A Nicola Valley forestry company received the largest fine in this region for safety infractions under the Workers Compensation Act.

Four companies working in and around Kamloops were documented in the 2012 penalty report.

Sanders & Co. Contracting was hit with a $28,000 fine by WorkSafeBC, which found the company failed to fell or conduct a risk assessment of several dangerous trees. The trees were exposed while felling and skidding during a logging operation at Lac Le Jeune, a repeat violation.

In Kamloops, M&J Dhaliwal Green Acres Vegetable Farm was fined more than $11,000 for an incident in November. The Crown corporation said three workers were injured when a barn under construction collapsed. They fell seven metres to a concrete slab.

The company did not have adequate fall protection or training for workers, according to the report. It also provided false information to WorkSafeBC and counselled its employees to do so.

Green Acres was also cited for safety problems at the construction site in 2011 and fined $11,000.

A roofing company operating here was cited in 2010, 2011 and 2012 for safety problems. In the most recent report, a worker with Norris Rodney Laitinen and Talena Ellen Jensen was seriously injured a year ago after falling three metres from a steep slope.

WorkSafeBC said the employee had inadequate training and safety equipment. It received a $2,500 fine.

The company has fines totalling $10,000 over three years.

Pacific Substrate Ltd., a composting firm in Cache Creek, was hit with a $13,000 fine after a worker fell four metres from the rounded top of a soaker tank, suffering serious injuries.

WorkSafeBC found the employee was not provided with a fall arrest system.

In total, WorkSafeBC imposed penalties for safety violations amounting to $2.9 million last year.

The highest fine for a single violation came against Vancouver Canucks co-owner Francesco Aquilini and his family for failing to maintain some vehicles on their blueberry farm.

It was the second violation issued since 2011 for Aquilini, his brother and his mother and amounted to a $125,000 fine for some unsafe vehicles used to transport workers at their Pitt Meadows business.

WorkSafeBC spokeswoman Alexandra Skinner-Reynolds says the Aquilinis appealed the two violations but both were upheld, and they may have filed another appeal with the Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal.

Burnaby company Skylite Building Maintenance Ltd., was handed the largest penalty of $227,500, for three separate violations over repeatedly exposing workers to asbestos.

A total of 225 employers were fined last year, involving six fatalities, and 85 per cent of the companies were in the construction sector.

— with files from The Canadian Press