About this matter

Prosecuted Mount Polley engineering discipline proceeding resulting in unprofessional conduct findings

An Engineers and Geoscientists BC Discipline Committee found that Rice committed several acts of unprofessional conduct in connection with his work on the Mount Polley Mine tailings storage facility. The Panel found that he failed to properly fulfil his role as review engineer, permitted an insufficiently experienced junior engineer to act as Engineer of Record, failed to ensure adequate observation and monitoring, inadequately documented his review work, and failed to ensure that an excavation at the embankment toe was assessed for its effect on stability. Rice, who had already resigned his engineering licence, was fined $25,000 and agreed to pay $107,500 in costs, with additional conditions applying if he sought future registration.