OHS March June 2016

C A N A D A’ S O C C U PAT I O N A L H E A LT H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E M AY / J U NE 2016

C A N A D A

IN THE

DRIVER’S Publications Mail Agreement No. 43005526

SEAT Safety gets a boost from semi-autonomous technology

ON TENUOUS GROUND

Rethinking security in oil and gas installations

SOUND BITES

Alarm raised over hearing loss

RANDOM TESTING

Transit operators come under the radar

DOWN UNDER

Avoiding the risk of decompression sickness

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3M, 3M Science. Applied to Life., Capital Safety and DBI-SALA are trademarks of 3M. Used under license in Canada. Please recycle. Printed in Canada. © 2016, 3M. All rights reserved. 160204759 E BA-16-21193

C A N A D A’ S O C C U PAT I O N A L H E A LT H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E

C A N A D A

M AY / JU N E 2016 Volu m e 3 2 , N u m b e r 3

FEATURES S E M I - AU TON OM OUS TEC HN OLOGY 20

On the Road

Semi-autonomous technology offers the tantalizing prospect of enhancing road safety by weeding out human errors like distraction and fatigue.

BY DANNY KUCHARSKY

E NE RG Y S EC UR ITY 26

Danger Zone

The changing face of terrorism has put the security of Canada’s oil and gas installations — both at home and abroad — on tenuous ground.

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BY WILLIAM M. GLENN

DEPARTMENTS

O CCU PATION AL HY GIEN E

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Sound Advice

The high incidence of noise-induced hearing loss among oil and gas workers in British Columbia raises questions about exposure levels and protective measures.

BY JEAN LIAN

S AF E T Y GEAR

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Falling Safely

Having fall-protection equipment is important, but so is knowing how to use and wear the gear correctly.

BY JEFF COTTRILL

ACCI DE N T P R EV EN TION

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For occupational divers, proper planning and understanding the hazards can reduce the risk of decompression sickness.

IN THIS ISSUE ED ITORIA L

What’s Your Reason?

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PAN ORAMA

6

LETTERS

8

OH &S UPD AT E

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Ex-cop in British Columbia charged; fall claims Alberta worker; fatality in Manitoba prompts heat-stress probe; three Ontario healthcare workers attacked; Nova Scotia gets guidelines on inclusion; and more.

D ISPATCHES

Sit and stand; cancer cluster spurs lawsuit; shift work hikes heart risk; and more.

AD IN D EX

38

Man Underwater L AW F I LE

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Transit Applies Random Testing

Toronto’s public-transport agency’s plan to implement random drug and alcohol testing has re-ignited the debate between safety and the right to privacy.

BY JEFF COTTRILL

T I M E O UT

Hold your horses; traffic stoppers; love without borders; hot is cool; deer caught in globe light; bolted cats; and more.

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18

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The real enemy of safety is not non-compliance but non-thinking.

— DR. ROBERT LONG

www.ohscanada.com

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EDITORIAL

C A N A D A’ S O C C U PAT I O N A L H E A LT H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E

What’s Your Reason?

A

recent article published in Toronto Star has raised alarm over the suspension of the physical-education program at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

The article cited this development as part of a larger trend of universities moving away from such degrees — a trend reflected in elementary and secondary schools, where physical education is being crowded out.

Considering that one in four adults and one in 10 children in Canada have clinical obesity, according to figures from the Canadian Obesity Network, the concerns that the article highlighted are not unfounded. Grooming instructors who can impress upon the young the importance of being active cannot be underestimated. Today’s students are tomorrow’s workers, and a healthy workforce is the economic engine that fuels the growth of a country.

A paper entitled Obesity and the Workplace, published in the June 2011 issue of Occupational Medicine, describes obesity as a “global tsunami” that will demand increasing commitment from occupational health programs. Apart from the social and financial costs of reduced well-being and treating obesity-related diseases, the paper also cites workplace costs through decreased employee productivity and a heightened need for support services and disability management.

Rising obesity is a multifaceted problem that needs to be tackled from different angles, and offering programs on physical education is only one of them. Lifestyle is a major contributing factor: the energy-expenditure level of modern living is vastly different from that of our predecessors in hunter-gatherer societies. The physical endeavour of obtaining food sources through hunting and engaging in agricultural activities in the past has been replaced by pushing a cart in an air-conditioned supermarket today. In caloric terms, compare expending, say 500 calories chasing down a deer or harvesting a crop versus 50 calories spent buying packaged meat or vegetables and carrying that to the car.

And then there is changing diet. Artery-blocking fast food, sugar-laden soft drinks and processed food laced with trans fat and hormone-disrupting phthalates used in manufacturing plastics and adhesives are, unfortunately, a part of modern diet, and the consequences are reflected in our waistlines.

Besides major differences in how we obtain food sources, the modern knowledge economy has also given rise to largely sedentary workplaces. Cars and digital technology have further reduced the physical exertion in our daily lives.

Considering the above, rising obesity should come as no surprise. Educational institutions certainly play a role in promoting active living, but so does the family unit. Parents are often the best role models when it comes to educating their children on the importance of staying active and eating healthfully.

Like a healthy diet, an active lifestyle is taught.

But ultimately, committing to a lifestyle that incorporates physical activity has to come from the self. For me, that change came about six years ago, after I had two kids back to back. I realized that child caring is so strenuous that if I am not physically fit, it does not take much to hurt my back. So I joined a gym and made regular workouts a part of my life, and I have not looked back since.

We all have our reasons for living healthily. What’s yours?

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Jean Lian

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ohs canada

C A N A D A

Vol. 32, No. 3 MAY/JUNE 2016

JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com EDITOR

EDITOR

JEFF COTTRILL

CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS jcottrill@ohscanada.com ART DIRECTOR

MARK RYAN PHYLLIS WRIGHT

PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER

STEVE HOFMANN

MARKETING SPECIALIST

DIMITRY EPELBAUM DIANE RAKOFF

CIRCULATION MANAGER

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

drakoff@annexnewcom.ca SHEILA HEMSLEY shemsley@ohscanada.com PETER BOXER

PUBLISHER

pboxer@ohscanada.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS DAVID IRETON, Safety Professional, Brampton, Ont. AL JOHNSON, Vice President, Prevention Services WorkSafeBC, Richmond, B.C. JANE LEMKE, Program Manager, OHN Certification Program, Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ont.

DON MITCHELL, Safety Consultant, Mississauga, Ont. MICHELE PARENT, National Manager, Risk Management and Health and Wellness, Standard Life, Montreal, Que.

TERRY RYAN, Workers’ Compensation and Safety Consultant, TRC Group Inc., Mississauga, Ont.

DON SAYERS, Principal Consultant, Don Sayers & Associates, Hanwell, N.B. DAVID SHANE, National Director, Health and Safety, Canada Post Corporation, Ottawa, Ont.

HENRY SKJERVEN, President, The Skjerven Cattle Company Ltd., Wynyard, Sask.

PETER STRAHLENDORF, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Health, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ont.

JONATHAN TYSON, Association of Canadian Ergonomists/Association canadienne d’ergonomie, North Bay, Ont. OHS CANADA is the magazine for people who make decisions about health and safety in the workplace. It is designed to keep workers, managers and safety professionals informed on oh&s issues, up to date on new developments and in touch with current thinking in the oh&s community.

WEBSITE: http://www.ohscanada.com INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS contained in this publication have been compiled from sources believed to be reliable and to be representative of the best current opinion on the subject. No warranty, guarantee nor representation is made by Annex-Newcom LP as to the absolute correctness or sufficiency of any representation contained in this publication.

OHS CANADA is published six times per year by Annex-Newcom LP, a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business information services. The yearly issues include: January/ February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October and November/December.

ADDRESS: OHS CANADA MAGAZINE, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9.

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The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and may be used for your personal, non-commercial purposes only. All other rights are reserved, and commercial use is prohibited. To make use of any of this material, you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information, please contact the editor.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Publications mail agreement no. 43005526.

Date of issue: JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016

At 5 years, our sensor warranty is the longest on the market.

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Choose the detector with sensors that are warranted for 5 full years, not 12 months.* It’s a mistake to overlook something as small as a sensor when buying gas detectors. That’s because the purchase price of a gas detector is only a fraction of the cost to operate one.

Sensor replacement over time can cost you thousands of dollars in sensors, labour, calibration, and downtime. At Dräger, we believe a quality sensor needs to be more than just accurate. It should last, too. That’s why selected sensors in the X-am® 2500, X-am® 5000, and certain Pac® 7000 devices come with a 5-year warranty – the longest on the market. Isn’t it time to start thinking small and saving big? Find out more at www.draeger.com/xam-discount

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panorama

$136,000 Fine meted out to a mining company and two of its supervisors in Kenora, Ontario on May 12, over falling rocks that injured two employees in 2013.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour

1 5 4 2

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Heat Alert: The Alberta government issued a statement on May 3, warning outdoor workers in the province to beware of heat stress. The statement advises employers to protect their workers in various ways, such as moving work to a cooler area, scheduling extra breaks if necessary and gradually increasing outdoor work times to help employees adjust to the heat.

Source: Government of Alberta

919

Number of workplace deaths recorded in Canada in 2014.

Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

No to Asbestos: Effective April 1, Public Services and Procurement Canada has banned the use of asbestos in all new federal construction and renovation projects, following public pressure from organizations such as the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Cancer Society.

Source: Public Services and Procurement Canada

Amendment Proposal: The Nova Scotia government introduced amendments that will toughen the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act against repeat violators on April 26. Among the proposed changes are defining a serious injury as one that risks a worker’s life or causes a permanent condition, allowing courts to grant injunctions to stop employers with repeat violations from working in industries and requiring repeat offenders to notify the government of future work locations.

Source: Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education Partners in Safety: Head and brain injuries sustained on the job are the theme of a new poster campaign launched in April by the Workers Compensation Board of Prince Edward Island and the Brain Injury Association of Prince Edward Island. The provincial campaign seeks to make employers and workers aware of the potential causes of head injuries and ways to prevent them.

Source: Workers Compensation Board of Prince Edward Island Status Quo: Injured workers who are entitled to healthcare benefits from WorkplaceNL as a result of workplace injuries can continue to receive care from a chiropractor paid for by the workers’ compensation board at current rates. The expiry of the Memorandum of Agreement between WorkplaceNL and chiropractors in the province has led to some confusion regarding the continuity of chiropractic care for injured workers.

Source: WorkplaceNL

360° 6

EXPLOSION AT SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION SITE Four people died and 10 others were injured by an explosion at a subway construction site near Seoul on June 1. A gas tank used for welding operations might have caused the explosion when the workers were welding iron bars. This incident came just days after a worker was hit by a train while doing maintenance work on a station platform in Seoul.

Source: The Associated Press

600

Approximate number of reported incidents involving the aiming of laser pointers at air vehicles in Canada in 2015.

Source: Transport Canada

19

Number of correctional officers allegedly treated for smoke inhalation from a fire in Fraser Regional Correction Centre in Maple Ridge, British Columbia on January 20. The fire prompted orders that the Centre needed to comply with by April 21.

Source: WorkSafeBC

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6

ohs canada

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LETTERS Recent issues of ohs canada and our website, www.ohscanada.com, have provided readers with plenty to chew on.

PROVINCE PASSES PTSD LAW Ontario has made post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a presumptive occupational disease for first responders. (canadian occupational health and safety news (cohsn),

April 12, 2016)

I am a first responder, though not directly meeting the definition above. I suffer from PTSD. I have responded to and investigated many deaths and suicides and work for a company that is very slow to realize the impacts of this disorder. I have never mentioned this at work — only to the two health practitioners that I reached out to. Whether it is true or not, I feel that by coming forward and stating that I have PTSD, I will affect my chances for promotion in my company.

Maryanne

It can be safely predicted that there will be a huge spike in claims. PTSD is not a bogus condition, but it looks like this bill will make it far too easy to get benefits.

Steve

CITY MOURNS FIREFIGHTER Firefighters gathered in Fredericton for the funeral of a veteran firefighter who died of cancer believed to be work-related. (cohsn, April 5, 2016) It is a shame that so many firefighters are getting cancers. In theory, they should not be exposed if they are properly wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), but 1) they have a tendency to remove the SCBA once the flames are out (thus continuing to be exposed to the effluents from smoldering fires); and 2) they also get exposed to carcinogens (diesel fumes) in their own fire halls from the exhausts of the pumper trucks. These sources of exposure are preventable.

Wayne W.

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TRANSPORT AGENCIES DEBUNK CLAIM Canada’s transportation agencies rebutted claims that an air-brake procedure could have helped to prevent the Lac-Mégantic disaster. (cohsn, March 15, 2016) There are many factors, if controlled, that could have prevented this disaster, and the correct application of air brakes is just one of them. Perhaps the investigator has a problem with singling out just one factor, as s/he knows that the causes are multi-factorial. But if you speak with anyone who has experience operating trains, they will tell you that the air brakes were doing their job — right up to the point when the firefighters shut off power to the locomotive and left the scene.

Wayne W.

IN A SPLIT SECOND A feature on lockout/tagout was printed in ohs canada (January/February 2016).

Like it was stated in this article, it takes only a second for a life-altering injury. If the situation feels unsafe, it probably is.

Check everything before starting something that may change everything. You go to work for pay, not to get injured.

Michael Laderoute

FALLING ICE CLAIMS ONE A construction worker was killed in Ottawa. (the canadian press, March 23) It is puzzling that after years of death after death occurring at Canadian worksites — all reported, investigated and lessons learned — that we still have report after report of carnage. Companies say they will prevent future accidents, agencies say they will communicate the accident reports to prevent future accidents and even government creates legislation to prevent future accidents. My question is, “Where is the gap?”

There are a lot of reasons espoused

by safety pundits, from the economy to company culture, but I believe it comes down to one-on-one coaching. This must begin with frontline supervisors being convinced how safety will benefit the work process. It will then migrate to workers being convinced by their supervisors of how they own their workspace. Management’s role is to provide resources of time by allowing supervisors to learn the process... improved performance is the result of workers doing work the way it is supposed to be done, professionally.

Scott Coulter

POLICING THE POLICE An editorial on the sentencing of a police officer over the 2013 shooting of Sammy Yatim was published in ohs canada (January/February 2016).

Sorry, but “considering that the officer has to make a split-second decision without the benefit of hindsight” is not relevant. Sammy was alone, about 20 metres away on an empty streetcar and armed with small knife. James Forcillo was flanked by fellow officers — all with guns — and he chose to gun down a young man in the prime of his life, then stop and gun down a dead body with six more bullets.

You cannot argue that, for sure, he is a coward and not fit to wear the uniform or carry a gun, and it is a failure of the police force to allow people like him to wear the uniform.

Christopher Long

The video shows that the officer didn’t have to make a split-second decision.

Sammy Yatim was already contained in a street car and wasn’t going anywhere.

L Gomez Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Would you like to share a comment?

Send an email to jlian@ohscanada.com.

Letters may be edited for style, grammar and length.

First Aid and

Your Workspace

Mental Health First Aid

Mental health issues affect everyone in the workplace. Making sure your employees can support those experiencing mental health issues in a compassionate and effective way will help alleviate misconceptions and reduce the stigma around mental illness.

What First Aid Content Do Your Employees Need?

Guidelines affecting first aid and resuscitation are changing. To support first aid education in the workplace, the lead training agencies in Canada have built a consensus around the guidelines for Canada. These can be found at redcross.ca/firstaidguidelines.

A New Standard for Workplace Injury Reduction

There is an exciting new initiative spearheaded by the Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and the Workplace Injury Reduction Collaborative (made up of provincial worker safety regulators, labour groups, and other training agencies) that will build a competency framework for workplace first aid training.

Free First Aid App

For the employees who have smartphones or tablets, here is a tool to make first aid training part of their life. The app helps people learn or refresh skills, can be a quick reference for emergency situations, and provides mini tests to validate knowledge. Obtaining one or more of the badges (which can also be shared on social media) can be a weekly goal to help keep health and safety education top of mind.

With the support of Bell Let’s Talk, Canadian Red Cross will add Mental Health First Aid content to our programs in 2017. This fall, our First Aid App will carry strategies and tools to help those supporting people with a mental health crisis. We encourage you to start a dialogue around mental health in your workplace.

Using evidence-based practice can in fact help us save more lives. As our global understanding of clinical and educational science continues to evolve, we can use the latest science to update our practices for better outcomes for persons in need of care.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) just released international guidelines for 2016, which reflect the latest in evidence-based science on how to reduce suffering and save lives. The Canadian Red Cross will develop more comprehensive educational techniques as training is more than the direct interventions applied in an emergency; how we engage our learners is also a critical component.

OHS professionals who have employees in more than one province can attest to the differences in first aid training requirements based on legislation. It is very tricky to ensure that all employees meet legislation requirements and also have the same level of safety training across Canada.

The CSA is working with the Collaborative and a working committee to support the development of a standard for workplace first aid in Canada. More on this initiative—due in the spring of 2017—can be found on the CSA website csagroup.org.

Download our Free First Aid App from Google Play, iTunes or redcross.ca/apps.

Red Cross First Aid. The Experience to Make a Difference.

1.877.356.3226 redcross.ca/firstaid redcross.ca/catalogue redcross.ca/apps

OH&S UPDATE

NEW REQUIREMENTS ANNOUNCED FEDERAL — Transport Canada (TC) marked Rail Safety Week with pledges to improve the safety of the country’s rail system and the transportation of dangerous goods through funding and a new protective direction.

On April 27, federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau announced that TC will provide more than $10.9 million to the Grade Crossing Improvement Program, which aims to upgrade railway crossings across Canada based on traffic volume and accident history. The amount is expected to cover improvements to more than 400 railway crossings.

“A safe and secure national rail-transportation system is important to local communities and to Canada’s economic well-being,” Garneau says.

The following day, Garneau announced a new protective direction concerning transportation of dangerous goods. Protective Direction 36, which took effect immediately, increases the

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amount of information that every Class 1 railway — defined as a rail company whose revenue topped $250 million during each of the previous two years — must provide to municipalities and first responders so as to enhance emergency planning, risk assessment and training.

Protective Direction 36 is an expansion of Protective Direction 32, which had been in effect since November 2013 in response to the Lac-Mégantic disaster. The following are among the requirements of the direction: Class 1 railways must provide dangerous-goods reports to municipalities twice a year immediately and quarterly within the next 24 months; railways must adopt a standardized format for presenting these data; Class 1 railways must post public reports online, breaking down the 10 most common dangerous goods transported through each province; and communities may share dangerous-goods data with emergency planners and emergency-response officials within their jurisdictions or with whom they have joint mutual-aid agreements.

RISKS AT CROSSING FLAGGED FEDERAL — A railway crossing where an ambulance-train collision occurred last September may pose significant safety risks for drivers and engineers, says a statement from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) dated April 18.

The incident, which occurred in Langley, British Columbia, killed an 87-yearold patient and injured two paramedics on September 11, when a Canadian National train struck the back of an ambulance. The TSB sent a rail safety advisory to Transport Canada in March, expressing concern that drivers turning from Crush Crescent onto Glover Road were getting green lights while the railwaycrossing warning lights were flashing.

“Because of the interconnection of the crossing warning system and the road traffic signals at this location, the systems can send a conflicting message to road users when a train is approaching,” says the TSB, recommending a review of the crossing’s design and functionality.

MONITORING DEFICIENCIES CITED IN FERRY INCIDENT FEDERAL — A report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has found that insufficient monitoring of the ferry’s navigation caused a boating accident that occurred near Burnside, Newfoundland last year, when a passenger ferry collided with Burnside Rock just before docking.

According to the report, published on May 5, a passenger ferry carrying eight crew members and four passengers left St. Brendan’s, Newfoundland for Burnside on January 21, 2015. The boat struck the rock at 5:46 p.m., but continued on to dock at Burnside shortly afterwards. No injuries were reported, but the hull and bilge keel were damaged.

The TSB investigation found that the ferry had deviated from its planned route to Burnside because the master had been focusing on steering the ferry, limiting his ability to monitor the ferry’s location with paper and electronic charts.

Although the company’s safety manual recommended that the bridge team cross-reference the boat’s position with other navigational aids, the crew did not follow this procedure.

“If navigational aids are not cross-referenced or their associated features, such as alarms, are not configured optimally, bridge teams may be deprived of potentially useful information to assist in the vessel’s safe navigation,” the

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report reads.

In addition, the bridge team had not been sufficiently trained in bridge resource management, which increased its lack of situational awareness. The crew delayed reporting the incident to the Canadian Coast Guard, and the master’s fitness for duty was found to be in question due to issues with the marine medical certification process. The ferry lacked signage for lifesaving equipment, and neither the passengers nor the crew were properly informed after the ferry had struck the rock.

“If passenger safety announcements or alarms are not used to provide safety information or communicate a state of emergency, there is a risk that passengers and crew will not be prepared to respond to an emergency in a safe and timely manner,” the report states.

As a result of the incident, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Transportation and Works conducted an investigation and audit that resulted in several corrective actions last year. Among them were new chart correction procedures for all boats, new signs for lifesaving equipment and procedures for more accurate passenger counts.

— By Jeff Cottrill

ALERT ISSUED OVER DOORS IQALUIT — Following an incident in Nunavut in which a worker was injured by an electrically-powered garage door, the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC) issued a hazard alert about automated doors.

The alert, dated April 15, states that the worker was operating the door by pressing the open button with the left hand, but did not move the right hand away from the door’s track and rollers, resulting in amputation of the tips of the fourth and fifth fingers on the right hand.

The WSCC made several recommendations for employers to prevent similar incidents: instruct all employees on the safe use of electric garage doors; install operational controls at a safe distance from moving machine parts; make sure that the controls have a fail-safe mechanism; install alarms to alert workers when the door is in operation; and make sure that the safety devices on the door are working properly.

threw a soft-drink cup in the driver’s face as he exited the vehicle and fled. The suspect is believed to be in his mid-30s.

The second assault took place at the Queensway bus loop downtown at 10:57 p.m., when a young man punched another B.C. Transit bus driver after he prohibited the passenger from bringing his bicycle aboard the vehicle. RCMP officers apprehended a 19-year-old suspect,

who faces a potential assault charge and a possible court appearance.

CRANE MISHAP CLAIMS ONE JOFFRE — An incident at a construction site at a chemical-manufacturing facility in Joffre, Alberta has claimed the life of a worker.

CORRECTIONS WORKER ATTACKED BURNABY — A worker in the British Columbia corrections system was severely assaulted while on the job, according to a statement from the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) dated May 19.

The union confirms that the worker was a BCGEU member and that the employer notified the union of the attack “in a timely manner.” The statement adds that BCGEU’s oh&s officers are working with the employer’s joint health and safety committee to investigate the incident.

TWO BUS DRIVERS ASSAULTED KELOWNA — Two separate incidents involving physical assaults against bus drivers in Kelowna occurred on May 20.

According to two statements dated May 24 from the local detachment of the RCMP, the first incident took place at 3:29 p.m., when a Caucasian male wearing a tan shirt and carrying a backpack threatened violence against the driver of a B.C. Transit bus. The man www.ohscanada.com

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According to the Alberta Ministry of Labour, a group of workers at the NOVA Chemicals PE1 Expansion Project construction site were taking a crane apart on April 27 when a piece of the crane struck a worker.

“He was transported to Red Deer Hospital, but died on the way,” Ministry communications representative Lauren Welsh reports. She adds that the victim was a contract worker from Rapicon, Inc., which rents and sells Potain cranes from its Rocky View location.

The company’s senior vice president, Bill Greene, says the Rapicon employee sustained severe trauma from his impact with the equipment. “NOVA Chemicals Joffre Site emergency personnel responded to the incident and rescued the worker from the crane,” Greene says.

“No other injuries or operational impacts have been reported in relation to this incident. We are collaborating fully with the regulatory authorities as they carry out their investigation.”

WORKER PERISHES IN FALL CALGARY — A worker at a construction site in Parkhill, a neighbourhood in southwest Calgary, has died following injuries sustained in a fall on May 3.

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The employee of Vedas General Contracting Ltd was working on a scaffolding at the site when he fell about seven-and-a-half metres to the ground, according to Alberta Ministry of Labour (MOL) spokesperson Lauren Welsh. “He was transported to hospital, where he passed away.”

Welsh confirms that the incident happened at around 2 p.m. and that the worker was in his 50s. Safety officials are investigating the incident, and the MOL issued a stop-work order. It is unclear at press time whether the man was wearing fall-protection equipment prior to his fall. “That is definitely something we are investigating,” Welsh adds.

EMPLOYEE PINNED BY AIR-CON EDMONTON — An employee of a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) company in Edmonton was seriously injured after he was pinned by an air-conditioner.

The 52-year-old man, who works for Silent Aire Manufacturing, was part of a group of employees preparing an airconditioning system for movement from an assembly line on May 16 when the system fell over and pinned him from the midsection down.

“It was approximately a one-tonne HVAC unit,” says Christine Wronko, a media spokesperson with the Alberta Ministry of Labour. The worker was taken to hospital, and the Ministry did not issue any immediate orders to the employer, she adds.

Mario Scrivano, Silent Aire’s vice president of human resources, says the firm is cooperating with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety, which is conducting an investigation.

STORE FINED FOR VOYEURISM ESTEVAN — A computer and electronics dealer was fined $2,100 after pleading guilty to occupational health and safety charges over a 2014 complaint from an employee who found a video camera concealed in the staff washroom.

According to an April 27 statement from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, safety officials from the Ministry conducted an inspection of the store, ITComputes, on December 20, 2014, following the worker’s discovery of the hidden camera. Store manager Brian Cowie was charged with seven counts of voyeurism in January 2015 and admitted in court that he had been secretly filming female employees for several years. He

EX-COP CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ASSAULT VANCOUVER — A former RCMP inspector faces a criminal charge of sexual assault, following an investigation of incidents alleged to have occurred at the previous British Columbia RCMP headquarters in Vancouver in 2009 and 2010.

Timothy Shields, who was the officer in charge of the Strategic Communications Unit at the time of the alleged incidents, is accused of sexual misconduct involving a civilian RCMP employee who worked with the Unit, according to a statement from the Criminal Justice Branch of the B.C. Ministry of Justice. The charge, a single count of sexual assault, was sworn at the B.C. Provincial Court in Vancouver on May 10.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, the commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, says in a statement that the force had been aware of the allegations since 2013, following a civil claim from the accuser, and had investigated them. But there was not enough evidence at the time to proceed with a criminal charge.

“In 2014, significant new information became available,” Callens says. “At this time, an investigative team

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was formed, consisting of professional standards and major crime investigators who utilized the major case-management principles. The results of this detailed investigation were reported to [the] Crown and ultimately resulted in the charge sworn today.”

The RCMP suspended Shields from his duties with pay in May of last year, due to the accumulated evidence against him.

Shields submitted his final discharge documents in December.

Callens stresses that the RCMP pursued the case against Shields as it would have for any major criminal case, although Shields was a senior officer with the force.

“Charges of this nature against a police officer are disturbing and are even more so [when the incident] is alleged to have occurred in our headquarters,” Callens says. “Sexual misconduct in the workplace is not acceptable, and we have taken steps in line with other employers to prevent it from occurring.”

Shields is expected to make his next court appearance at the Vancouver Adult Provincial Court on June 27.

— By Jeff Cottrill

pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a $1,400 fine and house arrest last year.

SE Ventures, the company that runs ITComputes, was charged with failing to ensure that employees were not exposed to harassment regarding any circumstance arising out of their employment.

HEAT STRESS COMES UNDER PROBE WINNIPEG — Following the sudden death of a Winnipeg high-school teacher during an outdoor field trip on May 5, oh&s investigators are examining whether the woman’s collapse resulted from the day’s high temperatures.

Darcee Gosselin, who worked at John Taylor Collegiate, passed away while attending a group of students on a trip to Spruce Woods Provincial Park, located about 180 kilometres west of Winnipeg. The specific cause of death has yet to be determined at press time.

Workplace Safety and Health (WSH), the oh&s department of Manitoba Labour and Immigration, is investigating the fatality. “WSH will look at whether workers were at risk of extreme heat exposure and if the measures implemented met WSH’s requirements for thermal stress,” says a spokesperson from the provincial government. “There is mention in the Workplace Safety and Health Act about employers having to ensure the safety, health and welfare of [their] workers and other persons, but WSH’s primary focus is the workers.”

The temperature in the area of Spruce Woods reportedly rose as high as 35 degrees Celsius on the day of the incident.

A separate source with WSH said that it had probably been as hot as 39 degrees Celsius.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DEMANDED TORONTO — The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is calling for law enforcement to launch criminal investigations into two separate workplace fatalities that occurred in Brampton, Ontario on May 10.

In one incident, a worker at a new housing development was crushed to death in a vehicle similar to a boom lift. On the same day, an employee at a golf course was run over by a lawn-cutting machine, sustaining fatal injuries.

In a statement following the tragedies, OFL president Chris Buckley demands that the police investigate both incidents as possible criminal matters before calling them “accidents”.

“Years ago, police started referring to motor-vehicle collisions as ‘incidents’ instead of ‘accidents,’” Buckley says. “It is a subtle, but important, change that indicates an entirely different approach to investigating the cause of a tragedy. Accidents have no apparent or deliberate cause, but crimes are reckless or willful and carry stiff punishments.”

Buckley adds that police need to treat industrial incidents as potential crime scenes and investigate them to determine if employer negligence was a factor. “When criminal negligence results in a worker’s death, it is a crime, not an accident.”

UNION TACKLES WORKPLACE HARASSMENT TORONTO — Following the May 11 signing of the peace bond to dismiss the final sexual-assault case against former CBC Radio star Jian Ghomeshi, Canadian Media Guild (CMG) president Carmel Smyth issued a statement explaining ways that the union has been working to keep media workplaces across Canada free from harassment.

According to Smyth, these actions aimed to deal with issues raised by Kathryn Borel, Ghomeshi’s accuser and CBC colleague, and resulted from public scrutiny of how CMG and media employers handled sexual harassment.

“We have updated our harassment-reporting practices, added targeted training for union staff and volunteers and strengthened our policies,” Smyth says. “We can do a better job of ensuring positive experiences at work.”

Among the actions taken by CMG over the previous 18 months were the following: distributing posters in English and French clarifying unacceptable behaviour; encouraging employees to support one another and report incidents to the union; strengthening the CBC’s committee for temporary/ precarious work to make employees feel safer when making reports; and holding seminars and other sessions by professionals for union members and others about recognizing the signs of harassment.

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FIRMS PAY DAMAGES OVER AMPUTATIONS TORONTO — Two companies were fined over unrelated incidents that led to amputations for their workers.

A steel manufacturer in Ontario was fined $100,000 on April 19 over an incident that had resulted in an amputation for an employee of another steel company. According to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, a truck driver from a Brampton firm was picking up a steel slab weighing about 10,800 kilograms from Schmolz+Bickenbach Canada Inc.’s plant in Mississauga. A Schmolz shipper-receiver was using a Demag crane with an electromagnet to maneuver the slab onto the truck, where the driver was standing at the back to direct the slab.

At one point, the slab slipped from the magnet and fell less than a metre, knocking the driver off the truck and onto the plant floor. An investigation found that the electromagnet had been low in power after being unplugged from its power outlet and that a steel lab had fallen from it for the same reason on the night before the incident. Schmolz+Bickenbach pleaded guilty to failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect a worker, by not taking the magnet out of service after it had detached from its power source.

One week before this judgement, a meat-processing firm was fined $65,000 on April 12 after a worker lost several fingers. The employee at the Brampton facility of Cargill Limited

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was trying to clear an ice jam in an exhaust pipe in a conveyor that was making meat into patties on June 7, 2013.

The typical method of clearing ice jams in the pipe is to have a maintenance worker bang the pipe with a rubber mallet. But the employee put his hand inside the pipe, where exhaust fan blades severed several fingers and caused other injuries.

The Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton issued Cargill the penalty after determining that it had failed to provide information, instruction and supervision to ensure the worker’s health and safety.

GRIEVANCE BOARD DISMISSES ALLEGATIONS NORTH BAY — The Ontario Grievance Settlement Board has ordered the province’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) to pay $20,000 in compensation to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and $5,000 to one of its former Local presidents, after throwing out the MCSCS’ accusations of bullying, harassment and intimidation by the union representative.

OPSEU Local 616 president Mike Bisaillon was suspended with pay for three months more than three years ago for alleged intimidation and threats against management of the North Bay Jail, according to a statement dated May 26 from the union. But the Board’s vice chair, Bram Herlich, dismissed these accusations as nothing more than rumours, while rebuk-

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ing the prison’s management for “conspiracy to target the grievor and teach him a lesson” and “anti-union animus.”

Herlich also ordered the MCSCS to post a notice at the correctional facility, warning management not to discourage union membership or interfere with union actions.

COMPANY SENTENCED OVER WORKER DEATH WINDSOR — An automotive manufacturing company was sentenced to pay a fine of $175,000 on May 25 over a workplace accident that led to the death of an employee.

According to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, the incident occurred while three workers with Canadian Electrocoating Ltd. were loading car parts onto a rack to be painted on September 19, 2014. A forklift operator was moving a row of stacked bins at the time, but accidentally caused another row of bins to wobble and fall into the workstation where the other three employees were working. The bins, which each weighed more than 600 kilograms, struck and pinned one of the workers, resulting in death.

A subsequent assessment by the Ministry found that Canadian Electrocoating had neglected its own safety rule stating that employees must stay clear of any “fall zone” where a forklift could potentially drop a load. In this specific case, the workers should have been well more than nine metres away from the forklift.

The incident took place in early February 2015, when a worker with Clyde Union Canada Limited in Burlington, Ontario was testing a pump. One of the pipe elbows outside the building had frozen, which stopped water circulation in a sixinch rubber hose, causing the system to backfill and exceed maximum pressure. The hose ruptured, and the expelled water pushed the employee about nine metres across the workplace, resulting in lacerations and fractures, according to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

A subsequent investigation by the Ministry determined that the company, which is headquartered in Saint John, N.B., had not installed a pressure-relief valve in the discharge water lines and that this had contributed to the backfill.

LUMBER FIRM FINED FOR ROLE IN FATALITY CALEDON — A company that remanufactures softwood lumber was fined $80,000 for its role in the death of a shipping firm’s delivery driver more than two years ago.

According to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour dated May 9, the driver was delivering a tractor trailer of lumber to the Bolton facility of Monterra Lumber Mills Ltd. on November 12, 2013. The driver stood beside the trailer as a Monterra employee began to unload a bundle of lumber with a forklift, but an adjacent bundle fell onto the driver from the

THREE HEALTHCARE EMPLOYEES ATTACKED PENETANGUISHENE — Three employees of Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene, Ontario were hospitalized after a violent attack by a patient.

According to a statement from the National Union of Public and General Employees dated May 18, the incident occurred in an area of the facility for patients who are unfit for trial or deemed not criminally responsible for violent crimes. Two of the victims received bites that punctured their skin, while the third sustained cuts, bruises and a knee injury, Pete Sheehan, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 329, reports.

“This should be a wake-up call to the [provincial] government,” OPSEU president Warren “Smokey” Thomas says.

This was the third time that a patient had attacked staff at Waypoint since early April. One patient assaulted three workers, stabbing one of them in the back with a screwdriver on April 5, and a subsequent attack on the following day injured three more.

PUMP COMPANY RECEIVES PENALTY BURLINGTON — A firm that specializes in pump technology and hydraulic design was fined $50,000 on May 17 over an incident in which a ruptured hose critically injured an employee last year.

Changes to the Workers Compensation Act (Bill 9 and Bill 35) New requirements to keep your workplace healthy and safe, and new enforcement methods and tools

Find out how these legislative changes affect you and your workplace at worksafebc.com.

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trailer, fatally injuring him.

A subsequent investigation found that there were no safeguards in the yard where the incident occurred, such as barriers or warning signs regarding vehicle and pedestrian traffic that could endanger a worker, as required under Section 20 of Ontario’s regulation for industrial establishments.

PRISONS GET BODY SCANNERS TORONTO — Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) announced on May 3 that advanced-technology full-body scanners will be installed in all of its prisons to reduce contraband and enhance the safety of both inmates and employees.

The scanning systems, which will be set up in all 26 of the province’s adult correctional facilities, will scan human bodies for internal and external contraband that current security measures cannot detect. The move results from a sixmonth pilot project at the Toronto South Detention Centre, where dozens of contraband items were confiscated with the help of full-body scanners.

“Moving forward with the installation of full-body scanners in all of Ontario’s adult correctional facilities will further improve staff and inmate safety, reduce contraband and build safer communities for everyone,” Community Safety

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and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi says in a statement.

The MCSCS expects the first 11 scanners to be installed by next March.

AWARENESS PROGRAM PROPOSED TORONTO — The Ontario Ministry of Labour is seeking feedback on proposed amendments to the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) that will require construction workers to complete a hazard-awareness training program, according to a news bulletin that the Ministry issued on May 16.

The changes would apply to all workers regulated under the Construction Projects Regulation and will affect the Occupational Health and Safety Awareness and Training Regulation under OHSA. The proposal suggests two training approaches, including one based on training standards, and aims to fulfill one of the December 2010 recommendations by the Ministry’s Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health and Safety.

“These proposed training requirements would help provide workers with awareness of hazards in construction and the need to access the training required to prevent injuries,” Ontario Chief Prevention Officer George Gritziotis says. “We need your feedback to help us shape the future of occupational health and safety training for construc-

tion workers.”

The Ministry developed the draft of the proposed training program with assistance from employers, labour, small businesses and experts on construction safety, the bulletin states.

UNION CALLS FOR ABUSE LAW FREDERICTON — Following Manitoba’s recent adoption of legislation allowing paid and unpaid time off work with guaranteed job security for victims of domestic abuse, the New Brunswick Union (NBU) — the association for the province’s civil servants and government employees — is lobbying for the province to enact a similar law.

A union statement, reprinted on the National Union of Public and General Employees’ website on March 29, states that the province saw about 2,100 police-reported incidents of intimate-partner violence in 2014 — the highest rate in the eastern half of Canada.

“Domestic violence [affects] every aspect of a victim’s life, including their work. We all need to be part of the solution,” NBU president Susie Proulx-Daigle says in a statement.

Ontario is currently considering a similar bill that will allow 10 days of paid leave plus unpaid leave for victims of domestic or sexual violence, according to the NBU.

MIGRANT-WORKER FATALITY COMES UNDER SPOTLIGHT OTTAWA — A parliamentary committee has put Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) under review, in the wake of recent media reports about a Jamaican migrant worker who died from a workplace injury last September after allegedly being cut off from healthcare services.

The review, initiated by Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk, was set up to examine controversial changes from an overhaul by the former Conservative government in June 2014. Chris Ramsaroop, an activist with Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) in Toronto, says two migrant workers spoke before the committee on May 16, the first day of the hearings in Ottawa.

The working conditions for temporary foreign workers (TFWs) came under extra public scrutiny during the same week over the case of Sheldon McKenzie, a Jamaican migrant worker who suffered a head injury on an Ontario farm in January 2015, fell into a coma and died in a Windsor hospital in September. According to Ramsaroop, McKenzie M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6

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was denied equal access to healthcare services after his injury, and his case is far from unusual in Canada. “This is typical,” Ramsaroop says. “This happens all the time.”

He adds that TFWs often get cut off healthcare when their work permits expire and when TFWs who have been terminated are compelled to go back to their home country. “And in both cases, it is not fair, particularly when somebody is injured,” he argues. “This is a systemic problem that needs to be changed.”

Ramsaroop points out that little was known about the circumstances surrounding McKenzie’s injury because of the lack of investigation. “There has never been an inquest into any death of any migrant workers, despite the fact that we keep calling for them,” he charges.

J4MW is lobbying for access to residency for all migrant workers and for no TFWs to be tied to their employers or sent back home for medical reasons, Ramsaroop says.

— By Jeff Cottrill

EMPLOYEE FOUND DEAD ON SITE YARMOUTH — An employee at a demolition site in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia was found deceased beside an excavator on May 25. Although a preliminary medical report indicated that the worker had died of natural causes, oh&s authorities are investigating the incident as a possible workplace fatality.

According to the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education, the incident took place at the site of a former school. The medical examiner issued a preliminary report stating natural causes as the likely reason for the fatality, but more specific information was not available.

“The Department of Labour did go in and investigate and issued a stop-work order,” says Tracy Barron, a spokesperson with the Department.

Barron adds that the worksite was operational again as of May 26, but the stop-work order was still in effect “on a piece of heavy equipment not related to this incident” at press time.

GUIDELINES SUPPORT INCLUSION HALIFAX — Nova Scotia has become the first Canadian province to provide official guidelines for support and inclusion of transgender and gender-variant employees in civil service.

A statement dated May 17 from the province’s Public Service Commission states that the Guidelines to Support Trans and Gender Variant Employees will offer clarity on how to make government workplaces more inclusive for the gender-variant. Among the topics addressed in the new guidelines are access to washrooms and change rooms, employees’ identified names and pronouns, the right to wear clothing reflecting an employee’s gender identity and confidentiality.

Maddi MacDonald, co-chair of the government’s LGBTI Network, says these guidelines “are a step toward addressing assumptions that all people are male or female, which marginalizes and excludes trans people.“ About one per cent of government employees in the province identify them-

selves as transgender or gender-variant, according to a census conducted by the Commission in the winter.

HEALTH AUTHORITY CHARGED ST. JOHN’S — An investigation by oh&s officials from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has led to charges against the Eastern Regional Health Authority or Eastern Health, one of its supervisors and two employees.

The charges stem from an incident on May 2014 that allegedly took place at the Miller Centre in St. John’s. A statement dated May 6 from Service N.L. does not specify the details of the incident, but reveals that it was related to ongoing maintenance work in an area of the Centre known to contain asbestos.

Eastern Health is facing 10 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Asbestos Abatement Regulations. The charges involve the organization’s “alleged failure as an employer” to provide proper instruction, training and supervision to workers, ensure that employees set up a decontamination area, provide ventilation and personal protective equipment (PPE) to the workers and comply with the work and hygiene practices in the Regulations.

In addition, an Eastern Health supervisor has been charged with four violations of the Act for failing to warn employees of the hazards present at the worksite, instruct them on the proper precautions and make sure that workers were wearing the appropriate PPE.

An employee of the organization is charged with failure to take reasonable care to protect his or her health and safety and that of others and to use equipment for protection. A second employee is also facing the former charge.

WORKER HURT IN GRAIN SILO MOUNT PEARL — A 58-year-old employee of a chicken-processing company was seriously injured when he was trapped inside a grain silo in the greater St. John’s area on May 11.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) responded to the call at the Country Ribbon Feed Division operation on Topsail Road in Mount Pearl at about 9:45 a.m. “I don’t have the exact details to what had happened in the file there, but it seems as though he may have sustained serious injuries inside the silo and was transported to hospital in serious condition,” says RNC media-relations officer Constable Geoff Higdon.

Federal oh&s officials took over the investigation after RNC officers determined that the incident was not criminal in nature, Constable Higdon adds.

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada Many of the preceding items are based on stories from our sister publication, canadian

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DISPATCHES Finding the sweet spot with sit-and-stand workstations

By Jean Lian

F

or those with deskbound jobs, sit-and-stand computer workstations may seem like a solution in combatting sedentary workplaces. But users of such workstations may not reap the full benefits if the configurations of these stations are not adjusted to suit users’ physical differences.

A recent study published in Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society found that users of standing workstations need different setups to accommodate differences on how individuals position the monitor, mouse, keyboard and desk height.

According to an April 12 statement from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in Santa Monica, California, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Northeastern University in Boston designed a pilot ergonomics study involving 20 adults aged 21 to 40. Participants alternated between working at sitting and standing workstations in four testing periods of 45 minutes each. Every 11.25 minutes, the researchers moved the setups, which the participants then readjusted to suit their individual statures. Infrared light-emitting diodes were placed on each component and on the users’ heads, torsos and upper arms to assess when and where they moved the components.

Researchers found that the final standing workstation setups were unique to each participant. Furthermore, each was significantly different from the seated workstation setups, in that the desk and monitor were lower and the mouse and keyboard were closer to the body.

“The high adjustability of the sit-stand workstation allowed users to find their own ‘sweet spot,’ which is different for standing than sitting,” Jack Dennerlein, professor with the department of physical therapy, movement and rehabilitation science at Northeastern University, says in the statement.

“We know that workstation setup is important for reducing discomfort of seated computer workers. However, standing is different from sitting. It was unclear to us if the user configurations would be different for standing. These results suggest that they are indeed different.”

While a sit-or-stand workstation or treadmill desk offers users some physical activity while at work, adjustability is key to prevent adverse health effects. According to information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario, keeping the body in an upright position requires considerable muscular effort and can reduce the blood supply to the loaded muscles. Prolonged and frequent standing, without some relief by walking, can also lead to blood pooling in the legs and feet.

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To prevent against these afflictions, a worker should change body positions frequently. Providing built-in foot rails or portable footrests allows the worker to shift body weight from one leg to the other, while elbow supports for precision work help reduce tension in the upper arms and neck, the CCOHS notes.

Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

Ex-employees sue over alleged cancer cluster

By Jeff Cottrill

A

case involving an allegation by three former employees of the Mission Memorial Hospital in Mission, British Columbia that a laboratory in their workplace caused them to contract breast cancer is heading to the Supreme Court of Canada.

An investigation into the laboratory found that its rate of breast cancer was about eight times the rate for the overall population in the province, according to a statement issued on April 20 by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). The exemployees initially brought claims to WorkSafeBC, which denied benefits to them. An appeal to the B.C. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) ruled in the workers’ favour, but subsequent appeals have brought the case to the Supreme Court.

According to Tonie Beharrell, a staff lawyer for the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia who represents two of the plaintiffs, about seven lab workers contracted breast cancer between 1970 and 2004. “By the time some of the later cases happened, they were kind of looking around and going, ‘Wow. This seems to be quite a high rate,’” Beharrell says.

The investigation report, issued in 2005, indicated a cancer cluster in the lab. “What it didn’t indicate was whether or not there was any specific workplace causation,” Beharrell explains. “And it was hindered by the fact that this was from 1970 onward, and documents from the early years were simply not available.”

Among the possible explanations suggested in the report include possible carcinogens in the solutions that the employees handled, a hospital incinerator with venting problems, the possibility that the diagnosed women all had genetic predispositions to cancer or were part of a high-risk group, or a statistical anomaly.

“The women who were, in fact, diagnosed with cancer have a range of risk factors and non-risk factors, and it doesn’t seem like there is any significant similarity between them in that regard,” Beharrell counters.

After WCAT called the evidence in the workers’ case sufficient to conclude it was as likely as not that some workplace exposure was of causative significance, Fraser Health Authority — the organization that runs the hospital — brought the case to a judicial review with the B.C. Supreme Court, which determined there was no evidence that the cancer cases were work-related. A five-judge panel with the B.C. Court of Appeal voted three to two that there was no occupational causation.

“The scientists and physicians were weighing the evidence against the standard required to reach ‘scientific conclusions’ based on ‘scientific evidence,’” the statement says. “That is a significantly higher test than that required in the administration of the workers’ compensation scheme for the adjudication of workplace disease claims.”

The statement also points out that requiring the appellants to meet that test would “fundamentally undermine the purpose of that scheme.”

Jeff Cottrill is editor of canadian occupational health & safety news.

Night shift hikes risk of heart disease: study

By Jean Lian

F

emale registered nurses who work rotating nightshifts for five years or more were associated with a small increase in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), according to a study published in the April 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston examined the incidence of CHD in 189,158 initially healthy women from 1988 to 2012 in the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS). They also determined the lifetime history of rotating nightshift work — three nightshifts or more per month, in addition to day and evening shifts — of the nurses at baseline, which is updated every two to four years in the second NHS (NHS2), spanning from 1989 to 2013.

During follow-up, 7,303 CHD cases — encompassing non-fatal heart attacks, CHD deaths, angiogram-confirmed angina pectoris, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, stents and angioplasty — occurred in the NHS and 3,519 in the NHS2. Analysis indicates that increasing years of rotating nightshift work is associated with a statistically significant, but small, increase in CHD risk.

As well, the association between the duration of shift work and CHD in the NHS was stronger in the first half of followup than in the second half, suggesting waning risk after cessation of shift work. Longer time since quitting shift work was associated with decreased CHD risk among shift workers in

the NHS2. “Further research is needed to explore whether the association is related to specific work hours and individual characteristics,” the researchers conclude in a statement dated April 22.

The link between shift work and CHD risk raises the question of whether lifestyle and diet could be a contributing factor. A study by Toronto’s Institute for Work and Health, published in 2013, found that female nurses working night or mixed shifts have higher body mass index (BMI) scores than those working regular daytime schedules.

The findings are based on a snapshot of more than 8,500 nurses across Canada in 2005. The researchers calculated the BMI of 8,665 direct-care nurses in hospitals or long-term care facilities and compared them to those working regular day shifts. Results indicated that female nurses working night shifts and mixed shifts had BMI scores that were 0.67 points and 0.44 points higher respectively than those working regular daytime schedules had. This represented increased average weights of 1.66 kg and 1.11 kg respectively.

The study did not find any difference in the relationship between shift work and BMI scores for nurses who had access to fitness facilities or healthy eating options through work.

In other words, female nurses working night and mixed shift schedules who had access to employer-supported fitness and healthy eating services still had slightly higher BMI scores than their counterparts working regular daytime schedules.

Training program targets first responders

By Jeff Cottrill

P

aramedics, flight nurses and dispatchers in New Brunswick will learn new ways to build resilience against occupational stress when the province adopts the Road to Mental Readiness training program for first responders, according to a statement issued on May 4 by the provincial government.

The program teaches a mental-health continuum model that identifies the signs associated with healthy, reactive, injured and ill behaviour. It also informs leaders of their responsibility to support workers and be aware of their issues. Initially created by the Department of National Defence for the army, Road to Mental Readiness was already adopted earlier this year by the City of Mississauga, Ontario for firefighters.

“Our goal is to be able to provide New Brunswick paramedics and frontline workers with these much-needed skills and tools to recognize a potential issue in themselves and others,” New Brunswick Health Minister Victor Boudreau says in a statement.

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SEMI-AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY |

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ON THE

ROAD

BY DANNY KUCHARSKY

Distraction, fatigue and human errors have been cited as the causes of numerous collisions in the transportation sector. For trucking companies and businesses that operate fleets of vehicles, what role can semi-autonomous technology play in enhancing the safety of those who spend hours behind the wheel?

Six trucks driving across the borders of several European countries converged in Rotterdam on April 6. But these trucks were not part of an ordinary fleet ploughing down Europe’s highways; they were participating in the European Truck Platooning Challenge, which opened on March 29. The Challenge, which uses autonomous driving technologies to enable two or more trucks to communicate wirelessly and follow in close succession, is an initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment.

According to a statement from the European Truck Platooning website, trucks from DAF, Daimler, Iveco, MAN Truck & Bus, Scania and Volvo Group drove from Sweden, Germany and Belgium to Rotterdam. The trucks are connected by WiFi to ensure synchronized braking and prevent sudden jolts or shock effects, with the first truck determining the speed and route of the others. This truck-platooning challenge is the first major tryout in Europe.

“Truck platooning ensures that transport is cleaner and more efficient. Self-driving vehicles also improve traffic safety, because most traffic accidents are due to human error,” Dutch Infrastructure and Environment Minister Schultz van Haegen says in the statement. www.ohscanada.com

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While truck platooning may not be coming to North America anytime soon, semi-autonomous technology (SAT) is already a reality, with Google’s much-talked-about selfdriving cars now in the testing phase. Features that currently exist in many cars and trucks have safety implications for employers who operate fleets or trucking firms or allow employees to drive company cars.

“I think it is a great advancement in terms of safety,” JeanMarc Picard, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association in Dieppe, New Brunswick, says of SAT. Picard points out that some trucking firms are using the technology, which helps to reduce accidents. Not only does SAT reduce driver stress, it is also a step towards eliminating human error, he believes.

“It is a technology that can bring more safety to our industry, which is always welcome in my eyes,” he says.

A FOR AUTOMATION The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in Washington, D.C. ranks vehicle automation according to five levels, ranging from zero (no automation) to four (fully automated). It considers the current fleet of semi-automated vehicles in the United States to be at Level 3, or the Limited Self-Driving Automation stage, of which the Google car is an example. In other words, such vehicles allow drivers to cede control of all safety-critical functions under certain traffic or environmental conditions. The driver is expected to be available for occasional control with sufficiently comfortable transition time.

Currently, SAT offers a gamut of features, which include automatic parking systems, blind-spot detection and precrash braking when the vehicle senses that a collision is imminent. There are also lane-departure warnings to alert drivers when they are swerving out of their lanes and drowsi 22

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ness detection that issues a loud signal when drivers veer from side to side, which is a classic sign of driver fatigue.

“It is hard to pull numbers on this, but there are a lot of accidents caused by people dozing off at the wheel. This can help prevent that,” says Ted Lalka, vice president of marketing and product management at Subaru Canada in Mississauga, Ontario. Lalka says the fatigue-detection function is available as an option in Subaru vehicles with automatic transmission, which sells for $1,500 in Canada as part of a technology package that includes push-button start and stop instead of a key.

“We have tried to price it as competitively as we can,” says Lalka, who observes that more and more Canadians are opting for the technology, with uptake rates reaching as high as 50 per cent for the Legacy and Outback models.

For a long time, vehicles have been designed for crashes with features like air bags and crumple zones, says engineer and automotive consultant Priya Prasad of Prasad Engineering in Plymouth, Michigan. “Now we have technology that can reduce accidents. It is very promising.”

Prasad is an associate with D.J. Dalmotas Consulting, which offers crash-data analysis and evaluation, among other services. He cites SAT features like pre-crash braking, which can help avoid collisions and reduce soft-tissue neck injuries and whiplash that can happen at very low speeds. The savings in societal costs can be substantial.

“Speed is a big predictor of seriousness of injury. So if you can reduce speed by even five miles per hour, you are going to reduce injuries substantially,” he says. “This is where pre-

“It is a technology that can bring more safety to our industry.”

crash braking comes in: reducing the speed of the crash or eliminating it altogether.”

Prasad is also impressed with features like lane keeping, which helps prevent side-swiping incidents, and blind-spot detection, especially for older drivers. “A lot of the things that can be done now, 10 years ago, we were only thinking about.”

For Lalka, adaptive cruise control certainly makes driving less grinding. “Driving in downtown Toronto, the traffic can be brutal, bumper to bumper,” he notes. “Rather than me braking and accelerating, you put the system on, and it does all the work for you.”

While SAT is still considered costly by many drivers, prices are coming down and will become more affordable as sales increase, Prasad suggests. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, now provides top crashworthiness rankings to vehicles with crash-prevention technology, which gives manufacturers an incentive to lower prices, he adds.

Ian Jack, managing director of communications and government relations at the Canadian Automobile Association in Ottawa, notes that the technology is usually introduced in luxury vehicles with high margins, but will eventually spread through carmakers’ fleets as the cost per unit comes down.

The costs for sensors and onboard computers have declined in recent years, making the technology more affordable, he adds.

MINIMIZING HUMAN ERROR Semi-autonomous technology does not mean that drivers can engage in distracted driving, which is the number one cause of road accidents. According to Jack, inattention behind the wheel encompasses a range of behaviour that includes texting or speaking on a phone while driving, driving when drowsy or fatigued and cognitive distraction.

“There are an awful amount of distractions in the modern vehicle cockpit, and we need to try to just minimize those and focus on driving,” says Jack, who cites numbers from the NHTSA indicating that human error is a critical factor in 94 per cent of car crashes.

Given that the average age of Canadian vehicles is four years, the point has not been reached at which the majority of vehicles on the road have assistive technologies. That being said, Jack says the technology works well, and the CAA has not received any complaints about it.

Pierro Hirsch, director of road safety research at Montreal firm Virage Simulation, which makes simulators for trucks, cars and buses, is hopeful that SAT can prevent many crashes that would otherwise occur due to human error, distraction or fatigue. Hirsch, who is also a board member of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals, which has a national office in St. Catharines, Ontario, cites an IIHS report from January showing that automatic braking and forwardcollision warning systems reduce rear-end crashes by 23 per cent and greatly diminish injuries.

According to Lalka, an internal study by Subaru found that EyeSight, Subaru’s advanced driver-assist system, has had a significant impact on safety. Between 2010 and 2014 in Japan, Subaru vehicles equipped with EyeSight were involved

in 80 per cent fewer front-to-rear crashes, 50 per cent fewer accidents involving pedestrians and 50 per cent fewer accidents overall than Subaru vehicles that were not equipped with EyeSight. “There are all kinds of savings related to that in terms of avoiding or minimizing crashes,” Lalka says.

EyeSight, which is designed to ensure that the driver is always in control of the vehicle, includes adaptive cruise control, pre-collision braking, pre-collision brake assist, pre-collision throttle management, lane-departure warning, lanesway warning and lane-keep function.

Lalka says if an SAT-equipped Subaru vehicle senses that a collision is imminent, it alerts the driver with an audio signal and a visual warning on the dashboard. The car prepares to brake by reducing throttle power and pre-charges the brakes to ensure that they will have maximum braking capacity when applied. If the driver still does not respond and a crash

appears imminent, the vehicle will apply the brakes and, at certain speeds, stop the vehicle altogether.

Subaru finds that an increasing number of fleet buyers are becoming interested in the technology. “Number one, they are concerned about the safety of the people using the company vehicle. Number two, it can reduce the number and the severity of accidents, so that should lead to lower insurance premiums and less time missed from work if someone is involved in an accident. These things are just starting to be recognized,” Lalka says.

HUMAN CARGO Bus fleet operators consider SAT, like braking systems and stability control in buses, to be big improvements, according to Doug Switzer, president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Motor Coach Association in Toronto. Switzer says employers in his industry recognize the human and financial costs of road accidents.

“Nobody wants to have their equipment in an accident, particularly in the coach industry where cargo is, if you will, human beings,” he says. “Anything you can do to avoid that is good.”

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“Nobody wants to have their equipment in an accident, particularly in the coach industry where cargo is, if you will, human beings.”

exceeding the cost of many of the technologies, with SAT becoming increasingly standard in coaches, Switzer says. He adds that technology in general has made roads a lot safer in the past few decades, with the number of fatalities about half of that in the 1970s, even though there are more vehicles on the roads today.

Picard notes that the Freightliner Inspiration Truck became the first licenced, semi-autonomous commercial truck to operate on a public highway down south when it hit the road in Nevada last May. “It has obviously shown some good results, and I think it is the way of the future.”

As the technology improves, Picard believes that it will allow drivers to focus on other responsibilities, such as load and trip management and bringing efficiencies to their routes — all of which will be a boon to the industry. It could even help ease the current shortage of truck drivers by allowing workers with other skill sets to be in charge of trucks.

But he cautions that trucking firms are often set in their ways and may be slow to adopt SAT. As well, buying trucks equipped with such technology may not be affordable for small trucking firms that would rather put their money into driver training.

As with all things new, it takes time to assuage concerns that the market has towards technological innovations. Subaru’s SAT system was initially misunderstood by some people who feared that it would take control of the car.

“In the delivery process of the vehicle, we explain what EyeSight is,” Lalka says, elaborating that certain functions like the lane-departure warning system can be turned off, while the new lane-keep-assist function has to be turned on by the driver — similar to airbags, which are engaged only when

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necessary. “What it is is a second set of eyes and a backup to the driver, but the driver always maintains control.”

SPEAK THE LANGUAGE Since perfect technology does not exist, Hirsch stresses the importance of training drivers in SAT so that they understand what happens when it does not function properly, particularly in driver-assistance systems that operate only in extreme or near-collision situations.

“People are still trying to figure out how to use the technology. They are assuming it is always going to be working, and that is a huge assumption and a dangerous one,” Hirsch says. “What happens when it doesn’t work?”

Switzer points out that while there may be the occasional breakdown or glitch that can lead to accidents, human negligence and error pose a far greater safety risk. “Every day, there are tired drivers, drunk drivers, bad drivers, senior drivers, young drivers making bad decisions on the road and causing accidents.”

He likens concerns over SAT to the debate over seatbelts when they were first introduced in the 1970s. “There were those who said, ‘What if it catches fire and I am stuck in the vehicle because of the seatbelt?’” While that is a conceivable scenario, he notes that it would likely be one in a million compared to the number of times when seatbelts save lives.

For Hirsch, the bigger issue is that the training given to drivers is not catching up with increasingly complex technologies that car manufacturers are introducing into the market.

On one occasion, he conveyed that concern to the vice president of marketing with a major car manufacturer, who replied that car salespeople are often hesitant to provide training, because they are not as qualified and knowledgeable in the technology as the engineers and technicians who invented them.

As well, training programs are difficult to organize.

“Technologies are hard to address, because some of them only come on in extreme circumstances. What are you going to do — deliberately go into an oncoming traffic lane? How do you train that? You have to do it by having a simulator, [like] the way pilots are trained for critical events.”

For Switzer, training may be needed for a person who is used to driving an old vehicle. But as the technology has

come along, drivers have learned to drive with the technology and understand it. “I don’t think it posts any particular training challenge,” he suggests.

THINK LEGAL While semi-autonomous vehicles can improve safety, employers need to consider issues surrounding liability when an accident involves a vehicle equipped with SAT. Jack says legal liability for a collision will always remain with the driver regardless of whether the built-in SAT issues an alert when the vehicle veers into another lane or comes too close to a pedestrian. “You are still absolutely 100 per cent responsible as the driver.”

Hirsch adds that according to the NHTSA, automated vehicle laws in several states in the United States consider the person who activates the automated vehicle system to be the “driver” of the vehicle.

Semi-Autonomous Motor Vehicles: What Are the Implications for Work-related Road Safety?, a 2014 report published on the Science Blog of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C., raises questions about liability, considering the availability of highlyautomated vehicles. “If a semi-autonomous vehicle is under the full control of automated functions at the time of a crash, who is responsible — the manufacturer, the driver or the driver’s employer? How will the courts determine who is liable, and how will insurers conceptualize fault? Until highlyautomated vehicles become more widely available and legal precedents are established, it is difficult to predict how this will play out,” the report states.

It also advises drivers of semi-autonomous vehicles to learn about the capabilities and limitations of their vehicles and recommends that employers who furnish highlyautomated vehicles to workers for business or personal use should consider providing additional training.

“Workplace safety is always influenced by management efforts to create and maintain a safety culture,” Hirsch says.

“If SAT is introduced properly and monitored like any other innovation, it should improve workplace safety.”

Danny Kucharsky is a writer in Montreal.

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT Semi-autonomous technology (SAT) has a role to play in enhancing the safety of those in vehicles, but it is by no means a panacea for distracted driving.

“We are certainly not anti-technology. There is a whole sort of brave new world that is probably coming, and we are in the early stages,” says Ian Jack, managing director of communications and government relations at the Canadian Automobile Association in Ottawa.

Features like lane-departure warning signals are fine and dandy, but drivers should not be lulled into thinking that the technology will always save them from distracted driving. While some high-end vehicles can correct the course of a car and keep it in its lane, most vehicles will just issue an alert.

“We still have to be in a position to react to the beep and know what to do about it,” says Jack, stressing that the driver always remain at the centre of that system — not the technology. “It is your responsibility as the driver to have control over your vehicle and be able to react to anything that may happen on the road. These new technologies currently are not a replacement for active driving and awareness,” he adds.

Over-reliance on technology can present problems too, notes automotive consultant Priya Prasad of Prasad Engineering in Plymouth, Michigan and an associate with D.J. Dalmotas Consulting. “The last thing I would like to do is get in my car and read a newspaper, because I have got lane-keeping assist and pre-crash braking,” he says. “When you tell people that the car will brake automatically, maybe they will rely too much on it.”

There is also the potential problem of risk compensation when people engage in riskier driving behaviour as a result of a false sense of security from driving an SAT-equipped vehicle. When drivers rely on automated systems to steer and brake for them, they engage in more non-driving tasks, suggests Pierro Hirsch, director of road safety research at Montreal-based Virage Simulation and a board member of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals.

A study, Transition to Manual: Driver Behaviour When Resuming Control from a Highly Automated Vehicle, published in the November 2014 edition of Transportation Research, found that during the first minute after manual control was transferred back to drivers from automation, drivers’ vehicle control was erratic for the first 10 to 15 seconds, with around 40 seconds required before their performance stabilized.

Some drivers find features like lane-departure warnings annoying and turn them off, which negates the potential safety benefit. People who are skeptical about or do not understand the technology also tend to interfere with its functioning, Hirsch adds.

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ENERGY SECURITY

DANGER It has been a dangerous year. In May, armed militants attacked a major Chevron oil and gas facility off Nigeria’s southern coast, leading to the shutdown of production. Then in March, Islamic militants launched four home-made mortars over the fence of a gas-processing plant in southern Algeria before fleeing into the desert. Last August, a Croatian oil and gas surveyor working in Egypt was snatched from a Cairo highway and beheaded by an Islamic State splinter group.

By William M. Glenn

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ver the last 12 months, dozens of other oil or gas pipelines, pumping stations, storage tanks and refineries have been bombed, breached or otherwise sabotaged in Libya, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

“The nature of world terrorism has changed dramatically in the last three years, but most Canadian companies are not interested in security until something bad happens,” says Alan Bell, president of Globe Risk International in Toronto. “Then suddenly, they are Born Again. Of course, by that time, it is too late.”

In 1993, following 22 years with the British Special Air Service (SAS), Bell decided to “fill a niche” in the security business by helping oil and gas, mining and other natural-resource operations combat the ever-increasing threat posed by criminal and terrorist groups.

Today, he is still working to protect the “nouns” — security-speak for people, places and things — in some “pretty bad places” around the world, including the Middle East, Central and South America and Africa. But Canada’s oil and gas sector is also under threat.

“Islamic State knows the best way to attack us is to destroy our economy.

Oil revenues fund much of their own operations around the world, so they are well aware that oil and gas underpins much of the Canadian economy,” Bell says. As a result, every Canadian oil and gas facility — including refineries, storage depots, well heads, pipelines and even head office buildings of an oil company — “must be considered at risk,” he cautions.

HEADING NORTH Is terrorism on the rise? That depends on the particular brand of terrorism and where it is taking place. “The year 2015 was the most lethal for terrorist attacks in Western Europe in nearly a decade,” says James Gregory, regional director for Aon Crisis Management in Toronto. Gregory is responsible for the company’s portfolio of terrorism, political risk, kidnap and ransom, and product recall lines of insurance. “That doesn’t mean the highest number of attacks — less than one per cent of all

Is terrorism on the rise?

That depends on the particular brand of terrorism and where it is taking place. terrorist attacks last year took place in Western Europe or North America — but the greatest number of deaths.”

These attacks are generally linked to, or inspired by, the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq. In addition, reports of far-right activism and civil unrest stemming from the European migrant crisis have also increased in several countries.

Many attacks are perpetrated by “self-radicalized individuals,” often inspired by extremist ideologies found on Internet websites or social media, according to a paper published in the April issue of the journal Perspectives on Terrorism. Although some may be politically active or religiously inspired, “they are typically doing it ‘off their own bat’, rather than following the instructions of some evil overlord,” Gregory says. “But despite the fact they are operating without support, their attacks are well organized.”

The current IS terrorist model seems to favour mass-casualty attacks, typically executed with automatic weapons rather than explosive devices. Given the current level of police and securityagency vigilance, “it has become much harder to source the raw materials needed to fashion homemade bombs these days. It is easier for extremists to obtain automatic weapons and ammunition,” Gregory suggests.

SOFT TARGETS Terrorists are not targeting infrastructure, power plants or industrial facilities, at least not in the Western world.

Instead, they are focusing on “soft” targets — killings that take place in concert halls, sports arenas, restaurants, churches, shopping malls and airport waiting rooms, for example.

“These are people with guns attacking public venues at predictable times when large numbers of people are likely to be present,” Gregory says.

Each year, Aon updates its Terrorism and Political Violence Map, which details risk levels around the world. For the 2016 edition, Aon and its analysts raised the risk ratings for 18 countries — mostly in the Middle East, South Asia (Afghanistan and Pakistan) and Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa — and lowered the ratings for 13 countries, according to a statement that the company issued on April 16.

“That is the first time in three years that the overall net risk rating for global terrorism has increased,” Gregory reports. Despite increasing regional instability worldwide, Canada’s risk rating has remained static for 2016.

Although there have been a number of serious attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Near East and North Africa over the last two years, “we haven’t seen many parallel incidents in North America,” he notes.

But that does not mean attacks on Canadian oil and gas facilities are entirely unknown. A small and largely reclusive farming community of religious fundamentalists sabotaged sour gas wells in Alberta back in the 1990s. The members of the Trickle Creek farm and their leader, Wiebo Ludwig, believed that they were being “poisoned” by hydrogen sulphide gas flared by nearby sour gas wells in the Peace River region.

In April 2000, Ludwig was convicted of blowing up one well, vandalizing another and counselling an undercover police officer “to possess an explosive substance.” He was sentenced to 28 months in prison, but continued to proclaim his innocence until his death from esophageal cancer in 2012.

And in 2008 and 2009, several of Encana Corporation’s gas pipelines near

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the United States, including some serious arson attacks.

Virulent opposition to pipelines that would be used to ship huge volumes of bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to the west coast of Canada or south to the Gulf of Mexico had threatened to cause such splintering. But the White House has denied the required Presidential Permit for the United States’ portion of TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline Project to the south, while Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Project to the Pacific seems to be delayed indefinitely.

“Those developments pretty much negate the need for any kind of additional action,” Prof. Zekulin suggests.

“But if either of those projects are ever ‘back on the table’, the risk of domestic terrorism may begin to escalate again.”

Dawson Creek, British Columbia were bombed — attacks that have yet to be solved to this day.

It can take a significant commitment of time, money and resources to blow up an oil or gas pipeline in some remote area. “Today’s terrorist is more likely to burst into head office brandishing an automatic weapon,” Gregory says.

ELUSIVE ENEMY “The terrorism threat level is very fluid, ebbing and flowing in response to the evolving political realities of the last year-and-a-half,” notes Professor Michael Zekulin, a lecturer with the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Calgary. Prof. Zekulin specializes in terrorism, radicalization and security issues.

While academics still argue over the definition, “terrorism generally involves violence or the threat of violence,” he 28

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explains. Environmental activists, First Nations and community groups that are hanging banners, staging sit-ins or blocking access roads are, by definition, non-violent and “are not eco-terrorists.”

The mainstream environmental movement focuses on using established political channels — circulating petitions, submitting briefs, holding press conferences — to achieve its aims. “However, more extreme splinter groups, like the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), may break away when a few individuals decide that these legitimate forms of non-violent protest are not getting the job done and decide to up the ante,” Prof. Zekulin explains.

These outliers “represent a very, very, very small number,” Prof. Zekulin adds, “but as we have seen in Brussels and Paris, small groups can cause tremendous chaos.” For example, ELF is responsible for hundreds of attacks across

PEACEFUL PROTEST “The environmental movement is committed to peaceful protest, including acts of civil disobedience that may break the law, but always in a peaceful way,” stresses Dr. Keith Stewart, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Canada in Toronto. “We would never support or condone any action that would pose a risk to the health and safety of oilfield workers. Violence is wrong and incredibly counter-productive.”

Last spring, while appearing before the federal Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security regarding Bill C-51, the government’s proposed Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, Dr. Stewart said that “Greenpeace’s mission was forged in non-violent direct action, and we have used it to great effect over 40 years.”

According to him, the group has been instrumental in ending nuclear tests in the South Pacific, as well as scientific and commercial whaling and toxic dumping in the world’s oceans, among its many successful campaigns.

“Since its beginning, Greenpeace has pursued an unbroken history of non-violence, even when violence is directed against us.” After an action, Dr. Stewart adds that Greenpeace pays its fines and covers the cost of any unintended damage that may have occurred.

These days, some of that “peaceful confrontation” is directed at oil and gas

operations that Greenpeace believes to be at least partly responsible for ongoing climate change. In March 2013, Dr. Stewart and a colleague chained themselves to the main gate of Kinder Morgan’s marine terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia — the terminus of the company’s Trans Mountain pipeline — which carries bitumen from the oilsands of Northern Alberta to the port facility. More than a dozen other Greenpeace protesters unfurled banners and painted slogans on oil storage tanks, occupying the facility from dawn till dusk, until RCMP officers escorted them off the site.

The company is currently seeking approval to twin its existing pipeline, expand the port facilities and increase the capacity of the system from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day. A major project of this scope engenders a lot of strong opinions, and “not everyone will be supportive of our proposed expansion,” says Ali Hounsell, spokesperson for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project in Burnaby. “Our number one concern is for the safety of the public, our employees and our neighbours, as well the security and safety of our operations.”

The company points out that there are many ways for the public to express opposition and opinions in a safe and lawful manner. “We encourage anyone interested in our proposal to engage in

a meaningful and constructive dialogue with us,” Hounsell says.

MAKING A STATEMENT While the risk of eco-terrorism remains largely hypothetical, the depredations of IS radicals are still very real. “International terrorists relish symbolism and favour actions that make a clear and obvious statement,” Prof. Zekulin says. The September 11 attacks, with hijacked planes aimed directly at the United States’ financial hub in New York City, its centre of military might in the Pentagon and the seat of political power in Washington and the White House, were prime examples.

“What could you target in the Canadian oil and gas sector that would make the same kind of bold statement the whole world would understand?” Prof.

Zekulin asks. Attacking an isolated oilsands facility located hours and hours north of Edmonton is unlikely to gain international attention.

Prof. Zekulin does not discount the possibility that committed radicals could stay busy “monkey-wrenching” distant pipelines and isolated gas wells, causing nasty little spills and blow-outs with little chance of being caught in the act. “If you had a lot of people who wanted to sabotage oil and gas infrastructure, they would probably be able to,” he says. But with the industry in the

economic doldrums already, “it may not be the high-profile economic target it once was.”

While the price of oil may be depressed, Canadian pipeline companies certainly take the risk of sabotage seriously. It is not just a prudent management decision, but a regulatory requirement. Canada’s federal and provincial pipeline-safety regulations require companies to develop, implement and maintain emergency-management programs that anticipate the threat of terrorist attacks, among other risks. The requirements for such a program are set out in the CSA Group’s national security-management standard for petroleum and natural-gas industry systems.

“It is through this emergency-management program that companies consider what critical infrastructure assets may be vulnerable to those who may wish to cause harm or disruption to energy flow,” says Patrick Smyth, vice president of safety and engineering with the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) in Calgary. Association members operate 119,000 kilometres of transmission pipeline — much of that through remote regions of the country — shipping 97 per cent of Canada’s natural gas and onshore crude-oil production to markets within the country and the United States.

To properly maintain an emergen-

PROTECTING “CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE” “The Canadian government recognizes that the risks to the country’s critical infrastructure, including that of the oil and gas sector, are increasingly complex and frequent,” according to Mylène Croteau, spokesperson for Public Safety Canada in Ottawa.

Those risks could be natural or man-made, accidental or intentional, and would include events like the 1998 ice storm, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2003 blackout, the 2003 SARS outbreak, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2015/16 Islamic State (IS) attacks in Paris and Brussels.

Created in 2003, Public Safety Canada helps coordinate activities among those federal departments and agencies that are responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians. The responsibility for strengthening the resilience of the country’s critical infrastructure is shared among federal, provincial and territorial governments, local authorities and the owners and operators of that infrastructure “who bear the primary responsibility for protect-

ing their assets and services,” Croteau explains.

He adds that Public Safety Canada works with its partners to identify threats and vulnerabilities and prepare for all types of disruptions.

Public Safety Canada conducts site assessments of critical facilities, including oil refineries, nuclear generating stations, border crossings, stadiums, biotechnology labs and liquefied natural-gas terminals. “We have also established an exercise tool, which helps owners and operators develop and test measures to enhance their resilience against a full range of risks and threats,” he reveals.

Under Public Safety Canada’s National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure, ten critical infrastructure sector networks have been established, with Natural Resources Canada leading the Energy and Utilities sector network. Each network provides “a standing forum for discussion and information sharing among sector-specific industry stakeholders and governments,” according to Croteau. www.ohscanada.com

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cy-management program, “companies continually identify and assess potential hazards,” Smyth notes. “This means that companies must keep their finger on the pulse of security risks and implement additional mitigation as and when required to address that risk.”

To help keep their programs up to date on the latest threats, CEPA and its member companies participate in the Natural Resources Canada Energy and Utilities Sector Network, as well as Public Safety Canada’s Cross Sector Network, where security issues — including physical and cyber-security threats — are discussed.

“There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution when it comes to mitigating security risks,” Smyth says. “Companies will implement the appropriate mitigation, be it administrative or engineering in nature, to sufficiently address the risk” and alleviate the potential for a security breach that can put both a facility and its workers at risk, he adds.

KIDNAPPING — A GROWTH INDUSTRY The risks faced by Canada’s oil and gas workers rise exponentially when they leave the country’s relatively safe shores.

Many of the world’s richest petroleum and mineral reserves tend to be buried in the most politically volatile regions of the world, “places where local governments exert only the most tenuous grasp on the rule of law or are engaged in running battles with rebel and/or terrorist forces,” Prof. Zekulin says. “This is certainly not the geopolitical topography we are used to in Western Canada.”

Raising the risk level are kidnappers who have become more emboldened over the last five years. “They see ransoms as a

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“ The Canadian attitude can be summed up in one word — ‘complacency.’” viable resource stream to be extracted from the local population and, when they are available, from Western workers and tourists,” Prof. Zekulin notes.

Western hostages bring richer ransoms and draw greater international attention, he adds. “Terrorist groups are very rational and constantly learning new approaches. They see kidnapping working for other groups and ask, ‘Why not us too?’”

Every year, 15,000 to 20,000 terrorist or crime-related kidnappings are reported worldwide, and those numbers are on the rise, according to Crisis Management: Protecting Your People, Assets and Brand, published by Aon plc in 2012. “There are thousands of kidnappings perpetrated around the world that are never reported,” Bell says. “Terrorism, the proliferation of cheap weapons and the globalization of organized crime have made kidnapping one of the most lucrative growth markets in the world, currently worth over $2.5 billion a year.”

Each year, Bell conducts an international security course as part of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada

trade show and conference, teaching resource companies with overseas operations how to respond to kidnapping and ransom demands and other terrorism-related threats.

“This year, I had 15 top CEOs attend. I have never seen that before,” Bell reveals. “They didn’t send their managers or security staff, but came themselves, listened closely and asked all the right questions.”

Bell says the “first thing you need to know is, you can’t prevent a kidnapping no matter what you do.” If staying home is not an option, Canadian executives and staff working in or visiting highrisk areas can take the following steps to reduce their vulnerability and increase their chances of getting back home safely, should something go wrong: • Visit the Canadian Government’s “Travel Advice and Advisories” website (http://travel. gc.ca/travelling/advisories) and read the assessment report for one’s destination, which covers security, health and natural-disaster risks, as well as regional advisories for any areas experiencing high crime or terrorist attacks.

• Buy kidnap and ransom insurance. Experts say that it is not that expensive to buy a couple of million dollars’ worth of peace of mind in case one is targeted.

Do not rely on the government, as Canada’s policy is not to pay ransoms to terrorists for the safe return of kidnapped nationals.

• Establish and maintain good communications links in advance to keep staff

•

informed of one’s travelling plans and itinerary.

Consider attending a Hostile Environment Awareness Training course on what to expect and how to behave if one has been kidnapped.

LETTING THE GUARD DOWN Regardless of whether Canadian oil and gas companies rank high on the modern terrorist’s target list or not, these facilities are still vastly undermanned when it comes to security, Bell cautions.

“The Canadian attitude can be summed up in one word — ‘complacency’. Companies have told me that terrorism isn’t an issue, that terrorism happens in other countries.”

Following the 9/11 attacks, every office tower in Toronto had security guards at the front doors checking suitcases and handbags. “That lasted all of three days,” Bell says. “They simply didn’t have the budget or enough trained staff to maintain that level of security 24-7.” The bottom line? It was just too expensive.

Today, too many companies are doing little more than ticking off the boxes on the basic security checklist, according to Bell. They hire local security — often retired police or RCMP officers — install some cameras and buy some insurance.

“I would never hire former law enforcement,” Bell says. “They think they understand security, but they don’t know how to prevent an attack. That has never been part of their job description. They are fundamentally reactive, not proactive.”

Gregory and his colleagues in Aon conduct threat and vulnerability assessments, terrorism risk modelling and

“probable maximum-loss studies” to help clients understand and quantify their financial exposures under various scenarios involving terrorist attacks, international or domestic. Based on these assessments, a company can adjust its terrorism insurance coverage based on data-driven analytics, upgrade its security procedures to prevent attacks, work to mitigate potential losses and reduce potential liability in the event an attack.

Auditors, many with extensive military experience, assess what a company is doing and what it can do better.

“This is neither an inexpensive nor a simple process,” Gregory explains. A full audit will take weeks of planning and weeks of work, but the results can reduce a company’s risk profile significantly and hopefully, drive down the premiums paid for comprehensive terrorist or business-disruption insurance.

Once the audit has been completed and vulnerabilities identified, a client can beef up security, protect its supply chain, guard against business interruption, improve resiliency and protect employees’ health and safety.

“A company has to balance optimal security procedures against what is considered acceptable by its staff, customers and the local community,” Gregory advises. He illustrates with the example that many consumers might object to a full security scan before being allowed to enter a local mall, but they are more likely to regard a similar measure at a nuclear power plant perfectly reasonable.

THE MODERN TERRORIST Learning how to address the threat posed by the modern breed of leaderless, lone-wolf terrorists effectively remains a learning curve that needs to be

scaled. “It is all very decentralized. Such an individual may never come up for air or to the attention of security agencies until they do whatever it is that they plan to do,” Prof. Zekulin says.

For Dr. Paul Joosse, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Hong Kong, the threat posed by lone wolves pales in comparison to that presented by a well-organized, more capable terrorist group. “The lone wolves are also self-limiting. They are often caught or killed after their attacks.”

Terrorist groups are not waging strategic military campaigns in Western Europe or North America, targeting essential energy infrastructure — at least not yet. “When they attack, they are picking the soft targets that fire people’s imagination and draw on their heartstrings,” he says. “Beheading someone is much more cost-effective in terms of instilling fear and gaining notoriety than trying to destroy an oil or gas plant. I can’t see that being a high-priority target.”

Regardless of whether a self-radicalized individual or an international terror group represents the greater threat, Canada’s oil and gas companies are working closely with federal and provincial agencies to monitor potential risks. There is a lot of security-related discussion back and forth, and companies are certainly aware of world events unfolding on the terror front. The steps they have taken in response and the security protocols they have put in place “are ‘appropriate’ to current terrorism risk levels,” Prof. Zekulin says. “But if somebody really wanted to do something bad, then it would be very difficult to stop them.”

William M. Glenn is a writer in Toronto.

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OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE

NOISE-INDUCED HEARING LOSS

Sound Advice

By Jean Lian

C

ome July 1, a new noise regulation under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to beef up worker protection against noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) will come into effect.

The new regulation replaces and extends the noise-protection requirements set out in the regulations for Industrial Establishments, Mines and Mining Plants and Oil and Gas — Offshore under the OHSA. New workplaces covered by this regulation include construction projects, healthcare facilities, schools, farming operations, fire services, police services and amusement parks.

According to a notice issued last December by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, NIHL is “a leading cause of occupational disease for Ontario workers.” But Ontario is not the only province that has tightened regulations surrounding noise exposure across industries. Noise-induced hearing loss also came under the spotlight when a bulletin posted on WorkSafeBC’s website on January 25 raised alarm bells over the high incidence of the condition among workers in British Columbia’s upstream oil and gas and pipeline-construction industries.

Results from a series of hearing tests that WorkSafeBC conducted in 2014 indicate that 33 per cent of the tested workers showed signs of NIHL, compared to the 16 per cent average for workers in noisy industries. More than half of them were 35 years old or younger, which demonstrates that hearing loss is not simply an effect of aging.

“This is a concern. The hearing-test results in oil and gas for noise-related hearing loss are more than double compared to other industries with hazardous noise levels,” says Budd Phillips, regional prevention manager with WorkSafeBC in Fort St. John.

The majority of the nearly 37 per cent of workers in the oil and gas drilling industry who showed signs of hearing loss reported that they wore hearing protection. This raises the disturbing implication that the auditory protection used may not be effective, workers might be removing their protective devices or noise levels in the work environment are so high that hearing protectors do not provide sufficient protection.

Young workers in the oil- or gas-field-service industry were particularly vulnerable: 17 per cent of the 35-and-under group said they did not use hearing protection, and that figure climbs to 27 per cent for the under-21 group.

The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation says employers are required to provide hearing-loss prevention programs, monitor noise levels and conduct annual hearing tests for employees who are exposed to hazardous noise. Work 32

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SafeBC’s data indicate that only 15 per cent of workers in oil and gas and pipeline construction were tested in 2014.

“This is a call to action for employers in hazardous-noise industries to ensure their workers have access to hearing-loss prevention programs and annual testing, as well as vigilant monitoring to determine where and when the highest levels of noise exposure are occurring and take appropriate engineering control measures to reduce exposures,” Phillips says.

HEAR, HEAR So why do oil and gas workers in British Columbia have a high incidence of NIHL? “People in oil and gas work for much longer periods,” says Ponnachan Joseph, a registered occupational hygienist with Industrial Safety International Inc. in Calgary. Twelve-hour shifts are normal, and workers often work 10 straight days due to remote worksites.

The lack of visibility of NIHL is another factor. “You don’t see blood coming from the ears or anything like that,” Joseph says. Although hearing protectors are almost always available on a worksite, “they don’t give that much priority to hearing protection, because it is not an acute issue,” unlike immediate threats like hydrogen sulphide or falling objects.

“The issue of hearing loss is certainly serious, but I think there is a general lack of awareness on the severity of the occupational illness,” suggests David Jarrell, managing director of Consolidare Consulting International in Calgary. As hearing loss happens over time and results from chronic exposure, “it is not perceived as being that high-risk.”

In a presentation on reducing hearing loss in the oilfield, San Diego-based Brad Witt, director of hearing conservation with Howard Leight by Honeywell Industrial Safety, points out that NIHL is particularly insidious, because it occurs without pain, visible signs of trauma or physical abnormalities. Hearing loss is hard to detect in the early stages, and there are wide individual variations of susceptibility to NIHL. On the behavioural front, workers operating in an environment where high hazards abound are also more likely to remove hearing-protection devices to aid communication.

“Many workers will avoid using earplugs or earmuffs with the mistaken belief that it prevents them from hearing more life-threatening hazards,” Witt says.

According to Dan Clarke, president of Clarke Consultants in Edmonton, the industry has historically relied on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) rather than on engineering controls to reduce noise exposure. “The result has been some the nosiest work environments that I have ever surveyed. It is fairly common to see noise levels exceed 110 dBA on some equipment.”

At these levels, a worker needs to wear both well-fitted nient to fall back on the use of hearing protection.” earplugs and earmuffs to get adequate protection. But many Clarke stresses the importance of finding out which areas find wearing one or the other uncomfortable, and getting of their rigs contribute most to noise exposure and to engithem to wear both at the same time can be a challenge. neer that out as far as possible. “A three-dB reduction is a 50 “It is rare to find any areas outside of the dog house on a per cent reduction in noise energy and risk to worker heardrilling rig that are under 85 dBA. Workers in these environ- ing,” he says. Selecting the appropriate muffler for a rig enments need to wear hearing protection 100 per cent of the gine will often result in a five- to 10-dBA reduction in noise time when they work, and they don’t like to do that,” Clarke levels near this equipment. “If companies implement a fully says. A dog house is a small enclosure on the rig floor used compliant hearing-conservation program, I think we would as an office for the driller or as a storehouse for small objects. see a dramatic reduction in the number of noise-inducedRelying almost entirely on PPE requires workers to be hearing-loss cases.” educated in depth and demands a high degree of compliance monitoring by supervisors. While hearing protec- BEYOND LIMITS tors generally do well in laboratory tests, in the real world, The occupational exposure limit for noise in the oil and gas “workers often do not know how to insert the plug correctly sector is the same across industries. According to Clarke, or would prefer to wear them in a more comfortmost Canadian provinces, with the exception of able fashion — that is, on a string around their Quebec and federally-regulated employers, have “You don’t see adopted the American Conference of Governneck,” Clarke notes.

Jarrell says there is a good reason why PPE is blood coming mental Industrial Hygiene exposure limits, which often considered the last line of defence. “All PPE stipulate that the daily energy averaged sound levhas limitations, and I believe the work conditions from the ears el (Lex) does not exceed 85 dBA. exceed the capability of the earplugs and muffs to Regulatory requirements state that employers or anything adequately protect.” must do baseline noise measurements any time like that.”

Diesel engines are the primary source of noise when Lex levels exceed 85 dBA and after any in the oil and gas sector, according to Art Jarvis, changes in equipment or processes. In practice, executive director of Energy Services BC in Fort St. John. this means that all operating drilling rigs will require some Sound pressure level is measured in decibels, while the fre- level of noise monitoring. quency of engine rotations is expressed in revolutions per “Many rig operators have done some baseline monitoring, minute (rpm). Engine noise at different RPM produces a but probably not to the extent required by regulations. Most different decibel count. have done some spot-noise measurements, but many have There is also the high-pitched noise of “steel on steel”, such not done the personal dosimetry required or done retesting as rotating dozer tracks, the hammering of pile drivers and after changing equipment and processes,” Clarke says. the droning sounds of flow through piping in a plant situOnce it has been established that workers are exposed to ation. “All these produce many different tones, pitches and Lex levels greater than 85 dBA, which is likely in the case for decibel levels,” Jarvis adds. rigs, provincial regulations require employers to establish hearing-conservation programs. “While a number of emPOISON TO THE EARS ployers have done this work, many are unaware of the regulaIn addition to the high levels of noise, oil and gas workers tory requirements. As a result, many workers don’t get much are also at risk of ototoxic chemical exposure, or ear poison- training on the hazards of noise exposure and the proper use ing. Environmental chemicals that are ototoxic include mer- of personal hearing protectors,” Clarke adds. cury, carbon disulfide, toluene, styrene, xylene, hexane and Jarrell points to inadequate hazard assessment. “People trichloroethylene. may recognize there is noise present, but they couldn’t quanFor instance, mercury is a natural component of oil and tify it. They might not be aware of thresholds where addigas and may be present in high concentrations in some for- tional protections are required.” mations. Job tasks that carry an exposure risk to mercury For Joseph, education is key. As health issues are rarely in gas-processing facilities include vessel cleaning, welding, addressed in safety-program audits, he recommends incorgrinding, polishing, pipefitting and hydro-excavating. porating oh&s issues into program management and certiImplementing engineering controls is complicated by the fications like the Certificate of Recognition. Other measures temporary nature of work locations typical in the industry, include training safety coordinators on basic workplace Joseph says. The sheer variability of job tasks undertaken health issues and ensuring that independent contractors conin the sector and the use of mobile equipment in many up- duct hearing tests. stream operations in outdoor environments also make it dif“WorkSafeBC has a wealth of knowledge on occupationficult to control work conditions. al illnesses,” Joseph says. “[They] should be able to bring in “Facilities are easier to apply engineering controls. Mo- some experts and provide training in remote locations. That bile equipment and tools typically get overlooked, and that is might help.” what I think contributes to excessive noise,” Jarrell suggests.

And it always boils down to cost. “It is easier and more conve- Jean Lian is editor of ohs canada. www.ohscanada.com

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SAFETY GEAR

FALL PROTECTION

Falling Safely out, they hit the ground while they are still moving.”

Irwin observes that some workers wear harnesses or lanyards too loosely, which can create other risks. “If they were alls from heights are a common danger in many secto fall, they would take fall forces in lots of different places tors. As such, fall-arrest equipment has become manwhere their body can’t handle them,” he cautions. Connectdatory for many professions involving workers at ing a lanyard to one’s feet can cause dangerously high fall heights of three metres or more. forces too, as can wearing incorrectly sized equipment.

But even the best fall protection in the world may not save “We always tell our clients, ‘Even though you have falla worker who has not received proper training on how to use arrest gear on, you never want to fall, because there is still and wear the equipment. Last year, the Ontario Ministry of Laa chance you are going to bang into something on the way bour adopted a new training standard for working at heights down, ’ ” Connor says.

“There may be some obstructions on in the province’s construction sector, including training on usyour way towards getting arrested in the fall.” ing fall-arrest gear correctly. Newfoundland and Labrador has Employers should plan to invest in training before they had a similar training requirement for a few years. even buy fall-protection equipment, according to Andrea Fall-protection education has grown as an industry, as emMartin, fall-protection sales specialist with 3M Canada in ployers hire both workplace-safety training firms and equipLondon, Ontario.

“Training shows the workers how to propment suppliers throughout North America to educate workers. erly care for their equipment, how to work and TEAM-1 Academy Inc. in Oakville, Ontario is one “A rescue plan identify hazards, understanding the fall clearances company that specializes in providing governmentand the importance of having a rescue plan. ” approved fall-protection training to employers. is especially Martin says a rescue plan is especially important, “We are able to teach the people how to work there safely with their PPE,” explains TEAM-1 important.” since a worker should not have to hang suspended chief of training Scott Connor. He advises employers to put in a harness all day after falling. “That is the one part that evin place a prepared rescue plan, which should include educa- erybody forgets,” she points out. “When somebody falls, how tion on what kind of equipment is acceptable for rescue and do we rescue them?” making sure that workers can execute the plan.

Chris Irwin, global training instructor with MSA in Cran- TRAINING HOURS berry Township, Pennsylvania, begins his courses by teaching MSA’s comprehensive two-day training program is a long about the regulations in the state or province before moving way from what fall-protection training used to be. “When I on to what kind of equipment is right for the trainees’ appli- started,” Irwin recounts, “there were companies that were getcation. “My background is health and safety management, so ting fall-protection training that would literally last maybe a lot of people that I get in class are health and safety manag- 15 minutes.” He believes that everyone who works at heights ers, or they are the types of workers that work for a health and should undergo a minimum of four hours of training, and he safety manager, and so I try to gear it to their needs,” he says. is pleased that Ontario’s minimum requirement is eight hours.

Don Hoddinott, director of business development with YOW Canada Inc. in Ottawa, notes that formal safety trainHIT THE GROUND RUNNING ing does not necessarily refer to classroom training these days.

Proper fall-protection training is essential for everyone who “Online training is becoming more and more the standard,” works at heights, says Claudio Dente, president of Dentec he says.

“That said, when it comes to fall-arrest gear, there is a Safety Specialists Inc. in Newmarket, Ontario. Workers who fundamental requirement for trainees to exercise their ability do not receive proper fall-arrest training make mistakes that to inspect, wear and use fall-protection equipment.” can exacerbate the dangers, such as donning gear improperly YOW has been teaching workers about fall-protection or failing to take clearance into account. “Many people still training and on-the-job safety for more than eight years. Its don’t fit-test a harness when they put it on,” Dente adds. unique “blended” approach combines online and classroom As well, workers need to ensure they have enough clearinstruction with three-and-a-half hours of theoretical trainance between themselves and the ground if they do fall with ing at the user’s own pace and four-and-a-half hours of praca harness or lifeline. “People don’t take those measurements, tical, hands-on instruction. calculations, properly or seriously,” Dente notes. “So they can Hoddinott hopes that other provinces will follow the footput themselves in a position where they are wearing a harness, steps of Ontario and Newfoundland in making fall-protection but when they fall and the harness and the lanyard start to pay

By Jeff Cottrill

F

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cal vapours, depending on your hazards in the workplace,” Martin recommends.

Capital Safety, a company recently acquired by 3M, offers a four-hour course specifically on inspection and maintenance of fall-arrest gear.

When choosing fall-arrest equipment to purchase, an employer should make sure that products are compliant with the most current and relevant CSA Group standard, which fall under the CSA-Z259 category. It is also worth noting that higher cost does not necessarily mean a better product.

“You don’t need a lot of bells and whistles if you are going to work on a construction site, down and dirty, and you know the equipment is going to probably not last a long period of time just because it is going to be put through New fall-protection products on the the ringer,” Irwin says. As such, certain market include 3M’s ExoFit STRATA employers can save costs on products harness (bottom left). MSA (top) and with fewer features.

TEAM-1 Academy Inc. (bottom right) On the other hand, workers like tower provide training on the correct use of climbers, who spend a lot of time wearfall-arrest equipment. ing harnesses, need something stronger STORAGE AND MAINTENANCE and more complex.

“Some of them, they live in a harness all As most fall-protection gear has a life expectancy of about day long, so they are looking for something that is comfortfive years, it is critical to ensure that all components of a able, something that is breathable, something that maybe has fall-arrest system remain in good condition. Fall-protection clips to attach their tools to, something that is easy to put on training by YOW and other firms includes a requirement for and take off, ” Irwin notes. workers to maintain their equipment as well as use it propEquipment should last longer if worksites can find ways erly. “Faulty, damaged or misused equipment will not protect to minimize its use or make it unnecessary altogether. “Don’t your life,” Hoddinott says. start off with fall arrest as your form of fall protection,” ConTo ensure that fall-protection gear continues to work efnor advises.

If there is a way to complete most or all of a task fectively, a user must inspect it for damage regularly. “If you on the ground, do so. Connor has observed that some conare the end user and you take off your harness three times a struction and roofing worksites have the roof on the ground day, and you put it on three times a day, you should be inwhen workers are putting on the shingles. “They lift the whole specting it, making sure that it is ready to go every single time roof up and put it on the house.

So that’s one way.” you put it on,” Martin advises. An annual formal inspection If that is not possible, installing a secure guardrail in the by a qualified person is also necessary, she adds. workspace at heights can be an option, and using proper fall“We suggest storing your equipment in a cool, dry enviprotection gear should be the last resort. ronment, where it is out of direct light and potential chemiPHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP): MSA; TEAM-1 ACADEMY; 3M

training mandatory, although that could complicate things for migrant workers who travel across provincial borders for work. “The worker might need Working at Heights training that is compliant with both provincial legislations,” he suggests.

“This often means the trainees require two different training programs to be allowed access to both worksites.”

According to Connor, it has not always been easy to persuade certain types of workers to wear fall-protection gear.

Ironworkers, for example, have a history of not wearing protective gear when needed, with only the most recent generation of them giving in to compliance.

But times have changed. More workers have come to accept the realities of falling dangers in certain professions, especially when personal experience comes into play. “Enough of them have known someone, or someone in their family, [who] has died,” Connor notes. “It is becoming more the culture now.”

EASY AS ABC Fall-arrest equipment comprises a variety of products, some of which need to be combined with other types. Many manufacturers and distributors classify the basic three-piece fall-arrest system into the ABC categories: “A” products are the anchorage connectors, which connect workers to tie-off points; “B” products are body-support devices that workers wear around themselves; and “C” products are connecting devices that link “A” to “B”, including self-retracting lifelines and shock-absorbing lanyards.

But the breadth of fall protection does not stop there. A “D” device is a descent-and-rescue product that goes into

action after a worker falls, ends up suspended in the air and needs assistance to get down. This might be an automatic or manual descender or some kind of rope access product.

Claudio Dente, president of Dentec Safety Specialists Inc. in Newmarket, Ontario, notes that other classifications of gear are available. “A Class E device is when you are retrieving someone from an area, maybe a manhole, when you have to pull them out,” he explains. “A Class L is for ladderclimbing — it is a fall-arresting device that attaches to the ladder,” while a Class P is a positioning device or harness that one ties off to while working in a stationary position.

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NEW IDEAS, INNOVATIONS Fall-protection equipment is evolving all the time. In 2015, MSA acquired a British PPE company, Latchways, through which MSA can offer new products previously unavailable to the North American market.

One of Latchways’ specializations is what Irwin calls “engineered solutions”, such as horizontal lifelines designed for roofs and tall buildings. “Imagine a cable that is on a rooftop or strung on the edge of a building you can connect into as you need to get up there and do some type of maintenance,” he describes.

The worker’s harness is connected to the lifeline via a trolley that runs along the cable, offering added flexibility, and the lifeline is strong enough to support several workers.

“If you have got a complicated situation to deal with,” says Irwin, “they can run a lifeline in the ceiling and hook up a retractive device to that lifeline, and wherever you walk, it will go with you.”

Among 3M’s newer products through Capital Safety is the ExoFit STRATA Harness, which is designed to lighten the load off the worker’s shoulders with an aluminum bar that assists with weight distribution. “We are looking at it on an ergonomics standpoint,” Martin says. “This is reducing 85 per cent of the weight off of the workers’ shoulders when they are standing, 64 per cent of the weight when they are reaching.”

Another Capital Safety development is the Nano-Lok Edge Twin-Leg Quick Connect Self Retracting Lifeline and

Cable, a lifeline designed specifically for foot-level tie-off and applications where there are sharp edges. “This product goes through the rigorous testing for leading-edge applications in foot-level tie-off,” Martin explains. “It has got a bright orange colour, so it allows the employer or the workers to visibly see that the worker is wearing the right gear for the right job.”

Other relatively new products allow fallen workers to rescue themselves without having to wait for a rescue plan. For example, 3M offers the Rollgliss R550 to give workers the options of controlled-descent rescue, evacuation or assisted rescue with lifting capabilities. During an assisted rescue, a fallen worker attached to the R550 device can be raised to a point that allows him or her to remove the fall-arrest device and lower to the ground safely.

Connor says self-retracting lifelines have become popular in recent years. “They have versions that you hang up above you, and you clip the line to yourself, and if you fell, you don’t end up going very far because it catches you like a seatbelt.”

Selecting the right fall-arrest equipment is key to preserving lives, but so is providing the right fall-protection training. “Formal training is critical when it comes to preventing workplace injuries and deaths,” Hoddinott stresses. “Too many Canadians have died on the job because they were not trained properly.”

Jeff Cottrill is editor of canadian occupational health & safety news.

Congratulations to the following OHS professionals who have recently been granted the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP)® Professionnel en sécurité agréé du Canada (PSAC)® designation.

James Aarts CRSP Sarah Abdul-Rasoul CRSP Muhammad Alamgir CRSP Vinaydeep Alvares CRSP Darryl Armoogum CRSP Lisa Barrow CRSP Rohan Bender CRSP Donald Bennett CRSP Tara-Ann Benoit CRSP Kamaljeet Bhangu CRSP Michael Boileau CRSP Kent Brandt CRSP Crystal Brazao CRSP Matthew Brewer CRSP Floyd Buhler CRSP Christopher Bulls CRSP Allison Burgess CRSP Jason Burjour CRSP James Carroll CRSP Brent Chopping CRSP Michelle Coghill CRSP Joy Craig CRSP Kelvin Curtis CRSP Gordon Denny CRSP Michael Derbawka CRSP Rosa Diaz CRSP Nicole Dierker CRSP Michael Doucette CRSP Tammy Duncan CRSP Richard Dunn CRSP

Nigel Dunning CRSP Chijioke Egbuna CRSP Jim Elkins CRSP Andre Fagan CRSP John Faguy CRSP Michael Fedunec CRSP Berna Fleming CRSP Brandy-Lee Forbes CRSP Jesse Frost CRSP Stephen Garnett CRSP Valerie Gonda CRSP Kezia Grams CRSP Katherine Hahn CRSP Kourosh Hakimpour CRSP Bruce Hampton CRSP Bruce Hartery CRSP Perry Harvey CRSP Bradford Hassler CRSP Jennifer Hogan CRSP Brian Hooey CRSP Amanda Hussey CRSP Kamran Ismayilov CRSP Michael Jamal CRSP Sharmila Jayaprakash CRSP Richard Joa CRSP Paul Kelleher CRSP Lance Klassen CRSP Jennifer Koenig CRSP Michael Kuipers CRSP Doran Kunz CRSP

Kevin Land CRSP Scott Langford CRSP James Leckie CRSP Stephen Legge CRSP Kelly Lehr CRSP Scott Lescak CRSP Jeffrey Love CRSP Lisa Lynn CRSP Brent MacDonald CRSP Steve MacDonald CRSP Mitch MacKenzie CRSP Barry Macooh CRSP Mark Malayko CRSP Kevin Martyn CRSP Jennifer McEnhill CRSP Samantha McFarlane CRSP David McKenna CRSP Scott McLay CRSP Dereck Mejias CRSP Kevin Miller CRSP Rosalind Anne Mitchell CRSP Tonya Nelson CRSP Geoffery Neville CRSP George Ebesoh Njuacha CRSP Colin Northrup CRSP Thomas Odinya CRSP Kyle Ollenberger CRSP Heera Pandey CRSP Tanya Perkins CRSP Rilyn Phillips CRSP

Ryan Piercey CRSP Andrew Plaza CRSP Manuela Racki CRSP Bobby Radford CRSP Michael Reimer CRSP Kristin Reitan CRSP Sarah Riche CRSP Zane Roberts CRSP Benjamin Rombough CRSP Ricardo Romero CRSP Hossein Sardsiri CRSP Laura Scicluna CRSP Rumana Selim CRSP Carson Sexsmith CRSP Brikena Shima CRSP Michael Stefi CRSP Alexander Stuart CRSP Craig Stuart CRSP David Sweeney CRSP Randy Taylor CRSP Bob Tinsley CRSP Garry Towle CRSP Katlyn Ward CRSP Ryan Wells CRSP Teri Worth CRSP Allison Wyatt CRSP Samantha Yip CRSP June Younge CRSP Piotr Zerbe CRSP

The BCRSP is a self-regulating, self-governing organization accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to ISO 17024 (Personnel Certification Body) and by BSI Management Systems to ISO 9001 (Quality Management System).

Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals/Conseil canadien des professionnels en sécurité agréés 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4 905-567-7198, 1-888-279-2777, www.bcrsp.ca

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Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals

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DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS

Man Underwater UNDER THE SEA: As the frozen waters thaw in summer, professional and recreational divers alike will start reaching for their diving gear. Whether a diver goes underwater to undertake a specific job task or simply for leisure, understanding diving and its potential hazards can be lifesaving, as emerging too quickly from the depths exposes a diver to the risk of decompression sickness (DS).

WHO’S AT RISK: Decompression sickness is a risk for those in commercial diving, which covers a broad spectrum of activities involving a variety of trades, including the following: welding; offshore diving for the exploration and production sector; bridge inspection; repair of wastewater-treatment facilities; hazmat diving into raw sewage or dangerous chemicals; scientific diving to study underwater marine habitats; and working in pressurized environments like a tunnel or a caisson — a watertight, pressurized structure in which people often perform underwater construction work.

THE FACTS: Also known as “bends”, DS occurs when insufficient pressure is released from the body following exposure to increased pressure, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Washington, D.C. Moving too quickly from a high-pressure area to one with low pressure, such as when a diver surfaces too soon, can produce nitrogen bubbles in the body that obstruct blood flow — resulting in a condition called arterial gas embolism — or cause pressure effects that can be very painful, even fatal. While symptoms of DS can appear at any time, they usually manifest between 15 minutes and 12 hours following exposure to increased pressure, notes BLR.com, a website that provides information on safety training and compliance.

THE SIGNS: Transport Canada describes the symptoms of DS as the four Cs: creeps, cramps, chokes and collapse.

Creeps, an unpleasant sensation that feels as though tiny insects are moving underneath the skin, is believed to be caused by the formation of tiny bubbles. Cramps refers to deep and aching pain ranging from mild to severe, localized in and around the large joints on the body, while chokes is a more serious disorder that occurs in less than two per cent of cases.

Those who suffer from chokes complain of substernal chest pain, laboured breathing and a dry, non-productive cough. If altitude is maintained, collapse will inevitably occur.

Other symptoms of DS include joint pain, areas of bone destruction, skin disorders causing pink marbling of the skin, 38

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spinal-cord and brain disorders (like stroke and bladder dysfunction) and cardiopulmonary disorders, NIOSH says.

Of all the adverse health effects stemming from DS, neurological DS, which occurs in five to seven per cent of cases, is the most dangerous. It can lead to permanent neurological deficits, particularly if hyperbaric treatment is not immediately available, Transport Canada warns.

RISK FACTORS: Gender, age and body fat are key contributing factors. The incidence of DS increases with age, with a threefold increase among those aged 19 to 25 and 40 to 45 years. It is also more common among women and is associated with rapid ascents, exercise at altitude and re-exposure to altitude at frequent intervals and at low temperatures, Transport Canada states.

As nitrogen is more soluble in fatty tissues, those with a higher percentage of body fat may be more susceptible to ni-

engage and must be implemented to counter any known hazards, as well as deal with emergency situations, including the evacuation of dive-team members.

Employers must provide training in first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and recognizing symptoms of and managing diving-related injuries. As well, they must have undergone a medical examination within the last two years and be declared fit to dive. A diver who has been treated for a pressure-related injury or illness cannot dive without written clearance for further diving from a physician. As excess nitrogen can remain dissolved in the tissues for up to 12 hours after leaving a pressurized environment, a diver who has completed a dive must remain under observation for a period of time.

A dive plan identifying the surface and underwater conditions, possible hazards, duties of each dive member and circumstances in which the dive must be terminated must also be developed, the Code says. For dive sites that are located near areas of marine traffic, employers must display flags conspicuously, and every diving operation must be monitored by a dive supervisor. A dive team consisting of at least two divers must be present at every dive site, and a reserve breathing supply sufficient to allow the safe termination of a dive should be made available immediately to the diver.

trogen loading and bubble formation, although some studies have failed to show a relationship between body fat and DS, according to an article by Dr. Simon Mitchell, Risk Factors for Decompression Illness.

Other risk factors include dehydration, holding breath (which impairs the body’s ability to purge nitrogen), strenuous work under high atmospheric pressure (which increases respiration rate and the amount of nitrogen inhaled), physical exertion after exposure to increased pressure and lung or circulatory problems, BLR.com notes.

THE CODE SAYS: On diving operations, the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations under the Canada Labour Code stipulate that every employer must establish written procedures and requirements that employees involved in diving operations must follow. These procedures should apply to each type of dive in which employees are likely to

DO YOUR HOMEWORK: As with all hazard-prevention efforts, proper and accurate planning is key. WorkSafeBC recommends planning and logging all dives, indicating bottom times and surface intervals to ensure that the dive profile stays within the no-decompression limits.

The plan should control factors that contribute to DS, such as ensuring that divers are well hydrated, do not dive under stress or anxiety, do a safety decompression stop at the end of each dive and control the ascent rate to 30 feet per minute or less. The crew size for all dive operations must also meet regulatory requirements.

WorkSafeBC cautions against relying on dive computers, citing in a hazard alert the case of a fish-farm diver who suffered serious DS as a result of using a dive computer and failing to maintain a dive profile. Instead, acceptable decompression tables and procedures should be used. Predetermining actual dive depths is critical. All dive teams must be trained in diving-accident management, and divers should avoid engaging in heavy manual work after surfacing.

Divers, too, have a role to play to ensure their own safety.

According to information from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, divers have duties under the Diving Regulation that include, but are not limited to, understanding the operational plan and the contingency plan, being aware of potential hazards at the dive site, not being fatigued or impaired and reporting to their supervisors if they are unfit to dive.

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LAW FILE

FITNESS FOR DUTY

Transit Applies Random Testing ated a higher onus than had generally and historically been accepted by arbitral jurisprudence.”

Ishak adds that the court accepted that there were a little he line between employees’ fitness for duty and their right to privacy came into question again this past over a half-dozen incidents in about 15 years. “They felt that spring, when the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) that was not sufficient to be pervasive. So what would qualiannounced plans to implement random alcohol and drug fy? I don’t know.”

For Stuart Rudner, a partner with employment-law firm testing for bus, subway and streetcar operators this year.

In a letter sent to all TTC employees on April 18, chief ex- Rudner MacDonald in Toronto, “a pervasive problem is best ecutive officer Andy Byford said the organization had added defined as one that is demonstrably affecting the workplace on a recent, regular basis, causing serious safety conrandom testing to its “fitness for duty” policy in 2011, but funding for such a program had not been “You need to cerns that outweigh other interests at hand.” But that does not guarantee that drastic action is warranted. approved until this year, due to ongoing arbitration demonstrate “The fact that a workplace is found to be dangerous with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113.

“Given the seriousness of this issue — it is, after that you have does not automatically give the employer the right to unilaterally impose random testing,” he adds. all, a workplace and public safety matter — the arbiRudner says that his firm often advises employtration process is taking far too long to conclude,” a pervasive Byford wrote. “The TTC will also be asking the problem.” ers who want to initiate random testing to “proceed with caution” and avoid any action that cannot be Province of Ontario to consider legislation making justified. Policies that apply “across the board” are particurandom testing mandatory for public-transit agencies.”

The legal context for this issue stems from a 2013 Supreme larly susceptible to challenge.

“If the TTC can bring forward compelling evidence of emCourt of Canada case involving Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd., whose random-alcohol-testing policy came under fire from ployees intoxicated while on the job, demonstrating a signifia union. The court ruled that a workplace must prove that it cant danger, then their position would be stronger,” he sughas a pervasive problem with impairment among employees gests. “This, of course, would still require the TTC to make sure that it is adequately balancing privacy interests when before random testing is permissible.

Brad Ross, the TTC’s executive director of corporate com- conducting these tests and to properly accommodate anyone munications, says there were 30 cases of employees who were who is found to have an addiction.” impaired at work or refused to take drug tests in 2015. “If you want to introduce random testing, you need to demonstrate SEEKING HELP that you have a pervasive problem,” Ross says. “We argue that Both Ross and Kinnear encourage TTC employees with substance-abuse issues to seek help voluntarily. The TTC has a we do, and it goes beyond the workplace.”

But not everybody agrees that there is a systemic problem. family-assistance plan that allows workers to get the treatLocal 113 president Bob Kinnear says that the TTC “is failing ment they need, without penalty.

“If you do test positive in a random test, and you haven’t miserably at trying to make that justification.” He even accuses management of beefing up the numbers of intoxication declared to us that you have a dependency, then that is not going to be an excuse for being impaired at work,” Ross says. cases with incidents that were not work-related.

According to Ishak, drug testing as part of a return-to“This was a stunt that they actually got away with four or five years ago,” Kinnear charges. “They are putting out num- work agreement after treatment is one instance in which bers of employees that may have been on summer vacation such testing has been historically accepted. “If there was a workplace incident and alcohol or drugs were suspected, you up at the cottage, they may have gotten a DUI.” could require a test,” he cites as another example.

The TTC expects to use breathalyzers and oral-fluid tests.

A DIFFICULT DEFINITION Adrian Ishak, an employment lawyer and partner with To- But the purpose is only to determine if the employee is intoxronto law firm Rubin Thomlinson, says defining a “pervasive icated at the time of the test. “What you do on your own time problem” may be difficult, as the Irving case is relatively re- is none of our business,” Ross stresses. He adds that random testing is a better way to protect employees and customers. “It cent and few similar cases have come up since.

“There is no clear guidance on what qualifies as a perva- is all about safety, and that’s all it is.” sive problem in the workplace,” says Ishak, noting that the Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada Irving case ended as a split decision. “There was a substantial minority who felt that the court was accepting a test that cre- Jeff Cottrill is editor of canadian occupational health & safety news.

By Jeff Cottrill

T

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TIME OUT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: Tourists visiting Montreal may soon be unable to “horse around” on the city’s cobblestoned streets, after the mayor issued a one-year moratorium on horse-drawn carriages or calèches — a move that could put an end to a popular tourist activity. The ban came on the heels of ongoing pressure from animal-rights activists who decried calèches as inhumane after several incidents involving carriage horses, one of which resulted in a horse sustaining injuries after it got loose and ran into a vehicle in the Griffintown neighbourhood in April, according to a CTV News report dated May 18. The mayor stresses that the move was to ensure the safety of both people and horses. Montreal could very well prove the saying that one can indeed change horses midstream.

ROYAL TREATMENT: A feathered family crossing the road in downtown Saskatoon was a traffic-stopping sight, one that earned the escort of police officers. According to a Star Phoenix report from May 13, the Saskatoon police bike unit on patrol discovered nearly a dozen ducklings trying to cross to the South Saskatchewan River through busy traffic.

Officers blocked traffic and kept curious onlookers at a distance — even helping one duckling into the water after it fell behind. Thanks to their efforts, the family of ducks managed to reach the riverbank safely without ruffling any feathers.

TRUMP CARD: Job-matching websites, move over. Cue

“Maple Match”, a new website that matches Americans who cannot live with a Donald Trump presidency to Canadians looking for love. According to a Reuters report on May 6, more than 10,000 singles and some 2,500 Canadians have signed up for the waiting list to date. But migration data from the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies show that after Republican George Bush’s 2000 election and 2004 re-election, few followed up on their emigration promises.

MAN OF STEEL: A welder in Peace River, Alberta is turning up the heat with his super-cool stunt that involves licking the flame of a cutting torch. The journeyman pressure welder can put out a burning oxyacetylene flame on his tongue, according to a CBC News report dated April 15. At around 6,000 degrees Celsius, the flame is hot enough to cut steel and result in severe burns to his mouth and face, but safety is far from this welder’s mind, as the video of his act has garnered some 75,000 views on YouTube, proving that oxidized flame can be a social-media sensation. It is a good thing that this welder-turned-YouTube-star runs his own welding company: there is no employer to frown upon his part-time job as a fire performer with his own troupe, in which he moonlights.

SLOPPY ROBBER: Call it shabbiness of the first degree, but a wannabe robber would have had greater success in his heist had he put in just a bit more effort. The man tried to rob a car wash in Northern California by dropping an empty 42

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potato-chip bag on the counter, telling the cashier to fill it with money. He warned the cashier that he had a gun in the bag, The Associated Press reported on May 15. When the cashier called a co-worker for help after noticing that the bag held only a piece of cardboard, the man fled. Duh.

THE GRASS OF WRATH: A Verizon worker who was on a job in Worcester, Massachusetts fell victim to kidnapping when he was locked inside an unventilated underground vault, after he unwittingly upset the owner by parking his vehicle on the grass at his business. According to a report from The Associated Press dated May 11, a 73-year-old man trapped the worker in the vault by pulling out the extension ladder, locking the hatch and placing large rocks on top. The worker used his cell phone to call police. The vault owner was recently sentenced to a year of probation and to complete an anger-management course following the incident, which took place in 2013.

DUTY CALLS: Talk about a deer getting caught in head-

lights. A police officer in suburban New York City found himself faced with such a situation when he came to the aid of a wild deer that had literally gotten its head stuck inside a light globe in a wooded area some 70 kilometres east of the Big Apple, The Associated Press reported in early May. After two tries, the officer managed to pull the deer’s head out of the globe. When duty calls, it does not matter whether those in distress are humans or just deer.

BORED TO DEATH: Boredom kills — that was the rea-

son why a Parisian employee filed a suit against his employer for $400,000 in compensation for the boredom his job allegedly caused. According to a May 5 report from the Washington Post, the employee of a perfume enterprise claims that his company wanted to make him quit on his own accord by boring him “to death”, so as to limit severance payments.

But due to the sluggish French economy, he decided to stay and reportedly earned $90,000 for each of the following four years. The employee described his time spent on his boring job “a nightmare,” resulting in multiple health issues that included epilepsy, sleep problems and depression. The case is pending a verdict that is expected on July 27.

A TALE OF TWO TIGERS: It was a close call when not one, but two tigers escaped from their enclosure at a big-cat sanctuary northeast of Amsterdam. According to a report from The Associated Press dated May 14, the getaway prompted police to warn residents to stay indoors. But the animals did not get beyond the sanctuary’s outer fence when officers cornered them and shot them with tranquilizers. The report suggests that a gate may have been left open. The tigers, which were siblings, did not hurt anyone during their brief foray into the wooded grounds of the sanctuary.

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