Mayor and Councillors,
BYLAW NO. 5484
PROPERTY MAINTENANCE AND NUISANCE BYLAW
Purpose
2. Pursuant to Section 8 of The Cities Act, the purpose of this Bylaw is to:
(a) establish minimum standards for the proper maintenance of Property in the City; and
(b) provide for the abatement of nuisances caused by the condition of Properties in the City that:
(i) affect or may affect the safety, health and welfare of people in a neighbourhood;
(ii) affect or may affect the amenity of a neighbourhood; or
(iii) substantially depreciate the value of other land and improvements in the neighbourhood.
Email from City Manager’s Office:
Please be advised, neither the City or Public Health Office has the equipment or training to perform air quality testing. The City has contacted the Public Health Inspector and was advised that a musty smell may be present but the smell will permeate that air further than the mold will travel. As well, the health inspector stated, that exposure from mold travelling through the air and affecting occupants in a neighboring property would be minimal.
The City's Bylaw Enforcement Officers and Building Officials continue to work with the homeowner to resolve the property maintenance concerns including the installation of an air purification machine by the property owner once power issues are resolved.
Provincial Health Department (Regina)
I spoke with an official who said the mold shouldn’t be a concern, but did add the following during our discussion:
These derelict properties should be dealt with by the city.
The people working in the house should be taking appropriate precautions by wearing “safety equipment” for mold.
“As a added precaution” the contents should have been bagged prior to being removed to be placed in an open bin.
Councillors how do you think the material was removed and put in any of the six bins it took to remove the contents of the house? Would it surprise you to learn the owner’s workers tossed the material into the bin, none of it bagged. There was dust rising above the bins. Ask Mr. Puffalt or Mr. Montgomery if they put out the requirements to bag the contents while removed.
Councillors this answer might be surprising — mold spores can stay airborne indefinitely.
My wife has COPD and her doctor said black mold can definitely trigger a flare-up.
Would it surprise you that her last visit to her property was five days, just long enough to pack up the “antiques,” and then they were loaded on a semi-bound for Ontario, and she was gone.
The City's Bylaw Enforcement Officers and Building Officials continue to work with the homeowner to resolve the property maintenance concerns including the installation of an air purification machine by the property owner once power issues are resolved.
Occupational Health and Safety Saskatchewan
Part 7
Personal Protective Equipment
Use of equipment required
7‐1(1) If it is not reasonably practicable to protect the health and safety of workers by design of the plant and work processes, suitable work practices or administrative controls, an employer or contractor shall ensure that every worker wears or uses suitable and adequate personal protective equipment.
31 Dec 2020 c S-15.1 Reg 10 s7-1.
Would it surprise you to learn the owner of the house wore a half-mask, while her employees were given dust masks and some did not have anything. She was kind enough when she left to give the mask to a worker. She’s a doctor?
Councillors, please explain the need for an air purification system as the owner is safe-and-sound back in Ontario. Your city manager Mr. Puffalt and bylaw enforcement/ fire chief Montgomery are safe-and-sound in their air-conditioned offices.
Occupational Health and Safety Saskatchewan
Ventilation and air supply
6‐2 An employer, contractor or owner shall:
(a) ensure the adequate ventilation of a place of employment; and
(b) to the extent that is reasonably practicable, render harmless and inoffensive, and prevent the accumulation of, any contaminants or impurities in the air by providing an adequate supply of clean and wholesome air and maintaining its circulation throughout the place of employment.
31 Dec 2020 c S-15.1 Reg 10 s6-2.
Mechanical ventilation
6‐3(1) An employer, contractor or owner shall provide a mechanical ventilation system in a place of employment that is sufficient and suitable to protect the workers against inhalation of a contaminant and to prevent accumulation of the contaminant and ensure that the mechanical ventilation system is maintained and properly used, if any work, activity or process in the place of employment gives off:
So, Councillors please explain to an old fool like me; the need for an air purification, after the power is restored?
So in closing, Councillors, Occupational Health and Safety only matter to your city manager when it serves him? …and the health and the safety of the citizen’s living next to a Derelict Property isn’t important enough for Puffalt or Montgomery to protect citizens and workers by following the regulations?
Carter Currie
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
