OHS Canada January 2010

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 J anu ar y/ F e b r ua r y 2 01 0

C A N A D A

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GOOD CATCH Net benefits of safer small vessels

GET SCHOOLED Learning to manage disability

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Bringing suicide into the light

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YOUNG AT HEART Easing the burden on youth

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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 FEATURES

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L E AR N I N G D IS OR D ER S

On Target

C C A A N N A A D D A A

Studies have found that certain learning challenges up the risk of work-related accidents. What measures should be in place to minimize that potential?

J A N U A RY/ F E BR UA RY 2 0 1 0 Vo l u m e 26 , Nu m b e r 1

BY WILLIAM M. GLENN

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D I S AB I LITY M AN AGEM EN T

An Education

It was a hope; now it is reality. The ground will break on a new school dedicated to enhancing work-related health, safety and disability management.

BY ASTRID VAN DEN BROEK

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SUICIDE

Deep Down Sometimes it becomes too much: work, home, economic insecurity. All can contribute to becoming overwhelmed, threatening to trigger the ultimate act.

BY ANGELA STELMAKOWICH

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S M AL L V ES S ELS

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Sea Change

An examination of small fishing vessel safety promises a nation-wide view that, it is hoped, will herald positive change for a sector dogged by a dismal safety record.

BY DONALEE MOULTON

DEPARTMENTS

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AC C I D E N T P R EV EN TION

Boom Town When circumstances are just right, combustible dusts can turn explosive.

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L AW F I LE

Know Your Surroundings

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An Ontario company is called to task for citing out-of-province requirements.

BY DAN BIRCH

ED IT O R IA L

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Higher Ground O H&S U P D AT E

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When it comes to noise, that little bit more can make a very big difference.

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E R GON OM IC S

Lifting the Yoke on Youth Youth may be carrying too heavy a load, with tasks exceeding their abilities.

BY JEAN LIAN

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S AF E TY GEAR

From Bottom to Top Matting is part of a mix of protections to guard against discomfort and injury.

BY JASON CONTANT

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Job authority good and bad; laptops as fire hazards; new test for recruits; presumptive blanket covers firefighters; and more.

P R O FESS IO N AL DIRECT ORY P R O D U C T S HOW CAS E AD IN D EX / R EA DER S ERV I C E I N FO

Up to Hear

BY ANGELA STELMAKOWICH

Fatal boiler blast in nation’s capital; Yukon deaths spur release of reports; ban on hand-held devices in British Columbia; Alberta hostage-taking ends peacefully; fired Ontario worker wins award; Quebec mine flood claims three; deadly fall in New Brunswick reveals safety gap; container kills Nova Scotia worker; and more.

D ISPAT C HES

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OC C U PATION AL HY GIEN E

IN THIS ISSUE

54 56 57

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TI M E OUT

Over the top; bounced cheque; potty protest; a cuppa eyeful; and more.

“Where duty is plain, delay is both foolish and hazardous.”

— TRYON EDWARDS www.ohscanada.com

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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

EDITORIAL

C A N A D A

Vol. 26, No. 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 EDITOR

Higher Ground W

hat’s the phrase? Go big or go home?

In that not-so-distant country due south, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently went as big as it ever has, proposing $87.4 million in fines for BP Products North America Inc. The company has gained the dubious distinction of doing itself one better — but in a bad way. OSHA’s previous top proposed penalty was $21 million (a relative pittance), again with BP’s North American arm the intended target.

The latest lofty proposal follows a March, 2005 explosion at a Texas refinery that claimed 15 lives and left about 170 others injured. On sentencing, OSHA reports the company had agreed to undertake corrective actions to eliminate hazards similar to those that reared their ugly heads in the explosion.

But there’s talking, and then there’s walking. An evaluation of the extent to which BP North America had complied with the agreement and OSHA standards showed the company was sorely out of step with its promised steps.

“Instead of living up to that commitment, BP has allowed hundreds of potential hazards to continue unabated,” Hilda Solis, then labor secretary in the United States, said last fall. “Workplace safety is more than a slogan. It’s the law.”

One could understand why the regulator had had it. For noncompliance with the terms of the agreement, the refinery has been issued 270 “notifications of failure to abate.” With each translating to a $7,000 penalty, multiply that by the 30 days for how long conditions continued, and that makes $56.7 million. Add the 439 new willful violations The mea and that ups the tab by about $30 million.

Clearly, Canada has violators of its own — although culpa of a fines have not reached these perverse altitudes. Still, an Ontario ministry was recently levied a $300,000 fine because guilty plea it did not ensure seasonal firefighters used protective gear, may serve a lapse that resulted in a fatal incident; an $85,000 penalty was issued to a drilling company in Alberta after a worker’s as the pound left hand had to be amputated, and a Saskatchewan business received a $32,000 fine in the wake of two separate of flesh events in which workers sustained serious injuries.

But it may be the little extras — outlining where fine demanded... money will go or imposing measures that demand ongoing vigilance — that prove more lasting.

Consider, again down south, the recent $474,000 penalty for A-1 Excavating Inc. The company did well to plead guilty to charges flowing from three excavation hazard inspections at three projects. Had each infraction been handled separately, and each of the proposed penalties accepted, the total financial hit would have been much more — $861,000, in fact.

The mea culpa of a guilty plea may serve as the pound of flesh demanded for transgressions. But does one, two or even three guilty pleas really get to the heart of what is wrong with the overall working environment?

Again, this is a time for those little extras. A-1 Excavating has agreed to a few of these, including reducing the salary of job superintendents and project managers who fail to comply with applicable OSHA requirements, and allowing access to job sites without the need for a warrant for the next three years.

For those who whine about big fines — too bad, so sad. The time for shoulda, coulda, woulda has long past.

Higher ground is best occupied by safety improvements, not big cheques.

And it is those devilish details that may help sow the seeds to real change.

Angela Stelmakowich

ASSISTANT EDITOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT ASSOCIATE EDITORS Hazardous substances Safety gear ART DIRECTOR PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER MARKETING SPECIALIST CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER PUBLISHER

PRESIDENT, BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

OHS CANADA

WILLIAM M. GLENN JASON CONTANT JAMES WARDELL PHYLLIS WRIGHT JESSICA JUBB DIMITRY EPELBAUM LORI THOMPSON-REID SHEILA HEMSLEY shemsley@ohscanada.com PETER BOXER pboxer@ohscanada.com BRUCE CREIGHTON

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS DAVID IRETON, Safety Professional, Brampton, Ont. ALLAN JOHNSON, Director of Construction, Hospitality, Oil and Gas, Workers’ Compensation Board of B.C., Vancouver, 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.

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Date of issue: January 2010.

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OH&S UPDATE

BOILER EXPLOSION CLAIMS WORKER FEDERAL — Three workers were injured, one fatally, during a boiler explosion at a heating plant in Ottawa last fall.

Paramedics were called to the plant — which services, among other federal structures, the Parliament buildings and the Supreme Court of Canada — at about 12:15 pm on October 19, says J.P. Trottier, a spokesperson for the Ottawa Paramedic Service.

Paramedics provided on-site treatment to a 51-year-old employee of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). The worker, who suffered second-degree burns to about half of his body and a large laceration to his head, succumbed to his injuries the following morning, Trottier reports.

Another worker, also 51, received first-degree burns to his face and arm, while the third employee, believed to be in his 50s, was treated for minor scrapes

and bruises, says Trottier.

The facility uses five high-pressure boilers, notes Frank Nitschmann, president of the heating and power unit of PWGSC within the Public Service Alliance of Canada. There was substantial damage to the site, including a buckled wall, a garage door blown from its tracks and a large door blown off, Nitschmann said following the blast.

Kim Ayotte, chief of special operations for Ottawa Fire Services, says many of the plant’s 27 workers had evacuated by the time firefighters arrived on scene.

A quick search was carried out and the building cleared, Ayotte reports.

He says a concern for both firefighters and paramedics who attended is possible asbestos exposure from buildings that date back almost a century.

“We determined later it was asbestos-covered piping and it had all been sealed,” he says. “So the question was, ‘Did the explosion knock any of the sealed asbestos loose?’”

DEATHS SPUR TALK OF PREVENTION WHITEHORSE — Occupational health and

safety officials in the Yukon have released preliminary reports into two mining fatalities with an eye to enhancing prevention of all work-related accidents.

Released online in November, the reports touch on the deaths of Paul Wentzell and Jim Conklin. Wentzell was killed October 19 when he was struck by his own pick-up truck and Conklin died September 11 when the front-end loader he was operating rolled.

Publicly issuing the reports, which note direct causes and prevention measures, is new for the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board, says Kurt Dieckmann, the board’s oh&s director. Calling both deaths “preventable,” Dieckmann says “we did a lot of soul searching after the last couple of [fatal] incidents that we had and we determined that we have got to get infor-

PILOT SUFFERS EYE DAMAGE FROM LASER FEDERAL — An air ambulance pilot who suffered retinal dam-

age after being blinded by a laser pointer remained off work almost two months following the incident.

In September, a Canadian Helicopters Ltd. pilot was transferring a patient to an Ottawa hospital when he was targeted, just one of 52 such incidents reported in Canada from last January to mid-October, says Transport Canada spokesperson Deborah Baxter. That compares with 56 incidents in 2008, 21 in 2007 and three each in 2006 and 2005.

While these occurrences are infrequent, “it’s something that we are very concerned about,” says Rob Blakely, vicepresident of EMS operations with Canadian Helicopters, a transportation services company with offices in Quebec and Alberta. “Having a pilot temporarily blinded by a laser… could result in us having to pull an active aircraft from service, which could be detrimental to a patient we are transporting,” Blakely cautions. It could also put at risk the safety of paramedics and pilots on board, he says.

Baxter points out that the “safety risk of a laser directed at an aircraft cockpit is greatest when the exposure comes during a time of high workload, such as take-off, a critical or emergency manoeuvre and landing.”

Captain Barry Wiszniowski, chair of the technical and safety division of the Air Canada Pilots Association, based in Mississauga, Ontario, agrees, saying that landings for example, are “a critical phase of flight and it’s a horrible time

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to be having two professional pilots distracted.”

Hand-held laser pointers with green light are more popular than the red-light version since they are about 35 times brighter, Wiszniowski reports. The green pointers have been used in 86 per cent of Canada’s reported incidents as of late last October, including the one in Ottawa. Depending on the pointer’s strength, he notes, laser beams can be seen from hundreds of feet to several miles away.

There are three main potential effects associated with laser pointing, Wiszniowski says: glare — obscuring an object in the person’s field of vision; afterimage — a shadow image left after exposure to bright light that may persist for several seconds to several minutes; and flashblindness — a visual interference effect that lingers after the source of illumination has ceased, such as is the case with a camera flash. With the last, he notes, “you’re actually going to see nothing. You’re going to be blinded for a duration of time.”

If convicted of directing a light source at an aircraft, an offender could face the $100,000 top fine under the Aeronautics Act, imprisonment of up to five years, or both,” Baxter says.

In the case of a summary conviction, an offender could be fined $25,000 or be sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

Courts must “understand the severity of the consequences,” Wiszniowski argues. “It would be catastrophic if a pilot was impaired by a laser and lost all situational awareness.”

— By Jason Contant

mation out quicker to people so that they can look at their own workplaces.”

The objective is to release reports into fatalities, critical injuries and serious incidents, says Dieckmann.

Wentzell, a 20-year-old employee of British Columbia-based Procon Mining and Tunnelling Ltd., was descending an underground slope at Yukon Zinc Corporation’s Wolverine Mine, near Ross River. “As required on all mobile equipment being used in underground workings, the [truck] was fitted with an emergency brake in addition to the regular parking brake,” the report notes.

Wentzell came upon some equipment while driving down the 15 per cent grade. He stopped, applied the truck’s emergency brake, left the vehicle in neutral and walked toward the equipment.

“The emergency brake did not hold and the vehicle rolled down the decline, striking the young worker from behind,” the report says. “The vehicle came to a stop approximately 20 metres from where it was originally parked when it collided with the second piece of equipment.”

While a standard parking brake prohibits wheel movement, an emergency brake clamps onto a vehicle’s drive shaft, Dieckmann explains. Typically, an applied emergency brake is enough to stop a vehicle on a 15 per cent slope from moving, he says, adding that board investigators plan to analyze maintenance logs and installation records related to the emergency brake.

The report recommends preventive steps be taken, including the following: UÊ when parking a manual transmission vehicle on a slope, place it either into first gear or into reverse and apply all parking brakes; UÊ chock the vehicle’s tires when parked on a steep slope; and,

UÊ before using equipment, test critical systems and remove from service if any defects are found.

Similar recommendations were made in connection with the death of Conklin, 65, at a mine near Dawson City. He was operating a front-end loader on a ramp with a 16 per cent grade when the engine stalled, causing the loader to roll backward down the ramp.

“While attempting to steer the loader down the slope without power, it struck a gravel bank at the bottom of the slope.

The left side tires ran up onto the gravel bank, causing the loader to roll over onto its cab. The cab was crushed along with the operator,” the report notes.

To prevent similar incidents, the report says equipment with faulty braking systems must be removed from service.

The same is true for equipment without adequate rollover protection.

HAND-HELD CELLS CUT OFF VICTORIA — British Columbia has signalled its intent to prohibit drivers from using cell phones and other hand-held technologies that may lead to distraction while behind the wheel.

The province announced draft legislation October 21. “Simply put, you cannot talk, type or dial on any hand-held device while driving,” solicitor general Kash Heed says of proposed amendments to British Columbia’s Motor Vehicle Act. Only hands-free cell phones and devices that require one touch to activate would be permissible while driving, notes a statement from British Columbia’s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Get caught talking on a hand-held phone and that will produce a $167 fine; e-mailing or texting will add

three licence demerit points.

The ministry reports that, on average, about 117 people die each year in the province and 1,400 are sent to hospital because “someone was not paying attention behind the wheel.”

Hand-held technology laws passed or being contemplated in Canada could have workplace safety legal implications, suggests Mary Beth Currie, a lawyer at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto. In Ontario, for example, it is not inconceivable that an employer could be charged with failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect workers, pursuant to the Occupational Health and Safety Act. One such scenario might be as follows: An employee texting while driving a company vehicle on the job is injured in a collision. The employer has no policies on appropriate staff use of handheld devices in company vehicles and has not drawn attention to Ontario’s new cell phone law.

But employees “should bear primary responsibility for compliance as they are the ones who control what they do in the vehicles they drive [personal or company],” Currie comments. As well, “employees have an obligation under the [OH&S Act] to work safely, which means in compliance with this [cell phone] statute.”

Saskatchewan is set to join provinces saying “no” to talking and texting while driving. The province tabled legislative proposals and, if passed, the ban was to take effect in January.

Experienced drivers will be allowed to use hands-free devices while driving, while drivers in the provincial graduated licensing program would be prohibited from using “cell phones of any type while operating a motor vehicle,” says a release from Saskatchewan Government Insurance. The penalty for breaching the

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requirement would be $280 and four demerit points.

Police, fire and medical services personnel would be exempt from the new law while performing their duties.

HOSTAGE TAKING ENDS CALMLY EDMONTON — An injured worker who took nine people hostage at the Work-

ers’ Compensation Board of Alberta (WCB) building in Edmonton, spurring a 10-hour standoff with police, faces a slew of charges.

Patrick Charles Clayton, 38, was charged with nine counts of unlawful confinement, six counts of pointing a firearm, and one count each of possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, careless use/storage of a firearm, and use of a firearm during the commission

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of an offence, says Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Jeff Wuite.

The incident unfolded on the morning of October 21, after police received a call at 8:42 am that “a man with a gun [was] inside the WCB building,” Wuite reports. By 2:30 pm, almost everyone inside the eight-storey building housing about 700 WCB staff had been evacuated and officers were doing a final sweep. Nine staffers remained inside with Clayton, although one hostage was released almost immediately.

Following negotiations over the day, hostages were released one by one. At 6:15 pm, Clayton surrendered to police.

Jennifer Dagsvik, a media relations specialist for the WCB, says Clayton is believed to be a claimant. Noting the WCB uses a swipe-card system and security guards to restrict access to parts of the building, Dagsvik said at the time it was unclear how Clayton was able to enter employees-only areas.

Describing the situation as a “serious security breach,” WCB president and CEO Guy Kerr noted after the incident that the “focus and priority at this time and in the days to come will be on WCB employees and helping them cope with today’s traumatic experiences.”

In a letter to Alberta WCB chair David Carpenter, Ontario’s Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto offered its best wishes. WSIB chair Steven Mahoney noted, “Please know that while we understand the frustration of some folks in our system, there can be no justification for actions like this.”

Another hostage-taking played out at an Alberta WCB office in Calgary on December 6, 1993. That day, Manuel Rocuant, a 47-year-old former construction worker, used a double-barrelled shotgun to fire off two warning shots and held hostage two board employees, a security guard and a courier.

Hostages were released over the course of almost five hours. The incident ended when Rocuant, who had been taking pain medication, passed out.

DROWNING CATALYST FOR GUIDE EDMONTON — A worker’s drowning five years ago has resulted in the development of a new manual and training program to help prevent similar incidents.

Released in late October by Alberta Employment and Immigration (AEI) in Edmonton, the best practices guideline folCircle number 14 on Reader Service Card

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lows an earlier creative sentence related to oh&s charges against ATCO Electric, says AEI spokesperson Chris Chodan.

On January 7, 2005, an employee of Viper Trucking in High River, Alberta was operating a snowcat — a heavy, bulldozer-like vehicle equipped with special tracks — when the unit fell through ice on the Peace River, Chodan says. Karl Malmquist, 46, was helping to clear a winter road across the river to an island near Fox Lake where prime contractor ATCO Electric was preparing to install hydro poles.

ATCO Electric pleaded guilty to failing to assess the work site and identify existing and potential hazards before work began, resulting in a $300,375 penalty and a court order for the utility to develop a best practices guideline for working on ice. Among other topics, the manual addresses ice cover types and variations in quality and strength, hazards and hazard controls, ice cover design, monitoring and maintenance, ice safety plans, and protective equipment.

The guide notes that between 1991 and 2000, there were 447 deaths across Canada associated with activities on ice.

Most deaths were the result of recreational activities, the publication adds.

It is possible for those who fall through the ice to rescue themselves, says Gordon Giesbrecht, a cold water immersion specialist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. A person should keep hands and arms on the ice and kick the feet to bring the body to a horizontal position parallel to the ice surface, Giesbrecht recommends. Once horizontal, he advises that the individual pull himself onto the ice, keeping his weight spread out while rolling, crawling and sliding across the ice.

haulers for transport. Robb notes the incident was the first of its kind at the site, a joint project venture of a number of different corporations.

SALVAGE YARD WORKER INJURED MOOSE JAW — A worker at the Silver Star Salvage scrap yard in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan sustained bruising and

soreness when he was hit by a pipe that rolled off the back of a truck.

At about 1 pm on November 13, the driver had just finished weighing and backing up his waste management truck into the yard, says owner Cal Anderson.

After leaving the cab of the truck, the driver climbed a ladder at the back of the vehicle to begin unloading its bin, says Anderson. As the worker opened the two doors in the middle of the bin,

CRASH BETWEEN HAULERS DEADLY FORT MCMURRAY — Two drivers were in-

jured, one fatally, when two heavy hauler trucks collided at the Mildred Lake North Mine site, located about 40 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

The 10:15 am accident on November 23 at the site operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. left a 40-year-old worker dead and the other with a broken ankle, says AEI spokesperson Chris Chodan.

At the surface mine site, Syncrude Canada spokesperson Cheryl Robb says, large shovels are used to scoop out oil sands and load these onto heavy Circle number 15 on Reader Service Card www.ohscanada.com

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he reports two large pipes began to roll, one becoming jammed and remaining inside the truck, while the second landed on the driver when he fell to the ground.

The pipe weighed almost 300 kilograms, says Anderson, who rushed to the driver’s aid. “He just said he needed an ambulance, so we called an ambulance for him. He was in quite bad pain.”

Ray Francis, director of community relations and training for Moose Jaw & District Emergency Medical Services, classified the injury to the 38-year-old worker as “severe” but not life-threatening. The worker was taken to hospital and later released, Anderson reports.

Anderson says two-door bins similar to the one involved in the accident are outdated and, in his opinion, should be taken out of service. Most newer bins “have a single door on them that opens from one side to the other so that the driver never has to be in that position.”

DISPUTE PROMPTS CALL TO POLICE WINNIPEG — A confrontation between

an employee and his supervisor drew about a dozen officers to the Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) building in Winnipeg on November 10.

That morning, the employee and a company executive were meeting in the worker’s office when the two began arguing, reports MPI spokesperson Brian Smiley. “Very early on, our security staff recognized that this employee was experiencing a health issue,” Smiley says.

Based on their observations of the employee and the training they had received, he notes that the decision was made to call the Winnipeg Police Service for assistance.

Smiley says an e-mail was sent to MPI staff to let them know what was transpiring at the building.

PREGNANT WORKER FIRED MISSISSAUGA — A human rights body in Ontario has ordered an operator of two associated salons to pay more than $35,000 in penalties after determining a worker was fired just minutes after informing her employer she was pregnant.

Naomi Overend, vice-chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in Toronto, ordered the employer to pay Jessica Maciel, minus applicable deductions, $9,060 as compensation for loss of em-

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ployment income; $11,659 for loss of maternity and parental leave benefits, and $15,000 for injury to her dignity, feelings and self-respect.

Also in the October 28 ruling, Overend ordered Fashion Coiffures Ltd. and Crystal Coiffures Ltd. to jointly prepare a written policy related to accommodating pregnant workers and maternity/parental leave practices. (Fashion Coiffures is owned by the Nino D’Arena Salon, where Maciel began employment, but it was understood she would also work at L’Attitudes International Images Centres, owned by Crystal Coiffures).

The incident in question occurred on August 11, 2008 after Maciel arrived for her first day of work at Nino D’Arena Salon in Mississauga, Ontario. About four-and-a-half months pregnant at the time, Maciel testified she informed the manager that she was pregnant and was fired about 15 minutes later.

“I was so shocked that this would happen to me in the 21st century,” Maciel said before the rights tribunal. “This should not happen to anybody else.”

The employer submitted it was not aware Maciel was pregnant and that she was fired because she asked to work part time, despite being hired for a fulltime position.

“That is the challenge we do see in these kinds of cases where an employer will raise a non-discriminatory reason for the termination, and in this case that nondiscriminatory reason simply didn’t hold water,” says Kate Sellar, a member of the Human Rights Legal Support Centre in Toronto who served as Maciel’s counsel.

In the ruling, Overend cites an August 12, 2008 letter from the manager that stated Maciel had requested a position “which only allowed approximately 20 hours a week” and that no such job existed. Maciel was hired for a position totalling between 31 and 33 hours per week, the letter noted.

But when Maciel asked for a copy of her employment contract, manager Cinzia Conforti informed her it had already been shredded. “I find it inconsistent that [Conforti] would go to the effort of confirming there was no part-time position and specifically set out which hours the applicant was expected to work, but then shred the contract of employment between the parties,” Overend writes. “This carefully constructed letter is more consistent with the applicant’s evidence that in one of the post-termination telephone calls she advised Ms. Conforti

that it was discriminatory to fire someone because they were pregnant and asked for her contract of employment.”

In coming to compensation, Overend considered a variety of factors, including unsuccessful attempts to find other work, which Maciel abandoned at seven months pregnant, and her resulting depression.

To those who suggest that $35,000 “seems like a large award for 15 minutes of work,” Sellar points out “it is very important to communicate that the award has nothing to do with how long you have worked there. The general damage is your experience of victimization — what impact does that have on you going forward. It’s a forward-looking award. It looks at putting you back in the position you would have been in if the discrimination hadn’t happened.”

ARGUMENT TURNS DEADLY TORONTO — What started as an ap-

parently minor argument between two employees of a sushi restaurant in Toronto ended with a stabbing that left one worker dead.

The incident unfolded at the New Generation Sushi restaurant a little after 11 pm on November 7, says detective sergeant Terry Browne, a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service’s homicide squad. The co-workers, who served as both waiters and chefs at the restaurant, became involved in a verbal dispute in the main section of the restaurant, which escalated as they made their way into the kitchen, Browne reports.

“It was a minor dispute and it was work-related,” he says, adding the deceased, 27, was stabbed with a “sharpedged item” and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Browne says the preliminary investigation did not reveal any prior conflicts between the two workers. “I’ve spoken to many, many people who know them both and it appears at this time it was something that just began that evening and quickly escalated,” he says.

Two days later, a post-mortem examination was conducted and determined that the cause of death was a stab wound to the chest. Xu Wang, 25, was arrested following the stabbing and charged with second-degree murder, says Browne. The Chinese consulate was advised as both men are Chinese nationals.

Ross Arrowsmith, a Calgary-based

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MINE FLOOD CLAIMS THREE WORKERS DESMARAISVILLE — Three workers are dead following a lateOctober flood at the Bachelor Lake gold mine in Desmaraisville, located in northwestern Quebec.

Provincial safety inspectors are continuing their investigation into the circumstances leading to the deaths of Bruno Goulet, 36, Domenico Bollini, 44, and Marc Guay, 31.

Goulet and Bollini, employed by mine owner and operator Metanor Resources Inc., and Guay, who worked for contractor Montali Inc., were rehabilitating a mine shaft when the flood occurred, notes a statement from Metanor Resources in Val-d’Or, Quebec.

Trouble began at about 11:30 pm on October 30 when the three workers were descending in an elevator from the mine’s 6th to 12th levels, located about 500 metres below surface, says Pierre Turgeon, a spokesperson for Quebec’s Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST).

The elevator operator, located above ground, grew concerned when the workers did not signal that they had reached their destination safely, Turgeon reports. “So, the

senior corporate security advisor for Alberta’s WCB, says precautions can be taken to help prevent or reduce incidents of violence on the job, such as conducting thorough background checks on prospective employees, providing proper training, and creating an open-door policy for safety concerns.

ASBESTOS CITED AS CULPRIT MONTREAL — A majority of work-relat-

ed deaths in Quebec in the first seven months of 2009 were the result of asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis, note statistics released by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN).

Based on data from the CSST, the CSN reported in mid-October that 61 of the 104 work-related deaths between January and early August of 2009 were linked to asbestos exposure. For the same period in 2008, 58 of the 127 deaths were asbestos-related, and in 2007, it was 64 of 131.

The latest national figures from Statistics Canada also point to a rising number of deaths from mesothelioma, a cancer affecting the lining of the chest or abdominal cavity. There were 384 such deaths in 2005, up from 292 in 2000.

“It takes many years often for [mesothelioma] to show up,” notes Murray Finkelstein, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a researcher in the

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operator decided to go down [into the mine] by the ladders.”

Encountering “a lot of water,” he says the operator returned to surface to initiate emergency response procedures.

Mine rescue teams from Metanor Resources and other local companies worked to pump water from the mine in a bid to reach the miners. The efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful.

One of the worker’s bodies was recovered at approximately 8:30 am on November 2, while the other two were discovered by the end of the same day.

Turgeon says the CSST investigation is expected to include interviews with the elevator operator and company officials, and analysis of equipment and worker training.

The mine was previously operational. In anticipation of a drilling program restarting, the facility was dewatered during the winter of 2004-2005, Metanor Resources reports.

Extension of the mine’s head frame, installation of a new hoist, and mine shaft sinking was schedulled to be completed by this July.

— By Dan Birch

area of occupational health. The average period between first exposure to asbestos and death from mesothelioma is about 45 years, says Finkelstein.

Ontario’s WSIB reports that it accepted 19 mesothelioma claims in 2000, less than half of the 41 in 2008.

Canadian worker deaths from asbestos exposure is expected to peak from 2010 to 2020, James Brophy, a researcher associated with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, notes in a 2007 paper.

Mesothelioma statistics are likely more complete than data on asbestosrelated lung cancer, Finkelstein suggests.

“I would expect most [lung cancer] cases are not captured,” he says, adding that where workers have a history of both smoking and asbestos exposure, the development of lung cancer is often attributed to smoking.

Canada generally does “a very poor job” of tracking work-related incidences of diseases caused by asbestos, says Kathleen Ruff, a member of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs in Ottawa, an organization critical of Canada’s export of chrysotile asbestos mined in Quebec. “The tragedy of [asbestos-related illness in Canada] is it could have been prevented if we had not denied the scientific evidence, if we had not allowed the asbestos industry to use the same tactics as the tobacco industry,” argues Ruff, a British Columbia resident and former director of that province’s Human Rights Commission.

PROVINCE SHOULD FUND LOGGING SAINT JOHN — The New Brunswick government should provide funding to small, independent logging operations for safety training and to learn cutting techniques, recommends a coroner’s jury examining the circumstances of a forestry worker’s death in 2008.

Stanley English, 46, was fatally injured at a woodlands operation in Canterbury, New Brunswick on September 20, 2008. English was cutting down a tree when a dead limb caught up in the tree’s branches fell, striking him in the head. The logger died that evening.

Concerns were raised at the inquest that English may not have received proper training and had failed to identify work-related hazards.

Noting that such work sites are highrisk, Angela Acott-Smith, assistant director of WorkSafeNB’s northwest region, says proper training is important to enable workers to “identify the types of hazards in that area by looking around and assessing the situation before they actually go in and do the work.” Once hazards are identified, Acott-Smith says, “they need to know how to deal with those properly and in a safe manner.”

The second of the two inquest recommendations issued was for “more health and safety officers in the field,” says Lisa Harrity, a spokesperson for New Brunswick’s Department of Public Safety in Fredericton. Harrity could not say if the

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BE MINDFUL OF OH&S OBLIGATIONS: JURY SAINT JOHN — An inquest into the death of a 72-year-old builder on a construction site in Saint John has yielded several recommendations aimed at enhancing safety.

On October 20, 2008, Domenico Ranieri, owner of East Coast Rental Equipment Ltd., and a worker, Charles Israel, were securing roof trusses for a warehouse storage shed being constructed. Weighing about 500 pounds apiece, the trusses gave way when a brace was removed, the motion causing Ranieri and Israel, 26, to fall almost seven metres.

Ranieri suffered fatal injuries.

Ron Buchanan, acting assistant director for WorkSafeNB’s southwest region, cites several shortcomings. For example, the gable of the structure was inadequately braced, and the trusses were too short and braced perpendicularly, not diagonally. “The lumber used for bracing was of insufficient size and length, and was inadequately nailed. The spacing distance between the lines of lateral bracing at the truss top cord was beyond normal limits,” Buchanan reports.

Another safety lapse was that Ranieri and Israel were not wearing any protective gear, says Greg Forestell, the province’s chief coroner, based in Fredericton.

Buchanan visited the site, but finding no one there, moved on to another site. No one was available “to take responsibility if we found deficiencies,” says Forestell. By the time Buchanan had returned to the site, the fall had happened.

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Although a building inspector had visited the site a dozen times, no safety violations were noted. Buchanan says that may be because a building inspector looks at the end product for quality, not at “how the building was being built or the safety aspect of that building.”

One jury recommendation calls for building inspectors and field engineers to obtain basic knowledge of the OH&S Act so as to help with identifying potential breaches.

Members of the inquest jury also suggested that both building inspection employees and WorkSafeNB field officers have the authority to restrict access to a work site that appears to be unoccupied if any perception of non-compliance with the building code or OH&S Act exists. This restriction should apply until a stop-work order can be issued.

The incident also sheds light on the lack of communication between WorkSafeNB and the city with regard to issuing building permits, the jury notes. At present, WorkSafeNB is not notified of building permits issued by the city. “If they don’t know a building is going up, how can they be proactive” in schedulling inspections? Forestell asks.

The jury recommends that copies of building permits for non-residential projects should be sent to WorkSafeNB which, upon being notified, establishes a site visit schedule to ensure compliance with New Brunswick’s OH&S Act. — By Jean Lian

Circle number 18 on Reader Service Card

number of oh&s officers will increase.

As of 2008, provincial inquests have been mandatory for fatalities occurring in various workplaces: woodland operations, sawmills, lumber or food/fish processing plants, construction sites or mining operations, including a pit or quarry.

ence just one Code White (a potentially violent situation) emergency in a year, Milne reports, these events occur almost weekly at the two other hospitals.

CONTAINER STRIKE CLAIMS WORKER NEW GLASGOW — A worker was fatally

HOSPITAL MAY BEEF UP GEAR HALIFAX — A Halifax hospital that witnessed a shooting outside its doors in 2008 may be looking to outfit security staff with bullet- and slash-resistant vests.

The IWK Health Centre, a children’s and women’s hospital in the heart of the city, issued a public tender on November 18 for 35 protective vests.

Just before 7 pm on November 18, 2008, a man fired multiple shots near one of the centre’s entrances, the Halifax Regional Police reported at the time.

A 27-year-old visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries.

A spokesperson for the centre would only say the vests have not yet been purchased and distributed.

Officials for the Cape Breton District Health Authority, which runs the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, Nova Scotia, have no such plans to issue security staff protective vests.

“We haven’t moved in that direction,” says Greg Boone, public affairs director for the health authority. Options and opportunities to improve staff safety are reviewed on a regular basis, says Boone, adding that joint health and safety committee members are an important part of the discussion.

“None of our staff use bullet-proof vests and it’s not something we’re actively pursuing,” says John Gillis, senior media relations advisor for Capital Health, the district health authority that oversees many of Halifax’s health care facilities.

Some hospitals in other parts of the country, however, do make use of bulletresistant vests. For example, Toronto’s University Health Network issues vests and expandable batons to security staff at two of its three hospitals.

Todd Milne, senior manager of security operations for the network, says the potential for violence was analyzed at each facility — Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto General Hospital and Toronto Western Hospital — before bringing in the protective gear three years ago at the latter two locations. While the Princess Margaret facility may experi-

injured when he was hit by a container at the loading dock of a foundry in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

At about 6:30 pm on November 24, a Maritime Steel and Foundries Limited employee was on the hydraulic loading dock when an unidentified container was being unloaded from a truck, says Kevin Finch, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour and Workforce Development in Halifax. The container hit the worker, who died at the scene.

The company reports in a statement that the accident occurred “while a truck belonging to an independent contractor was operating on site.”

Maritime Steel and Foundries was issued three compliance orders, namely to stop using the hydraulic loading dock, provide investigators with maintenance records for the dock, and install lighting in the dock area, the provincial labour department reports.

tional Health and Safety Regulations.

The charges follow inspections at two different residential construction sites in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland between January and August of 2008.

The inspections determined the company’s employees were working without suitable fall protection, scaffolding being used had no guardrails, and the scaffolding was supported by unsuitable foundations or sills.

A third charge of failing to ensure scaffolding was equipped with guardrails was withdrawn, says a statement from the province’s Department of Government Services.

CORRECTION Magnetic resonance imaging machines and electrical equipment are not sources of ionizing radiation. Incorrect information appeared in the September, 2009 issue of OHS CANADA. We regret the error.

Many of the preceding items are based on stories from our sister publication, CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS, a weekly newsletter that provides detailed coverage of Canadian oh&s and workers’ compensation issues. For more information, call (416) 442-2122 or toll-free (800) 668-2374.

SMALL FINE FOLLOWS INFRACTIONS ST. JOHN’S — D.E.T. Enterprises Ltd. was

handed a $4,000 fine after the company pleaded guilty to twice breaching Newfoundland and Labrador’s Occupa-

Didn’t see it here? Why not check out www.ohscanada.com for more web-exclusive news?

So, what’s on your mind?

Ever wonder what other oh&s types are thinking about? Find out by making our website poll at www.ohscanada.com a regular stop.

Where provinces have waiting periods for workers’ compensation benefits, should exemptions be made for particular occupations?

Yes 40.00% No 37.50% Circle number 18 on Reader Service Card It depends on the occupation 23.50% Total Votes 40

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DISPATCHES

Job authority comes with some ups, some downs

By Jason Contant

A

new study out of Ontario shows that, indeed, there are ups and downs to being the boss — that is, those who direct or manage the work of others, have control over their pay, and can hire or fire.

People with more on-the-job authority experience certain benefits that can contribute to better health, notes the study published online in Social Science & Medicine last October.

But it may be a matter of give and take, with the same individuals also more likely to experience psychological and physical symptoms that can undermine these health benefits.

This cancelling-out effect between stressors and benefits produces an overall “null association,” suggests Scott Schieman, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study.

Researchers used data from a 2005 national survey of 1,800 workers in the United States. To the good, those with more job authority experience benefits such as higher earnings, schedule control, autonomy and non-routine jobs that involve more problem-solving tasks, contributing to their work being more interesting and engaging. To the bad, these individuals also report significantly higher levels of interpersonal conflict at work and work-tohome interference.

“Once we adjust for interpersonal conflict and work/nonwork interference, job authority is associated with fewer symptoms of poor health, distress and anger,” Dr. Schieman says.

Researchers determined that higher earnings and non-routine work alone are linked to lower levels of physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomach pain, muscle aches and rapid heartbeat), psychological distress (anxiety, sadness and difficulty concentrating or sleeping), and anger (feeling annoyed, frustrated or critical of others).

“One plausible interpretation is that were it not for their greater exposure to interpersonal conflict and work-home interference, workers with more job authority would report lower levels of poor health compared to their counterparts with less authority,” the study notes.

Interestingly, the research also found that gender, occupation, job sector and number of co-workers or customers/ clients had no statistically significant influence on job authority and health outcomes.

Based on codes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States, Dr. Schieman says that occupations and sectors

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were slotted into one of five main categories: administrative (technical, sales and administrative support occupations), professional (managerial and specialty occupations), service (service-related occupations), craft (precision production, craft and repair), and labour (operators or labourers). He has applied for funding to test the same patterns in Canada.

Jason Contant is editor of SAFETY NEWS.

CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

&

Laptops clearly not cut out for the lap of luxury

By Rosie Lombardi

T

he term “laptop” may be a misnomer as its name masks the potential danger of setting down the computer on soft surfaces, laps included.

With the widespread use of laptops both on and off the job, that caution should likely have resonance for many.

Last August, the B.C. Coroners Service (BCCS) issued a safety bulletin warning against leaving laptops running on soft surfaces, such as couches.

The recommendation follows the death of a British Columbia man, 56, from smoke inhalation. A blaze was ignited when a laptop computer manufactured by Hewlett-Packard overheated and caught fire within 50 minutes of being left on a couch, plugged in and turned on.

“The sofa’s cushioning was soft enough that the computer’s pegs at the bottom didn’t support the device and blocked the air vents,” notes BCCS regional operations director Jeff Dolan.

A BCCS statement cites environmental factors that likely played a role in enhancing the fire’s spread and intensity. “The foams used in some types of furniture are almost like petrified gas — they’re ready to burn and just need an ignition to get going,” explains Stephen Gamble, Coquitlam, British Columbia-based second president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs.

In the course of investigating what is the province’s first fatality attributed to a laptop fire, the BCCS learned several makes of laptops have been recalled in recent years because of problems with lithium-ion batteries overheating and bursting into flame. Since 2004, four other laptops that either overheated or short-circuited when left plugged in have sparked fires in British Columbia. As well, 15 fires associated with short circuiting or overheating of other electronic equipment (such as personal computers, DVD players and cell phone chargers) have been reported.

Russ Conwath, a research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group, an IT consultancy in London, Ontario, says HewlettPackard is not the only computer maker having problems with overheating batteries. “Unfortunately, this battery had

a design flaw that’s replicated itself across many makes and models,” Conwath reports, noting that such batteries are being supplied to manufacturers, including Sony, Dell and Acer.

Conwath says while newer laptop models still use the lithium-ion batteries — which provide the best power source for portable electronics — the advent of more efficient processor technology makes laptops less likely to overheat, thereby lessening the possibility of fire.

Although a step in the right direction, Gamble says consumer awareness of fire hazards from laptops and other electronics needs to be heightened.

To be safe, the BCCS makes these suggestions: use a table or a hard surface, ensure air flow is not impeded around electronic devices when in use, shut down a laptop when not being used, especially when placed in a carry bag, inspect and clean air vents weekly, and replace malfunctioning equipment or parts according to manufacturer specifications.

If it were up to him, Gamble would rename laptops. “Beyond the fire issue, it’s not ergonomic and you should keep the computer away from your reproductive organs.”

Rosie Lombardi is a writer in Toronto.

Message to fishers: better catch on to safety

By Angela Stelmakowich & Jean Lian

T

he safety message was recently being highlighted as fishers across the South Shore and southwest Nova Scotia prepared to take to the water for lobster season, which started November 30.

“Fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the province, but that can change if workers and employers take action to prevent injuries,” Stuart MacLean, vice-president of service delivery for Nova Scotia’s Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB), says in a statement.

In 2008, the fishing sector saw almost 10 deaths and more than 400 injuries, including about 170 involving lost time.

Premiums paid by industry employers are among the highest in Nova Scotia, with the 2010 rate being $7.55 per $100 of payroll, up from $7.48 in 2009. All fishing sectors are well above the WCB’s average assessment rate of $2.65 per $100 of payroll — a result of the number and severity of injuries.

In a bid to bolster safety, Nova Scotia has become just the second province in the country to form a sector-specific safety entity, the Fisheries Safety Association of Nova Scotia (FSANS). “By working together we can more effectively promote safe work practices and the business case for safety,” Lisa Anderson, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fisheries Sector Council (NSFSC) in Yarmouth, says in the WCB statement.

MacLean points to advances made by safety associations in the forestry and construction industries. For example, the NSFSC reports that the forestry sector has been able to reduce its assessment rates by 40 per cent in the last five years, but more important, MacLean emphasizes, has also seen a decrease in “the number of

people that are being hurt on the job.”

Housed under the NSFSC, the FSANS was set to get up and running January 1. The association — which MacLean regards as a vehicle to bring a “united voice to the sector on occupational health and safety issues” — has members from the harvesting, seafood processing and aquaculture sectors.

Brian Muise, executive director for the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia in Halifax, says the move will “have some real benefit in terms of avoiding employee down time and [a] decrease in our workers’ compensation costs.”

Angela Stelmakowich is editor of assistant editor of OHS CANADA.

OHS CANADA;

Jean Lian is

Chemicals can compound potential for hearing loss

By Trisha Richards

I

t’s not a stretch to say most people understand that exposure to excessive noise can damage hearing, but do they know chemicals can cause or exacerbate hearing loss?

Hearing loss from exposure to ototoxic chemicals occurs mainly through inhalation, where studies on experimental animals have shown that substances reach the inner ear through the bloodstream, causing damage to the nerves and other structures in the auditory system, explains Thais Morata, Ph.D., an audiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the United States.

These chemicals can also be absorbed through the skin, Dr. Morata says.

Solvents are a common form of ototoxicant and can be found in paints, paint thinners, degreasers, adhesives, inks, glues, and enamels. And there’s no shortage of these.

For example, a variety of workers can be exposed to toluene, what Dr. Morata calls “one of the 50 most commonly produced industrial chemicals.” This can occur during the production, handling and use of toluene or toluene-containing products by chemical laboratory workers, gasoline blenders, lacquer workers, paint and paint thinner makers, petrochemical workers, painters and printers.

Styrene, a more potent but less common ototoxicant than toluene, for its part, is used in manufacturing synthetic rubber and fibreglass-reinforced polyester products, and can be found in floor waxes, polishes, paints, adhesives, metal cleaners and varnishes, Dr. Morata says.

She points out, though, that “environmental or occupational contaminants, the onset site, mechanism and extent of ototoxic damage of these toxicants vary according to risk factors that include type of chemical, interactions, exposure level and duration of administration.”

In some cases, a substance will not cause hearing loss on its own, but can exacerbate noise-related loss through a process called potentiation. This synergistic interaction between an ototoxic chemical and noise gives rise to a “combined biological effect of two hazards [which]

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is greater than the simple summation of the toxicity of each of the individual substances,” Dr. Morata explains.

At particular risk for this synergistic effect are welders, suggests Susan Ing, an occupational hygiene specialist with the Industrial Accident Prevention Association in Mississauga, Ontario. “They’re not only sucking in the welding fumes.

They also have the high noise that is usually associated with welding,” Ing says.

But persistent warnings related to occupational hearing loss, at least in some cases, are falling on deaf ears. “You don’t find too many old tin bangers that can hear, but that just goes along with the trade,” says Mark Curtis, business manager and financial secretary for Local 276 of the Sheet Metal Workers in Victoria. “As far as the chemical portion of it, I would say awareness is limited,” Curtis says.

Ing concurs. “We’re dealing with chemical exposure that most people really don’t understand that much, and now we add on the synergistic effects of both chemical and noise.”

A best practice is to stay below 50 per cent of permissible exposure limits of the jurisdiction in question, says Ing. “But if you’re combining chemicals with a lot of noise, bring it down further. Knock off another 25 per cent.”

Noise is such an important risk factor “it probably has delayed the recognition of the risk to hearing that these chemicals can pose,” Dr. Morata says. Avoiding noise and chemical exposure remains the best preventive measure, she adds.

Trisha Richards is a writer in Toronto.

New test now a must for police recruits

By Jason Contant

A

new physical test is now required for recruits looking to be accepted by any policing agency in Alberta.

As of January 1, applicants must successfully complete the Alberta Physical Readiness Evaluation for Police Officers (A-PREP) program, notes a statement from the Edmonton Police Service (EPS). Developed with input from the policing, fitness and legal communities, the EPS calls the program an “unbiased and valid occupational requirement for policing based on a comprehensive scientific process.”

The test — replacing the Physical Abilities Requirement Evaluation formerly used in Alberta — consists of a screening questionnaire, a pursuit/ restraint circuit and an aerobic shuttle run. Testing was to be available in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat early in 2010.

In designing A-PREP, officials carried out a job demands analysis to measure “the physical demands these individuals do every day,” says Merle Fuller, executive director of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police. This could include running over and around obstacles,

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climbing stairs, wrestling and struggling with suspects, dealing with those resisting arrest or rescuing people from buildings, Fuller reports.

“What are the jobs they do physically? How many times a day? How many times a month? What are the weight loads?

How much energy does it take to do these?” he asks. “The best way to assess their readiness for the job is to develop a simulation test that simulates exactly those duties.”

EPS police chief Mike Boyd says he is “confident A-PREPcertified candidates [will] have the physical ability and stamina to effectively perform their jobs.”

How to avoid the risk of walls crumbling down

By John Evans

M

ost people who do excavation work are well-aware of the associated hazards, namely the potential for walls to come down.

It was a lesson reinforced last summer in Calgary, where a 24-year-old construction worker was buried up to his chest, escaping thanks only to the efforts of fellow employees and emergency responders.

The Calgary Fire Department (CFD) received a call for assistance at about 2:30 pm on August 26. An employee of Slimdor Contracting Ltd. was trapped in a three-metre-deep trench at a Walmart location in the city’s south end.

Frantic work to avoid having rescue turn to recovery began while emergency workers were en route to the site, says Kevin Rodda, an occupational health and safety compliance officer with Alberta Employment and Immigration (AEI) in Calgary. The co-workers “jumped right in onto the sideslip of material and dug him out right to his upper thighs.”

Firefighters arrived and completed retrieval of the worker who, while conscious and alert, complained of chest pain, notes a CFD statement. “Firefighters set up an aerial ladder to remove the man from the trench, but later changed to a haul system utilizing ropes, a stretcher and manpower.” The worker was removed, treated and transported to hospital.

Rodda reports the construction crew was repositioning a trench box with the aid of an excavator, which was connected to the box by a cable sling. The worker was “in the trench box to guide it in order to avoid some pipes,” he says, but then stepped outside for some reason. When he did so, he was exposed to the collapsing trench wall.

The soil involved was unstable sand and gravel, Rodda says. No one should be in the trench when a box is being repositioned, he emphasizes. “The box could have been guided more safely and precisely with a tag line on the outside of the box.”

Doug McVittie, the assistant general manager and director of operations for the Construction Safety Association of Ontario in Toronto, describes the crushing power of a collapsing excavation wall.

“We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of

pounds,” McVittie points out.

One cubic foot of soil can weigh as much as 45 kilograms, notes information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario.

A trapped worker could suffocate within minutes, McVittie says, leaving supervisors with tough decisions to make.

Opting to use a backhoe to dig out a trapped worker could crush him or sever a limb, but sending others into the trench to dig risks further collapse, he adds.

The workers who jumped into the trench, Rodda says, were “probably well-intentioned, but it was totally unsafe.”

John Evans is an editorial intern at Business Information Group in Toronto.

Staying on the safe side of what if?

By Angela Stelmakowich

S

o what are you preparing for? Maybe a flood? Perhaps a tornado? In British Columbia, the province suggests things are looking good — notification-wise — should a tsunami rear its scary head.

And knowing what to do, and when to do it, is clearly of benefit whether located at work, home or play.

In October, British Columbia’s Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) successfully completed tests of its B.C. Provincial Emergency Notification System (PENS).

A government statement reports more than 1,100 phone calls were made to local governments, federal and provincial ministries, First Nations, emergency officials, police and fire departments, utilities, regional health authorities and the media. Approximately 300 of the same stakeholders were also sent notification by e-mail.

Tsunamis are a series of unusually large waves formed by a largescale disturbance of water bodies, PEP reports. In British Columbia, two main types could come into play: off-shore tsunamis generated out in the Pacific Ocean, and near-shore tsunamis generated in local waters.

The first type could have an impact on the province’s outer coastal communities, with waves from the north, south or west, while the second type, which may be triggered by earthquakes, landslides or underwater slides, could reveal themselves in any coastal area of British Columbia.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska monitors tsunami potential and notifies PEP if activity is identified. Local authorities in British Columbia require community emergency response plans be in place should a tsunami, rare but serious as these may be, occur.

Sometimes it’s a watch; sometimes a warning. In the event of a tsunami watch, PEP advises individuals to be alert and get prepared for further instructions from local officials.

Should a warning be issued, officials may begin to evacuate high-risk areas along pre-determined evacuation routes.

Besides keeping an eye out for tsunamis, PENS could

certainly kick into gear for any number of other emergency events, such as flooding, wild land fires, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, drought and disease outbreaks.

Presumptive blanket to cover more Ontario firefighters

By Dan Birch

T

he Ontario government has extended presumptive coverage for certain illnesses to volunteer and part-time firefighters, as well as to fire investigators with the provincial Office of the Fire Marshal.

“This regulation ensures that Ontario’s workplace insurance system treats all firefighters and their families fairly, especially during a difficult time,” labour minister Peter Fonseca announced on November 5.

The change “was the right thing to do,” suggests Richard Boyes, president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs in Ajax, Ontario. “We certainly had to address that inequity that was being developed within the fire service,” Boyes says.

Since May of 2007, Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Act has qualified full-time firefighters for compensation related to eight types of cancer and heart injuries that occur within 24 hours of fighting a fire or taking part in a training exercise. The following cancers (and years of service required for compensation) are included in the presumptive legislation: brain, after at least 10 years; bladder, after at least 15 years; kidney, 20 years; colorectal, 10 years and diagnosed prior to the individual turning 61; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 20 years; certain types of leukemia, 15 years; ureter, 15 years; and esophageal, 25 years.

The diseases are presumed to be work-related unless proven otherwise, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) notes. The rules apply to diseases that are diagnosed or heart injuries sustained on or after January 1, 1960, the MOL adds.

“This is one of those times where you’re actually waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney,” says Carl Pearson, first vice-president of the Fire Fighters Association of Ontario. Pearson notes that full-time firefighters who previously volunteered or worked part-time can now include that time toward total years of service.

Citing cost estimates from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto, MOL spokesperson Bruce Skeaff reports that for Schedule One municipalities, those that pay WSIB premiums, the rate is expected to increase 27 per cent over time. The figure is based on the projection of 18 additional claims annually and 71 retroactive claims.

For Schedule Two municipalities, those that bear the full costs of claims on their own, eight more claims a year and $23 million in retroactive claims are anticipated, he adds.

Dan Birch is editorial assistant of

OHS CANADA.

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LEARNING DISORDERS

Terry B. had it all. He had the high-octane job — senior vice-president for a multi-national finan-

O

n Target

BY WILLIAM M. GLENN

cial firm, heading the company’s most profitable division three-years-running. He had the ideal family — an accomplished wife and three bright teenage kids. He was smart, innovative, creative and dedicated.

But people didn’t know Terry B. had been battling ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, his whole life. Pre-diagnosis, “I was in a perpetual state of disorganization, unable to balance my increasingly complex workload and home life,” he recalls. “I would blurt out inappropriate or flippant comments to the wrong people or at the wrong time. I had to work so hard to rebuild my credibility and get things done the way people expected them to get done. It was taking an awful lot of tread off my tires.”

Terry B. was fortunate to obtain good advice and plenty of support — critical in achieving the success he did. Still, things were getting tough.

So at age 50, Terry B. gave it all up. His employer offered an early retirement package and he took it. Today, the Ottawa resident is an amateur photographer and aspiring chef. And he

ILLUSTRATION: ANSON LIAW

couldn’t be happier.

ONE OF MANY Terry B.’s story is hardly unique. An estimated half-million Canadian workers struggle daily to overcome ADHD, dyslexia or some learning disability. The toll exacted can affect their health, their job performance, even their safety — both on and off the job.

“The traditional view was that ADHD magically disappeared when a kid turned 18,” says Ronald Kessler, Ph.D., a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “The idea of adult ADHD was very controversial. A number of psychiatrists still insist that persistent ADHD-like symptoms in adults were really signs of a bipolar disorder.”

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Today, it is generally recognized that approximately 60 per cent of children diagnosed with ADHD carry the disorder on with them into adulthood.

And while the symptoms may be different — adults are generally better at controlling aggressive outbursts and hyperactive episodes — the impairment remains.

But left untreated — only a small minority of adult cases is diagnosed, let alone treated — the occupational implications can be onerous. That means that targeted workplace programs become critical to ensure that employees remain both safe and productive.

Dr. Kessler has tracked the incidence of adult ADHD in work forces around the world and found a strong connection between the disorder and an elevated rate of workplace injuries, increased sick days and decreased job performance. In a paper published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 2008, Dr. Kessler and his team reported that, on average, 3.5 per cent of workers meet the diagnostic criteria for adult ADHD. The incidence was more common among blue collar workers than professionals; more common among men than women. The ADHD workers were producing work of lower quality and/or in lesser quantity than was expected of them. Specifically, ADHD workers were taking, on average, 8.4 more sick days, and underperforming their non-ADHD co-workers by an aggregate 22.1 days of “lost work performance” every year.

The accident toll was also far higher. A follow-up study, as reported in Psychological Medicine last year, tracked the prevalence and workplace implications of ADHD in a large manufacturing firm in the United States. The data showed ADHD doubled the risk of work-related accidents and injuries, translating into five or six additional incidents each year for every 100 workers suffering from the disorder. Looking at just the cost of lost performance and missed work, the total was US$4,336 per ADHD employee per year.

“Incidence rates among male blue collar workers could even be higher,” Dr. Kessler suggests. “Take a big factory,” he says, “and you could be looking at an incidence of ADHD as high as eight per cent.”

This may prove an “enormous burden” for a company in terms of lower performance, higher sick rates and a greater number of accidents, he adds.

If the preliminary U.S. numbers are applied to Canada, a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests adult ADHD alone is costing Canadian employers about $2.6 billion a year.

HIDDEN LINKS But there’s more out there than ADHD. Curtis Breslin, Ph.D., a scientist with the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto, suggests that dyslexia may pose an even greater safety risk. In a study published last August in the American Journal of Public Health, Dr. Breslin and his fellow researcher, Jason Pole, Ph.D., assessed the possible statistical links among learning disabilities, education and work-related accidents.

They considered more than 14,300 young Canadian workers, between the ages of 15 and 24, who had suffered a serious injury — such as a broken bone, bad cut or burn, sprain or poisoning episode — at some time in the previous 12 months.

In addition to other background information, respondents were asked if they had been diagnosed with dyslexia, any other kind of learning disability, an attention deficit disorder (ADD) or ADHD. “If you just look at the raw data, it would appear that workers with ADHD have a higher accident rate,” notes Dr. Breslin.

However, demographic and work-related factors — such as gender, education and the type of job — are a more important “part of the story on why young people with ADHD experience more work injuries,” he says.

Despite these adjustments, the analysis still shows workers with some form of dyslexia were at almost double the risk of suffering a work-related injury.

... ADHD doubled the risk of work-related accidents and injuries...

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REPORTING GAP Actual numbers, which remain elusive, may be even higher.

The identification of learning challenges relied on self-reporting; subjects with ADHD or dyslexia who had never been diagnosed were not counted. As well, participants were asked only about their single most serious injury in the previous year; other possible workplace incidents were not reported.

Dr. Breslin speculates a learning disability or ADHD may limit an individual’s educational opportunities and restrict employment to low-skill and relatively riskier manual and blue collar jobs. Beyond that causal connection, however, he says the data shows a learning disorder itself may play a role in work-related accidents.

“For example, both learning conditions and ADHD can make it difficult to efficiently read instructions and remember previously taught information,” the research paper notes.

“Young people with these conditions may also have particular difficulty in completing multiple concurrent tasks, dealing with time pressure, and having to complete tasks in a required sequence.”

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Enzo Carboni, president and director of safety for Safety First Training and Support Services in Mississauga, Ontario, says the number of workers who have trouble with written instructions, especially in construction and manual trades, is a “huge problem” that demands a special approach.

Louise Brazeau-Ward, president of the Canadian Dyslexia Centre in Gatineau, Quebec, and author of Dyslexia and the Workplace, says risk depends on the form of the learning disability. “A motor dyslexic can be a bit clumsy. He or she may try to process too much or to do too many things at the same time,” Brazeau-Ward explains.

“A visual dyslexic might misread the instructions or the name of a multi-syllabic chemical. He might not have understood the safety training instructions or was too embarrassed to ask for help,” she adds.

Despite these challenges, the learning disabled can be valuable employees, Brazeau-Ward says.

“They can be very inventive, very intuitive.

They are great problem-solvers. They think outside the box,” she says. “The problems often start when they work for somebody else.”

Whether the issue is a learning disability, ADHD, illiteracy or a new immigrant who has difficulties with English, Carboni points out, “the key is oneon-one training.”

tails a combination of medication and psychological counselling.

A counsellor or psychiatrist can provide the ADHD employee with coping mechanisms and techniques to help deal with impulsivity, hyperactivity and other symptoms.

“Based on epidemiological evidence, screening employees and offering treatment to those who were diagnosed with ADHD or learning disabilities, would be a positive investment by an employer,” suggests Dr. Kessler. “The cost savings could be enormous.”

SOME SELF-AWARENESS In his experience, Terry B. says finding the proper medication is the foundation for coping and recovering. “It allowed me to focus on behaviour modifications and develop the work habits that other people come by naturally,” he says.

With treatment, he learned how to devote himself to a single task for an extended period of time, or to tackle a prolonged, step-by-step project.

At the same time, he reports that therapy allowed him to develop self-awareness and to understand both his strengths and his weaknesses. “Without self-awareness, you can’t understand and appreciate the effect your behaviour is having on the people you work with,” he says.

While Ritalin and other amphetamine-like medications can help minimize negative symptoms, they can also “take the top off,” blunting a person’s creativity and innovative force. Worse, they have a finite effect, wearing off in approximately six hours.

“If I forgot to take my meds at lunch or left them at home — the kind of things people with ADHD are quite likely to do — then sometime that afternoon I could feel the switch go ‘off ’ and the old behaviours snap back into place,” he recalls.

“In less than 60 seconds, I was a completely different person.”

Some more recent medications, developed specifically for ADHD, are blood level drugs that take a couple of weeks to reach their full potency, but do not lose effectiveness if a dose is missed.

There is no medication, at least not yet, that addresses the symptoms of dyslexia, but there are effective coping mechanisms, suggests Brazeau-Ward. Effective teaching methods have been developed to help dyslexics learn to read and write.

“Over the years, I must have taught at least 100 federal civil servants how to read and write a second language,” she says.

“With the proper training, a dyslexic can acquire a second language even faster than the average pupil.”

With more than 25 years of experience in the industrial and transportation safety training field, Carboni has honed a number of techniques for breaking through learning barri-

“It’s now time for those lessons to be applied to the workplace.”

SCREENING A GOOD START “These kinds of disabilities were not on the radar 20 or 30 years ago,” Dr. Breslin points out. Today, however, teachers are taught to recognize telltale signs of ADHD, dyslexia and other barriers to learning.

“The educational system has adapted to ensure that people with learning disabilities maximize their learning potential. It’s now time for those lessons to be applied to the workplace,” Dr. Breslin recommends.

Addressing the problem starts with its proper diagnosis. Screening for the most common learning challenges is a quick and inexpensive process. For example, simple self-administered questionnaires have been developed for identifying workers who may have adult ADHD. And a trained counsellor can spot and identify dyslexia in less than half an hour, says Brazeau-Ward. “The screening process is very easy and very cheap. Once you have identified the problem, treatment is also fairly straightforward.”

The treatment regime for ADHD and ADD, typically, en-

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ers. “We work visual cues and humour into the presentation.

We make the instructions clear and avoid big words. We use lots of positive reinforcement, even if it’s just a ‘high five’. And we keep the distractions to a minimum,” he says.

ON THE JOB Clearly, there are things that can be done in terms of screening, diagnosis and treatment. But for those people on the job, what can workplaces do to ensure there is a good fit and any negative outcomes are avoided?

Brazeau-Ward says an employer can take a number of basic steps to improve the workplace environment and “reasonably accommodate” employees with learning disabilities like dyslexia. Many of these she has road tested in her own school and other business ventures. s Bright fluorescent lighting can bother a visual dyslexic: letters on a page of text seem to break and float around.

Using natural, full-spectrum lighting will help reduce the problem. s It helps to print memos on pastel-coloured paper, rather than bright white sheets. Blurry faxes and photocopies can also be indecipherable to a dyslexic. s When printing out instructions, pick a large typeface (at least 12 point, if possible) to keep the words and sentences from blurring and running together. s Keep instructions clear and concise. Avoid long complex sentences, filled with subordinate clauses and double negatives. Break down instructions into simple, straightforward points. s Do not decorate the workplace with brightly patterned carpets, wallpaper or blinds, since the shifting patterns overload the senses of dyslexics. Shifting lights and patterns can also cause motion sickness. s Keep noise down. A humming fax machine or printer, a speaker phone, or an office radio buzzing in the background can cause an unbearable sensory overload. Some auditory dyslexics are incapable of carrying on a conversation while someone is chatting away in the next cubicle. “White noise” generators or soundmasking technologies may be effective. s Flexible schedulling allows a dyslexic to start work a few hours early or to stay a few hours later when the workplace is less hectic and stressful. s Break down large complex jobs into smaller, more manageable pieces. s Some dyslexics are extremely sensitive to strong odours, including perfumes, cleaning products and copy machine toner. Since workplace irritants and distractions are not the same for everyone, it is best to work with the employ-

ee, identify any problematic environmental conditions and make the appropriate adjustments.

“A good boss, like a good teacher, can make all the difference,” suggests Brazeau-Ward. For some dyslexics, having a patient and accommodating employer is the single most important determinate in whether or not they succeed or fail in their careers.

Terry B. can certainly relate. His success was facilitated by his manager’s consideration of his “shortcomings,” he reports. He was provided, as he describes it, an “almost overqualified executive assistant” — and sometimes a second assistant — to help him out.

PATIENCE AND CARE Patience and care also need to be reflected in workplace training for those with learning disabilities or literacy issues. A few musts, Carboni emphasizes, is to break training into small, digestible pieces, and for that instruction to be hands-on.

“We go slowly to make sure the student really gets it. Then we review what they’ve learned, before going on to the next skill,” he says. “A lot of it is good coaching. A trainer has to watch facial expressions to see if the student understands. If frustration sets in, then we take a break and start over,” Carboni suggests.

“It would be a terrible shame if the current research was used to stigmatize those with learning disabilities,” says Dr. Breslin. Employers must not screen out potentially valuable employees, on the pretext of reducing risk and improving safety, simply because an applicant may exhibit symptoms of ADHD, dyslexia or some other learning disability.

Rather than putting in place programs that are specifically tailored to make workplaces safer for people with learning challenges, Dr. Breslin promotes a “universal design” approach that looks to accommodate the full range of abilities. Many of the techniques pioneered for the benefit of the learning disabled — an emphasis on more effective communications and training, fewer distractions, concise and straightforward instructions, and so on — would make the workplace safer for all.

“In less than 60 seconds, I was a completely different person.”

William M. Glenn is associate editor of hazardous substances.

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DISABILITY MANAGEMENT

an

EDUCATION

BY ASTRID VAN DEN BROEK

Wolfgang Zimmermann appreciates the power of education.

Some 32 years ago, not long after emigrating from Germany to Canada’s West Coast, Zimmermann began work with forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. Just five days into his new job, his back was struck by a massive, falling tree, the hard hit causing a debilitating spinal injury that left him, at least for a time, paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Zimmermann worked hard to rehabilitate his compromised spine, hours upon hours of effort getting him to the point where he could walk with a cane. And thanks to retraining in business administration and a concerted push by both company and union, Zimmermann was able to return to MacMillan Bloedel, this time as an accountant.

In light of his experience, it’s easy to see why Zimmermann is so passionate about the launch of Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences in Port

PHOTOS: LEFT - PHOTOS.COM/OHS CANADA, RIGHT - NIDMAR

Alberni, British Columbia.

NEW VIEW At first glance, Pacific Coast University may not seem a unique enough venture to inspire the excitement and support that it clearly does for people like Zimmermann and his colleagues at the National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR) in Victoria. After all, there are plenty of other post-secondary programs dealing with occupational health and safety: the British Columbia Institute of Technology offers an oh&s diploma program, the University of Alberta in Edmonton has an oh&s certificate, the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario has a diploma in oh&s management, Toronto’s Ryerson University has its School of Occupational and Public Health, and McGill University in Montreal has a Ph.D. program in occupational health.

So what makes this new university so special? Andrew King,

national health, safety and environment coordinator and department leader for the Canadian arm of the United Steelworkers union, suggests it may be that it promises to serve as welcome relief for persistent frustration felt by many studying oh&s issues. “We were unable to really get universities and training institutions to take up the work in the way we thought it needed to go,” says King.

The main objectives of the university are expected to be two-fold: study and conduct research not only related to oh&s issues, but likewise for workplace disability management and return to work (RTW) of individuals with disabilities. “There really needs to be a much more multi-disciplinary integration if we are to achieve better long-term outcomes in prevention and disability management and, ultimately, disability studies,” says Zimmermann, NIDMAR’s executive director.

Some of the players gathered to break ground and mark the spot where the university will find a home.

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“There really needs to be a much more multi-disciplinary integration if we are to achieve better long-term outcomes in prevention and disability management.” — WOLFGANG ZIMMERMANN

“I think the disability management and return-to-work focus is quite unique,” says Craig Boyd, manager of the Department of Health and Safety at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s. “I think it’s a good go-forward approach,” adds Boyd, whose background includes establishing health and safety programs.

The coming together of oh&s and disability management is critical to get a good feel for “this whole field of the lifelong workplace health cycle,” Zimmermann suggests. Whether health and safety, disability management or disability studies, “these are being treated as isolated fields principally because someone, like a faculty or a professor, is interested in the subject matter.”

Zimmermann’s goal, not surprisingly, is to better blend how everything can come together in the workplace.

The idea is to build on the on-line education NIDMAR already provides to some 1,200 people studying such topics as mental health rehabilitation, RTW management or disability management. “Because NIDMAR is not an accredited educational institution,” says Zimmermann, “all we can issue basically is a certificate of completion.” The university will

than two decades as a chiropractor and saw his fair share of musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs). From his experience treating injured workers with MSIs, he says “we know that if we don’t get very actively involved early in the intervention, the longer a worker is off, the more difficult it is to have a full and successful return to work.”

Lunney was on board. Then a Conservative MP in opposition, he helped to arrange meetings involving Zimmermann and government officials, including a minister with some say in making the venture go. When the Conservatives assumed government, he did the same thing again, this time with a new set of ministers.

Having received buy-in from individuals in government, business, organized labour and the academic community, Zimmermann reports a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed with then advanced education minister Ida Chong in April of 2005.

In the announcement of the MOU between the province and NIDMAR, Chong said, “We will support the institution by providing technical assistance in establishing it as a private degree-granting institution in the province.”

“We know that if we don’t get very actively involved early in the intervention, the longer a worker is off, the more difficult it is to

take those education basics now available and formalize them into an accredited facility.

“I find that people in human resources tend to get overburdened with the other HR issues and larger businesses especially would like to see people graduating with more knowledge in the areas of disability management and returnto-work,” Boyd suggests.

PROVINCIAL ROOTS The dream needed a pinch of reality. And a little political help wouldn’t hurt either. Long known for championing the need to advance disability management and RTW, Zimmermann happened to get the ear of James Lunney, Conservative MP for Nanaimo-Alberni in British Columbia.

Lunney characterizes Zimmermann as enthusiastic, influential and “a very persistent and persuasive individual.”

Lunney, too, can relate. Before politics, he worked for more

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Having people on board is great, but there was still the all-important question of cash. Provincially, the labour and human resources ministries (under whose purview the university would likely fall) generally set aside money for programs, not infrastructure.

Fortunately, there was a “silver lining in the economic downturn with the [federal] knowledge infrastructure program [being] launched in 2009,” says Lunney. This included $2 billion over two years being pumped into postsecondary institutions, and since private institutions also qualified, he says everyone was “very pleased to be able to snag” some of that funding “to make the project become a reality.”

With both the “what” and “how” figured out, the next hurdle to clear was identifying just where to put the university.

In the end, the City of Port Alberni donated 3.5 acres of cityowned land for the university to call home.

PHOTOS: NIDMAR

have a full and successful return to work.” — JAMES LUNNEY

FAR AND WIDE Zimmermann has high hopes for the seeds that can be sown with the university. “As a model, we looked at institutions such as the London School of Economics, which is really centred all around all of the areas of finance, or Johns Hopkins University, which is completely focused on the health sciences and medical field,” he says. Officials also cast an eye to the University of Northern British Columbia, what with the majority of its programming “targeted toward issues affecting the North and remote communities.”

The idea was “to be very specific in terms of both education and research to advance knowledge and learning in these sorts of key areas,” says Zimmermann.

There is no shortage of research topics that he would like the university to mine. One example is causation-specific intervention in certain sectors, Zimmermann says.

Ontario, Spiro expects these represent less than five per cent of all employers — during introduction to the company and its health and safety policy.

“The challenge is the medium and small companies, and they’re kind of lost,” he says. These workplaces may witness an injury “every number of years so they don’t really get experienced at it,” which, clearly, is a good thing, Spiro says.

“But at the same time, when an injury occurs, they don’t really know what to do.”

And before long, “costs have gone through the roof and the employee is upset because [the employer hasn’t] managed their disability,” says Spiro. Disability management is “one of those things that you’re supposed to run the mile, but you run half a mile and then you stop.”

“Even here in Newfoundland,” suggests Boyd, “we’re seeing a lot of challenges in returning people to work. The small

“We will support the institution by providing technical assistance in establishing it as a private degree-granting institution in the province.” — IDA CHONG

PHOTOS: TOP - NIDMAR, BOTTOM - PHOTOS.COM

Consider library staff, with whom NIDMAR has had some experience, he reports. “Their issues are different. They have an aging work force and the principal dilemma that they were dealing with was arthritis,” he says. “Your principal function is handling books and CDs and what have you. If you can’t do that anymore, you lose your job.”

Look, as well, at banking. Key issues coming forward include high blood pressure, diabetes and stress. “Then you think, of course, in the banking sector it makes perfect sense.

It’s a sedentary position, stressful, high-end environment,” says Zimmermann.

“These are key challenges that have been identified that have huge economic and social implications. The only way you can then have a very significant impact on that is through research that identifies, ‘Where are potential solutions to remedy these challenges?’”

to medium businesses make up the largest group of employers and they find it really hard to get people back to work.”

Zimmermann would likely hope to push companies past the half-mile and onto the finish line. “What we expect to see over time is much more of an emergence of a true profession, if you will,” he says.

Right now, in excess of 70 per cent of individuals taking NIDMAR’s online training already have either an undergraduate or graduate degree in some area. “So they really take it as value-added training,” he suggests.

The thrust would be to broaden the skill set and any opportunities that may arise from that, Zimmermann says.

“Our expectation is that over time this will simply follow sort of the natural evolution of many professions.”

Astrid van den Broek is a writer in Toronto.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS People such as the Steelworkers’ King look forward to what the university will do. It is regarded “as an opportunity” in light of the reputation and networks built internationally by NIDMAR, he says. “We could provide a place whereby interested players could come together under the umbrella of NIDMAR,” King adds.

It is critical to ensure “all the interests involved in people, particularly the injured worker, are being treated with respect and are considered as measurements of the outcome.”

On the employer side, some representatives seem equally optimistic. “This kind of institution is overdue. The returnto-work aspect alone isn’t paid much attention to,” says Fred Spiro, executive director for the Employers’ Advocacy Council, based in Kitchener, Ontario.

The RTW issue is likely touched on by large firms — in

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SUICIDE

Deep Down

BY ANGELA STELMAKOWICH

Three years. That’s how long John Wood had been in pain.

Once gregarious and interested in his family, so his wife would later testify, Wood had grown withdrawn, seeming to want only to keep to himself.

His work-related back injury had produced persistent, severe pain, countless doctor visits, buckets of pills — even a trip under the surgeon’s knife. Still the pain would not relent.

So one February day, Wood made it stop.

Having already transferred his car title and savings account to his wife’s name and setting aside a signed blank cheque, Wood would leave his home for the last time. He would make his way to his camper where, four days later, a deputy sheriff would discover his body, along with a nearly empty fifth of whiskey and two empty prescription medication bottles.

Also, there was a simple, but telling, handwritten note: “No one knows the

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

pain I am in so I am going to get drunk. Pain pills don’t help.”

CHANGING FACE John Wood lived in Arizona, but his experience could easily have played out elsewhere. Wood had hurt his back, but it could have been any injury, really. He was injured more than four decades ago, but it could have been only yesterday.

The issue of suicide following a work-related injury — whether propelled by the mental, the physical or both — is one that looks here to stay. But suicide, or thoughts of it, can be advanced by a tangle of influences. And the face of workrelated suicide may be changing, reflecting issues of overwork, job insecurity or a lack of workplace measures to identify, assist and support an employee in distress.

Kathy Foley, program educator for mental health at the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention in Brandon, Manitoba, says there are approaches a workplace can take to avoid things going from bad to worse. Support, direction and an openness to listen are critically important, Foley advises.

The profile of work-related suicide was raised last August with the release of preliminary figures from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) in Washington, D.C. Workplace suicides climbed from 196 cases in 2007 to 251 in 2008, the highest total ever reported by the fatality census.

An earlier BLS report, “An Analysis of Workplace Suicides, 1992-2001,” found that an average of 217 workplace suicides occurred each year over that period.

The figures indicate the risk of at-work suicide was highest for men, older employees, the self-employed and agricultural workers. On-the-job suicides may or may not have been motivated by work-related issues or exposures.

In the past 12 years, says Donna Freeman, director of media relations for WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia, there have been 25 accepted claims for suicides following work injuries. Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto reports 19 suicides among claimants over the last decade, board spokesperson Christine Arnott notes in an e-mail.

Pierre Turgeon, a spokesperson for the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) in Quebec City, says the CSST does not see many claims for suicides linked to work injuries. “The numbers are so low that giving them would compromise our obligation to protect personal information.”

In Ontario, “if the evidence indicates that, as a result of the injury, the worker developed psychosocial problems that led the worker to commit suicide, the suicide may be said to have resulted from the work-related injury,” states the WSIB policy, “Resulting from Work-Related Disability.”

Of the claims that WorkSafeBC accepted for fatal benefits in 2008, at least three note a “worker took own life due to pain and other complications arising from” a work injury. Freeman says these complications could include any number of contrib-

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uting factors, such as a mental health condition like depression, addictions and functionality challenges.

However, there is “no discernible pattern” with regard to either field of employment — occupations included electrician, paramedic, accountant, bartender, roofer, labourer, truck driver, logger and mechanic — or type of original compensable injury: “anything from slips and falls to back pain to knee twists to asbestos exposure,” Freeman says.

In some cases, suicide was carried out as many as 20 years after the workrelated injury, she says. “It is quite possible that there had been no contact with WorkSafeBC for years.”

caring for the family, says Jaspal Kang. “In our culture, everything is responsibility with the oldest male.”

Following the injury, though, came the fight — not just against the pain, but against British Columbia’s compensation board, now WorkSafeBC. Jaspal Kang reports that his brother had been told by a doctor that removing his neck collar would chance permanent disability. “You will be paralyzed for the rest of your life.

It was stuck in his mind.”

With the WCB taking the view that removing the brace was necessary to carry out rehabilitation, the claimant and the board were at a standstill. Kang’s benefits were suspended.

Beyond his ongoing attempts to regain benefits, the allegations of fraud had laid the elder Kang brother low. He had been under surveillance, Jaspal Kang says, and this contributed to him growing depressed and reporting that he was being made to feel “like a criminal.”

The depression further deepened with his worsening financial situation. Jaspal Kang was helping his brother, paying for groceries and driving him to some of his appointments. “He was feeling shame because he doesn’t want to borrow money from me.”

Vancouver lawyer Craig Paterson, who had advocated on Bhupinder Singh Kang’s behalf, argues in an e-mail that WorkSafeBC “put him down as a faker and liar. He felt he had to prove to the WCB that his pain was real, I think.”

Things were getting worse. “He was worried.

The WCB guys were not trusting him, he has his neck broken, his life is ruined,” says Jaspal Kang. Adds Paterson, “He felt his life was wasted: no wife, no income, no status.”

It all became too much on February 7, 2006.

Kang, 39, committed suicide, the cause of death an acute combined opiate, ethanol, fluoxetine and Sertraline intoxication, says the verdict of the coroner’s inquest into his death.

Last January, the inquest jury released 17 recommendations for WorkSafeBC. The suggestions include the following: s WorkSafeBC obtain the written opinion of the worker’s family physician and any treating specialist physician prior to making decisions involving mental illness; s when video surveillance is obtained, the board request a written opinion from the worker’s general practitioner (GP) or specialist regarding the relevance of that evidence prior to any decision being made based on that evidence; s where a claim is rejected based on Section 57(2)(b) of the Workers Compensation Act — benefits may be reduced or

WIN AND LOSE It had not been that long for John Wood. After suffering his back injury, and following numerous hearings and interim awards, Wood was deemed to have a 100 per cent permanent disability. He was granted workers’ compensation benefits in May of 1966.

But after his suicide by an overdose of strychnine, petitioners argued the suicide and injury were causally related, notes Wood v. Industrial Commission, a 1972 decision of the Supreme Court of Arizona. In line with a rule at the time, the Industrial Commission found no causal relationship between the injury and suicide had been proven.

However, the supreme court ruled findings were tainted by the requirement that petitioners overcome a presumption against suicide. “We believe the better rule to be that where the original work-connected injuries suffered by the employee result in his becoming devoid of normal judgement and dominated by a disturbance of mind directly caused by his injury and its consequence, such as severe pain and despair, the self-inflicted injury cannot be considered ‘purposeful’,” notes the decision.

Wood’s widow told court about the change in her husband. During his last week of life, she said the pain brought him to the point of tears.

BAD TO WORSE Jaspal Kang knows full well how quickly things can change.

His older brother, a truck driver, suffered a serious back injury in 1998. The injury occurred while Bhupinder Singh Kang and a co-driver were travelling through Arizona. Sleeping while his co-worker was behind the wheel, the rig went off the road, leaving Kang with fractures to his spine.

As the eldest male, he had responsibilities when it came to

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PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

As the eldest male, he had responsibilities when it came to caring for the family.

Policy Matters There are certainly rules — from a workers’ compensation perspective — to determine when a suicide is compensable.

Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto notes it will reach a decision on work-relatedness after reviewing all available evidence.

Non-work-related factors are also assessed to determine if their effect on the worker was so great that the suicide was really the result of actions unconnected to the injury.

To determine work-relatedness, notes the WSIB, the most useful information is usually contained in psychiatric reports. If these are not available, a decision-maker relies on evidence from other sources: UÊ clinical history both before and following the injury; UÊ psychosocial reports about psychological state and personal life;

UÊ labour market re-entry history (including the worker’s attitude toward rehabilitation); UÊ employment history; and, UÊ reports from the worker’s family members, friends and co-workers.

Asked about issues noted by claimants prior to suicides — persistent pain, psychological reactions and length of time off the job may be among these — Donna Freeman, director of media relations at WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia, says “suicide is very complex and there may well be other factors in the individual’s life that have contributed.”

In British Columbia, Freeman notes, there are policy items in WorkSafeBC’s “Rehabilitation Services & Claims Manual” that govern determination of workrelatedness. If it is established the suicide resulted from a compensable injury,

suspended when a worker refuses to submit to medical or surgical treatment that the board considers reasonably essential to promote his or her recovery — WorkSafeBC consider obtaining the opinion of an independent expert, acceptable to the worker, to examine the worker’s refusal to engage in treatment to determine if it is willful; s the board develops a practice directive that mandates active clinical monitoring and management of high-risk mentally ill workers by a staff psychologist to ensure early intervention and appropriate ongoing care; and, s where mental illness is identified, consultation with a worker’s GP or specialist should take place prior to initiation of WorkSafeBC surveillance for assessment of effects on a client’s mental health.

Freeman declined to comment on a WorkSafeBC internal review conducted following Kang’s death. In general, she notes, changes include early intervention for pain issues for high-risk clients, clinical oversight by WorkSafeBC of clients with complex injuries, and sensitivity to mental illness. “Recommendations arising from the internal review have shaped initiatives that are being used to improve WorkSafeBC services, particularly for clients with complex claims,” she adds.

Of course, British Columbia’s board is certainly not the only one to come under fire. Almost a decade ago now, Alberta’s Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) received recommendations from two separate committees.

While the WCB has made improvements, “there are some obvious concerns regarding the service provided to Alberta’s injured workers,” notes the report from the MLA/WCB Service Review Committee. “Too often, it seems that injured workers, rather than being helped and assisted during a difficult and traumatic time, are marginalized by the WCB.” Organized labour strongly supported a number or rec-

death benefits are payable.

The policy item offers an example: WorkSafeBC disallowed a claim by a widow of a worker who committed suicide because of a state of depression and despair resulting from a compensable injury four years earlier. Although it was possible the accident had some significance, the real test was the following: Was the suicide something that would have been unlikely to occur if there had been no work accident?

Quebec’s Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, for its part, has no specific policy on suicide, says commission spokesperson Pierre Turgeon.

The approach is case by case, Turgeon says, adding there are two “musts” for benefits to be awarded: a medical diagnosis of a mental condition, and that the suicide was directly related to work.

ommendations, including the call to give more authority to treating physicians and an independent panel of doctors, and to implement an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

“We have said for years that the WCB is unaccountable, unresponsive and uninterested in helping injured workers,” Audrey Cormack, then president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, noted in a statement.

“Canada’s WCBs have done a questionable job of regulating workplace mental health conditions and of recognizing and compensating for mental health disabilities,” Paterson charges in an e-mail. “There has been ignorance, fear and outright discrimination for decades.”

Psychological issues are complex, indeed, says the CSST’s Turgeon. “If you are a butcher and you cut your finger in the grocery store, for instance, it’s very easy to determine that the injury is a result of your work. With psychological problems, as with suicide, it’s more difficult to determine [work-relatedness],” he says.

Consider two workers — both male, in their 40s and working in the same place — following the events of September 11. One worker continues on with life as before the attack, while the other begins developing negative feelings and responses. “It’s the same event, but two people can react differently,” Turgeon says, possibly indicating that reactions are related to personal conditions.

Foley points out “some people have protective factorings like close relationships, their faith or hope that things will change or get better.” And that can make all the difference.

TAKE NOTICE Freeman notes that on active claims with ongoing medical issues, the claimant’s personal physician directs the medical and psychological treatment. Medical information received

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Yes and No The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario recommends assessing workplaces for the risk of stress. Employers need to look for pressures that could cause high and long-lasting levels of stress and identify affected employees.

There are definitely some things to put under the “do” list: UÊ be aware of the signs and symptoms that a person may be having trouble coping with stress; UÊ involve employees in decision-making and allow for their input directly or through committees, etc.; UÊ provide workplace health and wellness programs that target the true source of the stress (be that safety, job demands or something else); UÊ keep job demands reasonable by

providing manageable deadlines, hours of work and clear duties; and, UÊ provide access to employee assistance programs.

The website, www.bullyonline.org, notes that different people respond with different degrees of stress to particular stressors. However, there are at least four factors that determine the degree to which one will feel stressed: UÊ control — a person perceives he or she is not in control of the stressor; UÊ predictability — an individual is unable to predict the behaviour or occurrence of the stressor; UÊ expectation — a person perceives that his or her circumstances are not improving and will not improve; and, UÊ support — an individual lacks support systems, including work col-

by WorkSafeBC is monitored and the board “is involved in funding the health care treatment for workers who it considers reasonably necessary to cure and relieve the effects of the compensable injury.”

As an example, Freeman notes that if medical information received indicates a claimant is suffering from depression related to the workplace injury, the board may arrange and fund psychological counselling for the worker.

If a worker appears at risk of, or actually threatens, suicide, WorkSafeBC has an established procedure that staff members will follow. Risk is assessed, assistance is offered (for example, transferring the worker to a crisis counsellor available by phone or arranging police intervention), and risk is documented and reported so other staff members working with the client are aware. Staff receive refresher training on suicide risk response every year.

In Quebec, Turgeon notes that CSST staff are trained to be “very cautious, very alert” about signs of distress. When this occurs — regardless of whether or not the individual in question has been granted benefits — the staff member will get the caller in touch with a specialized counsellor. That person will be trained and equipped to best explain to the caller the options available for accessing appropriate assistance in a timely manner, he says.

As for the WSIB, Arnott notes the Ontario board “takes all instances where a worker utilizes suicidal language very seriously. WSIB staff use a set of risk factors to assess the potential for suicide and a written protocol is in place to assist front-line staff in responding to the risk.”

But intervention — while maintaining privacy — may be necessary at work as well. If a person is making comments — nothing matters anymore, I can’t go on — Foley suggests “those would be the most disturbing, strongest verbal statements that something’s really significantly happening here.”

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leagues, management, personnel, union, partner, family, friends, colleagues, people in authority, official bodies, professionals and the law.

Today, the fight or flight mechanism (or stress response) is more likely to be activated by a psychological danger for which it was not designed, the website reports. When the mechanism is activated for abnormally long periods — rather than briefly and intermittently — it can drain dry the body’s physical, mental and emotional batteries.

It is argued that the body inevitably sustains some damage through prolonged raised levels of glucocorticoids, excessive depletion of energy reserves (resulting in fatigue), loss of strength and stamina, muscle wastage, and adult-onset diabetes.

It is certainly possible, however, that any such comments are preceded by other signs. Employers should be on the lookout for marked changes in behaviour, attitude or appearance, says Foley. Perhaps a person was talkative and open, but now he or she is withdrawn; the person used to very helpful, but now is negative; or the individual may have come to work “smartly dressed,” but this changes to a dishevelled look.

If a person is depressed, Foley notes, he or she may withdraw, lose interest, lose focus and be unable to concentrate, coming in late, missing days of work, or appearing as though alcohol or drug use may be an issue. “You have a sense that they’re feeling helpless, hopeless, worthless, that they’re not contributing and that it’s just overwhelming,” she reports.

Anyone under stress can show some of these signs, but “if it’s severe, persistent or it’s getting worse, you really want to intervene,” says Foley.

“It’s an issue that doesn’t get as much attention as it, frankly, deserves,” both within the workers’ compensation and employer systems, suggests Ryan Conlin, a partner with Stringer Brisbin Humphrey Management Lawyers in Toronto.

“If people are saying things, [employers] should take those threats seriously,” Conlin recommends. “Someone like that may not be capable of advocating on his or her own behalf,” he points out.

“Your job as a supervisor is not to be a counsellor,” Foley says. “Your job as a supervisor is to get them the help that they need.” Employers should spend 10 minutes a week with each employee “so you notice if there’s changes happening.”

Beyond getting affected employees the help they need as quickly as possible — thereby reducing the possibility of long-term disability and any negative influence on workplace productivity — it could foster greater openness so that staff members feel more comfortable voicing concerns or asking for assistance.

ECONOMIC HIT Suicide, clearly, defies drawing a simple line from A to B. And loading on worry about crushing workloads and job insecurity may prove the petri dish for stress, depression and mental health concerns.

With the current economic upheaval and uncertainty — sharp enough that a person may feel an axe hangs over his or her head — the issue of industrial suicide is rearing its unwelcome face again.

Consider last fall’s situation at France Telecom, an organization hit hard by restructuring. Faced with layoffs and staff relocations, the axe swung and sliced open feelings that ended with a total of two dozen employees committing suicide over about 18 months. A new social contract with the French government was proposed to bring to an end the series of actual and attempted suicides.

At the time, France Telecom adopted a hotline to promote dialogue, made available psychologists to talk with employees in need of assistance and temporarily suspended all geographical or professional mobility programs. “I know that our people are suffering in the present situation, but have the desire to resume on a better footing. This is why we need to build together, as quickly as possible, a new social contract for France Telecom,” said company chairman and CEO Didier Lombard.

To combat psychosocial risks and work stress, a number of measures were initiated, such as adding 380 new jobs in the technical and sales departments (with employment priority given to fixedterm contracts and apprentices) and returning outsourced activities in house, equating to 1,000 full-time jobs.

Patt Lind-Kyle, author of Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain, says companies striving to make it to the other side of economic recovery need to understand how workers may be affected. Not only do staff face normal work stressors like conflict with co-workers and tight deadlines, they must also worry about being downsized while working long hours to compensate for the absence of those who have already been axed, notes Lind-Kyle.

Asked if a scenario similar to France Telecom could play out here, Conlin says it could. “Is it grossly exceptional? Yes.” Like any other bid for compensation benefits, notes Conlin, the obligation exists to establish that something arose in and out of the course of employment. His view is that it

would be “very tricky” to establish that a suicide was the result of a layoff and stress arising from that event.

Conlin expects that, in cases where workloads have increased dramatically, these could be used as a basis for work refusals, but adds that “to get in under the nexus of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, [complainants] have to say it somehow affects the safety of their job.” In addition, it would need to be a “fairly serious hazard” to sustain a work refusal, he adds.

“The work refusal provisions are not going to be engaged to a fight between an employer and an employee because they think they’re working too hard. There has to be some kind of imminent danger associated with it,” he says.

Despite the economic downturn, C. Christopher Patton, president of the American Society of Safety Engineers in Des Plaines, Illinois, urges businesses to invest in occupational health and safety programs. “Companies that invest consistently in safety realize positive bottom-line results, reduced absenteeism, lower turnover rates, higher productivity, increased employee morale and a positive brand image.”

A recent study out of the United Kingdom, published in the Lancet, considered how economic crisis may affect population health.

Researchers examined associations between changes in employment and mortality, and how associations were modified by different types of government expenditure for 26 European Union countries from 1970 to 2007.

The study found increases in unemployment are associated with significant short-term increases in premature deaths from intentional violence, but reductions in traffic fatalities.

More specifically, every one per cent increase in unemployment was associated with a 0.79 per cent rise in suicides in individuals under 65.

Every US$10 per person increased investment in active labour market programs reduced the effect of unemployment on suicides by 0.038 per cent.

Jaspal Kang advises that, when mental health issues arise following a work injury, compensation boards cannot treat matters like it is business as usual. For more than five years, he tended to his brother’s needs. “I can understand what the situation was, but the WCB can never understand.”

PHOTO: VILDAN UYSAL/STOCK.XCHNG

... increases in unemployment are associated with significant short-term increases in premature deaths...

Angela Stelmakowich is editor of

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SMALL VESSELS

BY DONALEE MOULTON

Sea Change Fishing is clearly a dangerous job. Just how dangerous was evident last September in Newfoundland — or more precisely, not far off the coast of Newfoundland.

Saturday September 5 began with four crew members aboard the Havre aux Maison scrambling to safety when their shrimping vessel went up in flames. By the next Saturday, September 12, one man was dead and another presumed dead after the five-person crew of the Sea Gypsy Enterprise had to abandon ship in poor weather conditions.

All this happened in just one week. Unfortunately, as the history of accident statistics indicate, it was not an atypical week — on either of Canada’s east or west coasts.

But the outlook is not all bad. Deadly incidents continue to occur, true, but these should not wholly overshadow concrete advances that have been made in fisher safety, and promising prospects on the horizon.

in 2008 were in the sector, and in 2009, six of the 26 fatal incidents [as of late November] are in the fishing industry.”

History, it seems, has a way of repeating itself. LeBlanc notes that in 1999, fishing witnessed five of the 30 fatal incidents recorded that year. “So it would not appear that there has been much improvement in the sector over the last 10 years,” he says.

“The fatality statistics,” LeBlanc offers, “seem to suggest if we want different outcomes that something needs to change.”

A similar scenario appears to be playing out on the other side of the country as well. “While employment has decreased each year for the last five years, the number of claims has been relatively flat,” Hanson reports. “The duration of claims has averaged approximately 2.8 times higher than all B.C. industries.”

NATIONWIDE REVIEW The Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s (TSB) view? The situation with small fishing vessel safety is untenable and in need of a national, comprehensive study that builds on findings from numerous past incident investigations. Since 1992, these TSB probes have produced 42 recommendations related to small vessels, which Transport Canada defines as 150 gross tons or less and no longer than 24.4 metres.

PHOTO: ANKHKA BOYZ/STOCK.XCHNG

HIGH TOLL Compared with other industries, the number of workers’ compensation claims in British Columbia’s commercial fishing sector is low, says Ellen Hanson, an industry specialist with WorkSafeBC in Richmond, B.C. “However, when accidents take place on fishing vessels they are often serious. The effect on families and the industry is also significant,” Hanson says.

From 1991 to 2008, the West Coast witnessed 84 fishing-related fatalities, 83 per cent of these drownings. “They resulted from vessels sinking, foundering or capsizing, or from crew members falling or being knocked or dragged overboard,” Hanson reports. “In terms of vessels capsizing, from 1975 to 2008, 160 fishing vessels capsized with 68 lives lost.”

The reality is just as grim on the East Coast. In Nova Scotia, the fishing/trapping sector, which represents about two per cent of the assessable payroll recorded by the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB), accounted for 4.3 per cent of lost-time accidents filed in 2008.

In all, there were 426 claims registered with the WCB, says Jim LeBlanc, executive director of the Occupational Health and Safety Division of Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour and Workforce Development in Halifax. “Of significance for us is the number of fatal accidents,” LeBlanc says. “From our records, seven of the 29 fatal incidents we recorded

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positive side, “our people are much more professional and much better trained. We also have a lot better equipment,� notes Bill Broderick, director of the inshore sector with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union in St. John’s.

But on the negative side, ďŹ shing can be dicey work, especially if the vessel being used is, by deďŹ nition, small. “We ďŹ sh in small boats close to shore. That’s the people we’re losing most,â€? reports Broderick, who worked as a commercial ďŹ sher for the better part of his life. “If the engine breaks down and you’re close to shore, you don’t have much of a chance,â€? he suggests. “You’re on the rocks and you’re capsized. You’re vulnerable.â€?

STAY AFLOAT Once a ďŹ sher is in the water, staying aoat and sufďŹ ciently warm are two critical survival factors. Until recently, personal otation devices (PFDs) have not been a workable option for commercial ďŹ shers, says Gina Johansen, program coordinator with Fish Safe in Richmond, British Columbia, an industry-driven initiative for improving commercial ďŹ shing vessel safety, administered by the BC Seafood Alliance.

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Circle number 22 on Reader Service Card

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

“The grim reality is that the ďŹ shing industry is averaging one death per month.

Sixty people have died in accidents over the past ďŹ ve years, and we need to ďŹ nd out why,â€? Marcel Ayeko, the TSB’s director of marine investigations, said in announcing the study last August. “Sure, ďŹ shing can sometimes be risky,â€? Ayeko acknowledges. “Canadians know this; they’ve been doing it for generations. But more needs to be done — and more can be done — to bring down the accident rate.â€?

The study is expected to be the ďŹ rst to provide an overall view of what is happening in the ďŹ shing sector across the country. “We’ll talk to everyone: vessel owners and operators, ďŹ shing associations, government, unions and — above all — the ďŹ shermen,â€? Ayeko notes. That discussion will focus on two areas: small ďŹ shing vessels, and the risks and challenges experienced by members of the ďŹ shing community.

But the TSB plans to look back as well as forward. Historical data and case studies of selected incidents in Canada will be analyzed along with occurrences from other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and several Nordic countries.

Some ďŹ ndings likely will come as no surprise. On the

PHOTO: NEIL GOULD/STOCK.XCHNG

Today, however, Johansen says PFDs are designed with “working” in mind. “They’re not cumbersome. They’re built right into existing equipment, for example, rain pants.”

She emphasizes “there’s no excuse for not wearing a PFD anymore.”

On the West Coast, to wear or not to wear is not a debatable point. British Columbia regulations oblige commercial fishers to wear PFDs when working on the deck of a vessel and performing tasks that could expose them to drowning hazards.

Of course, that does not mean fishers always comply. Johansen, who is also a commercial fisher, admits she never wore a PFD until recently.

In Atlantic Canada, PFD use while on deck is not required by law. That lack of obligation may be compounded by the reluctance of some to don the protective device. “People are concerned about it getting hooked in gear,” says Broderick.

But that should not be a concern, Johansen assures. “We did research with the Red Cross and could find no incident of someone dying as a result of wearing a PFD. You cannot get trapped in this,” she reports.

In an effort to encourage more fishers to wear the gear,

Fish Safe and its partners launched a campaign in 2006, advising that “Real Fishermen Wear PFDs.” Says Johansen, “We have seen great uptake from the industry.”

One element of the campaign is a brochure that spells out why fishers should bother wearing a PFD. It points out that flotation is the best way to avoid swallowing water and reducing the potential for cold shock.

Seven pounds of buoyancy will keep most people afloat.

And depending on the style of PFD, the buoyancy provided can range from 15.5 to more than 35 pounds.

Fish Safe reports that people submerged in cold ocean water are believed to have about 20 minutes before hypothermia sets in. But fishers have died after only three or four minutes in the water as a result of cold shock from unexpected immersion — the immediate gasp reflex that occurs and can cause individuals to swallow water.

PFDs are designed to keep the head above water, thereby helping to prevent cold shock and delay the onset of hypothermia, Fish Safe notes. Devices such as flotation coats and immersion suits will keep water away from the body and allow energy conservation and maintenance of the core body

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VITAL ASSESSMENT Another area where changes may be coming: vessel assessment. “Under the current regime, vessels over 15 gross tons are inspected [by Transport Canada staff] initially and then once every four years,” says Durette. “The inspection regime is currently under review as part of the Transport Canada regulatory reform process.”

The review was sparked, in large part, by suggestions that once every four years is simply not often enough for vessels

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on which thousands of people work daily. Transport Canada readily acknowledges the four-year period makes it “easy to drag out your [safety] equipment and paint over the rust,” says Johansen.

In its “Guide to Inspection Regulations for Small Fishing Vessels,” the federal department states “it is probable that, before the four-year period has expired, the vessel will be either dry docked or beached for reasons other than inspection.”

That could actually be good news for the boat owner. “The owner may, on such occasions, request inspection; if the hull is found by the inspector to be in good condition, credit will be given for this intermediate inspection when the four-year inspection is due,” notes information from Transport Canada. Credit, in this case, means the hull would not have to be surveyed again during the next regular inspection.

Revised regulations may change the frequency of inspection — and, in the process, enhance safety. Broderick cautions, though, that fishers need to have time to fish, not simply comply with regulatory requirements. “We can regulate to the point that you regulate people out of business,” he suggests. “You can overdo inspections.”

A cost-effective alternative, or complement, is involving the fishing community directly. It is the approach that Fish Safe uses in its programming.

Consider the issue of vessel stability. Johansen and her colleagues conducted interviews with survivors of ships that had capsized or experienced other stability-related mishaps and discovered that most had actually taken a course on vessel stability. Something had to change.

“We developed a course on what does the guy on the boat need to know to keep his boat upright and then [explored] how do you transfer that knowledge from the classroom to the boat,” Johansen reports. That transfer involves using models, video and hands-on demonstrations so that the individual experience can, first, be recognized and, second, incorporated into the teaching.

Most important perhaps was the person at the front of the room. “Fishermen delivered the information,” says Johansen. “We trained fishermen to deliver this course.”

And the training appears to be paying off. A follow-up survey by Fish Safe revealed the four-day program, which has been delivered to more than 750 fishers, shows that to be the case. Identifying with the content and the process, the trainees responded by making improvements to enhance stability on their vessels.

In all, “94.4 per cent of participants recommended the course to others, believing it had the possibility to save lives,” Johansen notes. “Sixty per cent made actual changes to vessels. Sixty-two per cent made procedural changes.”

The hope is that those changes will, indeed, save lives.

Many factors can contribute to capsizing, including poor vessel design and maintenance, vessel modifications, inadequate operating practices — or a combination of the afore-

PHOTOS: PHOTOS.COM

temperature for a time, significantly extending survival time.

Nationally, says Maryse Durette, senior media relations advisor for Transport Canada in Ottawa, “fishers are encouraged to wear approved life jackets or PFDs when on deck as part of personal protection equipment. Approved life jackets must be carried on board by law for use in the event of an emergency.”

This advice regarding PFDs may get more teeth in the coming months. “As part of Transport Canada’s regulatory reform project,” says Durette, “consultations with industry are ongoing with respect to mandatory wearing of the equipment in certain conditions, such as when on deck.”

Any such change would likely be welcomed by the TSB, which has criticized the discretionary nature of PFD use.

The sinking of the Melina & Keith II in September, 2005 off the coast of Newfoundland was one such case. The 18-metre small fishing vessel took on 15 to 20 centimetres of water through a side fishing door — an amount that submersible pumps were unable to manage, notes the TSB’s final accident investigation report, released in 2007.

The vessel capsized, but all eight crew members managed to stay out of the water by standing on the vessel’s bottom, where they remained for two hours hoping for a rescue. The vessel then sank completely, forcing the eight into the ocean.

Only four crew members remained at the surface, clinging to floating debris or wearing immersion suits, long enough to be rescued by a fishing vessel about 90 minutes later.

Federal regulations, the TSB said at the time, failed to “address the risk posed by fishers not wearing the equipment while working on deck.”

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mentioned, notes information from WorkSafeBC. While it is possible that one or two modifications may have only a small negative effect on stability, cumulative changes over a number of years may produce a vessel that differs considerably from its original design or purpose, the board points out. And operational decisions, such as using heavier netting, having a skiff aboard or towed, and the amount/ method of securing a load all influence stability.

WorkSafeBC has prepared a “Guideline on Fishing Vessel Stability” so that owners, masters and crew members have a clear understanding of what documentation is required to prove an up-to-date stability assessment has been completed.

The guideline sets out a process for enhanced and more formal reviews of boats at higher risk of capsizing.

This includes sister ships of vessels involved in previous stability incidents or those with similar construction features, modified vessels, and boats that operate in more than one fishery with unique configurations to accommodate different types of gear. The inspections focus on enabling the master and crew to make quick, accurate judgements, as well as giving the vessel operators the ability to demonstrate their knowledge of stability. Operators must file a compliance plan.

“We’ve just said, ‘enough is enough’ in B.C. Safe work procedures are a matter of provincial authority.

We want to see safe written procedures,” notes Shane Neifer, a WorkSafeBC safety officer.

BUMPS AND BRUISES Although the risk of serious injury or death is significant for fishers, “the primary types of injuries are sprains, strains, tears, fractures, cuts and bruises caused by falls, getting caught in equipment and overexertion,” says Hanson.

The Nova Scotia Fisheries Sector Council — in its 100-plus page guide, “Fish Safe: A Handbook for Commercial Fishing and Aquaculture” — notes fishing hazards can generally be divided into four categories: physical, atmospheric, biological and ergonomic.

“A big problem facing the crew of a boat is the amount of gear and equipment that is necessary to bring on board.

Space is limited. Nets, lines, hooks and other gear may block doors, alleyways and routes on deck,” the guide states. “This creates a dangerous situation. Physical hazards account for the most injuries within the industry.”

An atmospheric danger could involve confined spaces that are either oxygen-rich or oxygen-deficient. Bacteria from fish can infect workers’ cuts or be inadvertently ingested, posing biological hazards. And lifting heavy gear, day in, day out, is a definite ergonomic challenge.

But it is fatalities that produce headlines. Deaths continue to occur, though the toll may be declining in British Columbia. “For the five years between 2004 and 2008, there were 19 fatal claims. The majority are from drowning,” says Hanson.

“Although the data are small, there is some indication the fatality rate is on [the] decline. This is largely due to significant increase in awareness of the causes of these events.”

Other actions have also had an impact on the industry’s

safety record. “We do enforcement when required and have taken cases as far as the Court of Appeal to clarify jurisdiction,” Nova Scotia’s LeBlanc points out. “We have worked with the industry to provide self-help information to both the fishing and processing sector and in developing a [fishing safety] organization under the industry sector council.”

The FFAW’s Broderick would like to see some attention paid to an emerging technology: monitoring tags. “Govern-

ment should put more effort into man overboard tags — a quick response. There could be people saved that otherwise wouldn’t be.”

The latest in safety technology, the tags are actually personal transceivers worn by all crew members to connect them to a wireless network. A series of wireless routers creates a monitoring and reporting web that automatically detects emergencies involving personnel and can initiate a full-scale alert within seconds of an incident occurring, such as a man overboard, says information from Mobilarm Ltd., a marine safety equipment company in Perth, Australia that offers said systems.

“The network immediately detects any break in the signal and will automatically raise the alarm if the connection is not re-established within a few seconds. Therefore, if a worker goes overboard, the signal is lost, the alarm is raised and GPS tracking is implemented,” the company reports. Fishers can also manually press a duress button on the tag if they are in distress, but still on the vessel.

Despite the advances and improvements, one reality remains: fishing is a dangerous job. But Johansen says she believes it is becoming less so.

Dismissing the stereotypical, crusty fisher who cannot be bothered with PFDs, emergency drills and the like, she says “what is changing is that fishermen realize they can do it more safely. They can do it better.”

And that means “the right kind of initiative will take off in this environment,” Johansen contends. “Promote ownership and not regulation.”

Donalee Moulton is a writer in Halifax.

www.ohscanada.com

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ACCIDENT PREVENTION

COMBUSTIBLE DUST

Boom Town BITS OF WORRY: Combustible dusts — and the circumstances that can contribute to these going boom — are hardly new.

These events can deliver a financial hit in the form of production delays or equipment damage, but may also carry a heavy human toll. Related issues have received renewed focus of late because of some big (and deadly) incidents south of the border.

SMALL TALK: Combustible dusts are solids ground into fine particles, fibres, chips, chunks or flakes that can cause a fire or explosion under certain conditions, OSHA notes. The short list of materials is long indeed: aluminum, magnesium, chromium, iron, zinc, candy, sugar, flour, starch, feed, grain, rubber, wood, plastic, cardboard, paper, coal, pesticides, textiles, fireworks, pharmaceuticals and more.

WE THREE KINGS: When it comes to fire, three guests need to show up to make a party: fuel, heat and an oxidizer. This is the fire triangle where, as OSHA notes, combustible dust serves as the fuel, heat is provided by a source of ignition, and oxygen is present in the air and in oxidizers.

DAMAGE DONE: Freshest in many minds may be the 2008 sugar refinery explosion in Georgia that claimed 14 workers and injured dozens of others. The event set in motion efforts that resulted in last October’s release of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in Washington, D.C. Citing results from a Chemical Safety Hazard Investigation Board study of dust explosion incidents between 1980 and 2005, OSHA reports 281 incidents were identified, resulting in the deaths of 119 people and the injury of 718. From 2006 through 2008, records have been found of another 16 deaths and 84 injuries.

PARTY OF FIVE: With a couple of extras, however, this unwholesome threesome can turn explosive. A fourth element, OSHA points out, is dispersal of dust into a cloud of the proper concentration (along with the fire triangle, this is necessary for deflagration, a violent combustion accompanied by a pressure wave). Last, but not least, is confinement, necessary for an explosion.

HOT STUFF: Not only are potential fuels plentiful within workplace settings, so too are the number of ignition sources: hot work, hot surfaces and equipment, open flame, smoking, mechanical overheating, mechanical friction and sparks, exothermic decomposition, electric sparks and electrostatic discharge.

COME TOGETHER: There are many variables that must align for a combustible dust deflagration to occur, notes the information from OSHA. These include the size and shape of particles, particle surface-area-to-volume ratio, agglomeration (how well particles stick together), impurities and moisture content in the material, predisbursal dust layer depth and location, concentration of particles in a dust cloud, spatial distribution of particles in the cloud, oxygen concentration, turbulence in the space or area, characteristics of the ignition source and location of the ignition source in relation to the dust cloud.

Prevention will be aided by taking away one or more of the essentials. Consider that if there is insufficient fuel or oxidant present in the atmosphere, combustion cannot be supported. If doing away with these two elements is not possible, explosion containment, suppression and isolation should be in place.

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CONCENTRATED POTENTIAL: The “OHS Code Explanation Guide 2009,” published by Alberta Employment and Immigration in Edmonton, notes “the minimum concentration in air of suspended dust that can burn and explode is approximately 50,000 milligrams/cubic metre. “The exact concentration varies from substance to substance and depends on factors such as particle size and oxygen concentration.”

Ignition energies vary by substance and by moisture content and particle size, notes “Prevention of dust explosions in the food industry,” an information sheet from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the United Kingdom. Ignition energy “may be as low as the static discharge experienced when taking off a synthetic fibre jumper, or as high as that from a fixed flame, such as a gas-fired boiler.”

MATERIAL MATTERS: Hazards also depend on the material itself and how it is used. Consider, for example, wood dust produced during the processing and handling of wood, chipboard, hardboard and other composite boards, notes the HSE’s Woodworking National Interest Group (NIG).

Activities likely to produce high dust levels include machining operations, particularly sawing; routing and turning; sanding either by machine or by hand; using compressed airlines to blow away accumulated dust from surfaces or equipment; any operations involving composite boards; and bagging dust from dust extraction systems.

To guard against fire and explosion hazards, NIG recommends ensuring the design and installation of dust control equipment incorporates explosion precautions, keeping floors free of wood chips and dust, and regularly cleaning workroom walls, ceilings, ledges and other surfaces.

NICE AND CLEAN: By the very nature of dust fires and explosions, it is critically important to ensure dust is not left lying about. “If dust deposits around premises form a cloud,” an HSE press release notes, “an initial small explosion is often followed by a much larger one.” To that caution, OSHA adds “secondary explosions are often more devastating than primary explosions due to the increased amount of fuel and the size of the ignition source.”

A LOOK-SEE: An employer can never go wrong with a review of the situation. Information available from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario recommends a dust hazard assessment be done. Among other things, this should involve taking a look at the following issues: s materials that can be combustible when finely divided; s processes that use, consume or produce combustible dusts; s open areas where combustible dusts may build up; s hidden areas where dust may accumulate; s the means by which dust may be dispersed in the air; and, s potential ignition sources.

GET SPECIFIC: Since October of 2007, OSHA has been conducting a Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (NEP), which applies to 64 industries, including wood, food, metal, rubber, plastic and paper products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, furniture, electric and sanitary services, transportation equipment, durable goods and textile mills.

“In several instances,” a recent report on NEP notes, “OSHA found combustible dust accumulations ankle-deep and covering an entire room.”

Of the 665 federal NEP inspections that had been completed, 160 citations were issued under the general duty clause for hazards related to combustible dust, the report points out. The unusually high use of the clause, notes OSHA, suggests a need exists for comprehensive and specific requirements. The clause “is not as effective as a comprehensive combustible dust standard would be at protecting workers,” the agency advises.

LAW FILE DUE DILIGENCE

Know Your Surroundings

By Dan Birch

C

anada — with its distinctive attribute of sea to sea to sea — demands a sharp eye from employers looking to stay on the right side of occupational health and safety requirements found in various jurisdictions.

Indeed, a recent conviction in Ontario speaks to the legal challenges that may arise for employers whose operations cross borders. Lockerbie & Hole Eastern Inc., the Ontario arm of Edmonton-based Lockerbie & Hole, was fined $250,000 on September 29 after pleading guilty to violating Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with the death of an employee two years earlier, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) reports.

Specifically, Lockerbie & Hole East…the policy ern did not have any record to demonstrate the deceased worker had made received “detailed training” on its electrical lockout policy, and the polreference to icy made reference to requirements in Alberta, not Ontario, where the requirements workplace was located.

It’s an example that offers employ- in Alberta, not ers some helpful reminders, say legal observers. “It is important for an Ontario, where employer to show all steps that it has taken to maintain a safe workplace, the workplace including training on any policy,” says was located.

Noella Martin, a partner at Wickwire Holm in Halifax. And it’s no less important to ensure a company policy is adapted to the requirements of the particular jurisdiction where the work is being done, Martin adds.

ON GUARD Back in October of 2007, Lockerbie & Hole Eastern was hired

by SNC-Lavalin Power Ontario Inc. to provide general site services for the construction of an electrical plant in Toronto.

An apprentice electrician was installing temporary lighting when the worker came in contact with the taps of a live transformer within a 600-volt electrical panel and was electrocuted, notes a bulletin from the MOL. (SNC-Lavalin Power Ontario was later also fined for breaching Ontario’s OH&S Act.) The experience of Lockerbie & Hole Eastern, Martin says, illustrates that an employer “needs to be on guard” at all times to ensure safe work procedures are current and accurately reflect the legislative demands of the work being done.

Martin says she finds it “quite surprising” the Crown emphasized the company’s reliance on out-of-province legislation in light of the fact that few differences on lockout requirements would likely exist between Ontario and Alberta.

Jamie Alyce Jurczak, an associate at Taylor McCaffrey LLP

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in Winnipeg, says “being able to demonstrate, with a paper trail, the specific nature of the training, the frequency of the training, and the employees’ understanding of the training are all important aspects of proving [employer] due diligence.”

Key in any such defence is an employer’s ability to prove “the nature of the risk that the worker is specifically exposed to has been assessed and the control measures [have] been communicated,” notes Norm Keith, a partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Toronto.

However, Martin and Keith both agree that demonstrating training has occurred is sometimes easier said than done.

Martin points to the construction industry. A lot of training sessions “are essentially in the context of a toolbox meeting,” she says, less formal gatherings that typically do not include requirements for workers to sign off on the training received.

Still, Keith advises having workers certify in writing that they have received specific training can save headaches for employers should they later need to mount a due diligence defence. “Due diligence is as much or more about what you can prove as opposed to what people actually knew or were supposed to do,” he suggests.

Referencing regulatory requirements in safe work procedures is not “absolutely critical,” says Keith, but is “advisable and, on balance, preferable.” If a company goes to the trouble of citing specific requirements, though, it should ensure that these are appropriate to the jurisdiction in which the work is being carried out, he adds.

Martin offers a word of caution for employers with operations in different provinces who may be tempted not to reference regulatory requirements. Doing so may result in policies that are “less meaningful” and overly generic, she says, adding that citing specifics gives workers direction as to where they can go for additional information.

While differences in various provincial requirements “may appear minor, they may be more significant than anyone realizes, and may be the difference between compliance and noncompliance,” Jurczak suggests.

An intriguing hypothetical situation remains: If Lockerbie & Hole Eastern had been able to prove the deceased was trained on its lockout procedures, would it still have been called to task for referencing Alberta requirements?

It’s a question the MOL declines to entertain. William Lin, a ministry spokesperson in Toronto, says it cannot “speculate about what convictions would or could have occurred.”

Martin, who is unaware of any similar court cases in Nova Scotia, says it may be worthwhile for a company to fight OH&S Act charges — arguing due diligence — if its only fault was citing out-of-province legislation. That, of course, is assuming the local and out-of-province requirements are “substantively similar,” she emphasizes.

Dan Birch is editorial assistant of

OHS CANADA.

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OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE NOISE

Up to Hear

By Angela Stelmakowich

P

erceptions can be lasting. But couple faulty perception of noise with insufficient knowledge and that outlook can translate into the potential for permanent damage.

When it comes to noise, a tweak here, an adjustment there can make a big difference. As with any type of occupational exposure, lower equates to better.

Sound intensity is measured in decibels (dB); exposure limits in dB(A) — A-weighted decibel units that mimic frequencies and amplitudes recognizable to the ear.

Consider that 85 dB(A) for eight hours, more than 88 dB(A) for four hours and 91-plus dB(A) for two hours are just about the same, all demanding that hearing protection should be used, notes information from the Construction Safety Association of Ontario in Toronto.

Promoting the notion that lower is better, the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) in the United States is hoping to convince the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to lower permissible exposure limits (PEL) for noise. Down is the only acceptable direction, the NHCA argues, in light of the fact that millions of workers are subject ... a tweak to exposures that can lead to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). here, an All that may be righted by reducing the PEL from 90 to 85 dB(A), the NHCA adjustment noted last November.

That is a range occupied by federal, there can provincial and territorial jurisdictions throughout Canada — although most make a big fall into the 85 dB(A) group, notes information from the Canadian Centre difference. for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario.

The CCOHS reports that only Ottawa (federal) and Quebec have higher permitted exposure levels for eight hours, with 87 and 90 dB(A), respectively. All jurisdictions have an exchange rate of three dB(A) — Nunavut makes reference to a rate of five dB(A) in its General Safety Regulations and three dB(A) in its Mining Health and Safety Regulations.

The NHCA further suggests the U.S. has some catching up to do with regard to reducing the action level from 85 to 80 dB(A), decreasing the time/intensity exchange rate from five to three decibels, and casting a wider regulatory net to capture construction, agriculture, shipbuilding, and oil and gas drilling and servicing. The existing regulation, argues NHCA president Rick Neitzel, “is not consistent with current scientific knowledge, is not uniformly applied across all industries, and has not proven effective in preventing [NIHL].”

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the United Kingdom reports that tasks and industries most likely to involve

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noise include construction, demolition or road repair, woodworking, plastics processing, engineering, textile manufacture, general fabrication, forging, pressing or stamping, paper or board making, canning or bottling, and foundries.

The HSE recommends that protective measures be taken: s use a different, quieter process or quieter equipment — such as by introducing a low-noise purchasing policy for machinery and equipment; s introduce engineering controls — including avoiding metal-on-metal impacts, reducing vibration and fitting silencers on air exhausts and blowing nozzles; s modify the paths by which noise travels to people — such as erecting enclosures around machines and using barriers and screens to block the direct path of sound; s design and lay out the workplace for low noise emission — including using absorptive materials and designing workflow to keep noisy machinery out of areas where people spend most of their time; and, s limit the time spent in noisy areas — note that every halving of the time spent in a noisy area will reduce noise exposure by three decibels.

The HSE notes that early signs of hearing loss include when conversations become difficult or impossible, an individual has trouble using the telephone, a person has difficulty catching sounds like “t”, “d”, and “s”, and permanent tinnitus.

Those effects may be close to home, but what about on the job? Not being able to hear audible warnings or safety signals can certainly create risk.

NEVER ASSUME The ongoing battle against NIHL may have something to do with assumptions that refuse to fade away — unlike hearing that is needlessly exposed to excessive noise. Howard Leight/ Sperian Hearing Protection, LLC in San Diego is hoping to dispel some of those assumptions about hearing protection with last December’s release of a new white paper.

“These assumptions, if left unchecked, have the ability to torpedo an otherwise healthy hearing conservation program, and leave the door open for hearing loss among workers exposed to hazardous noise,” says Brad Witt, director of hearing conservation for Howard Leight/Sperian, a former NHCA president and the paper’s author.

What specifically are these bad assumptions? s hearing protection is self-explanatory; s any earplug in the ear is blocking some noise; s an earplug halfway in the ear blocks about half the noise; s cut in half the noise reduction rating to predict real-world protection; s there is no way to measure real attenuation for a worker wearing earplugs; and, s there is no way to measure the noise dose of a worker under the hearing protectors throughout their workday.

WORK AND PLAY Assumptions persist, as well, regardless of locale, industry or activity. It must be remembered that noise is noise. Does it matter that the exposure environment was the workplace or some recreational activity? No, it really doesn’t.

How better to spread the word — at least in this country — about how fun can produce exposures that may prove no fun at all down the road than through hockey.

The Ontario-based Lifestyle Hearing Corporation (LHC), a Canada-wide network of hearing health care clinics, has added past hockey greats, such as Gordie Howe, to its stable of official spokespersons. “Our goal is to bring the importance of proper hearing health care to the forefront of our communities,” LHC president Jeffrey Geigel says in a statement from the network.

Consider research out of the University of Alberta, released about three years ago, that looked at noise levels for the Stanley Cup playoff games held in Edmonton.

Average exposure levels for each game — all of which lasted more than three hours — were 104.1, 103.1 and 100.7 dB,

respectively. Even during intermission, “the noise level was such that an equivalent eight-hour-day, workplace environment hearing protections would be required by law,” the researchers noted in a December 5, 2006 letter in the Canadian Medical Associa... hearing tion Journal.

Noting that hearing loss can happen loss can so slowly and steadily it is not noticed, the LHC advises “the average delay for happen so a person who develops hearing loss slowly and to seek services is seven to 10 years.”

That means hazardous noise exposure, steadily it is whatever the activity, must be minimized from a young age. not noticed...

Clearly, small changes can make some very big differences with regard to exposure limits, understanding and perceptions. Continued vigilance is a must.

Angela Stelmakowich is editor of

OHS CANADA.

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ERGONOMICS MATERIAL HANDLING

Lifting the Yoke on Youth

By Jean Lian

S

ay “youth” and thoughts of health and vitality quickly come to mind. What may be slower in coming is the realization young workers may be taking on a heavier load than all that health and vitality is yet equipped to handle.

A new University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study looks at youth aged three to 21. Is the risk of musculoskeletal disorders higher for youth employed in food service, retail and construction, or other part-time and seasonal work — some staples for young workers — where carrying heavy loads is part of the job?

“Youth and adolescents are routinely engaged in manual material handling (MMH) tasks that may exceed their strength capability to perform the task. This work may place them at excessive risk for musculoskeletal disorders, such as upper exDevelopment tremity or low-back disorders,” notes the study, which appears in the Januof the spinal ary, 2010 issue of Applied Ergonomics.

Study co-author Arun Garg, Ph.D., column is a a professor in the university’s industrial and manufacturing engineering process that department, says youth and adolescontinues to cents have yet to reach their full potential in terms of muscle and spinal some degree development.

Development of the spinal column is a process that continues to some until adulthood. degree until adulthood, with many structures not fully developed until well into adolescence or even early adulthood. For example, cartilage endplates do not fully mature until about 20 years of age.

Other considerations include changes in pelvic rotation, torso flexion range of motion that dramatically decreases between 10 and 14 years, and significant lumbar curvature changes. These can all serve to reduce the acceptable levels of tissue tolerance for youth compared with adults, the study notes.

“So if you are subjecting these youth to high forces, they would be at higher risk than somebody who has more strength or [a] stronger spine,” Dr. Garg explains.

Almost half of the jobs routinely filled by youth in agricultural settings, for example, would be considered moderate to high risk of low-back disorders for adult workers, the study notes, citing findings from a review of MMH jobs performed on farms in Midwest United States.

In farming, where youth and adolescents are regarded as an acceptable component of the work force, “it is common to observe youth lifting or moving objects that far exceed the amount of weight that would be considered acceptable for adults, let alone for children and youth,” the study notes.

While young workers face many hazards, Clare Waddell,

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youth education consultant for the Workers’ Compensation Board of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, says she believes the risk of musculoskeletal injury for this group oftentimes does not even register on the radar. “It’s easier to understand when you get a cut or a bone broken, but it’s harder to understand an injury that is happening over time and to realize that there are long-term effects of injuries like that.”

Daniel Robinson, a Canadian certified professional ergonomist with Robinson Ergonomics Inc. in Coquitlam, British Columbia, says male workers, typically those in their early 30s, are more susceptible to injury to the lower back. “The reason being that in the 30s, we start to have some of the cumulative effects of what we’ve been doing over the previous 15 or 20 years to our bodies,” Robinson reports.

But it is young workers who tend to exhibit a higher level of injury because they tend to hold junior positions that predispose them to more menial jobs, as well as having less training and experience in executing MMH tasks.

“If you have boxes that are, say, 20 pounds [nine kilograms], how many of them do you pick up? Do you pick up one at a time and have complete control over it, and do more repetitions of lower weight, or do you stack four of them on top of each other because they fit in your arms and try to move them all at once?” Robinson asks.

The other ergonomic risk is that young workers tend to be assigned the heavier work because they are perceived to be more physically able, he says. “There’s also an attitude in youth of invincibility and generally overestimation of strength. So young workers are more likely to step into something and just try to do it, try to muscle through it.”

Information from the Young Worker Readiness Course, available from Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour, cites improper or repetitive lifting, lifting heavy objects, poor posture, scanning grocery items, and standing for long periods as among the causes of musculoskeletal injuries among young workers.

A study guide compiled by the ministry for training young workers on workplace health and safety issues notes that this group of individuals is commonly employed in warehouses, retail shops, grocery stores, restaurants/fast food outlets and parks and yards. All but the last of these work environments cite improper lifting as a source of injury; yard maintenance, for its part, notes repetitive lifting or other motions.

KNOW THE LIMIT The North American Guidelines for Children’s Agricultural Tasks published by the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation in Wisconsin recommend that youth not carry or lift any object weighing more than 10 to 15 per cent of his or her body weight. Little is known, however, about how much weight is acceptable and appropriate depending on gender and age.

Dr. Garg does not buy the idea of pegging maximum load

POSTURE PERFECT Most sprains and strains are a result of overexertion and incorrect posture, notes information from Nova Scotia’s Occupational Health and Safety Division. Beyond physical factors, possible contributors to young workers sustaining strains and sprains while carrying out menial tasks include feeling rushed or pressured to get things done, a lack of appropriate training and supervision, and inexperience in recognizing potentially dangerous situations.

Care and vigilance now will go a long way toward preventing soft-tissue injuries and musculoskeletal disorders later: UÊ Use mechanical devices such as forklifts, hoists, carts and dollies to lift and carry heavy objects.

UÊ Plan ahead to make smaller loads.

UÊ When lifting, hold the load as close to the body as possible.

UÊ Avoid awkward work postures, such as bending, reaching and twisting.

UÊ Try to position the load between the knees and shoulders.

UÊ Bend at the knees, not at the waist, to maintain a centre of balance. Rely on strong leg muscles to do the lifting.

UÊ Lift smoothly and slowly.

UÊ Get a good grip by using the whole hand, not just the fingers.

UÊ Avoid doing the same lifting task repeatedly over a long period (if possible, vary the task with another that uses different muscles).

to percentage of body weight. “There’s just no basis for that because there are many issues that you need to consider. One is how far and how long you are carrying it,” he says, adding that the carrying method also plays a role. “Different ways of carrying a weight will produce different stresses on different parts of the body.”

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study notes that factors — including age, gender, posture adopted and where the hands are placed at the time of peak load — would need to be considered to determine when weight is excessive for a specific MMH task.

When lifting or pulling is performed, muscles throughout the body are exerted to produce internal forces to support the applied load. Muscle forces generate internal reaction forces at the joints — such as the elbow, shoulder and throughout the spine — which can result in damage to soft tissues in the joint. This can produce musculoskeletal pain, discomfort and injuries, the study says.

“Therefore, it is important to estimate the magnitude of these forces in order to determine whether the loads are excessive for a specific MMH task,” it adds.

Researchers developed a two-dimensional biomechanical model to assess if a task exceeds the strength demands of youth aged three to 21. “It has been shown that compressive and sheer forces on the low back, muscle strength required to perform the lift, and energy expenditure are important in order to assess the risk of a musculoskeletal injury, particularly of the low back.”

Apart from indicating the task performer’s age and gender, the task is specified (such as lifting, lowering, holding, carrying, pushing or pulling), details included such as whether the task is done with one or two hands, and the magnitude of the force exerted on each hand (or the object’s weight if it is a lifting task). Body posture is given by providing ankle, hip, shoulder and elbow angles.

The model produces a stick diagram by computing body link lengths, body segment weights, X and Y coordinates for all body joints, resultant forces and torques on body joints, and voluntary torques for the specified age and gender. Results are then compared with known strength capabilities and recommended tissue tolerance limits to determine what percentage of young people could safely perform the task, the study explains.

“By comparing that force with what the body can tolerate, we can say, ‘Is this job harmful to them or not?’” Dr. Garg says.

The static model, however, does not take into account muscle co-contraction, which can substantially increase stresses to the lower back. “The level of stresses in the body that we would estimate using this model would result in underestimation,” Dr. Garg says. “So in actual cases, stresses may be higher,” he adds.

LIFT IT RIGHT Despite the model’s limitations, Dr. Garg says he hopes it will increase awareness of excessive load handling by young workers and spur additional research to help “develop ways to protect children and youth just as we would for adults in the workplace.”

Robinson advises a key to safe lift“There’s also ing is to get the load as close to the as possible. “The farther away an attitude in body from the body the load gets, the greater the stress and larger the force that’s youth of required and the muscles and tissues to support it,” he says. By moving a invincibility 10-pound [4.5-kilogram] load one and generally centimetre from the body to 10 centimetres away, “you just increase that overestimation load on the body by a factor of 10.”

Another “must do” is to keep the of strength.” back straight. “It doesn’t mean vertically straight up and down; it actually means trying to maintain the natural curves of your back while you are lifting,” Robinson explains.

Some of the safe-lifting techniques recommended in the Saskatchewan guide include breaking loads into smaller, more manageable quantities, reducing bending, twisting and reaching movements, performing stretches before and during the job, taking rest breaks, and lifting to and from waist height whenever possible.

“The onus is on the employer to point things out and to train [young workers] properly on how to lift and how to turn, the ways to move and how to work safely, ergonomically,” says Waddell of the PEI WCB. Jean Lian is assistant editor of

OHS CANADA.

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SAFETY GEAR MATTING

From Bottom to Top

By Jason Contant

B

rian Lane remembers being taken aback after entering a bakery in British Columbia.

The national sales manager for Henderson Specialty & Custom Matting in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia was not there to sell mats. But the bakery’s attempt to provide support to a worker required to stand for much of the day was a “sale” he felt compelled to make. She stood on “a sixinch-square piece of plywood because her back aches and she’s getting varicose veins,” he recalls.

The worker’s job was to take cookies off a conveyor belt, turn and place them in a box — a task repeated many, many times a day. As the sole employee on the line, Lane reports that the conveyor “Walking on speed would be set slower as the day wore on to match her increasing fatigue. a hard floor “So she’s been standing on this piece of plywood for years,” Lane says, all in a is similar to fruitless bid to help minimize the possibly injurious effects of static standing. the impact Lane just happened to have a small black bubble mat with him, a product of a hammer designed to help stimulate ankle movement and blood flow. “I said, ‘Here take pounding the this, try it for a couple of days.’ I didn’t heel at every even tell her boss.”

The mat did the trick. Lane reports step...” the company was “able to speed the line up over 20 per cent because at the end of the day, she felt that much better. Long story short, he ordered 40 of [the mats].”

STAND AND DELIVER The story clearly illustrates direct benefits to worker productivity and health that an appropriate standing surface can provide. The anti-fatigue mat — meant to reduce foot weariness when workers must stand for long periods — was a good choice for the bakery since it suited the environment.

These mats can be made of various materials, including rubber, vinyl and wood, says information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario. But this option must be considered in conjunction with changes to working/standing position (a worker should have some choice about his or her working position and have an opportunity to change positions frequently), footwear (shoes should offer adequate arch and heel support and cushioning), and flooring.

“Walking on a hard floor is similar to the impact of a hammer pounding the heel at every step. Wood, cork, carpeting or rubber — anything that provides some elasticity — is gentler on workers’ feet,” the CCOHS advises.

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Environmental conditions are one of the clearest factors to consider when selecting appropriate matting. In general, for wet environments, a mat featuring holes or slots for drainage is ideal, while a solid-top mat (no holes) is best for dry environments, says Marvin Vader, president of Mul-T-Mat & Supply Co. in Concord, Ontario.

Of course, there are many other options: matting for workplaces in which electrical work or welding applications are carried out; walk-way matting that is impervious to temperature changes; “grit” mats that offer slip resistance in wet, slippery environments with, for example, industrial oils and lubricants; modular matting that fits around equipment; and matting that is resistant to chemicals and oil/grease.

In workplaces where oil and grease are commonplace, such as restaurant kitchens, the need for an appropriate mat is obvious. Vader recommends a nitrile rubber mat, explaining that nitrile can be injected into rubber to reduce its natural decomposition from exposure to these two substances.

Urethane has its own properties and natural defences so it will not be affected by oil or grease, he says.

While mats can be found in workplaces ranging from grocery stores to manufacturing plants and hospitals, food service areas and entry-ways are two applications that are “dead locks,” suggests Tim Craik, general manager of GO Resilient Canada in Burlington, Ontario.

Craik notes that, apart from the working environment, mat choice is also influenced by personal preference. “It’s like buying cars. You either love the look or you don’t like the look right out of the gate, and that’s what has the staying power.”

Rich Bing, marketing manager of facility services with Mason, Ohio-based Cintas Corporation, is of the mind that the mat — whether made from carpet material or rubber — should be in line with the particular contaminant present in the workplace. “A heavy grease application, like inside a kitchen, will be better served by a rubber mat that allows a person to stand above the grease, helping to reduce the likelihood of a slip and fall,” Bing says. “Inside an entry-way could be best served by a carpeted mat to help capture the fine dirt and dust that is being tracked in.”

But it’s not just about material; size also comes into play.

The size of the mat should reflect the amount of contaminants it is expected to collect, with larger mats also offering additional benefit in high-traffic areas, he says.

Bing compares a mat to a trash can. “What happens if you do not empty the trash can? It will overflow,” he says. “Similar to a trash can, once a mat is full, it can act like an ink pad where people pick up contaminants off the mat and spread them to other parts of the building.”

Lane agrees. “People bring in black mats for a restaurant and oil and grease splatters on them and all of a sudden they can’t understand why, through the entire restaurant, there’s a black pathway,” he says.

concrete, who is going to win the fight?” asks Craik. “The concrete always wins because as your body hits it, the shock doesn’t go into the concrete, it comes right back up through your feet, up your legs, and up into your hips and back,” he goes on to say.

PHOTOS: LEFT - HENDERSON SPECIALTY & CUSTOM MATTING, CENTRE AND RIGHT - CINTAS

Mats can be used for a wide range of applications. Consider anti-fatigue options (left), mats in entry-ways (centre) and those in commercial kitchens (right).

SOFT TOUCH Besides selecting a mat to match the working environment, another major consideration is softness. Some industry experts say that while softer mats are perceived to be better and more comfortable for users, perception is not necessarily reality. In fact, if the matting used is too soft, it is unlikely to provide enough stability because a worker’s heels will keep sinking into the material.

“All you want to do is diminish the migration or shock up to the body... like a dampening,” advises Craik. To that, Garth Schafer, owner of Ergomaster Products in Vernon, British Columbia, adds the general rule for those standing on mats is “the further off the surface you get them, the better.”

Schafer reports the industry-accepted standard is one inch thickness for insulation. Some retail outlets sell mats with a quarter-inch thickness, he says, commenting that he regards these as “basically useless. They might as well be putting cardboard down.”

The compressibility of the surface covered by the mat will also dictate choice, with concrete and steel being two of the most unyielding and unforgiving of surfaces. “If it is

WEAR, THEN TEAR Even if matting provides sufficient insulation, it, of course, remains susceptible to wear. While good quality materials will often provide a minimum of one year of service life, Vader says, assuming this will always be the case is hardly a good bet.

“I’ve seen mats that should last two years in a machine shop last for three months,” says Schafer, using the example of a wood products facility that fails to regularly clean off the wood chips left behind. A professional cleaning service, Bing adds, can be employed to help maximize a mat’s life for capturing contaminants.

Service life often depends on a number of factors, suggests Vader, such as the harshness of the work environment, the number of people using the product and how long it is being used. Consider that a supermarket cashier may stand on a mat for 10 hours before the next worker comes along.

“You may have a person that is 100 pounds, the next shift comes in and that person is 225 pounds. How do you measure the wear or how long the mat is going to last under conditions like that? Very difficult,” Vader contends.

That’s where variable compression comes into play. Us-

MAT MATTERS Different tasks demand different responses. When determining what will best suit workplace needs, information from Alberta Employment and Immigration suggests considering the following: UÊ Grip: Matting with anti-slip properties will be important in oily or wet environments.

UÊ Operation of equipment: Equipment such as carts and dollies may be difficult to push on some types of matting. Do not replace the problem of fatigue from standing with another, possible muscle injury from straining to push wheeled devices.

UÊ Chemical resistance: Check matting specifications to ensure it will not be damaged by any chemicals used on the job.

UÊ Resistance to physical damage: Matting selection must take into account the source of physical damage, such as solder or welding splatter, cuts or punctures, cold and wear in high-traffic areas.

UÊ Ease of cleaning: Some matting is more easily cleaned than others, something that may be important in, for example, food-processing industries.

UÊ Aesthetics: Matting design, colour, pattern and shape will need to suit areas in public view.

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DOWN WITH FATIGUE For those whose working positions include a mix of walking and standing, recent research out of Ontario suggests that outsoles that fit over shoes may, in essence, create “portable” anti-fatigue matting.

Researchers looked at whether or not using the product — compared with wearing standard work shoes — could reduce perceived fatigue, discomfort and pain. Workers reported less foot fatigue and lower body/back discomfort, energy was up during the middle of the workday, and perceived pain in the feet, knees, hips and back was down.

Commenting on reported findings, Jennifer McGillis, an ergonomic specialist at ERGO Inc. in Barrie, Ontario, says a follow-up to the study revealed some concerns: the looped outsole can trap debris, possibly creating an uneven surface; the product’s lifespan of two months to a year may present an “unrealistic” cost to the employer; the increased weight of the shoe prompted some reports of lower limb issues; and outsole fit must be good to guard against the possibility of slips, trips and falls.

Another possible downside, says ERGO Inc. president Marnie Downey, is the fact that an outsole becomes just one more piece of gear to put on. “The way I look at it is a lot like [personal protective equipment],” Downey says. It should be used as a last resort, “because you should always try to get rid of the problem at the root or source.”

HEALTH IMPACT Mat softness — or hardness, for that matter — will have some impact and a possible adverse effect on health, suggests Marnie Downey, president of ERGO Inc. in Barrie, Ontario.

Anti-fatigue mats, Downey points out, are designed to reduce the effects of static standing — which can include blood pooling, fatigue in the lower limbs and sometimes even discomfort in the lower back — by stimulating blood flow.

Well-designed anti-fatigue mats encourage a gentle swaying motion of the body by way of “very minute movements in the [leg] muscle for stability, which stimulates blood flow,” she explains.

“The real challenge arises when people start using it for a lot of dynamic work because if the matting is too soft, they can start twisting their knees or there’s a little bit more instability,” she adds.

Ergonomically, there are several techniques to help keep musculoskeletal injuries at bay, Downey suggests. These include putting a footrest on the workstation so a person can alternate putting one foot up at a time; taking mini stretch breaks; providing shoes with good arch support, cushioning and soles; and designing work tasks to ensure that some movement is involved.

With regard to workspace design, Downey recommends

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Specific workplace conditions will guide purchasing decisions regarding which matting materials and designs will work best.

that employers “try to get away from that traditional design where you are putting one person at this machine and one person at this machine. We tend to think it is better to have [somebody]… doing the same thing over and over again, but there is the risk of injury due to that static work.”

Other times, it comes down to the footwear. “If you have a good soled shoe with good support… my belief is that is probably more beneficial than putting matting everywhere,” says Downey. “I would rather see someone put a good insole inside their shoe with some good shoe support.”

Regardless of the quality of shoes and floor coverings, however, the CCOHS cautions that “standing itself can cause tiredness after an entire working day.”

The combination of hard, uncomfortable floor surfaces, static standing, long working hours, inappropriate footwear and environmental conditions must all factor into the purchasing equation.

Jason Contant is editor of CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS.

PHOTOS: TOP LEFT - HENDERSON SPECIALTY & CUSTOM MATTING, TOP RIGHT, BOTTOM - CINTAS

ing a similar example of a workstation — this time, the first person weighs 110 pounds and the second 280 pounds — Schafer says there are engineered plastic matting products available to absorb shock through variable compression.

Featuring a domed surface, “what will happen is as they are loaded, they will get stiffer and stiffer and it will give people comfort in the lighter weight ranges and still provide proper support for heavier people,” Shafer explains.

Absent that support, “the soft cushy foam workspace that the 110-pound person likes is absolutely destructive and detrimental to the 280-pound person,” he adds.

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VIOLENCE

Harassment, Bullying, Assault This half-day “must attend” conference will focus on Ontario’s Bill 168, the amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the impact these changes will have on businesses.

The conference will also deal with civil liabilities, human rights and workers’ compensation issues arising in the workplace.

Half-Day Conference Thursday, March 4, 2010 Lambton Golf & Country Club 100 Scarlett Road Etobicoke, ON

Q Hear knowledgeable opinions and insight from leading practitioners Q Participate in question and answer sessions Q Learn how to create a safer workplace Q Discover how companies will be complying with this new law Q Network with peers and associates.

With the passing of Bill 168 on December 9, 2009 – the law on workplace violence will change.

Compliance, enforcement and the impact this will have on your business is now essential knowledge.

Register today by calling 416-510-6867 or visit www.ohscanada.com for more details.

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THE NEW MSA ADVANTAGE® 420 HALF-MASK RESPIRATOR The New MSA Advantage® 420 Half-Mask Respirator is designed to incorporate user-friendly features including maximum comfort, improved donning and fit, enhanced safety, and reduced maintenance cost. The Patent-pending UniBond over-molded one-piece silicone facepiece, helps eliminate possible leak paths which may be present in other silicone half-mask respirators. All MSA plastic Advantage or metal Comfo® threaded cartridges can be used with the Advantage 420 Respirator. www.msanet.com

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TIME OUT

SCARY, BOO: Now, this is getting into the spirit of things. A way-way-into-Halloween display in St. John’s was scary enough to prompt a 911 call and a response from local firefighters. The caller reported to emergency dispatch that it appeared a van had slammed into a fence and the driver was slumped over the steering wheel, CBC News reported in October. Chillingly life-like, the display was, in fact, a damaged fence, a realistic mannequin and painted black streaks on the pavement meant to mimic skid marks. The property owner is well-known about town for extravagant Halloween displays.

The police suggest that those with artistic leanings for the make-believe contact authorities ahead of time to avoid the potential for any real-life emergency response.

GRITTY KITTY: The oft-cited male fantasy — a bit of girl on girl — likely lost its appeal when the action turned downright bloody. The claws were out when one exotic dancer at a strip club in Akron, Ohio used a stiletto heel to exact some hurt on her co-worker’s face, The Associated Press reported in mid-October. The guilty party used the heel to stab her fellow dancer, 52, several times during a dust-up in the club’s dressing room last April. The victim needed seven staples to close her wounds. The 22-year-old aggressor pleaded guilty to misdemeanour assault and received a year’s probation.

BOUNCED CHEQUE: The federal Tories have taken a little heat over questionable marks on some very big cheques.

The Government of Canada was the source of the money — the total displayed on a large, camera-friendly cardboard cheque. But that was none too clear during a photo-op involving a Conservative MP in Nova Scotia last fall to present $302,000 from the Infrastructure Canada fund to upgrade a hockey rink, CBC News reported at the time. Instead of the government’s mark, the cheque was emblazoned with the Conservative Party logo. The Federal Identity Program says taxpayer money should only be issued in a non-partisan way.

DISORDERLY ORDERING: The music is over for four teens in American Fork, south of Salt Lake City, whose rapping McDonald’s order fell flat last October. Imitating a popular video on YouTube, the customers opted to rap their order at a drive-thru: “I need a double cheeseburger and hold the lettuce…,” The Associated Press reported in October. The line is repeated once quickly, then once more slowly. The teens were told by an employee that they were holding up the line (they report there wasn’t one), so they needed to order or leave. The restaurant contends they were asked several times to speak plainly, ultimately requiring the manager to come outside. The teens then left without buying anything. Taking down the licence plate number, the manager called police who later cited the musical group for disorderly conduct. The employee reported she felt her safety had been put at risk.

LEAN ON ME: A Viking statue in the Manitoba Icelandic community of Gimli looks to be on its way down unless a steadying force is applied in future. The statue is listing to one

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side and requires either repair or replacement, The Canadian Press reports. City councillors estimated repairs would run at about $50,000. Concerns had been raised about whether or not the big guy could topple, putting passersby in harm’s way, but engineers have assessed the situation and concluded no immediate danger exists.

FINE WHINE: Ah, sweet justice. It seems the idiots who don’t automatically get off their butts and offer a seat to elderly or disabled passengers when on Toronto’s streetcars, subways and buses could be forking over some cash for their rudeness. In October, fines became a very real possibility for passengers who refuse to get out when instructed by a special constable to do so. The fine is one of several noted in amendments to a Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bylaw, changes that seek to penalize common transgressions: propping up feet or laying down on seats, blocking doors, smoking on TTC property, vandalism and playing music aloud.

FUN AND GAMES: It was no fun at all for a haunted house worker — he and his trusty chain saw hunting for some screams — when a Baltimore police officer pulled his gun. The Associated Press reports the 37-year-old officer was charged with assault and reckless endangerment for pointing his service handgun at the worker who, dressed as Leatherface, had just completed his tour at the House of Screams.

The off-duty officer pulled his gun, prompting the worker to drop the chain saw (which didn’t even have a chain), put up his hands and back away. It was only then the officer, who it was later reported smelled of alcohol, identified himself.

LOAD OF WORRY: Winnipeg construction workers were pooh poohing “facilities” available to them last October on a project at the city’s airport. Several hundred workers dropped their tools (but not their drawers) for about 90 minutes to protest having to use porta-potties, The Canadian Press reported last fall. Workers had previously used a trailer equipped with flush toilets and running water. They reported, however, the general contractor removed the trailer. It then being fall in Winnipeg, the workers argued it was getting too cold to go about one’s business in a porta-pottie. They let their displeasure be known by lining up in front of a sanitation trailer said to be reserved for general contractor staff.

TOUCH DOWN: Some sugar for your coffee? Charging a little extra for seeing a lot more has ended with five employees of an espresso stand near Seattle charged with prostitution, The Associated Press reported in September.

The deal was that customers of Grab-n-Go Espresso could see a show by the bikini-clad staff whose employer apparently subscribes to the notion that “sex” sells. For $20 to $80, that might include bared breasts, undergarments going south, staff preparing lattes and mochas in the buff, licking whipped cream off one another, posing naked for pictures and a twist on “basketball,” in which customers throw wadded up money and staff catch it in their underwear.

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