The Strathcona Regional District will apply for funding to try and mitigate a liability risk on Quadra Island.
The money is expected to be put towards safety improvements at the Quathiaski Cove Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Russ Hotsenpiller, CAO of the regional district, said the work is based on recommendations in a 2011 risk control survey and includes installing a fire extinguisher in the plant control building and replacing some old stairs.
“The stairs are deteriorating with significant rotting,” Hotsenpiller said. “To reduce liability and risk of injury these stairs are proposed to be replaced.”
The final piece of the project includes securing a set of metal stairs to a final clarifier at the plant so that “a user of the stairs can steady themselves during use and not possibly fall and injure themselves,” according to Hotsenpiller.
Additional work may include gravel surfacing of the site’s driveway where the ground is subject to bogging out service trucks – but that work is subject to available funding.
A total of $3,750 is available through the Municipal Insurance Association’s risk management grant program which has been offered to its members for the past five years.
The program helps its members fund risk management projects that aim to reduce liability claims.
The Strathcona Regional District has used the program in the past to fund four different projects, including a risk management survey of inactive community park sites, protective netting at Rod Brind’Amour Arena, as well as risk management inspections at Blenkin Memorial Park on Quadra Island and Hoskyn and Granite Bay Parks.
Should the regional district be successful in its grant application this year, the improvements at the Quathiaski Cove Wastewater Treatment Plant are proposed to be completed over the course of this summer.