to the minute, it can show it took the care a reasonably prudent council would, which is the standard every council member is held to.

Where the strata has employees, all of this sits on top of a proper employer programme, and that is worth professional advice rather than a checklist. What a strata manager actually does covers where the manager's role begins and ends in coordinating it.

Frequently asked questions

Does a BC strata corporation have to register with WorkSafeBC? If it employs anyone directly — a caretaker, concierge, on-site manager or gardener paid by the strata — then yes, with premiums, an OHS programme and reporting obligations. A strata with no employees generally does not register, but still carries duties as the owner of a workplace whenever contractors work on common property.

Who is the prime contractor on a strata construction project? Whoever is designated in writing before work starts, usually the general contractor. Where more than one employer is on site at the same time and no written designation exists, the owner of the workplace — the strata corporation — is the prime contractor by default.

What is a WorkSafeBC clearance letter and why does a strata need one? It confirms a contractor's WorkSafeBC account is in good standing. If a contractor is in arrears on premiums, the party that hired them can be held liable for the outstanding amounts, so obtaining current clearance before work starts protects the strata financially.

Are strata council volunteers covered by WorkSafeBC? Generally not, because volunteers are usually not workers. That means no workers' compensation coverage if a council member is injured doing maintenance, which is a strong argument for leaving anything involving heights, electricity or confined spaces to an insured contractor.

Does a strata have to tell contractors about asbestos in the building? Yes. The owner of a workplace must provide information about known or reasonably foreseeable hazards. Pre-1990 buildings need a hazardous materials survey before demolition or renovation, and BC requires asbestos abatement contractors to be licensed and their workers certified.

Related reading

• Asbestos in BC Strata Buildings: What Councils of Pre-1990 Buildings Must Do
• Strata Council Roles & Responsibilities in BC
• Who's Responsible? Strata vs Owner Repairs and Maintenance in BC
• Snow Removal and Winter Maintenance: A BC Strata's Responsibilities
• EV Charging in BC Stratas: Planning Infrastructure the Right Way

WorkSafeBC publishes the owner and prime contractor guidance directly, and the underlying duties sit in the Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.

A ten-minute contractor checklist is the cheapest liability insurance a council will ever buy. Onehive provides strata management across Metro Vancouver — request a proposal.