Company pauses daily bus transport of workers after charter rollover in northern B.C.

Eighteen people were hurt when a bus carrying housekeepers for a resource work camp in northern B.C. rolled on a remote forest service road on Friday.

The company that employs two dozen housekeeping staff involved in a charter bus rollover in northern British Columbia last week says it has suspended daily busing of staff from its worksite.

The Dexterra Group is the parent company of Horizon North, which employs the housekeepers at Parsnip Lodge, a work camp north of Prince George for Coastal GasLink crews.

On Monday, Unite Here Local 40, the union representing the workers, said the company had moved housekeepers from on-site to Prince George to make room for those pipeline workers.

That resulted in a four-hour round-trip daily bus ride for housekeepers the union said violated its collective agreement.

In a statement Tuesday, Dexterra said it had been instructed by clients to move its workers off-site temporarily because the facility was at peak capacity.

“However, until our investigation is complete, we are not allowing any daily bussing of our operations teams to or from Parsnip Lodge,” it said.

“Our own investigation of the incident is still underway, and we are cooperating with the RCMP and other government agencies in their investigations as well.”

The company said it is also currently in talks and arbitration with the union unrelated to transportation safety.