The City of Vancouver has announced the creation of a chief safety officer.

The appointee to the position, Magnus Enfeldt, will report to Paul Mochrie, the city manager.

Mochrie announced the new job title in a January 27 news release. In the bulletin, Mochrie referenced the recent accidental death of a longtime city truck driver in the engineering streets division.

“It is simply unacceptable that any of us do not make it home safely at the end of our workday," Mochrie said in the release. "But that has happened, including the recent loss of one of our Engineering colleagues, Gord Dolyniuk.

“Managers, safety professionals, union leaders, safety committee members and many other staff across the City are working hard every day to ensure that our workplaces are safe," Mochrie continued. "That work is critical and I want to recognize those efforts. Nevertheless, as an organization, it is clear that we must do better.”

Dolyniuk, 64, a 32-year city employee, died in a work accident at the city's National Street work yard on January 7. "This is a devastating loss for our organization,” Mochrie said in an earlier statement. “The City extends our deepest condolences to Gord’s family, and to the many members of our staff who were Gord’s friends and worked with him over the years.”

The city is conducting an investigation into the death while WorkSafeBC does the same. The Canadian flag flew at half-staff at City Hall and the work yard after the incident.

Enfeldt has headed the Vancouver Emergency Management Agency (VEMA)—which coordinates the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), among other duties—as well as the city's COVID-19 response task force since December 2020. He has been employed by the city since 2014 and was previously a business advisor and then the director of business planning and project support.

He will continue to lead the COVID-19 force and VEMA. The city's existing protective services team will report to Enfeldt.

“Whenever there are safety incidents, the City always identifies and implements specific actions we need to take to improve," Enfeldt said in the announcement release. "Beyond those specific actions, however, the City will be making broader changes to improve workplace safety. This is a serious responsibility that I have been entrusted with, and I look forward to helping to make a difference.”

The new safety chief, who earned his MBA from Sweden's University of Karlstad, is a former Swedish speed skater (1994 Olympics), worked as a speed-skating official during the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, and was the general manager of the Richmond Olympic Oval during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“I would like to recognize Paul’s decisive action in creating this new position to ensure that the safety of our employees is a top priority for everyone at the City,” Mayor Kennedy Stewart said in the January 27 bulletin. “Establishing a senior position to coordinate safety efforts across the organization will help us improve our performance in this important area.”

In the release, the city outlined the new position's mandate as follows:

• reviewing current safety management systems and practices across the City
• monitoring safety outcomes and reporting results to the City Leadership Team and departments
• identifying internal and external best practices
• establishing organizational priorities for action, and ensuring alignment of departmental safety efforts
• working closely with occupational safety experts within the organization.