OHS Canada April/May 2013

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 AP R I L / MAY 2013

C A N A D A

A safety move or slippery slope?

BIG PICTURE

The skinny on obesity among low-wage workers

IN DEEP WATER

Charting a safer path from sea to shore

go with the flow

Building space around nurses' well-being

LINGERING DOUBTS

Beating the odds of toxic dusts

lead them to safety

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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

O B E S I T Y 24

CC A A NNA AD DA A

When Size Matters

APR I L / M AY 2013 Vo lu m e 2 9 , Nu m b e r 3

Employees with sedentary jobs are not the only ones packing on the pounds. So too are low-wage workers doing physically strenuous tasks — but for different reasons.

By Greg Burchell

W O RK PLAC E V IOLEN C E 32

Up in Arms

Is equipping employees with firearms the answer to better workplace protection or could it serve to heighten the propensity for violent encounters on the job?

By Ann Ruppenstein

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F I S H H ARV ES TIN G

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Rough Waters

Fish harvesters face a host of dangers, but recent developments in the sector are helping to make the journey from rough waters to a safe harbour less treacherous.

By Samuel Dunsiger

departments

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S AF E T Y GEAR

Forbidden Grounds

Confined spaces have claimed many workers. Instrumentation devices and gas detectors can help assess the hidden dangers that lurk in these pockets of space.

By Sabrina Nanji

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O CCU PATION AL HY GIEN E

Hauntings from Ground Zero

While 9/11 rescue and recovery workers were found to have elevated cancer risks, the link between cancer incidence and exposure to carcinogenic agents remains elusive.

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By Jason Contant

A Healing Space

Ed itorial

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letters

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Bread, anyone?

Panorama OH &S UP D AT E

Logging practices cited in landslide in British Columbia; no charges in Alberta worker fatality; Saskatchewan refinery fire prompts review; Manitoba highlights farm hazards; Ontario mulls new licensing rules; Newfoundland and Labrador launches silicosis audit; and more.

Enhancing worker well-being may need to start from the ground up. A study found that the physical configuration of a health care facility has a bearing on nurses’ safety.

By Jean Lian

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A cci d ent P revention

Guardians of Safety

Using proper guarding for machinery can help prevent workers from debilitating injuries resulting from contact with pinch points or moving parts.

T i m e O ut

Frozen beauty; coffee, tea or dance; bureau d’amour; Lego-land; Harlem Shake goes underground; bearish demonstration; and more.

Dispatches

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P rofessional d irectory pro d uct showcase Ad I n de x / rea d er service info

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Deadly swig; tweetin’ transportation safety; older, happier; and more.

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H E ALT H WATC H

in this issue

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It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.

— Winston Churchill

www.ohscanada.com

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EDITORIAL

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

Vol. 29, No. 3 APRIL/MAY 2013

Bread, anyone?

I

t was a diagnosis that hit hard and close to home. My fouryear-old daughter has been medically confirmed to be intolerant to dairy, eggs, wheat and soy, amongst other less offending foods.

Wheat makes up a host of staples that include bread, pasta and noodles. The medical report has essentially cancelled out 70 per cent of the foods that make up a normal, healthy diet.

My initiation into the world of gluten-free diet began with shelling out $6 for a loaf of gluten-free bread that bruised my toe when it dropped onto my feet. Unable to bear the thought of his little girl eating brick-bread, my husband promptly bought a bread-maker. Despite his labour of love, our first homemade, gluten-free loaf turned out looking like a bombed-out shelter with a matching hardness to boot.

Welcome to the world of allergies and food intolerances, which are fast becoming — if not already — the new norm. My daughter is not the only special kid who is endowed with an expensive gut. Last week, I chanced upon a big notice board in her school, filled to the edge with photographs of kids who are allergic or intolerant to certain food types, many of which can cause a severe anaphylactic reaction.

I cannot help but ask what is making our kids physically react to basic foods?

While children are not occupationally exposed to chemicals widely used in the manufacturing of various products, exposure can certainly occur through their parents who work in these industries or simply through the use of everyday products.

From formaldehyde found in cosmetics and pressed wood cabinets, parabens in body care products and lead in paint and old plumbing to volatile organic compounds in carpets containing stain-proofing chemicals, the list of noxious substances we are exposed to daily — both as workers manufacturing these products and as consumers using them — seems endless.

A 2012 report, State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization, notes that many endocrine-related diseases and disorders are on the rise. While close to 800 chemicals are known or suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, only a small fraction of these chemicals have been investigated. Due to the wide gaps in knowledge, the study says more research is needed to get “a fuller picture of the health and environment impacts of endocrine disruptors.”

The previous issue of ohs canada published a feature entitled Deadly Mimicry, which discusses the findings of a six-year study indicating that female workers in the automotive plastics industry in Windsor, Ontario, have a heightened risk of breast cancer. Jobs classified as highly exposed to cancer-causing substances and endocrine-disrupting chemicals include automotive plastics, agriculture, food canning, metalworking, bars and the gambling industry.

While I do not work in the manufacturing sector, my fingers are constantly typing on the keyboard, which contains flame retardants commonly found in hightech gadgets. Over the years, I have conducted hundreds of hours of interviews through the telephone — electronic devices which contain bromine and chlorine.

That may have nothing at all to do with the genesis of my daughter’s food hypersensitivity when she was still in utero. Or maybe it has something to do with it.

Nobody knows.

What I do know is when I was a kid, my late grandmother would fastidiously pick out vegetables with leaves gnawed by worms and promptly take the seller to task — if not, wring out a discount for selling her worm-chewed vegetables.

Today, we pay an arm and a leg for vegetables grown organically. And hard as I look, the beautiful sight of vegetables ridden with holes is something that I have not seen in a very, very long time.

Jean Lian

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C A N A D A

EDITOR JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com managing editor jason contant jcontant@ohscanada.com assistant editor greg burchell gburchell@ohscanada.com editorial assistant Sabrina Nanji snanji@ohscanada.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Hazardous substances WILLIAM M. GLENN ART DIRECTOR anne miron PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PHYLLIS WRIGHT PRODUCTION MANAGER gary white DIMITRY EPELBAUM MARKETING SPECIALIST Circulation Manager Barbara Adelt ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER SHEILA HEMSLEY

shemsley@ohscanada.com PUBLISHER peter boxer pboxer@ohscanada.com

PRESIDENT, BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP 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.

WEBSITE: http://www.ohscanada.com INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS contained in this publication have been compiled from sources believed to be reliable and to be representative of the best current opinion on the subject. No warranty, guarantee, nor representation is made

by Business Information Group as to the absolute correctness or sufficiency of any representation contained in this publication.

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Date of issue: APRIL/MAY 2013

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LETTERS

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

TACKLING BLOODBORNE RISKS The introduction of a bylaw could see stricter licensing standards for establishments with bloodborne risks in Toronto. (canadian occupational health and safety news (cohsn), February 25, 2013) What about areas where a person must clean up blood from an incident such as a fight in an arena? Or a first aider on a job site?

Jawnie Wocker

INDUSTRIAL EXCEPTION REPEALED Ontario has repealed the industrial exception, which exempted manufacturers from having a professional engineer supervise certain types of engineering work. (cohsn, February 18, 2013) Unfortunately, this article misses an important point — the Open for Business Act that brought in the repeal of the Industrial Exception also expanded the definition of engineering practice to include the planning and management of activities that have an impact on health and safety. This could mean that everyone who manages health and safety in Ontario must be a licensed engineer.

Confusion is created by one key fault in the definition of ‘engineering practice’. The phrase ‘engineering principles’ is undefined. The definition revolves around this phrase, but Professional Engineers Ontario refuses to define what this means. There is no way to know clearly, without the intervention of the courts, what this means in any given circumstance.

Do these changes require oh&s professionals to be licensed engineers in Ontario? They might.

Doug Nix

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TATTOOS NOT TABOO An arbitrator threw out a dress code regulation requiring staff at a hospital in Ottawa to cover up body ink and piercings. (cohsn, January 28, 2013) I have tattoos. In my opinion, they are tasteful ones (no profanity, nudity, etc.). If the hospital environment is supposed to encourage recovery, I would imagine a tattoo portraying a violent death or lack of respect to gender, race, colour or sexual preference would be contrary to making a patient feel at ease. But who is to say what is offensive? The story says they have to be covered; what one person believes is OK may be offensive to another.

I believe that someone working in health care is, more than likely, going to wear ink that is tasteful or at least, not offensive to the people at large.

Sean

RAIL FATALITY Three workers employed by A&B Rail Services Ltd. were hit by a freight train while doing maintenance work in Edmonton. (cohsn, January 7, 2013) Perhaps working around railroad tracks with hearing protection and no one on lookout isn’t such a good idea. I believe there were two young men last year who thought walking on the tracks in the Edmonton area and listening to loud music was a good idea, much the same situation...

AB Safety Dog

AB Safety Dog stated above “no one on lookout isn’t such a good idea”. No disrespect sir, but this is a total violation of safety and a ridiculous way for anyone to think. Written into regulations, company rules or not, why would anyone put team members or themselves in that hazardous situation? As trackmen, employees-in-charge, safety supervisors,

we know this is not the right thing to do. The A&B incident is definitely tragic and in my opinion, avoidable.

D.A.

GAME CHANGER New research is calling for changes to hockey rules to reduce injuries on the ice. (ohs canada, March 2013) My son is 11, played hockey from the age of four — always a top goal scorer, finesse player; a real joy to watch. He entered his checking year (age 11, minor peewee AA). So far this year, he has been to the hospital three times — the last time in an ambulance with a concussion. He is out for the year. Next year, we [will] have him out of competitive hockey to join the Toronto NonContact Hockey League.

As a hockey dad, I can tell you that checking is killing this sport... I have been a coach for a couple of years and have seen countless injuries, but a concussion... that is really scary, symptoms like getting dizzy or getting headaches, just doing nothing. I am sure it will all get figured out. Hopefully, not too many kids get too badly hurt in the process.

Danny

The checking to the head call (as it is in minor hockey) should be applied at all levels. If you contact the head, you are penalized accordingly, even if it is just a “face wash.” The Canadian Lacrosse Association has recently put in place additional penalties to help eliminate fighting in our game as well. If you fight, you are removed from the game, even at the major lacrosse levels (previously, only a major penalty was called).

Steve O’Shaughnessy

Would you like to share a comment?

Send an email to jlian@ohscanada.com.

Letters may be edited for style, grammar and length.

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1. Fire

Safety: British Columbia has formed the Fire Inspection and Prevention Initiative Steering Committee to address gaps in BC Fire Code inspections following two sawmill fires last year. The committee will develop a referral system to triage BC Fire Code compliance issues to the appropriate fire inspection jurisdiction, increase Source: WorkSafeBC training opportunities and update educational material about fire safety.

On Hold: WorkSafeBC has temporarily frozen all injury management or return-to-work Certificate of Recognition (COR) certifications until a new audit tool and revised auditor training have been put into place following Source: WorkSafeBC a review. The freeze does not effect COR certifications for oh&s and SAFE.

2.

3. First First: Physiotherapists in Alberta have been given first reporter status starting from February 1, 2013. The adjudication on whether or not a claim has time-loss can now be made based on a physiotherapist’s diagnosis and fitness-for-work status provided in the assessment report for soft tissue injuries only. Source: WCB Alberta

Blitz Results: A blitz conducted last year by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour found that temporary help agencies have been overworking and underpaying their employees. Of the 105 inspections conducted, 76 employSource: Ontario’s Ministry of Labour ers had monetary violations, mostly for public holiday pay.

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5. Factory

Inferno: A fire decimated a flagship cheese curd factory in St. Albert, Ontario on February 3. It took 10 hours, seven tanker trucks and almost 500 metres of high-volume hose to get the fire under control.

Source: Canadian Occupational Health and Safety News (COHSN)

6. Found

Guilty: A dump truck driver and a contractor in Nova Scotia have been found guilty of failing to take proper safety precautions after a 12-year-old boy was struck and killed by a boom truck entering a construction site in Cape Breton in August of 2010. The driver will be sentenced under the province’s Occupational Source: The Canadian Press Health and Safety Act on May 3.

Penalty issued to a company in Nova Scotia over a worker fatality in Ontario. The signaller for a crane unloading drill casings from a truck was struck by one of the suspended casings. The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the bottom row of the pyramid of casings was chocked or wedged to prevent motion.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour

11,000

Time-loss claims processed in British Columbia over the last five years for incidents involving workers being struck by falling objects.

Source: WorkSafeBC

10,000 litres

Jet fuel in a fuel truck when it overturned on the tarmac of Calgary International Airport on March 11. Emergency crews had to drain the fuel by drilling a hole in the fuel compartment before tipping the vehicle over with a tow truck.

Source: COHSN

7. Under Water: A wildlife enforcement officer patrolling on a snowmobile was killed when the ice broke Source: COHSN out from under the snowmobile in the Hawke’s Bay region of Newfoundland on February 22.

360°

Whistleblowers vindicated Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in Norfolk, Virginia was fined $1.1 million for wrongfully firing three employees who reported workplace injuries. The company has also been ordered to expunge the disciplinary records of the whistleblowers, post a notice regarding employees’ whistleblower protection rights and train workers on these rights.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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33%

Fewer disabling injuries in federally regulated workplaces between 2000 and 2010.

Source: COHSN

OH&S UPDATE

Little change in accident rates FEDERAL — Accident rates across the

country’s rail, aviation, marine and pipeline sectors held steady through 2012 with an average of eight a day — the same as in 2011, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec reported on February 19.

However, there was a slight increase in the number of fatalities. Of the 2,881 total occurrences reported in 2012, fatalities saw a marginal increase to 157, compared to 154 in 2011.

Railway fatalities totalled 82 last year, up 11 from 2011 and six higher than the five-year average, despite 20 fewer passenger train accidents.

Marine accidents continue to go south, falling by 12 per cent since 2011 and 27 per cent lower than the five-year average. The board says it is encouraged by the subsequent drop in fishing vessel accidents and fatalities.

The aviation sector struggled, with air taxi operations making up almost 50 per cent of commercial air incidents.

The entire sector saw a 13 per cent increase in accidents, although the board notes that at 290, 2012 was still comparable to the five-year average.

List of penalties released RICHMOND — WorkSafeBC has revealed the province’s worst offenders of 2012, who racked up hundreds of penalties and millions of dollars in fines.

The safety regulator released its annual penalty report on February 25, which documents the province’s top violators of the Workers Compensation Act and occupational health and safety regulations.

“To target industries and employers that present the greatest risk to worker health and safety, we have a high-risk strategy. It is based on the number of serious injuries, fatalities and high-claim costs in industry sectors and subsectors,” says Megan Johnston, communications officer at WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia.

A total of 260 penalties were issued against 225 employers. Of those infrac-

tions, six involved fatalities. The worst offending industries include steep slope roofing with 83 penalties, followed by framing work/contracting and construction/renovation at 35 and 25 penalties respectively. Employers from the construction sector accounted for almost 85 per cent of infractions, due mostly in part to inadequate use of fall protection (59 per cent) and exposure to asbestos (14 per cent).

To reflect the current safety standard, the maximum penalty that can possibly be applied under the Workers Compensation Act is adjusted each year. The maximum penalty permissible for 2012 was adjusted at $596,435.35, amounting to a total of nearly $3 million in fines, the report notes.

Al Johnson, WorkSafeBC’s vicepresident of prevention services, says while WorkSafeBC works with employers to ensure that they understand their legal responsibilities to provide safe and healthy workplaces, “our officers will impose a penalty or pursue court processes against employers who repeatedly fail to comply with the law.”

Tanning beds to get warning labels FEDERAL — Clear warning labels could soon become a requirement in tanning salons across the country, following an announcement by federal health minister Leona Aglukkaq on February 24. The labels will be have to be placed on tanning beds known to emit ultraviolet rays and have the potential to cause cancer to warn users and operators alike.

The announcement follows the posting of proposed changes to the labelling requirements for tanning equipment under the Radiation Emitting Devices Regulations.

Information from the World Health Organization notes that the risk of the skin developing melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — increases by 75 per cent when the use of tanning beds starts before the age of 35. The International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France also lists sun beds in the highest cancer-risk category, labelling them as carcinogenic to humans.

Under the federal government’s proposed changes, all tanning beds must visibly display explicit warnings, such as “tanning equipment can cause cancer.” While the immediate risk is mainly to the person using the tanning bed, the maintenance and day-to-day operations of such equipment can have negative health repercussions for salon employees.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational

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Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario, tanning salon workers are usually exposed to sunlamps for only a brief period of time, for instance, during routine cleaning. However, as they often need to climb into the beds to perform maintenance work, precautions should be taken and appropriate personal protective equipment, such as gloves and goggles, be worn.

Dr. Gordon Searles, president of the Canadian Dermatology Association in Ottawa, says the move by Health Canada “is an important first step to protecting the health and well-being not only of youth, but of all Canadians.”

However, he thinks that more remains to be done, adding that youth under the age of 18 should be banned from using tanning beds across the country.

“Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, but it is also one of the most preventable,” Pamela Fralick, president of the Canadian Cancer Society in Toronto, says in a statement. “The Canadian Cancer Society has called upon all levels of government for strict regulation of the indoor tanning industry. Stronger labelling and clearer information about the dangers of tanning beds may reduce the number of young Canadians exposed to this carcinogen, and this is an important step in the right direction.”

— By Sabrina Nanji

due diligence or flaws in regulation contributed and what could be done differently to prevent a recurrence,” notes a statement from the Forest Practices Board.

“The board found that BC Timber Sales’ operational and technical practices were sound. Overall, the board finds that [they] acted in a responsible manner after the slide event, though there was no legislated requirement for it to do so.”

While no workers were injured, the board’s decision has raised the possibility of legislative changes to reduce the risk of future landslides. Much of WorkSafeBC-regulated safety practices relate to hazards that have an immediate effect on a worker, such as obstructed visibility when logs are not stored properly in transit, which could lead to road accidents or runaway lumber.

However, Shane Bowden, sales manager for the BC Timber Sales’ Kootenay division, says his company has since introduced changes to mitigate risky practices. “In the fall of 2012, BC Timber Sales fully rehabilitated the upper section of the Laird Creek Road to minimize the risk of any further landslide

Timber firm cited in landslide VICTORIA — A recent ruling from forest safety auditors in British Columbia has determined that the actions of a timber company were partly to blame for a landslide that occurred two years ago.

The Forest Practices Board, which conducts audits and investigates how well the industry and government meet forestry standards, released in February the findings of its investigation into a landslide at Laird Creek that took place in May, 2010 in the Kootenay Lake area.

The landslide caused damage to the water supply of about 100 homes nearby, the cause of which was partly determined to be from the logging practices of BC Timber Sales prior to 2007. The board concluded that the logging company developed an inherently unstable watershed supply on the slopes draining into the creek.

“The board was asked to examine three aspects of the incident: whether danger to the water supply was adequately addressed, whether a lack of

or erosion event attributable to the road system, which could impact down slope elements at risk, including domestic water quality and fish habitat.”

Bowden adds that his team has performed road rehabilitation by removing culverts, carrying out re-vegetation, setting up sediment traps and introducing a terrain stability model, which uses a risk management approach to determine the need for and the extent of a geotechnical review of the land. The results are then integrated into road construction plans to eliminate potential hazards.

fatalities a sobering reminder NANAIMO — The year has just passed the first quarter and three road fatalities involving logging trucks have already occurred, the BC Forest Safety Council reported on February 20.

Two truckers were killed in two separate collisions on January 7. A week later, another logging truck collided with a passenger vehicle and claimed a 57-year-old driver. The safety council

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says these are the first logging truck fatalities in the northern part of the province in almost four years. “This shocking start to 2013 is a sobering reminder to employers, employees and all drivers to double their efforts to use or acquire the skills and strategies necessary to be prepared for tough and unexpected winter road conditions, and to take a professional, leadership role to keep the trail safe for all road users,” the council notes.

No charges laid in homicide EDMONTON — Alberta’s prosecution ser-

vice has decided not to proceed with occupational health and safety charges in the death of a mental health care worker two years ago.

On February 13, 2011, 41-year-old caregiver Valerie Wolski was suffocated while caring for a mentally impaired

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man at his home in Camrose, Alberta.

Terrence Saddleback, 25, was charged with manslaughter, but was found to be mentally unfit to plead and stand trial.

“It was the decision of the Crown prosecutor not to proceed with oh&s charges in this case,” Alberta Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General spokesperson Michelle Davio wrote in an email. “The Crown reviewed all the evidence and determined that the criteria the prosecution service uses to determine whether to proceed with charges were not met.” She adds that the date for a fatality inquiry into Wolski’s death has yet to be determined.

Following her death, Alberta Human Services issued orders to Wolski’s employer, the Canadian Mental Health Association, to produce documents related to training materials and work procedures, but further details were not made available. However, police reports point to Saddleback’s extensive history of assaulting workers.

Rachel Notley, Alberta NDP’s MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona and the party’s Alberta Human Services critic, alleges that the provincial government also recommended orders to be written against the contractor, the Persons with Developmental Disabilities Program Central Region Community Board, but it was successfully appealed. “The decision of that successful appeal has not yet been publicly released. We should find out exactly why no one is being held responsible for this,” she argues.

The Alberta NDP is calling on the government to release the April, 2012 appeal decision from the Occupational Health and Safety Council to expedite the fatality inquiry and conduct a larger public inquiry into mental health services in the province. “This is a really urgent problem and waiting around four or five years for a fatality inquiry is not good enough,” she contends.

A little more than a year after Wolski was murdered, another caregiver in Camrose was killed on the job. On May 12, 2012, officers from the Camrose Police Service found the body of 61-yearold Dianne McClements in the downstairs area of the Marler Supported Independent Living home, which helps teenagers learn to live independently.

An autopsy concluded that McClements died of multiple sharp injuries. A 17-year-old resident of the home was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and theft of the worker’s vehicle.

crew members rescued after vessel sinks VANCOUVER — The Canadian Coast Guard’s rescue of two fishermen after their boat sank off a coast just west of Vancouver has raised safety concerns following the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard base.

On March 6, the Allaverdy went down off the coast of Point Grey, British Columbia, but two crew members managed to stay afloat by fashioning a makeshift survival raft.

Dan Bate, communications officer for the Canadian Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, confirms that the Coast Guard’s craft arrived at the position where a towing vessel was passing through the area and had spotted two persons in the water tied to rubber fenders and wearing lifejackets.

“The occupants of the fishing vessel had done themselves the good service of strapping fishing floats and buoys around their waist, as well as donning their lifejackets to keep their torsos out of the water as much as possible,” Bate says. Both members were treated for hypothermia and transferred to the care of the BC Ambulance service.

The incident reignited the debate over the federal government’s decision to close the Kitsilano Coast Guard detachment earlier this year due to tightening of the budget, raising concerns that the move could negatively affect rescue times.

“To suddenly close the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station

that serves Canada’s busiest port in the middle of the winter with no notice is simply outrageous,” charges Ottawa-based Christine Collins, national president of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees.

Christy Clark, the British Columbia Premier who also serves as the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, says in a video blog that the closure of the coast guard station was disappointing. “The recent decision to relocate to an inshore boat at Stanley Park still leaves us with a dangerous drop in service for eight months out of the year.”

The federal minister of fisheries and oceans, Keith Ashfield, affirmed that safety in Vancouver’s harbour remains a priority when he announced the addition of the inshore boat near Stanley Park.

“The Canadian Coast Guard provides annual contributions to the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and to the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary corporations across Canada to cover certain expenses, such as operations, training and administration,” minister Ashfield says in a statement. “In addition to the new funding worth $100,000 annually for the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, the government will be adding a new inshore rescue boat in a downtown Vancouver location.”

— By Sabrina Nanji

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Worker rescued after fall CALGARY — A construction worker was

rescued by firefighters after falling about five metres down a concrete shaft in Calgary. On February 20, the worker was strapped to a stretcher by confined space rescue specialists from the Calgary Fire Department and hoisted up a ladder before being transferred to emer-

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gency services personnel.

Occupational health and safety officers were investigating the incident, a statement from the fire department says.

Third fire prompts review REGINA — A third fire in less than two years has hit the Federated Co-operatives Limited Co-op Refinery Complex in

Regina, prompting the company to scrutinize its health and safety programs.

Shortly after midnight on February 11, a fire in a coker unit at the downtown oil refinery blew the tin roof off the building in which it was housed, sending a plume of fire streaming about 25 metres into the night sky.

Vic Huard, the refinery’s vice-president of corporate affairs, reports that the incident took place in the one of the refinery’s heavy oil units. The fire was contained and there were no injuries, as few workers were in the vicinity of the flames.

“There were three contractors in close proximity there. Although they were not evacuated off the site, they were simply mustered to their work trailers and were accounted for,” he says. The refinery’s internal response team extinguished the blaze within half an hour. The fire department took a section of the chromium pipe involved in the blast for investigation.

The province’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety will review findings from the fire department and the employer’s investigation to determine if enforcement action is necessary.

The coker discharge pump was last inspected in 2010. As the unit is on a three-year turnaround, it was set for inspection and revamping on March 27 this year. As the incident took place very close to the turnaround, Huard suggests that it could have an impact on the refinery’s inspection and maintenance routines. However, no decision would be made until results from the fire department’s investigation are made available.

Huard says this latest incident is not related to the one that occurred last May when the overheating of an improperly installed new bearing resulted in $7.5 million in damages to a pump, but no injuries. Following the incident, the company evaluated its training for mechanics installing the bearings.

In October of 2011, an explosion caused by the rupturing of a gas line in the refinery’s diesel processing area injured 52 and sent 13 workers to hospital.

Gerard Kay, deputy fire chief with Regina Fire and Protective Services, says the string of fires at the facility in recent years do not pose a concern to the fire department as they are not the result of a systemic problem.

“They have got a 19-point action plan in place right now, which addresses the majority of the concerns from the previous incidents and would take care of this incident also,” Kay notes.

farm hazards under focus in safety week WINNIPEG — Education of farm operators and the hazards they face on the job was the focus of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, which ran from March 10 to 16.

The event, sponsored by Farm Credit Canada, was launched by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) in Winnipeg and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture in Ottawa.

One of the goals of the safety week was to bring free onfarm inspection training to agricultural communities. Farmers and ranchers were also encouraged to implement the best practices CASA outlines in its FarmSafe Plan, which includes performing hazard assessments, implementing appropriate control measures and providing ongoing training to workers.

“Our intention is to empower and equip producers to make more informed decisions about their work practices so that they can minimize everyone’s exposure to hazardous conditions,” says Glen Blahey, CASA’s agricultural health and safety specialist in Winnipeg.

The event, which has run for more than a decade, also encourages farmers to develop and practice a written health and safety plan. “With an industry that is growing, there is even more need to ensure safety in our business practices,” Remi Lemoine, vice-president and chief executive officer of Farm Credit Canada in Regina, says in a statement.

The Department of Agriculture in Nova Scotia says they have been working to ensure that farms in the province uphold

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Information from the Canadian Agricultural Industry Reporting indicates that more than 1,700 farm-related deaths occurred in the country between 1990 and 2005. “The agricultural industry is made up of a cross-section of operations, ranging from family-owned and operated holdings to corporate entities,” Blahey says, citing the lack of an effective communication system with producers.

He adds that many producers have not had an opportunity to develop a knowledge base in workplace health and safety matters, considering that “occupational safety and health legislation varies greatly in application and enforcement across Canada.”

Hypertension, low job control linked TORONTO — A feeling of helplessness and low control over one’s work environment and conditions has been linked to hypertension in men but not women, a new study has found.

The study by the Institute of Work & Health (IWH) in Toronto, published in the January/February issue of Canadian Journal of Public Health, looked at more than 6,600 workers aged

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New licensing rules in the works TORONTO — Tattoo parlours and hair salons in Toronto could

face tougher health and safety requirements if city council introduces a bylaw that will beef up licensing standards for establishments where exposure to blood is common.

On February 20, the Board of Health presented Toronto councillors with stricter regulations of personal services settings, which include tattoo parlours, barber shops, acupuncture facilities, hair salons, body piercing studios and any workplace where workers and their clients are at risk of blood-borne diseases and infections.

“The risk is not only to folks who get the body piercings or tattoos, it is also for the workers there,” says Joe Mihevc, Ward 21 councillor and chair of the health board. “Infection can pass to the operator as well, so it is also about wearing appropriate protective gear.”

The new rules will require these facilities to apply for licences after regular inspections from the city, which would cost $319, plus $210 annually. The system mimics Toronto’s DineSafe program, which requires restaurants to display a green (pass), yellow (conditional pass) or red (fail) card on the window to inform customers of inspection results.

The proposed changes were met with mixed responses from the industry. While some argue that the fees are too

between 35 and 60 who had not been previously diagnosed with hypertension, were not self-employed and were working more than 10 hours a week for more than 20 weeks in the last year.

“Our interest in this particular piece of work was to look at a group of workingage residents of Ontario to see if there is any risk associated with a characteristic of employment called job control and the progression to the development of hypertension,” says Cam Mustard, IWH president and senior scientist. “We might not often think of the onset of hypertension as a work-related condition.”

Using records of health care utilization, researchers followed workers over a nine-year period and found that about 20 per cent of men and 18 per cent of women developed hypertension.

Among the group of men who reported low job control, 27 per cent were diagnosed with hypertension, while only 18 per cent of those who indicated high job control were diagnosed with the condition. The number of cases where hypertension could be attributed to low job control was second only to obesity and trumped smoking, drinking, lack of exercise and inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables.

“Primary prevention programs to reduce hypertension are largely aimed at changing unhealthy behaviours,” IWH

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steep, others fear that inspectors might not fully understand the real risks of their workplaces. In an open letter from the Greater Toronto Tattoo Association, industry officials expressed their concerns with the new licensing system.

“A yellow, or conditional pass sign displayed would be a literal kiss of death for any tattoo establishment. It has been our experience over the past few years that health inspections have been conducted by individuals who, by the nature of the questions they ask, often indicate that they know little or nothing about the tattooing process.”

The letter adds that inspection result postings should be limited to critical issues where the health and safety of the client is reasonably at risk, such as improper sterilization, lack of barrier control and improper skin preparation.

Toronto Health has already established a safe practice guideline for workers who face threats from blood-borne infections. That includes using sterile and single-use needles and blades, wearing gloves during invasive procedures, safely discarding disposable material, and cleaning and disinfecting instruments and equipment between clients.

The proposal will be tabled at the Municipal Licensing and Standards Committee meeting in the coming months.

— By Sabrina Nanji

scientist and research lead Dr. Peter Smith says in a statement. “But this study suggests that prevention strategies might also assess the potential for modifying work environments as a hypertension control intervention.”

However, Mustard notes that it is not clear how low job control can be reduced in a way that would have an impact on the incidence of hypertension.

Instances of low job control had no impact on women with regards to cases of hypertension, although more women were in the lowest job control category.

asbestos found in mine TORONTO — Chrysotile asbestos has been discovered at a shutdown nickel mine near Timmins, Ontario.

Liberty Mines Inc. announced that the substance was identified in the ore body of its McWatters Mine. Additional testing and further independent analysis will be conducted to “determine the impact on the economic feasibility of restarting mine operations,” the company notes in a statement on January 23.

It will also review the conditions in other projects, including its mill. Operations at the McWatters Mine, which was running from 2009 to 2012, were put on hold due to low prices for nickel.

Scene disturbance nets fine LINDSAY — A supervisor with a numbered construction company operating as Rodco Enterprises in Haliburton, Ontario was fined $2,500 on February 22 for interfering with the scene of a critical workplace injury.

The incident took place in December of 2010 when workers were laying sheets of chip board on a deck at a residential construction site. One of the workers stepped backwards between two deck joists and fell almost four metres through the deck framing, sustaining fractures and a back injury.

The supervisor directed workers to install guardrails before investigators from the provincial labour ministry arrived at the scene and without the permission of a ministry inspector. The company was also fined $50,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure that a guardrail or fall arrest system was used while workers were exposed to a fall hazard of more than three metres.

Hospital guilty of violations PEMBROKE — Asbestos violations have

netted a hospital in Ontario with a $60,000 fine on February 27 after in-

spectors found maintenance staff working without adequate protection.

In October of 2011, workers were drilling into a wall that was assumed to contain asbestos. While workers had their masks on, the drill was not equipped with a HEPA filter, the workers were not given asbestos training and were not aware that they were working in an area with asbestos.

The ministry also found that the supervisor did not have the knowledge, training or experience necessary for work involving asbestos.

A separate incident between March and April of 2012 saw workers without protection drilling and removing ceiling tiles where friable material could be located. Pembroke Regional Hospital Inc. pleaded guilty as an owner and as an employer to four safety violations.

GRIEVANCE filed over dismissal VAUGHAN — A fire officer who was dismissed over sexual assault allegations has filed a grievance against the city.

The former chief training officer with the City of Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service was fired on October 8, 2012 on “grounds which include sexual harassment and engaging in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a subordinate female firefighter,” arbitrator James Hayes wrote in his preliminary decision.

“While the city has one of the highest percentages of female firefighters amongst employers, the fire department remains a male-dominated workplace and that there is real reluctance for some witnesses to come forward,” he adds.

The day after the firing, the Vaughan Professional Fire Fighter’s Association (VPFFA) filed a grievance against the city on behalf of the worker.

Ted Hallas, manager of corporate communications at the City of Vaughan, says worker safety is a priority. “The city complies with all relevant health and safety legislation and regulations, and has policies in place dealing with health and safety,” including those that deal with workplace harassment and violence, he stresses.

Jason McInnis, vice-president of the VPFFA, says each of the workers will be fairly represented. “At this time, the VPFFA executive committee is prepared to state that a member has filed a grievance and the association is following that process through.”

electrocution claims worker OTTAWA — A worker in his 30s was electrocuted while doing work on the rooftop of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Ottawa on February 24.

William Lin, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Labour in Toronto, says the employee of Shouldice Mechanical was tending to a walk-in cooler, which had an access point on the building’s rooftop when the incident took place at about 11 p.m.

“The worker was taken to the hospital and it is believed that the worker suffered fatal injuries as a result of electrocution,” Lin reports. The Ottawa police service, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority and the Electrical Safety Authority also attended the scene.

The restaurant was cited with failing to take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances for the protection of a worker from an electrical shock hazard from the capacitor located on the restaurant’s rooftop, which was identified as a walk-in freezer.

Several orders relating to actions the company must take to ensure the utmost safety of their employees was also issued. They include ensuring that the exposed electrical light bulb in the roof access closet must be suitable for use and not able to be struck by a worker; a guard rail must be installed; and the fixed roof access ladder located in the lobby closet has side rails that extend 90 centimetres above the landing.

Poor instructions cited MONTREAL — Quebec’s workplace safety watchdog has placed part of the blame on an amusement park operator in Montreal after a worker was killed while fixing a roller coaster that was operational.

The findings of an investigation, released by the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) in midFebruary, determined that ambiguous instructions from park owners La Ronde resulted in the death of 67-year-old Hubert Fortin.

The incident took place in July, 2012 when Fortin received a note from his employers requesting him to repair a pump on one of the roller coasters. His duties usually involved only plumbing of the park’s restaurants and other buildings.

“On the day of the accident, they

asked him to change a pump that was under one of the rides. So he was really not used to doing that kind of work — most of the time, he never worked on the rides,” reports Jacques Nadeau, the CSST’s official spokesperson.

Instead of repairing a pump at the Vertigo ride, Fortin went to the Vampire roller coaster, unlocked the enclosed area, positioned himself underneath the ride and started working on one of the pumps in spite of warnings from coworkers that the ride was fully operational. Fortin was hit in the back of the head and died shortly afterwards.

Nadeau says his team has urged the company to change some of its safety measures, such as providing workers with clear and concise instructions for maintenance. “[Fortin] went to the wrong ride and did not know where to go. If he had taken the right route, he would not have even had to go under the ride.”

While the CSST has yet to determine the amount of the penalty to be issued at press time, the company is fighting the charges and will table the matter in court. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear colleague and disagree with the conclusions of the CSST as presented in its report, including the cause of last July’s accident,” Catherine Tremblay, La Ronde’s communications manager, says in a statement.

“Despite training on proper procedures and a direct reminder immediately prior to this tragedy, our colleague inexplicably entered a locked and restricted danger zone.” Tremblay adds that La Ronde will continue to work with experts and the CSST to ensure that they provide the highest standard of safety and security to employees and guests.

negligence cause of fatality MONTREAL — The Ville de Montreal is responsible for the on-duty death of a rookie firefighter who was killed after his own engine backed up onto him last summer, says a report released on February 25 by the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST).

The report concludes that the city of Montreal acted in a manner that compromised the health and safety of its workers. Thierry Godfrind, who joined the fire brigade in 2010, was responding to a call at a residence in the St. Laurent borough in Montreal in July, 2012. While driving to the scene, the truck overshot

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Search for missing fishermen scaled back HALIFAX — Five Maritime fishermen are missing and presumed dead after their ship capsized about 120 kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia.

At 6 p.m. on February 19, the Halifax Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) made the call to reduce the full-scale search after scanning more than 18,000 square kilometres of water, turning the investigation over to the Nova Scotia RCMP as a missing persons case. The five crew members are Joel Hopkins, Cole and Katlin Nickerson, Billy Hatfield and Tyson Townsend.

“Any hope of survival has diminished significantly due to frigid water and poor weather conditions,” says a statement from the Joint Task Force (Atlantic), which is responsible for all search and rescue operations involving aircraft and marine emergencies in Eastern Canada.

Just before midnight on February 17, the emergency locator signal from Miss Ally — a 45-foot-long fishing vessel registered out of Shelburne, Nova Scotia and fishing out of Woods Harbour — was received by the search and rescue co-ordinator. The centre scrambled two Canadian Coast Guard ships, two Royal Canadian Air Force planes and a helicopter, and an aircraft operated by provincial airlines and contracted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

A U.S. Coast Guard aircraft from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, also rendered assistance.

the address by about 100 metres.

“So the vehicle had to back up about 50 metres to position itself as required,” says CSST’s spokesperson Dominique David. Before the vehicle backed up, 39-year-old Godfrind and two other members got out of the vehicle and walked to the address. Godfrind was retrieving a tool from the back of the truck’s lateral compartment when the vehicle backed up and fatally struck him.

Patricia Lowe, a city of Montreal spokesperson, reports that the fire department launched an internal inquiry and developed an action plan following the incident.

“The department’s health and safety division also produced a video for firefighters, which features all the required safety checks that must be carried out on trucks before they leave the station — mirrors, flashing lights, sirens,” she reports. Lowe adds that directives on backup maneuvers and positioning of service vehicles were further incorporated into training practices.

Chris Ross, vice-president of health and safety at the Montreal Firefighter’s Association, thinks that an employer is legally responsible for the health and safety of its members.

“When one of my members does

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On the morning of February 18, the American craft spotted what was believed to be the raft from the fishing vessel.

However, conditions at the time were “very, very poor, with 10-metre seas, hurricane-force winds and almost zero visibility,” reports Lieutenant Peter Ryan, public relations officer for Joint Task Force Atlantic.

The stormy weather hindered search efforts and forced the Canadian helicopter to return to base during the night.

At the beginning of the search, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted the vessel’s hull and dropped a marker, but due to the fast movement of the rough seas, nothing came of it.

“Survivability models are something the [JRCC] looks at as a rule of thumb and many factors can impact this,” Ryan says. “If someone is in an immersion suit, 24 hours is the model that is normally used but water temperature, the sea state, the air temperature, the winds and whatnot all play a factor in that.”

After taking over the investigation, the RCMP set up a command post and community hall in Woods Harbour to meet with and the families of the missing crew. Superintendent Sylvie Bourassa-Muise, district policing officer of the Nova Scotia RCMP, says their mission is to assist in co-ordinating the recovery effort and ensure that proper support to the families and the community is provided.

— By Greg Burchell

something wrong, the employer is quick with discipline. So I think it is only normal that the employer should be held accountable for his responsibilities as well,” Ross suggests.

Ross adds that his team is pushing for the establishment of a joint committee tasked with enhancing fire engine safety by focusing on technological advances.

Beginning this year, all incoming fire trucks are equipped with a three-camera system that covers blind spots on both sides of the truck and the rear.

“The provincial health and safety board found that the training and procedures for the safe backing up of a fire apparatus were vague, if not non-existent,” Ross says. “With proper procedures and the right equipment, this and most other accidents could be avoided.”

new safety rules for truckers FREDERICTON — Beginning in April, private truck operators working on highway projects and contracts in New Brunswick will be subject to new safety training requirements, the province’s ministry of transportation and infrastructure announced on February 15.

The new rules, developed in co-op-

eration with the New Brunswick Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association, require truckers to complete three training modules relating to occupational health and safety orientation, WHMIS training and Work Area Traffic Control Manual Awareness training.

The traffic control training is available at no cost on the department’s website, while the WHMIS and oh&s orientation programs will have to be taken through a third-party provider and are half-day or day-long courses, the statement adds.

Poor reception a risk at sea CANSO — Poor cellphone reception in the Maritimes is being cited as a health and safety risk for the fishing industry.

Fisherman Sandy Kavanaugh told the media on March 4 that poor cellphone reception is hindering the ability of his peers to communicate in his neighbourhood of Canso, Nova Scotia and on Chedabucto Bay. Cellphones are used by fishermen to request clearance to dock with their catch and serve as a back-up means of communication. Kavanaugh says confusion and disorganization at the marinas often occur when poor reception hinders

fishermen from obtaining permission to dock after being out at sea.

“We can’t go fishing until we get a number to go out, and we can’t come in until we get a number to come in,” Kavanaugh says. “If you get a fish, you have got to call to get a number so you can land at the wharf.”

He adds that he has circulated petitions pushing for better cell phone coverage in the bay area. He also claims that the problem has reached the point where one fisherman had to install his own personal nine-metre antenna and a booster to his boat to improve reception.

Guysborough-Sheet Harbour MLA Jim Boudreau says he will work with cellphone service providers to assess whether provision of more towers or better reception is feasible in the remote area.

firm charged over fatality ST. JOHN’S — A construction company in

Corner Brook, Newfoundland is facing charges over a fatal incident that occurred in December of 2010.

A worker at a construction camp, located about 50 kilometres from Forteau in southern Labrador, was doing maintenance work on the camp’s water supply system when a pressurized water tank nearby ruptured, causing fatal injuries.

Following an investigation by Service NL’s oh&s branch, a statement from the ministry on February 27 says Johnson’s Construction Limited was charged with failing to ensure that it provided and maintained a safe workplace; the equipment was capable of safely performing its functions and used and maintained according to manufacturer’s instructions; and that sufficient instruction and training was provided.

The worker’s supervisor was charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of workers under his supervision, and to provide proper written or oral instructions regarding precautions to be taken.

audit on silicosis launched ST. JOHN’S — Service NL is conducting

a medical audit to follow up on a study launched 40 years ago into lung diseases affecting workers at two mines in the Labrador West region.

The provincial government announced on February 25 that the twoyear audit, conducted by Toronto-based

Morneau Shepell, will look at 2,000 miners who have worked or are working in the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) and Wabush mines for a total of more than three years.

The audit will look into areas, such as whether or not existing health monitoring programs comply with the established standards set out in the Silica Code of Practice and review existing standards and protocols for assisting workers with abnormal chest X-rays to ensure potential hazards are clearly communicated to them.

Nick McGrath, minister of Service NL in St. John’s, says the purpose of the voluntary medical audit will help determine how successful its prevention efforts have been. “What we would hope to find is in the last decade or decade and a half, we have progressed far enough and put measures in place to avoid industrial diseases, such as silicosis from happening.”

The silicosis study began in the late ’70s. As the average age of the workers studied was only about 40, it did not account for the long latency period of silicosis development, which can fall between 20 and 40 years.

“But because of that [study], there were recommendations put forward to occupational health and safety about the medical surveillance program and actual sampling programs, and what we should do to ensure people are not exposed to silica,” says Colleen Rixon, IOC’s health and safety superintendent.

Ron Thomas, president of United Steelworkers Local 5795 in Labrador City representing workers in the IOC mine, says he is hopeful that it could lead to early detection for some of his members, many of whom are develop-

ing respiratory problems. “There is no cure for silicosis or cancer, but at least with early detection, you can try to slow down the progress of the disease.”

charges laid in worker injury ST. JOHN’S — A workplace incident that took place in January of 2011 has resulted in charges being laid against a company in Paradise, Newfoundland.

Service NL announced on February 5 that Steelfab Industries Ltd. was charged with six violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations after the positioning hook used to hold a trailer being prepped for paint broke and struck a worker, resulting in soft-tissue injuries to his side and back.

Charges pertain to the failure to provide a safe workplace and equipment capable of safely performing the work; ensure unsafe conditions found during an inspection (required to be undertaken by the employer) were addressed; ascertain that a hook on a lifting device incorporated a safety latch and the working load limit of the riggings was known.

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

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DISPATCHES

Transportation board takes safety to Twitter, YouTube

By Sabrina Nanji

T

he Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada is urging the federal government to take more definitive action when it comes to safety on runways.

Since 2010, the TSB has identified runway overruns and landing accidents as among the nine areas on its watchlist that need to be addressed to mitigate risks in the air, marine and rail sectors. In an effort to underscore transportation risks and motivate the federal government to take steps to address the concerns identified, the TSB launched a social media blitz in February by putting out YouTube videos, tweeting on Twitter and posting images to Flickr. Previous YouTube videos outlined the hazards associated with rail and marine issues, while the more recent ones talk about air safety.

As pilots rely on very specific information to calculate a safe landing distance, the watchlist notes that most runway overruns and landing accidents occur when accurate data is not received in a timely fashion. That usually happens when rain, ice, snow and slush interfere with the landing distance information, resulting in an airplane overshooting the runway and endangering passengers and crew on board.

“On a global scale, at least one aircraft per month runs off the runway. In Canada, the rate of runway overruns is nearly twice the world average — and when runways are wet, this rate is almost four times as high,” notes one of the videos discussing landing accidents and runway overruns. “We first raised the issue of runway overruns and landing accidents back in 2010 with the launch of our first safety watchlist. But since then, the number of accidents has not significantly decreased.”

Mark Clitsome, the safety board’s director of investigations at the air branch, says airports in Canada must follow the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) recommended standards for runway and safety areas.

“There is no regulation to have what they call a runway and safety area. [The ICAO] recommends 300 metres, but right now their standard that countries must follow is 150 metres and Canada is not following that,” he says.

Transport Canada, the governing body handling national transportation issues, is assessing the risks cited by the TSB, as are individual airlines. One obstacle Clitsome sees is that in some terrain, runways cannot be extended.

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“We understand that there are areas where you cannot extend that safety area — you might be in the middle of a downtown area or near a mountain or a lake where you can’t extend, but there are other options.”

Clitsome cites the engineered material arresting systems (EMAS), designed to decelerate the aircraft without damaging its landing gear. That usually involves an arrester bed made up of a grouping of crushable cellular concrete blocks that reliably and predictably crush under the weight of the airplane.

Information from Transport Canada notes that there are currently no EMAS on any runways in the country.

Sabrina Nanji is editorial assistant of health and safety news.

canadian occupational

Rookie first responders at risk of mental trauma

By Jean Lian

G

reen horns in police, firefighting and other protective services who are repeatedly exposed to traumatic events run a greater risk than veterans of developing a psychiatric disorder — even though employees in this sector do not appear to have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than workers in other occupations.

The findings of Mental Health of Protective Services Workers: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions were published in February. “Exposure to diverse types of traumatic events among protective services workers is a risk factor for new onset of psychopathology and alcohol use disorders,” Christopher Kaufmann, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student of the department of mental health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, says in a statement.

The prevalence of mental disorders among protective services workers was compared with adults in other occupations using data from the United States’ National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Protective services workers are at a greater risk of developing a mood or alcohol use disorder when researchers examined the relationship between exposure to common traumas and the development of mood, anxiety and alcohol use disorders among these workers.

Lifetime and recent trauma events most commonly reported by protective services workers include seeing someone badly hurt or killed; unexpectedly seeing a dead body; and

having someone close die unexpectedly or experience a serious or life-threatening illness, accident or injury.

“Interestingly, this relationship was not seen in those who had been in these jobs for a longer period, but was strong and statistically significant in workers who recently joined the profession,” Kaufmann says. Developing a curricula in coping skills and providing timely interventions for early career protective services workers may help reduce future psychiatric morbidity in these workers, he adds.

Special support programs and services for these early career workers can also help prevent the development of chronic psychopathology and attrition from these critical jobs, researchers note. A quarterly progress report, released on January 24 by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), indicates that awareness and education provide an important foundation for making progress on the issue of operational stress injuries affecting OPP members.

The progress report came on the heels of the Ontario Ombudsman’s report in October of 2012, which investigated the way in which operational stress injuries affecting police officers were addressed by the provincial police force and the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. The ombudsman’s report contained 28 recommendations directed at the force.

“Effective, two-way communication is critical as we develop longer-term OPP operational stress injury strategies,” Commissioner Chris Lewis says in a statement. He adds that the force is committed to creating a comprehensive mental health and wellness program that will encompass the needs of all members — uniform, civilian and auxiliary.

Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

Look before drinking: toxic fluid in vodka bottle nets fine

By Sabrina Nanji

L

ike a book, one should not judge a vodka bottle by its label. Two workers found that out the hard way when they took a swig out of a vodka bottle filled with windshield washer fluid, fatally poisoning one of them.

Brewers Retail Inc., which owns and operates all of The Beer Store locations in Ontario, was fined $175,000 on February 15 for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The incident took place on an afternoon in April, 2012.

Two workers were contracted out by a third-party company, Brake Mobile Wash, to clean the delivery trucks at The Beer Store distribution centre located in Brampton, Ontario. One of the workers found a liquor bottle containing methanol windshield washer fluid used in the trucks.

Both workers drank from the bottle, which still had the liquor label on it. One of them, who took the bottle home and finished it, later died from methanol poisoning. The other worker was sent to the hospital, but has since recovered.

Brewers Retail pleaded guilty for failing to acquaint a worker with a hazard in the handling, storage or use of a liquid chemical agent. Jeff Newton, a Brewers Retail spokesperson, says although the cause of death occurred off store property, they are conducting rolling audits of their health and safety practices at each plant.

“The Ministry of Labour findings, with respect to this incident, pertained to the practice of some [Beer Store] truck drivers decanting bulk windshield washer fluid from a large barrel into containers that were not identified as windshield washer fluid,” Newton says.

In order to evaluate the company’s programs, it sought input from an external audit organization and completed a health and safety review of all its distribution centre locations.

“As a result of these audits, we have taken further action to ensure our practices, procedures and employee training related to the storage and handling of potentially toxic substances, such as the type involved in this incident, meet or exceed all legal standards and regulations,” Newton adds.

College certifies staff in mental health first aid

By Jason Contant

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college in Newfoundland and Labrador is set to train four full-time counsellors in mental health first aid.

The College of the North Atlantic announced on January 22 that it has received $15,000 through the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund to certify four staff members as instructors for mental health first aid training. Each of the certified instructors will be tasked with delivering mental health first aid training three times over the next year, with the potential to reach approximately 200 colleagues, students and community groups from across the province, notes a statement from the college.

“The college has seen an increase in the number of learners experiencing mental health issues, a trend that is national at many post-secondary institutions,” says Elizabeth Chaulk, associate vice-president of learner services. The college partnered with Bell on the initiative after receiving feedback from staff and faculty members that they often could not tell if someone was dealing with a mental health issue and were unsure how to respond or support them.

Four certified trainers took the five-and-a-half day “trainthe-trainer” course, which provides help to a person developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. “There was a rigorous selection criterion and the four who participated said it was intense,” Chaulk reveals.

The program, which is under the Mental Health Commission of Canada, teaches participants how to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health problems, provide initial help and guide a person towards appropriate professional help. The courses also cover a variety of mental health issues, such as mood and anxiety disorder, psychosis, substance use disorder, eating disorder and deliberate self-injury. Crisis situations that include suicidal behaviour, overdoses, panic attacks and psychotic episodes are also covered.

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person before medical treatment can be obtained, [mental health first aid] is given until appropriate treatment is found or until the crisis is resolved,” the statement adds.

Rebecca Bell, community relations manager with Bell Aliant, says the Bell fund is an annual program that allows the company to provide grants of $5,000 to $50,000 to organizations, hospitals and agencies that are focused on improving access to mental health care and making a positive impact in their communities from coast-to-coast.

Jason Contant is managing editor of ohs canada.

Domino effect found in bullying at work

By Jean Lian

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all it the ripple effect if you will. A recent study by the University of New Hampshire in Durham found that the circle of victims affected by abusive bosses extends beyond those who are bullied.

Abusive bosses who target employees with ridicule, public criticism and silent treatment also create a negative impact on the work environment by affecting co-workers who suffer from “second-hand” or vicarious abusive supervision.

The study, An Investigation of Abusive Supervision, Vicarious Abuse Supervision and their Joint Impacts, concludes that watching one’s colleague being bullied results in job frustration, abuse of other co-workers and a lack of perceived organizational support beyond the effects of the abusive supervisor, a statement from the university noted in February.

Findings were based on a sample of 233 people across a range of occupations in the United States who had worked in their job for seven to 10 years with an average of 46 hours a week. The survey also fielded responses regarding supervisory abuse, vicarious supervisory abuse, job frustration, perceived organizational support and co-worker abuse.

“When vicarious abusive supervision is present, employees realize that the organization is allowing this negative treatment to exist, even if they are not experiencing it directly,” researchers say. Examples include an employee hearing rumours of abusive behavior from co-workers, reading about such behaviors in an email or witnessing the abuse.

“Although the effects of abusive supervision may not be as physically harmful as other types of dysfunctional behavior, such as workplace violence or aggression, the actions are likely to leave longer-lasting wounds, in part because abusive supervision can continue for a long time,” Paul Harvey, associate professor of organizational behavior at the University of New Hampshire, says in the statement.

The study also notes that both vicarious and direct abuse by supervisors are just as likely to negatively affect desired outcomes. Repercussions were intensified if the co-worker was a victim of both kinds of supervisory abuse. Top management needs further education regarding the potential impact of vicarious abuse supervision on employees to prevent

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and/or mitigate the effects of such abuse, the statement adds.

In Canada, it is estimated that 40 per cent of workers experience bullying on a weekly basis, notes the study When Prey Turns Predatory: Workplace Bullying as Predictor of Counter-Aggression, published in 2006. Data from this selfreport survey of 180 adults from diverse occupations indicates that how subjects were treated predicts how they treat others.

The manner in which they were bullied also determines the coping strategies used. While being bullied by others was not directly linked to burnout or ill health among study subjects, it creates self-doubt which, in turn, affects their level of well-being.

Information from the handbook, Bullying in the Workplace by the Public Services Health and Safety Association in Toronto recommends the following responses when a colleague is being bullied at work: • Stand by a bullied co-worker immediately after an attack; • Resist the divide-and-conquer approach when asked to betray a co-worker by the bully boss; • Sit in on meetings with the bullying manager as a witness or a representative; • Provide testimony at hearings, arbitrations and mediation sessions; and • Gather the group when a co-worker is being bullied and make it clear that bullying behaviour will not be tolerated.

University designs new oil and gas safety gear

By Greg Burchell

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new safety garment designed for the oil and gas industry may make burns caused by hot steam and scalding water a thing of the past.

Megan Strickfaden, assistant professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and a team of graduate students have finished the first round of testing on a new garment system consisting of a jacket and pants meant to be worn over coveralls.

The garments feature pant legs wide enough that workers can slip them on without doffing their boots and a fleece lining with venting in the back, where a worker is least likely to be exposed to hot water or steam. The pants and jacket are made out of a tri-laminate, semi-permeable material that allows air to pass through while remaining water- and fireresistant, Strickfaden says.

“All you need is a pinprick on a roof and you will have hot water leaking in and breaking that envelope, so our goal was to try to create a clothing envelope for the workers,” she explains. “Any place where the workers had options of how to put something together, we needed careful instructions on how to put it together, but also a really good interface.”

Four oil sands workers were enlisted to test out the gear for 14 consecutive weeks of 12-hour days. While they were expected to take the pants on and off up to a dozen times a day, the team found that they were comfortable enough to be worn the entire day. Minor issues, such as the vibrant orange colour as opposed to the traditional blue and pant legs that are too-wide, are issues that Strickfaden says her team would be addressing.

The project started when industry representatives reached out to the school about four years ago for a solution to the increasing number of injuries and fatalities caused by hot water and steam. “Industry recognized that the coveralls they were currently wearing were covering them from flash fire and radiant thermal exposure, but because of the ‘porous-ness’ and the permeability of the fabrics the coveralls are made of, they are not being protected from hot water or steam,” she says.

Textile technologists from the university began developing a product that could protect against steam and hot water, while Strickfaden and her team visited heavy oil production, extraction and refining sites to understand how the personal protective equipment (PPE) was used and what problems were causing the burns.

The PPE currently worn by oil and gas workers does not offer size variations, becomes stiff in winter, tears easily and is too small to be slipped on over boots. As such, Strickfaden says workers have to remove their footwear to put it on, often while standing on a cold concrete floor or a muddy, snowy area in a field. The gear also leaves a worker’s neck, face, wrist, ankles and lower torso exposed.

Strickfaden reports that the gear will not be ready for production until it has been field-tested in the summer. She adds that the team is also drafting the first set of ASTM International standards for steam and hot water protective clothing.

Greg Burchell is assistant editor of health and safety news.

canadian occupational

Work, like wine, gets finer with age

By Jean Lian

I

t has often been said that wine gets better with age. The same principle may apply to human beings if a study that found overall happiness and satisfaction with life increases with age holds water.

Older adults were found to have lower levels of well-being than younger and middle-aged adults.

But when time of birth is taken into account, researchers found that life satisfaction increased over the participants’ lifetimes even after taking into account factors such as health, medication, sex, ethnicity and education.

The Effect of Birth Cohort on Well-Being: the Legacy of Economic Hard Times, published in February by Florida State University in Tallahassee, drew on data from two large-scale longitudinal studies — the National Institutes of Health’s Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, and

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study also looked at data from several thousand people over 30 years, including more than 10,000 reports on well-being, health and other factors.

Findings also note that the level of well-being of cohorts born in the early part of the 20th century — particularly those who lived through the Great Depression — was substantially lower than those who grew up during more prosperous times. The greater well-being of more recent cohorts could be the result of economic prosperity, increased educational opportunities and the expansion of social and public programs over the latter half of the 20th century.

If life satisfaction increases with age, can the findings be extrapolated to mean that older workers are also likely happier workers? Results of the Charles Schwab Older Workers and Money Survey, which polled about 1,000 American workers aged 50 to 69 with household incomes between $40,000 and $90,000 from January 19 through 30, 2012, indicate so.

Three-quarters of respondents report that they are sticking with their jobs because they want to — not because they have to, which made up the remaining quarter. While 61 per cent of respondents cite money as a leading factor to continue working, intrinsic motivators trail closely behind: 59 per cent say they like what they are doing; 49 per cent are fond of the people they work with and 45 per cent are simply not ready to retire.

A quarter of respondents also report that the twilight years are the happiest time of their career and 11 per cent believe the best is yet to come. They generally start their workdays in a positive frame of mind, feeling respected, loyal, valued, happy and energized, the survey adds.

If older workers do make happier employees, that will bode well for Canada’s greying workforce. The percentage of workers aged 55 and above rose sharply in the 2000s. In 2010, more than one in six workers was 55 or above, notes information from Statistics Canada.

As Canada’s baby boomers retire, some provinces have implemented incentives to keep older workers employed.

Last November, British Columbia invested $6 million to ensure unemployed workers aged 55 and above have the necessary skills to fill job opportunities in their communities.

Ontario has a similar program called the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers, which helps unemployed older workers increase their ability to find and keep a job in the face of economic changes.

“Working is clearly about more than the money,” San Franciscobased Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, president of the Charles Schwab Foundation and senior vice-president of Schwab Community Services says in a statement. “The majority of older workers are very engaged and productive in their jobs, and employers should be pleased to see that they are happy in them too.” www.ohscanada.com

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Obesity

When

size matters

By Greg Burchell

North Americans are getting thicker around the waistline and as a result, workplaces are bulking up too.

In the past two decades, obesity in Canada has ballooned by 10 per cent in men and eight per cent in women, according to a study released in March of 2011 by Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics in the United States.

Between 2007 and 2009, almost a quarter of all Canadian adults were classified as obese.

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image: Steve Dininno / Illustration Source

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Many workers in physically demanding jobs are also losing the battle of the bulge.

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he increasingly sedentary nature of workplaces has been fingered as a key culprit.

“So many jobs these days just don’t have any physical activity associated with them anymore,” says Dr. Tim Church, director of the preventive medicine laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “Look at building a house these days.

Now, the whole thing shows up prefabbed and you pull out a nail gun and shoot it together.”

A study that Dr. Church authored and published in 2011, Trends over Five Decades in U.S. Occupation-Related Physical Activity and their Associations with Obesity, found that the daily work-related energy expenditure has decreased by more than 100 calories. This accounts for “a significant portion” of the increase in overweight and obesity rates for men and women in the United States, the study concludes.

“Work is a critical factor. All activity counts and if you are not getting a bunch of activity at work, you have got to be paying the price for that somewhere else,” Dr. Church contends.

A new study down south, Obesity/Overweight and the Role of Working Conditions, found that many workers in physically demanding jobs are also losing the battle of the bulge. They include those working in sectors requiring a fair amount of physical exertion, such as housekeeping and cleaning, food services, health care and human services, manufacturing and construction.

This population of hardworking but nevertheless overweight workers caught the interest of researchers at the Dorchester-based Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH).

“Frequently, I would hear policymakers say the problem with Americans is we are all too sedentary,” says Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of MassCOSH. “But the people we work with are not sedentary. They are moving their body far more than is physically allowable and acceptable.”

The interest in this largely-overlooked population began when a warehouse worker employed by a large supermarket chain was beaten and abused in his workplace. The physical assault not only compromised his physical ability to do the job, but triggered a downward spiral leading to loss-time at work, depression and the use of medication to treat the depression that resulted in weight gain, the study notes.

Not long after, MassCOSH began working with a group of housekeepers, who had come to the health and safety advocate after their work-

ohs canada

load doubled and were now expected to clean 30 rooms a day. “They literally came to us with their bodies broken,” Goldstein-Gelb says.

She reports that the workers were in such pain they could barely move. One of the housekeepers, who had begun taking pain medication to get through the day, rapidly started putting on the pounds alongside the increased workload.

“We found this sort of odd that people who were doing this manual labour would be experiencing overweight and obesity,” Goldstein-Gelb says. Researchers at MassCOSH partnered with the University of Massachusetts Lowell and decided that the phenomenon of physical labourers suffering from obesity was an area that needs to be explored.

A Vicious Cycle The MassCOSH study, released in November of 2012, looked at 92 Latino and African American workers in the housekeeping, food services, construction, health care and manufacturing industries and the workplace factors that could have an impact on their weight.

Despite the disparate nature of the industries studied, the following issues became apparent: • The physically demanding nature of the work creates fatigue and often results in injuries or illnesses that drive them to eat more at the end of the day. For example, one worker reported standing for up to 16 hours a day; • Psychosocial stressors would leave workers exasperated, often causing them to eat more high-calories foods, such as candy and soft drinks. Workers in the study also reported having multiple jobs and responsibilities that contributed to the stress they felt on the job; • Many workers indicate that they feel a lot of pressure around how their time was allocated, including getting only 15 minutes in a day to eat, which makes it difficult to prepare and consume healthy food. Female workers also say their time was stretched between work and home lives, leaving them little time to exercise and having to rely on convenience foods to save time; and • The availability of healthy food was found to be lacking in many low-wage workplaces.

Workers are also not provided with appropriate equipment, such as microwaves to prepare food or the space to eat it in, which has an influence on their dietary choices.

“The exhaustion and injuries, time pressure, stress and lack of access to healthy food — sometimes even access to a place to eat — were

problems that most of the workers felt had a big impact on their weight,” study co-author Suezanne Bruce, also the chairwoman of the Boston Workers’ Alliance Board of Directors in Roxbury, Massachusetts, says in a statement.

Financial constraint is a major factor in lowwage earners’ ability to keep their weight under control, argues Brian McArthur, chief strategist in the United States for Oakbridges Labour Relations Strategists, an industrial relations firm in Uxbridge, Ontario. These constraints make it difficult for them to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, while the long hours at work in multiple jobs means they often do not have enough time to cook and prepare nutritious meals.

“There is a two-fold problem of not having enough time to actually prepare healthy meals because they are working extensive hours, and not being able to afford the kind of meals that are needed to sustain a healthy lifestyle,” he adds.

Halifax-based Jennifer Brenton, regional trainer and spokesperson for Weight Watchers — Atlantic Canada, says all industries and jobs have factors that can contribute to growing obesity rates. She cites sitting at the desk all day and working shifts, which disrupt daily schedules and sleep patterns, as among the factors.

“We spend so many of our waking hours at the workplace, it is an integral part of our ultimate lifestyle,” Brenton says.

As the focus at work continues to shift towards eating and working healthier, challenges to accessing healthy food and conditions that promote healthy eating for lower-wage workers will likely start coming to the forefront, suggests Jim Wright, national representative from the

United Food and Commercial Workers Canada union in Toronto.

“When you have people in very low-paying jobs, you run into problems of ‘do they get the right nutrition?’ And there is the depression that follows that as a result of being paid low,” suggests Wright, who also sits on Ontario Ministry of Labour’s vulnerable workers task group.

“They are not eating the proper foods and tend to, some of them, get into a situation where they have a weight problem and it just never goes away.”

He notes that the union has not yet been required to take action with regards to ensuring that work environments provide venues conducive to healthy eating or address working conditions that could have a negative impact on employee fitness.

However, Wright points to the release of a report by the Ontario government’s Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health and Safety in December of 2010, which reviewed the province’s oh&s system and focused on areas of workplace health and safety that need improvement, has created a greater interest in the conditions for vulnerable workers.

“If it is not being done now, then we certainly need to start looking at it,” Wright says.

CAUSE OR EFFECT When it comes to the relationship between obesity and lowwage workers, it can sometimes be a question of which came first.

Apart from financial constraints that many low-wage workers face, there are also compounding factors, such as education and socio-economic status, notes Dr. Tim Church, director of preventive medicine research laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Often, it may not be low wages that causes obesity, but the marginalization of overweight and obese individuals in the post-secondary and continuing education environments.

This restricts them from opportunities for higher education and skill development required for higher-paying jobs, Mary Forhan, the Canadian Obesity Network’s expert on negative stereotypes associated with obesity, says from Toronto.

“It has a lot to do with the stigma associated with people with obesity,” Forhan suggests, referring to preconceived ideas that associate obese people with lower intelligence and less capable of doing certain types of work that might require more skill or interaction with the public. Such perceptions can be traced back to a lack of understanding about the causes and consequences of obesity, she suggests.

Forhan points to studies which have shown that, given two candidates with the same level of job skill, the individual who is less obese or of a normal weight would typically get a promotion over an obese worker.

“There is a belief amongst employers and North American society that individuals are responsible for their obesity and that they did this to themselves. Therefore, others should not have to make accommodations for them.”

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Rest and Rejuvenate Healthful eating requires not only access to nutritious food, but also having a suitable place and time to consume their meals — options that are often not available for low-wage workers, the MassCOSH study notes.

Anar Allidina, a nutritionist in Richmond Hill, Ontario, says offering employees a clean cafeteria equipped with a fridge and a microwave is a baseline requirement. “You can definitely have healthy meals at work if a fridge and a microwave are available,” she says.

A lack of adequate breaks can also contribute to overworking. “Many of the people we surveyed had no times for meals and they would have to shove food down their throat, so they had to just have a candy bar,” Goldstein-Gelb says. “When you are overworked, you just can’t do the type of physical activity that keeps your weight healthy and your heart healthy.”

Breaks have to be meaningful too. Giving an employee a half-hour lunch break when it takes 20 minutes to walk from the shop floor to the cafeteria does not leave them enough time to have a proper meal, McArthur adds, noting that insufficient break time is becoming common.

But the fault does not always lie on the employer. Employees are also guilty of stretching

Defining Big Body mass index (BMI) is a measurement tool used to determine if a worker is underweight (under 18.5), normal (18.5 to 24.9), overweight (25 to 29) or obese (30 or above).

However, it is not the only benchmark to indicate whether or not someone is at risk of health complications. Waist circumference can also point to dangers that may not be addressed with BMI, which does not directly measure body fat.

Waist-circumference measurement looks at abdominal obesity since excess fat around the waste or upper body can be a greater risk factor than fat in the hips and thighs, notes information from Health Canada.

This means that women who wear pants larger than a size 15 (88 centimetres) and men who are bigger than size 40 (102 cm) are at a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and high blood pressure.

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themselves through their breaks in an effort to increase productivity, McArthur adds. While companies are required to give statutory breaks — often 15-minute paid rests and a 30-minute unpaid lunch period — many low-wage workers skip their breaks due to heavy workload.

Nevertheless, there are things that individuals can do to exercise control over how healthy they want to be at the workplace. Bringing fruits and vegetables to snack on and packing homecooked food are some examples, Brenton notes.

Staging Interventions One of the hindrances identified by the MassCOSH study was that many healthy workplace programs target office jobs or set expectations that are not realistic for low-wage workers doing physically demanding tasks.

“To have a program, for example, of taking the stairs every day for janitors who are busting their backs carrying heavy equipment, it just doesn’t really resonate for the type of heavy labourer to have that type of intervention,” Goldstein-Gelb contends.

Or consider an employee holding two jobs and working 15-hour shifts to put food on the table and those who have to drop their kids off to school and drive 45 minutes to get to the worksite. “The idea of just walking or biking to work just didn’t resonate.”

Goldstein-Gelb adds that some employers jump at the idea of getting a nutritionist. However, she cautions that it may not be money well spent as knowing what to eat is cold comfort when one does not have the time or place to do it. The same goes for insurance companies offering discounts and rate reductions to employees who join a gymnasium.

Performing the same physically-demanding work tasks day-in and day-out provides little benefit to the body from an exercise perspective, Allidina says. “We need to switch it up and try different forms of physical activity to keep our bodies challenged.”

For the lower-wage worker, Goldstein-Gelb thinks what is needed are benefits that will improve work conditions of low-wage workers.

She points to the United States’ new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is being phased in from 2010 to 2020. Under the new act, tax credits and other incentives will be offered to employers who implement wellness programs in their workplaces.

“It is critical these wellness programs incorporate health and safety and working conditions,” Goldstein-Gelb says. “To give a benefit to an employer who is only looking at things that don’t address the issues facing low-wage and blue-collar workers would be concerning.”

For workers in low-paying occupations, a financial incentive can motivate them to adopt a healthier diet. McArthur cites the steps taken by the county of Riverside, California in 2007 as an example. Employees were given a medical assessment to find out if there is any underlying health issue, such as high blood pressure.

Health improvement goals were set and a financial benefit is awarded if certain milestones have been achieved.

Small changes can also create great benefits. Brenton cites drinking more water, increasing physical activity and adding more fruits and vegetables to the diet are some of the things employees can do to stay healthy.

“Eventually, these go from being a choice to a habit,” she opines. “A healthier lifestyle can prevent a myriad of health concerns associated with unhealthy living. A healthier workforce becomes a more active, productive workforce.”

Companies can also initiate financially-driven programs, such as creating a company-wide competition and establishing a walking group before or after work, Brenton adds.

Bottom Line The benefits of a healthy workforce cannot be ignored, especially if the employer is picking up the insurance or medical tab for its workers, Dr. Church notes.

The healthcare costs for a non-diabetic is estimated to hover around $5,000 per year, while a diabetic is almost double of that — a number that can reach more than $20,000 annually for an uncontrolled

diabetic suffering from a consistently high blood sugar level.

“One of the major drivers of healthcare is diabetes,” says Dr. Church, adding that medical cost, which is eating into companies’ bottom lines, is no longer an afterthought in corporate America.

Resolving issues relating to obesity in the workplace requires a delicate approach to avoid employers coming across as discriminatory towards workers who are overweight or obese, cautions Edmonton-based Dr. Mary Forhan, Canadian Obesity Network’s expert on the negative stereotypes associated with obesity.

“I would prefer to see a focus on overall health and wellness for all employees and not singling or targeting out those with obesity, because that in itself can create bias and stigma when there is competition going on or focus on an employee’s weight,” suggests Forhan, also a representative of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists in Ottawa.

She cites as an example the unusual hiring policy implemented in 2011 by a hospital in Victoria, Texas, which requires all potential employees to have a body mass index of less than 35.

Many workers involved in the MassCOSH study indicated that if policymakers and government are to address the issue of obesity in lowwage workplaces, amongst other things, work conditions must be a part of wellness programs.

Occupational health experts also need to be part of the dialogue on obesity reduction and wellness advisory councils. Creating a healthy workplace certification for employers and subsidizing healthy foods by offering tax incentives to employers promoting employee wellness are other possibilities, the study notes.

Both Dr. Church and Goldstein-Gelb agree that more research on workplace obesity is needed, especially among lower-wage workers.

After the MassCOSH study was released, Goldstein-Gelb reports that she received feedback from other groups and industries wanting similar research to be done in their respective areas.

“It has been a very rapid change,” Dr. Church says, noting that obesity was not even on radar screens when he was in medical school not too long ago. “Now, it is all we talk about.”

Financial constraint is a major factor in low-wage earners’ ability to keep their weight under control.

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Greg Burchell is assistant editor of canadian

occupational health and safety news.

www.ohscanada.com

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workplace violence

up in arms

By Ann Ruppenstein

On December 14, 2012, the massacre of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut made headlines around the world.

The Newtown shooting is but the latest in a string of high-profile violent gun incidents in the United States, following the massacre at a movie theatre last year in Aurora, Colorado and the shooting of a former congresswoman during a constituency meeting in 2011 in Tucson.

However, the workers who were put at risk in the crossfires in public workplaces are by no

Image: THINKSTOCK

means unique to our neighbour down south.

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The shooting in Toronto’s Eaton Centre shopping mall and the killing of a man shot pointblank in Little Italy along a strip of restaurants last summer have — for some people — evoked memories of 2005’s ‘summer of the gun,’ which claimed more than 50 people in Toronto.

It also raises questions of just how safe workplaces with public access really are and the practicality of safeguarding employee wellbeing on these premises. Some say enhanced security measures are in order, while others are calling for a more radical solution — arming vulnerable workers in the name of safety.

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n the wake of the Newtown incident, former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on December 20 that $10 million will be earmarked to enhance security in the province’s elementary schools with improved front door locks, entry buzzers and security cameras.

“The investment that the government has just made for front-door security is a step in the right direction,” says Sam Hammond, president of the Ontario Elementary Teachers’ Federation in Toronto. But he adds that beefing up security in schools goes beyond locked doors, considering that the student population in an elementary school can range anywhere between 300 and 1,500.

More effective steps to bolster security in educational facilities include building on the government’s existing safety programs, and creating procedures and training to improve how principals, educational workers, parents, police and members of health and safety committees work together to ensure that the physical environment — such as locks and the public announcement system — are functioning properly.

While arming schools has been part of the debate, Hammond says it exists within the context of a larger focus on safety in elementary schools and lockdown procedures. “I don’t personally think it is the time to be saying, ‘Here, the answer is to put armed police officers or individuals in our schools to ensure their safety.’”

David Hyde, principal consultant with David Hyde and Associates, a national security and workplace violence prevention consulting firm in Toronto, agrees. “We have tighter gun control, there aren’t as many guns accessible on the street here in Canada as in the United States,” he says, citing a lack of public, political and cultural support for the idea. “I don’t see an acceptance and a demand even in the wake of the Sandy Hook incident for there to be firearms in Canadian schools,” he adds.

Occupational groups such as the health care sector, correctional facilities, social services, education, municipal housing inspection and public works have also been identified as high-risk by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario.

Certain factors can predispose an occupation or a workplace to an increased risk of violence, notes information from the Ontario Ministry of Labour in Toronto. They include working with the public (particularly if the interaction can result in customer discontent); handling money, valuables or prescription drugs; protecting or securing valuables; transporting people and goods; and positions with public or community contact.

Glenn French, president of the Toronto-based Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence, says research has shown that individuals who work with the public have a greater chance of being threatened, assaulted or violated on the job. He cites animal patrol workers and traffic enforcement officers as among the high-risk group given that the nature of their job often requires them to work alone in a public setting.

“I think when you have people who work with the public, especially those in a regulatory capacity, then those organizations need to be very, very careful making sure that they have a clear understanding of the risks involved to those employees and what the remedies will be that these individuals can ask

Beefing up saf e in scho ols goe ty s beyond locked doors.

Profiling Risk Schools are by no means the only workplaces that are at risk of violence, considering their function as a public institution housing a large and vulnerable population.

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for,” French says.

Crossing Thresholds Recent developments have seen certain occupational groups arming their employees as a means of protection.

In 2006, the federal government approved $785 million in funding to train and equip Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers with firearms over a 10-year period. By March of 2016, officers at all land and marine ports of entry and those performing enforcement functions will carry a firearm in the line of duty.

Currently, about 5,500 land and marine positions are designated as armed throughout Canada. Implementation is well

underway and as of January 31, more than 2,500 armed officers have already been trained and deployed, reports Esme Bailey, senior media spokesperson with the CBSA in Ottawa.

“From the onset of the Arming Program, the CBSA has set a high standard to ensure the safety of the public and its employees,” Bailey says, adding that the agency has partnered with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to design a rigorous and comprehensive Duty Firearm Course customized to the duties and realities of CBSA officers. The course trains officers on the safe use, handling, storage and transportation of the duty firearm, and dealing with dangerous situations.

“CBSA officers are aware of the situations in which force may be used and are trained in its proper use and application while ensuring they do not place themselves or other officers or members of the public in undue danger,” Bailey says. “Operational procedures have also been developed and designed to ensure the safety of the public and CBSA officers.”

An evaluation study on the arming initiative conducted in 2009 reports that equipping officers with firearms enhances border security and officer effectiveness by providing them with a broader range of options when responding to dangerous situations and pursuing enforcement activities.

“Border services officers face real threats of assault and/or bodily harm while conducting their duties. Activities such as the interception of high-risk individuals, weapons and drugs present an ongoing risk to the safety of officers and the public,” the study notes.

The shooting of a border services officer while on duty at the Peace Arch crossing in Surrey, British Columbia last October, is a case in point.

Park wardens are another group that has taken up arms to stay safe on the job. In 2008, the federal government authorized Parks Canada Agency to create 100 armed park warden positions to provide law enforcement. An audit report dated August of 2011 concluded that overall, there is a sound program of law enforcement-arming initiative at Parks Canada.

Although the program is young, the report notes that much work has been done in developing procedures and guidelines, and the key elements of management control framework were present. unlikely candidate While some may argue that enforcement jobs involve a higher risk of violence compared to other sectors, the call to arms is also being considered in workplaces that may not be deemed high risk.

Consider the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, which was at one point in time mulling the idea of arming its special constables who patrol its neighbourhoods, following the spate of shooting incidents across the city last summer.

Sinead Canavan, a spokesperson for the social housing provider, says its community safety unit special constables are tasked with community policing and patrols. They also respond to a variety of calls and situations, such as dealing with property trespassing incidents and liquor licence violations.

“In the line of their duties, they may encounter criminal

activity and difficult situations,” Canavan says. “It is possible that when working to resolve situations, the person they are dealing with could become violent.”

Canavan adds that these officers are accredited through an agreement with the Toronto Police Services Board, which specifies their authority and designation as peace officers — not police officers. “In any situation where the safety of special constables is jeopardized to a level that the use of a gun would be considered, the special constables contact the Toronto Police Service,” she says, adding that no change is currently being considered to their use of force options. “Arming our special constables would not increase individual staff or community safety.”

While the special constables receive regular training with the Toronto Police Service and are equipped with defensive tools and techniques in case of violent behaviour, Canavan says residents are encouraged to contact police directly for emergencies and major crimes, while the special constables support their investigations.

Security Check While arming employees deemed vulnerable or exposed to potentially dangerous situations at work has been implemented in certain occupations, French warns that these protective measures also carry a certain amount of risk. Misuse, accidental discharge and weapons getting into the wrong hands are

DANGEROUS WORK Workplace violence incidents are much more common in certain employment sectors, says a 2007 Statistics Canada report, Criminal Victimization in the Workplace.

An examination of a 12-month period across Canada in 2004 found that 33 per cent of workplace violence incidents involved a victim who worked in social assistance or health care services; 14 per cent involved employees in accommodation or food services; and 11 per cent were committed against those in educational services.

The report also adapted a 2006 study, Homicide in Canada, 2005, from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. Between 2001 and 2005, 69 homicides took place during the course of a worker’s legal employment — representing an average of 14 victims killed each year while on the job. Homicide victims fell under the following job categories: taxi drivers (11), police officers (10), bar or restaurant workers (eight), retail employees (eight), general labourers (four), inspection or enforcement officers (three) and security guards (three), while the remaining victims worked in other occupations.

Several high-profile incidents in Canada in recent years have also increased awareness about workplace violence.

They include the former OC Transpo employee who killed four people in 1999 and the murder of a nurse at Hôtel Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor in 2005.

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just some of the things that can go wrong.

“Accidents do happen,” cautions Jennifer Dawn Carlson, a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

She cites a widely circulated video on YouTube showing a police officer who ironically shot himself in the leg while delivering a presentation on gun safety to a group of school children. “Ultimately, employers and employees must weigh the possibility of a violent criminal encounter against the possibility of accidental violence.”

Hyde says there are very rare exceptions in which private citizens are legally allowed to carry a firearm while executing their job duties. “Section 20 of the Firearms Act lays down very, very prescriptively when private citizens are allowed to carry firearms in this country,” he says. They include those in the armoured car industry who transport or protect cash and high-value shipment goods, licensed professionals repelling or trapping wild animals and the nuclear industry.

For businesses that are not legally allowed to issue firearms to their employees for protection, they can contract the services of an armoured car to undertake high-risk jobs, such as physical cash transfers. Hiring paid duty cops during times of escalated risk is another option, Hyde suggests.

Ontario’s Bill 168, which requires employers to develop policies and programs to address workplace violence and strengthen protections for workers, could offer some guidance.

Employers must assess workplace violence risks that may arise from the nature of the workplace, the type of work or the conditions of work.

Measures to control these risks must be incorporated into the workplace violence program, which should include procedures for summoning immediate assistance when workplace violence occurs or is likely to occur, and controlling risks identified in the assessment of risks. Workers must also be provided with information and instruction on the contents of these policies and programs, notes information from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.

Hyde suggests that addressing the potential for physical threats, such as

those posed by guns, is no different than what is prescribed under Bill 168. “It is just more specialized, looking at the human factors, the risks that humans present to the employee and it can be a little more dynamic.”

Carlson’s dissertation, Clinging to their Guns? Gender, Race and the Politics of Policing, which looks at the increasing popularity of guns as self-defence tools among Americans, argues that the desire is driven by a safety-first mentality. “This narrows arguments surrounding security into a cost-benefits analysis so that we end up asking questions along the lines of ‘can we afford it,’ rather than ‘should we embrace these kinds of security measures in the first place?’” she contends.

However, arming employees in vulnerable workplaces does not necessarily mean ready access to these weapons for self-defence purposes or that staff possesses the necessary skills to handle the weapon should a violent situation occur.

Hyde cites the shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech as examples where having an armed and trained security presence did very little to minimize violence. He adds that it is important for employers to seriously consider the question of whether equipping their workplaces with firearms will address — or introduce risks into the environment.

As every workplace is unique, each must be assessed on its own merits. However, Hyde observes that blanket assessments are often done and applied across multiple workplaces.

This can prove problematic as one branch of a firm may have little faceto-face interaction with the public, while another is bringing clients into inner office areas or have staff engaging with the public beyond the office.

Part of the security measures in workplaces that interact with the public includes taking preventive steps so that volatile situations or agitated people cannot get their hands on a weapon in the workplace. Having multiple doors for employees to retreat quickly if necessary, access to panic alarms and use of surveillance cameras to make people aware that they are being monitored at all times are other effective measures, Hyde adds.

le p o e p ''Arming ore m s t e g e le.” b p o e p f o g n i m ar

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Back to School Regardless of whether it is through members’ feedback or as topics of discussion at annual

in the wild Although certain occupations are legally allowed to carry firearms, their usage is regulated by strict requirements. To be authorized to carry a handgun or restricted long gun for a lawful occupational purpose, such as trapping or working in a wilderness area, an individual must be a Canadian resident, have a firearms licence with restricted privileges and obtain an Authorization to Carry permit from the Canadian Firearms Program, notes information from the RCMP. Licensed professional trappers and individuals who need protection from wild animals — often in a remote wilderness location — may be authorized to carry a handgun or

general meetings, deploying police officers in schools has been debated for several years, says Ruby Hoskins, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of School Councils in Conception Bay South.

The federation, comprising of school councils and schoolbased parent organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador, believes that an increased police presence in schools through initiatives, such as the school resource officer program, will enhance safety in and around schools.

“School resource officers would develop and implement crime prevention and safety programs for students that would be age appropriate for elementary, junior high and high school programs,” Hoskins says. She adds that community policing programs that work with education partners in the community will promote dialogue and education programs in schools, and establish effective relationships between police, schools, students and parents or guardians.”

Jerry Chadwick, a trustee with the Toronto District School Board for Scarborough East, says the program helps build a positive relationship between police officers and students. “In one of my schools in particular, the kids go to them, they talk to them, they take problems with them and the officers are very visible in the school with these kids.”

As a former principal, Chadwick understands firsthand how measures like the locked-door policy will have an impact on security in schools. “I have often come across people in my building that I, as an administrator, or my staff didn’t know who they were, why they were in the building or how they had gained access,” he offers. “The fact that they would have to be buzzed in by someone on staff is a good thing.”

However, some educators and administrators have expressed concerns about having school resource officers on school grounds. “[Familiarizing] people with guns, no matter what the purpose, is not what I consider a good idea,” contends Sheila Cary-Meagher, Toronto District School Board trustee for the Beaches — East York area. “I blocked at every opportunity the presence of these officers in my schools.

They could have done just as much good as volunteers in regular clothes.”

Carlson cautions that such measures could provide a false sense of security and that locked doors alone cannot help

restricted long gun. In a remote wilderness area, a non-restricted firearm may be left in an unlocked vehicle providing: • the vehicle cannot be locked; • the firearm has been made inoperable by means of a secure locking device (unless the firearm is needed for predator control); and • it is placed out of sight.

With regards to safe storage in a remote wilderness area, non-restricted firearms do not have to be made inoperable or locked up. They must be unloaded, but the ammunition can be kept handy.

prevent incidents the likes of Sandy Hook. “A high-capacity firearm is a pretty effective tool for shooting off a lock,” she says. “I would also be concerned that door locks could actually lock in the shooter and create a situation in which first responders would be unable to get to victims effectively.”

For Hyde, the locked-door policy is only one component of a larger safety plan that should address other aspects. This includes electronic security and surveillance systems, requiring staff to check and validate the identity of visitors before permitting access; training staff on the protocols and procedures surrounding the locked-door policy and having antipropping mechanisms in place that will activate an alarm if the door is left opened beyond a certain period of time.

“Effective security is about a lot more than a locked-door policy because some of the threats come from inside the school,” Hyde cautions. He adds that schools also need to assess potential threats from within, citing volunteer groups, community members and students themselves on schools compounds as examples.

“There needs to be protocols and assessment measures in place so that any threats that are bubbling inside the school can also be assessed as well as threats from outside. A lockeddoor policy is not going to prevent an inside threat,” he adds.

Apart from engineering safety measures, Hammond says schools also need to ensure that safety procedures are being followed by all staff, including relief teachers.

“Who would have thought we would now have lockdown drills in our schools on a regular basis?” Hoskins questions.

“Society is changing and we must continue to be proactive in providing guidance and services in our education system, rather than react in times of crisis.”

Anna Willats, a professor at the Assaulted Women’s and Children’s Counsellor/Advocate program at George Brown College in Toronto, is unequivocal in her stance on workplaces taking up arms. “Violence begets violence, arming people begets more arming of people,” Willats says. “I don’t think there is any evidence at all that shows putting guns in the hands of more and more people is helpful.”

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Ann Ruppenstein is a writer in Toronto.

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fish harvesting

Rough Waters

By Samuel Dunsiger

On the morning of May 3, 2011, several miles southwest of Cape Sable Island in Nova Scotia, a crew member from the small fishing vessel Silver Angel was lost at sea after falling overboard while retrieving paravane stabilizers. The captain, who was the only other crew member onboard, made several unsuccessful attempts to rescue his co-worker.

“Our investigation found that the deckhand was not wearing safety equipment and this significantly reduced his chances of survival and rescue,” Pierre Murray, the Transportation Safety Board’s (TSB) regional manager said in a statement last May. “The captain was left alone onboard the vessel and was unable to carry out all of the activities necessary to position the vessel and recover the deckhand from the water.”

This incident highlights some of the grave dangers faced by fish harvesters who operate in a largely uncontrolled environment and have to contend with the forces of Mother Nature.

But recent developments in Atlantic Canada are forging the path to a safer workplace — even when riding high on rough seas.

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Image: Thinkstock

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he incident involving the Silver Angel is by no means isolated. Bill Broderick, a career fish harvester and inshore director with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union in St. John’s, Newfoundland, points out that fish harvesting activities have changed dramatically since he first started out in the 1960s.

While most excursions in the past involved smaller boats that remained on-shore, fish harvesters today are going offshore in significantly larger vessels, which can put them at elevated risk. “It is a harsh environment,” Broderick acknowledges, noting that many vessels are travelling beyond the 200-mile-limit. “We are going further, and we have the weather and other conditions to contend with.”

Stewart Franck, executive director of the Fisheries Safety Association of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth, concurs. Loss of vessels, capsizing and man overboard are among a litany of risks commonly faced in the sector. Consider that workers’ compensation premiums in Nova Scotia’s fish harvesting sector are double those of others, including fish processing and aquaculture, he notes.

Looking more broadly, a three-year marine investigation report on fishing safety in Canada released by the TSB in 2012, identified 10 significant safety issues associated with fishing accidents. Of the 2,514 fishing-related accidents that occurred between 1999 and 2010, 112 resulted in 154 casualties.

The majority of fatalities (58 per cent) took place after a stability-related accident, such as capsizing, foundering, flooding or sinking. Falling overboard accounted for 27 per cent of fatalities, while accidents aboard the ship were responsible for 12 per cent of lives lost, the report notes. Of the board’s 42 recommendations, 17 deal with stability issues and 13 with life-saving appliances.

“It is inherently an unstable platform, due to winds and waves,” says John Sutcliffe, executive director of the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters (CCPFH) in Ottawa.

“Stability characteristics of a vessel are constantly changing; it is referred to as a dynamical situation.”

Apart from fire hazards and problems with the operation of machinery on board, he adds that vessels rolling over or sinking “happen far too often, often with loss of life.”

Environmental factors aside, the TSB report notes that fishers are also subject to competitive market conditions for resources that are unpredictable and becoming increasingly scarce. These pressures can contribute to risk-taking behaviour, which includes overloading a vessel with traps on opening day, making the fewest trips possible with the largest loads and installing or changing gear to participate in multiple fisheries, which can reduce vessel stability.

A 2008 report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Report of the Expert Consultation on Best Practices for Safety at Sea in the Fisheries Sector, says “fisheries management has indirect and direct effects on fishing safety.”

Franck contends that part of the problem is the mentality of fish harvesters. “It is a culture of independence that has often promoted or rewarded risk-taking behaviour,” he says, noting that people in the fish industries are 19 times more at risk than the general population. “If we can bring that down to five times or even 10 times, that could go a long way.”

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Simulating Stability In response to the hazards and high incidence of injuries and fatalities in the fish harvesting sector, a number of safety initiatives have been launched in recent years.

In November of 2012, the Marine Institute of Memorial University in St. John’s and the CCPFH jointly rolled out a fishing vessel stability simulator. The virtual program is designed to enable fish harvesters to learn the concepts of vessel stability and apply them to virtual ships through three-dimensional interactive simulations, gaming scenarios, videos, vessel diagrams, animations and learning guides.

The simulator consists of six modules: the first two introduce stability concepts and principles, while the third allows users to investigate the relationship between vessel design and stability. The fourth module focuses on regulations in the Canada Shipping Act, the fifth explores effective fishing operations and the sixth allows the user to apply knowledge in real-life scenarios.

“What has been happening over the years was that we had some pretty notable tragedies in the industry, including loss of life from capsizing,” says Jack Greenham, co-ordinating

On the Watchlist In 2009, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec, started investigating why the fishing industry was averaging nearly one death a month, year after year. In 2012, the board released a marine investigation report, Safety Issues Investigation into Fishing Safety in Canada, identifying the following 10 key safety issues in the fish harvesting sector that require immediate action: • Stability: The principles of stability are not well understood, applied or presented in a practical format; • Fisheries resource management: Identifying and reducing safety risks should become an integral part of fisheries resource management; • Lifesaving appliances: Equipment should be properly designed, carried, fitted, used and maintained for fishing operations; • Regulatory approach to safety: A regulatory framework should be co-ordinated and consistently applied, and needs to support a safety culture in the community; • Education: Training needs to be effective and reinforced by regular practice; • Safety information: Practical, understandable safety information should reach those in the fishing community who need it; • Cost of safety: The fishing community needs to accept the cost of safety as an integral part of fishing; • Fatigue: The risks of physical exhaustion must be understood and managed; • Fishing industry statistics: Accident data needs to be collected, analyzed and communicated in a co-ordinated way to help the fishing community; and • Work practices: Safe workplace procedures need to become routine.

instructor with the Marine Institute’s Lewisporte Regional Fisheries and Marine Centre. He cites a lack of knowledge as a contributing factor and the simulator program offers fish harvesters an opportunity to learn about vessel stability “in a safe and engaging way.”

Sutcliffe traces the genesis of the project back to 2006 when Transport Canada brought the issue of vessel stability to their attention. “There have been incidents including sinkings and drownings. Stability-related issues are the most important in the industry in terms of safety,” he says, noting that the stability of a vessel changes depending on the operations and the environment.

“It is an inherently unstable platform due to winds, waves, etc,” Sutcliffe adds. He also suggests that in the absence of formal knowledge of stability, people make assumptions of the stability of their vessel, which are not always correct. These concerns spurred a flurry of meetings spanning a three-year period, during which the idea of incorporating gaming scenarios was spawned.

Greenham likens fishing vessel stability to a math course.

“You look at numbers and you set outputs to give you your vessel characteristics,” he says. “We have a number of things happening — stresses that are very hard to quantify.”

While the forces of Mother Nature is beyond man’s control, they can help in deciding whether or not it is worth going out to sea. Franck says decisions should be made based on the characteristics of the vessel and assessing prevailing weather conditions. “It is tough if you have to pay off a vessel, but it is not worth losing a crew.”

Greenham would likely agree. “It is a competitive business,” he notes, suggesting that the economic downturn in the industry can have an influence on fishers’ risk-taking behaviour. “You have to maximize your productivity and when you do that, you are also increasing the risk.”

Over the past year, Sutcliffe says they are beginning to receive positive feedback about the simulator from fish harvesters. “We have heard that the biggest impact is knowledge rather than regulatory requirements on testing of vessels. I think we made a very powerful and engaging learning tool.”

Making Strides While training offered by programs such as the virtual simulator is a step forward, it is only one piece of the puzzle.

Since the 1970s, Transport Canada has required fish harvesters across the country to be trained in marine emergency duties, although it was not enforced until the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (CSA 2001) came into effect in 2007, notes Gina McKay, program manager for Fish Safe BC, a fishing safety organization in Richmond, British Columbia.

The Canada Shipping Act, one of the country’s oldest pieces of legislation based on the British Merchant Shipping Act of 1894, was replaced by the CSA 2001 in July of 2007. The CSA 2001 offers an updated and streamlined version of the principal legislation governing safety in marine transportation and recreational boating, including protection of the marine environment. Applicable to Canadian vessels operating in all waters and to all vessels operating in Canadian waters, “the CSA 2001 promotes the sustainable growth of the marine

People in the fish industries are 19 times more at risk than the general population.

shipping industry without compromising safety,” notes information from Transport Canada.

Besides the simulator, the industry took it upon itself to increase knowledge of safety practices among fish harvesters through the development of tools and programs. “There are whole fishing communities working together,” Franck says.

Another recent development is the creation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Harvesting Safety Association (NL-FHSA) — the province’s first safety group for the fishing industry. The association was established last year when the government of Newfoundland and Labrador teamed up with the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission (WHSCC) and the Professional Fish Harvesters’ Certification Board (PFHCB) to promote safety education and reduce workplace injuries, illness and fatalities in the fishing industry.

Paul Davis, Minister of Service NL and minister responsible for the WHSCC, said in a statement last September that the association represents a “tremendous co-operative effort” from the fish harvesting sector that will have an impact on the safety of those who fish for a living in the province.

The idea of creating a fishing safety association came about when the WHSCC was asked to assist in developing a fishing industry safety council organization following a statutory review. “There was a desire to have a group in the industry take the safety area and prioritize for those in the fisheries,” says Leslie Galway, the WHSCC’s chief executive officer.

An issue raised during consultations was the safety of fish harvesters. In the Fishing Industry Renewal Strategy announced in 2007, having an industry-specific safety organization was deemed a government initiative. At a WHSCC legislation meeting the following year, the NL-FHSA was created.

“It was suggested that we needed to address safety in numerous industries, including fish harvesting. So, we thought it was a great opportunity to work with our partners to establish a body that is industry-led in terms of safety,” Galway says. She adds that the goals of the association are to reduce the risks for people out on the sea and encourage education and training among fishers.

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Treacherous Waters Fish harvesters operating in Atlantic waters face hazardous conditions. “It is a cold place. If there is a fire on board, you have to exit through the cold, harsh sea,” Galway notes. “You have to anticipate what you must do to protect yourself and to protect others. You only have split seconds to act.”

Other Atlantic provinces have also identified safety as a key issue among fish harvesters. The Fisheries Safety Association of Nova Scotia, which is the NL-FHSA’s counterpart in Nova Scotia, has launched emergency drills for fish harvesters in November, 2012. The drills teach crews how to respond in crisis situations, such as man overboard.

“How are you going to get the person back on the boat safely? These are simple questions, but it is something people haven’t considered,” Franck says.

He adds that attempting to retrieve a person who has fallen into the water is no simple matter on a vessel where “you might have eight feet between the deck and the water.”

Training and knowledge-sharing for vessel captains and crews is critical, Franck notes. So is having a pre-sail checklist and a plan in place should something go wrong.

Out west, fish harvesters are also paying attention to occupational hazards. Fish Safe BC, which comprises a group of fish harvesters who came together in 2004 to address safety concerns in the industry, have since implemented a number

of programs.

McKay says Fish Safe BC recently launched a fourday stability education program to teach fish harvesters the basics of vessel stability. The Safest Catch program was also introduced to help commercial fishermen in developing a vesselspecific safety management system.

“We train fishermen as safety advisors,” McKay says, adding that course attendees spend a day on a specific vessel working with the master and the crew to develop emergency drills, a program and manuals for that ship.

She adds that a promotional campaign encouraging the use of personal flotation devices has also been launched. “It is a standard in British Columbia, but it has not been enforced.” McKay reports that the province has seen an increased usage of flotation devices as a result of these programs, which translates to a better safety record.

British Columbia has reported a declining industry fatality rate of about 44 per cent between 1999 and 2011, and a 50 per cent increase of those wearing personal flotation devices since the campaign was launched in 2006.

“The dismal safety records of the past are no longer acceptable.”

Bold Moves In 2002, Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board in St. John’s introduced a mandatory marine emergency duties requirement for fish harvesters in Newfoundland.

Jack Greenham, co-ordinating instructor with the Marine Institute’s Lewisporte Regional Fisheries and Marine Centre in St. John’s, says “this was an unprecedented, proactive and some would argue ‘bold’ step in favor of safety,” considering that the board is a professional association formed by fish harvesters themselves in the late 1990s.

The result of this initiative speaks for itself. Since 10,000 fish harvesters have been trained in marine emergency duties between 2002 and 2010, the fatality rate has dropped from about seven per year to no fatality in some years. “One must bear in mind the inherent danger associated with operating relatively small vessels in such a harsh and hostile environment as the North Atlantic Ocean,” Greenham says.

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cumulative efforts The launch of the simulator program, the establishment of the NL-FHSA and other related initiatives are putting the safety of those who make a living out at sea firmly on the radar. “The main bit of progress we have seen is that fishermen are talking about safety,” Franck says.

“They are now aware of safety measures and the need to follow them. This kind of dialogue is only going to come with improvement,” he adds.

McKay thinks that safety needs to become a part of the business. “When it is only a regulation, it is only on your mind every four years when you are evaluated by Transport Canada.

There needs to be a culture of safety.”

Broderick agrees, noting that vigilance should always remain a constant as fishermen “work on a boat rolling around in rough seas.”

For Greenham, the improving safety culture of the fish harvesting sector is certainly a positive sign. “The fact of the matter is that in today’s fishery, harvesters are far less fatalistic and willing to accept serious injury and fatality as part of the job,” he suggests. “The dismal safety records of the past are no longer acceptable and young people these days expect a safe workplace.”

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Samuel Dunsiger is a writer in Toronto.

SAFETY GEAR

gas detection

Forbidden Grounds

By Sabrina Nanji

S

ometimes, the deadliest hazard is also the most unassuming. Confined spaces, which come in various shapes and sizes, certainly fit the bill.

A confined space is dangerous because it is not designed for entry by human beings and once inside, it is often difficult to get out. They present a danger not only to those who work in them, but also to would-be rescuers, who account for an estimated 60 per cent of fatalities associated with confined spaces, notes information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario.

Apart from the risks of getting trapped or falling inside a confined space, the presence of hazardous gases is an alltoo-familiar risk. To better understand how to safely work in and around these pockets of space, employers must first determine just what exactly is a confined space, which can be challenging as many are ambiguous in nature.

Confined defined Despite its name, a confined space is not necessarily a small area. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) defines it as “a workspace that is fully or partially enclosed, is not designed or intended for continuous human occupancy and has limited or restricted access, exiting or internal configuration that can complicate provisions of first aid, evacuation, rescue or other emergency response services.”

Confined spaces can be found across industries, such as winemaking, welding, construction, sewer works and farming. Think vaults, silos, culverts, tanks, ship holds, storage units, cellars, wells, manholes and tunnels.

“It can be just about any kind of area that is contained,” says Dave Angelico, president of Air Systems International in Chesapeake, Virginia. He cites as examples airline employees going into the wings of a plane to clean fuel cells and brewery workers entering beer vats with low oxygen content.

Unless proven otherwise by a hazard identification and risk assessment, a confined space should be considered hazardous by employers, notes the CSA Z1006 Management of Work in Confined Spaces standard. “It is almost impossible to define a confined space because there are just so many variants,” says Sean Donovan, marketing manager at MSA in Toronto. He cites the checklist in the CSA standard as a good guide when assessing confined spaces.

The hazards associated with confined spaces vary considerably. Ross Humphry, general manager with Canadian Safety Equipment in Mississauga, Ontario, says the biggest concern in most industries is oxygen deficiency and combustible and toxic gases. They include hydrogen sulphide, which can paralyze the sense of smell at high concentrations; carbon monoxide; carcinogenic and explosive gasoline; and methane, which can displace oxygen.

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As well, these gases are often volatile and have unique properties that contribute to their unpredictability, making it challenging for occupational health and safety officials to regulate and standardize safe practices.

Manish Gupta, market manager and national account manager at Draeger Safety Canada Ltd. in Mississauga, Ontario, says gases tend to sit in layers. Depending on its weight, heavy gases might sit near the floor; others might linger around the breathing zone, while those that are lighter than air will hover at the top. Simply entering a space can stir up the air and conditions can change from safe to unsafe very quickly, Gupta notes.

The hazards

Know and Act Angelico stresses that the atmosphere associated of a confined space must always be prior to entry, followed by venwith confined tested tilating and purging for the proper amount of time based on the air changspaces vary es required. He also recommends using considerably. at least a three-gas monitor capable of detecting combustibles, oxygen and hydrogen sulphide gases.

If other known hazards exist within a confined space, a meter that can monitor the hazard should be used. “The meter should be able to pull a sample from the deepest part of the confined space prior to entry to check for harmful gases or deficient oxygen levels,” Angelico adds.

Gupta says multi-gas monitors are useful as they can detect numerous hazards simultaneously. For added safety, he recommends that a personal gas monitor be worn near a worker’s breathing zone. “It is not something you take down with you and strap on to the wall,” Gupta cautions. Neither should it be worn on the hip like a cellphone. “It should be worn up close, like on your lapel or on your top pocket, closer to your breathing zone so if there is a problem, you will know it right away.”

For large confined spaces, Gupta cites Draeger’s X-zone® 5000X portable wireless gas monitoring station, which can be set up so that attendants can be alerted if a situation in a confined space develops. Workers in nearby areas can also be warned of the imminent danger and evacuate before the hazardous gas reaches them, he adds.

For gas monitors to function at peak performance levels, diligent testing and calibration are required since the conditions in a confined space can change rapidly. “From a safety standpoint, I would say it should be calibrated before each use,” Angelico advises, noting that most manufacturers recommend a bump test or a quick calibration prior to use to make sure that the unit is functioning properly.

Humphry says most manufacturers nowadays offer equipment that performs a bump test to ensure that gas detection

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instruments are operating properly.

Gas detectors today are also designed to be more userfriendly, Gupta observes, noting that workers in the past had to be trained on how to perform bump tests and calibrations.

“Now, we have bump test stations where you just put in your gas monitor and it automatically performs the test and lets you know if they pass or fail. They will even do an automatic calibration if the gas monitor fails the bump test.”

In operations where atmospheres are changeable or contain different hazardous gases, Draeger offers gas monitors with plug-and-play technology, which allows sensors that are not required to be unplugged to suit specific workplace needs. Settings on the gas monitor can also be changed by using the manufacturer’s software.

For example, certain maintenance operations may have a low level of a contaminant that triggers the gas monitor’s alarm. “You can set the alarms to compensate for these background levels so that employees don’t get frustrated with their gas monitors constantly going into alarm,” Gupta says.

A confined space is one area where assuming the worst will serve one in good stead. Using the right instrument capable of detecting the types and concentration of gases in an enclosed area is a first step. Once the gas levels have been determined, Angelico says ventilation of at least 10 to 15 minutes or longer should be conducted, depending on the size of the space. He estimates that eight to 15 air changes should be achieved prior to entering the space.

Ventilation blowers should be set back a minimum of six feet from the opening of the confined space to prevent exhaust gas from being sucked back in by the blower and blown down into the confined space.

Once the initial ventilation is completed, the ventilation system should be turned off and the atmosphere re-tested to verify that the space is safe for entry. If a safe meter reading is achieved, continuous ventilation should be maintained for the duration the space is occupied, he adds.

In Peril Understanding how a worker’s tools can create a safety problem is also vital. For example, an employee working in a confined space where a combustible gas might be present must be equipped with non-sparking tools.

“People have told me that a storm sewer is not a hazardous environment — it most certainly is,” Humphry argues. He describes a scenario of someone powering up a lawn mower in summer and pouring the stale gas in the tank into a storm drain. “Some poor guy working down the street in the storm sewer is suddenly engulfed in gas fumes.”

As the situation in a confined space can change at the drop of a hat, Donovan says a gas detector’s reaction time can often determine if a worker makes it out in time before serious injury occurs. “You want something that reacts the quickest, because that is what is going to save lives,” he suggests.

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Out of Bounds When it comes to confined spaces, every precaution must be taken before entering this dangerous forbidden ground.

It is against the law for workers to enter a confined space without a proper safe work permit and a safe work procedure in place, notes information from the Job Safety Skills Society in Edmonton. A confined space work procedure is a written statement of what must be done before going into one, while a safe work permit must describe and list the following information: • the workplace; • training required before someone can work in the space; • the number of workers onsite; • time and date when work is to be done; • source of air; • personal protective equipment needed; • how workers will enter and exit the confined space; • how workers communicate with others; and • actions to be taken in the event of an emergency.

safest way to determine if a confined space contains hazardous gases is to use a probe. “We have a pump probe that you can attach on to a four-gas monitor itself,” Donovan adds.

Apart from the dangers of combustible and toxic gases, Chuck Roberts, 3M Canada’s marketing supervisor of fall protection in London, Ontario, says workers are also vulnerable to falls from heights. This risk necessitates the provision of fall protection equipment, such as harnesses, anchors, lanyards and lifeline systems.

Humphry agrees. “You have got to have proper fall protection when entering the confined space and you have got to be wearing it; it has to be connected to you.”

While fall protection equipment is useful when hoisting rescuers down a confined space to retrieve a worker who is injured or has succumbed to hazardous gases, Humphry laments that the knee-jerk reaction of peers diving in to rescue their fallen colleague is an all-toocommon scenario, often with fatal consequences.

Consider the two paramedics killed while rescuing two mine workers who had succumbed to the oxygen-deficient atmosphere at the deApart from using a blower commissioned Sullivan Mine (above) to ventilate the air in in Kimberly, British Columbia a confined space, other pro- in 2006. Or the three workers tective measures include fall who were felled by the sudden protection equipment (left) release of hydrogen sulphide and gas monitors (top). gas that had leaked inside the tin shed housing a pump station at A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. in Langley, British Columbia in 2008.

Instead of attempting a rescue that could endanger one’s life, Humphry advises employees to consult first responders and determine whether or not a rescue mission can be attempted by staff or requires further assistance.

If it is determined that the rescue can be safely performed by the employer’s own retrieval crew, those workers must

photos: clockwise from bottom left: draeger safety canada ltd; canadian safety equipment; msa.

be properly equipped with respirators.

Humphry says his team recommends the use of a remote supplied-air respirator instead of a self-contained breathing apparatus, which is bulky and may not fit into the entry way of a tight, enclosed space.

Price is Right Technological advances in equipment to meet the industry’s oh&s needs have made tools, such as respirators and gas detectors lighter, smaller and more reliable.

However, some employers who have confined spaces on their premises may be hesitant to invest the time and resources needed to perform adequate testing or purchase the right equipment.

“One of the biggest things with confined spaces is that sometimes, you will have an operation that you need to go into once a year, so they don’t want to invest in fall protection and gas monitors for something that they do [annually],” Gupta suggests.

After factoring in personal and auxiliary gas detectors and monitors, fall protection equipment, respiratory tools and personal protective gear, confined space equipment can set

an employer back by thousands of dollars.

“From a cost perspective, that might seem like a lot,” Roberts says. But should an emergency or a worker fatality occur as a Respirators (top and bottom result of inadequate proright) offer confined space tection, “the lawsuits that workers the first line of happen are a lot more defence, while a portable than the initial investwireless gas monitoring ment,” Roberts suggests. system (bottom left) can be One solution is rentpositioned where gas ing equipment for conhazards are likely to occur. fined space entry, which Gupta says many companies are starting to do. A third-party company can also be contracted to conduct the necessary training programs, he adds.

That said, a higher price tag does not necessarily mean a better product.

“I wouldn’t say that if you spend more money, you are going to be any safer,” Donovan notes.

Ultimately, functionality is the deciding factor when choosing a safety product that best suits workplace needs.

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Sabrina Nanji is editorial assistant of

canadian occupational

health and safety news.

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47

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE

TOXIC EXPOSURES

Hauntings from Ground Zero

A

“The World Trade Center dust is a complex mixture,” Lioy says. “The fact that we were not as due diligent in terms of wearing respirators in 9/11 for a whole host of reasons requires us to take a pause and think about what is it that we are going to do to help protect the respiratory function at a minimum and the overall health of workers and volunteers.”

elusive link Nevertheless, the study’s finding raises the possibility that exposure to the WTC environment could lead to cancers. The complex mixtures of volatile chemicals and respirable particulate matter from dust, smoke and aerosols contained known and suspected carcinogens, which include asbestos, silica, benzene, polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds and numerous metals.

The study adds that the only systematic review of cancer incidence is an examination of 9,853 firefighters employed by the New York City Fire Department. That study, published in The Lancet in 2011, reported a 19 per cent excess incidence for cancer in WTC-exposed firefighters, compared to nonexposed firefighters in the seven years following 9/11. The majority of the excess incidence consisted of prostate and thyroid cancers, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and melanoma.

Caught Off-Guard Part of the problem with the 9/11 response was that the occupational health and safety community was not prepared to provide guidance to emergency responders on dealing with the challenges presented by the situation, says Henry Willis, director of RAND Corporation’s Homeland Security and Defense Center in Pittsburgh.

“They didn’t know things, such as what are the range of physical and chemical hazards that people will be exposed to, what is the performance of some of the personal protective equipment, particularly the respiratory protective equipment, against this mix of hazards,” Willis says.

With large structural collapses, the complexity and sheer number of hazards coming together poses the greatest risk. Besides hazardous architectural materials, which include halite, gypsum and calcite, information from “The World RAND Corporation says toxic metals are also found in building fixtures, such as Trade Center aluminum in interior components and mercury in pigments and lamps.

“You also have all the hazards you dust is a would expect in an urban search and rescue,” Willis adds, citing working at complex heights on unstable surfaces, sharp metal mixture.” objects, falls and electrical hazards.

In scenarios as complex as 9/11, respirators should be examined to see how they perform against particulates and chemical and biological hazards — even radiological ones. “We did not have, in 9/11, equipment that was certified against all those conditions and now we do. For the last 10 years, they have been testing and certifying respirators for those combinations of conditions,” Willis says.

A case in point is the CAN/CGSB/CSA-Z1610 standard, Protection of first responders from chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) events, jointly developed by the Canadian General Standards Board and the Canadian Standards Association and published in March of 2011.

While the type of equipment selected may vary depending on the responder’s role and circumstances of the incident, the standard specifies requirements for the selection, use and care of personal protective equipment in the event of deliberate attacks and contagious outbreak events. The standard also identifies the requirements for whole-body protection and respiratory, ocular and dermal system performance, including integration with other equipment.

Consider that a firefighter’s gear consisting of a heavy coat,

By Jason Contant

study that found significantly elevated risks for three types of cancers among rescue and recovery workers responding to the 9/11 attacks in the United States has, once again, brought the issue of first responder safety under the spotlight.

The findings in Association Between World Trade Center Exposure and Excess Cancer Risk, published last December, indicate an excess number of prostate cancer, thyroid cancer and multiple myeloma cases from 2007 to 2008. The study examined nearly 56,000 New York residents enrolled in the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry from 2003 to 2004. Rescue and recovery workers, which account for 21,850 of the participants studied, include police, firefighters, emergency medical service workers, construction or engineering personnel, sanitation workers and volunteers.

Participants were followed from enrolment through December 31, 2008. Of the 1,187 incident cancers diagnosed among participants, 37 per cent (439) were among rescue and recovery workers. However, only 20 per cent of the 439 incident cancers were for those three cancers, says lead study author Jiehui Li with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and lead research scientist for the WTC Health Registry.

“It is still too early to know if the increases were related to 9/11 given the shortness of the follow-up and small number of cancer cases,” Li says, noting that most solid tumours take at least a decade to develop and the overall number of observed cancer cases among rescue and recovery workers between 2007 and 2008 was not significantly higher than expected.

“Cancer takes a while to evolve,” says Paul Lioy, professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in Piscataway, New Jersey. “To see these cancers at this point is highly unlikely.”

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pants and a helmet is often inappropriate for rescue work in a large structural collapse. “If you are not fighting a fire, you don’t need the weight and thermal protection you get from the firefighters’ ensemble and, in fact, it could harm you,” Willis contends.

Instead, half-mask air purifying respirators and lighter gear providing the agility needed for search-and-rescue work and comfortable for long-duration use, are better options.

Protection against cuts and tears is also important. “Make sure you get no physical injuries,” Lioy advises. “These things usually have lots and lots of debris hanging around and you have awkward situations for standing on surfaces. You have structures that are pretty much compromised.”

Sandy Chodak, safety officer with B&B Demolition in Edmonton, says even in controlled structural collapses, cuts from things like ceramic tiles is one of the biggest hazards faced, although the situation varies from site to site. “If you don’t have proper gloves on or if you don’t take care of how you are handling it, it can cut right through a glove.”

Particular Particulates With regards to respiratory protection, the choice will depend on the hazards present in an environment. Willis says prior to 9/11, the standard advice for emergency responders who were unsure of the environment they were entering was to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus.

However, usability times hover around the one-hour mark at best, while responders can take half that time getting in,

Willis notes. Likewise, the hose of supplied-air respirators often cannot be pulled through such an environment.

“It is all in the nature of the event. What you really need is a simple but well-fitted N95 or some kind of respirator that will allow you to perform your functions and still talk,” Lioy says.

Chodak notes that while many companies use disposable N95 masks for demolition works, his company does not. “It is very hard to get a fit-test done on them. They become contaminated so easily.” Instead, B&B Demolition opts for a P100 mask that can last a month as workers do not work in heavy dust all the time. A heavier duty mask is used if gas vapours, mists, lead paint or fumes are part of the work environment.

Lioy says there is better awareness of the importance of respiratory protection since 9/11. Organizations such as the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C. issue respiratory protection recommendations “almost immediately” following incidents like the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. But he has yet to see in the market better respiratory protection that meets communication needs and can be worn for a long period of time in non-gaseous toxic air releases.

While there have been efforts to use robotic devices in particularly hazardous areas, Willis suggests that there is a culture in emergency response of risking a life to save a life. “We should try to find ways to save lives without risking lives.”

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Jason Contant is managing editor of

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49

HEALTH WATCH

HOSPITAL DESIGN

A Healing Space

By Jean Lian

G

ood spatial design can boost the efficiency and wellbeing of nurses by reducing the challenges posed by physical configurations that can lead to fatigue and errors, says a study published in January by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

As poor floor design, storage closet clutter and crowded corridors contribute to fatigue and cause distractions, the study offers a design tool to increase efficiency in acute care settings by matching spatial design with caregivers’ workflow.

Rethinking Efficiency in Acute Care Nursing Units: Analyzing Nursing Unit Layouts for Improved Spatial Flow looked at floor plans and work patterns of five medical-surgical units at hospitals in the United States. In some hospital wards, main clinical spaces, such as nourishment rooms, are located far away from a nurse’s typical path. Congested patient-care corridors create excessive “Hospital noise while high foot-traffic increases the potential for interruptions. layout and Rana Zadeh, assistant professor of design and environmental analysis in the built space College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, likens a nurse hunting for supplies stocked in various rooms to a pilot contribute to scouring the entire cabin looking for the operational tools and controls needed to steer the flight. “New medical practices and techefficiency nologies have emerged during the past decade and facility design should adapt and safety.” to these changing practices so that caregivers can perform better on their critical tasks,” she says.

The Cornell study cites findings from an earlier research paper indicating that almost 24 per cent of nurses’ time was spent walking to various destinations — making it the second most time-consuming activity during patient care. “Hospital layout and built space contribute to operational efficiency and safety,” the study says, noting that many errors are built into routines, systems and settings.

Apart from hurting patient care, errors also cause escalating distress and burnout in caregivers, who are described by the study as “second victims.”

Jeff Pajot, regional consultant with the Public Services Health and Safety Association in Peterborough, Ontario, highlights the importance of recognizing the connection between employee health and safety and patient safety. “The two are not mutually exclusive but rather interconnected in an overall culture of safety.”

A slip, trip and fall hazard affects employees, patients and visitors alike while an infectious agent can cause harm to anyone in the facility. “Health care organizations that use proper 50

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design, such as workplace layout to improve worker health and safety, will have spin-off benefits of improving patient or visitor safety and improve health care outcomes,” adds Pajot, who is also a certified ergonomist with experience in hospital layout design.

A First Vicki McKenna, first vice-president with the Ontario Nurses’ Association and a registered nurse in Toronto, can relate to the challenges posed by less-than-optimal design in health care facilities. “When things are designed poorly and people cannot get to them, that is why they overextend themselves.”

She cites carts stacked with medical supplies negotiating through narrow corridors, linens sitting precariously on bedside tables and nurses reaching for sheets placed high and deep in shelving units. “We have falls in some of our workplaces because of poor design and poor storage planning,” McKenna adds.

That challenge is compounded by the physical constraints commonly found in older hospitals. In some cases, beds that are too big for the doorway have to be disassembled before a patient can be moved to another unit for a medical procedure, and then reassembled to get the bed back into the room.

“I know of a hospital where the operating room’s doorway is too small and they could not get patients in and out of those operating rooms on a bigger bed,” McKenna says. “They had to redo all the doorways.”

Michael Keen, senior director of planning and development with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, says the spatial challenge posed by older facilities is a tough one. “Corridors are smaller, spaces are smaller — they were not designed to incorporate this intense amount of equipment [use].”

Keen is also the chair of the Canadian Standard Association’s (CSA) technical committee for health care facilities, which developed the landmark CSA Z8000 Health Care Facilities Standard launched in November of 2011. It is the first comprehensive national standard to address the complex nature of planning, design and construction of hospitals and health care facilities.

Prior to that, each health care facility building project undertaken in Canada relied on the knowledge and resources available to the architects and consultants engaged. While there are technical standards on lighting, electrical and plumbing, “there was no real document to tie everything together,” Keen notes.

While the CSA Z8000 standard, which sets out requirements and addresses concerns specific to health care facilities beyond what is contained in building codes and guidelines, is voluntary until adopted by the code, Keen says it becomes recognized as the industry standard once published — even if it is not mandatory.

David Jensen, media relations co-ordinator with the On-

Back to the Drawing Board Before the floor plan of a hospital can be drawn up, a thorough evaluation of the tasks and work flow; types of equipment used, moved and stored; patient and visitor activity; reaches and clearance requirements; and health and safety risks must be conducted, says Jeff Pajot, regional consultant with the Public Services Health and Safety Association in Peterborough, Ontario.

The evaluation should solicit inputs from front-line staff in the earliest stages of planning, design and implementation of the floor plan. Designers must also work closely with the staff and clients using that space so that health and safety considerations can be incorporated into the architectural floor plan.

Provision of adequate space to store and stage equipment, and having appropriately-sized rooms that can incorporate the use of these equipment are “all big factors in determining, from an ergonomic standpoint, where all the equipment [is placed] and how it interferes with the flow,” says Michael Keen, senior director of planning and development with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

tario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Toronto, says it is the responsibility of hospitals to produce a plan that meets the design principles captured in the OASIS principles, which stand for operational efficiency and effectiveness, accessibility, safety and security, infection prevention and control, and sustainability. “The OASIS principles can also be found in the new CSA’s Z8000 Canadian Health Care Facilities [standard].”

Jensen adds that the ministry now requests planners to use a workshop process when evaluating the proposed design of a hospital. Designers and users are asked to simulate and measure the most critical tasks performed throughout their working day. By having them walk through the seven flows of health care identified in the Lean process methodology, which encompasses family, staff, medications, equipment, supplies, information and process engineering, designers can better understand the processes and improve the design.

“This method is not yet a specific document or tool, but the exercise is structured by the seven flows of Lean process methodology, which is well-understood by health care planners,” Jensen says.

Hands Tied Poor workplace layout can create problems for health care workers, such as musculoskeletal disorders, infection and fatigue. The Cornell study associates noise in clinical environments with increased errors, stress, burnout, perceived work demand, loss of control and poorer communication quality.

It also results in occupational stress causing emotional exhaustion and burnout in critical-care nurses.

On average, registered nurses have a cognitive ‘stacking load’ of 15 activities for about 17 per cent of the time. Nurses had an average of 10 or more tasks awaiting completion and an average of 3.4 interruptions per hour.

“They rarely get a chance to sit down and that is for a whole bunch of reasons. Some of them certainly have to do with layout,” McKenna says. For nurses who respond to hospital emergency codes, “those are the teams that are not just walking — they are running.”

One of the downsides of poor layout is walking distance.

“The amount of distance a nurse has to walk on any given day certainly has an impact overall on the fatigue factors,” Keen says. Reducing steps increases operational efficiency and creates an improvement from an oh&s standpoint, he adds.

Pajot says poor floor design in health care settings is common. Evidence-based design, which has only been introduced to health care facilities in the last decade or two, remains in its infancy and is not widely incorporated into the new design of health care facilities. “Although many books and even CSA standards are available, many barriers exist.”

Examples include patient rooms that are hard-wall built and the set width of corridors. “To change the floor, you have to gut the whole floor,” Keen says. “Sometimes, the footprint does not allow for it.”

Small Steps That said, small changes can make a significant difference to outcomes. Renovations to convert multiple-patient rooms to single-patient rooms, installing overhead mechanical lifts in rooms to reduce clutter from storing portable mechanical lifts in hallways, redesigning storage areas for better organization and adding sound-dampening material to reduce noise are some of the measures, Pajot says.

While the remediation measures can vary widely depending on the configuration of respective work environments, “in some cases, costs do not have to be exorbitant,” he adds.

Working with storage design specialists to tailor a cart storage system that suits the specific operational needs of a particular unit, and getting health care workers to walk through and discuss where things could be located and the times of the day in which they are needed are also recommended. “Sometimes, it is not that hard because we have mobile equipment,” McKenna says. Equipping rooms with observation windows also allows nurses to monitor their patients without having to physically enter their rooms.

Patient flow can also be improved by repurposing existing space. Jensen cites the example of designating a fast-track area in an emergency department by using space that is no longer required for original purposes. “There is a wide range of actions that can be taken to improve safety that do not require a major overhaul.”

Apart from physical modifications, a number of emerging trends in the health care sector are also helping to reduce the amount of walking required of nurses. The shift towards more ambulatory procedures in medical work spaces are giving rise to decentralized workstations, which enable nurses to tend to patients without having to constantly walk back to their workstations.

“That ability to decentralize medication is a huge one in reducing the number of steps and increase the amount of time nurses spend with patients,” Keen suggests. The new standard for in-patient care in single-patient rooms also reduces the frequency of patient transfer to avoid infection risks, he adds.

Senior management and hospital planners should also involve frontline health care workers as early on in the hospital design process as possible. Otherwise, “you have gone too far in the structural design to make changes that will be effective,” McKenna says.

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Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

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51

ACCIDENT PREVENTION

MACHINE GUARDING

Guardians of Safety out on a limb: Working around machinery should not cost an arm or a leg if safeguards are in place to prevent on-the-job injuries.

Without proper guarding, body parts can come into contact with moving parts, resulting in crushing injuries, amputation or worse. A woodworker might sever digits while shaving down a piece of lumber; a factory employee’s necktie could get caught in a conveyer belt and drag him into the machinery.

Whether drilling, shearing, boring, cutting or shaping, establishing a physical barrier between the operator and the equipment protects a worker from debilitating injuries and eliminates the risks associated with accidental contact, notes information from WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia.

NOT ALIKE: Not all machines are created equal. To further complicate matters, the same model of a machine may be used in different ways for different purposes, which may change during the machine’s lifetime, notes information from Guidelines for Safeguarding Machinery and Equipment by SAFE Work Manitoba.

It is important to not modify or adapt machinery without first consulting the manufacturer or other qualified person, such as a professional engineer. In many cases, a safeguard can be selected only after the user has performed a risk assessment.

across the board: Powered machinery and heavy equipment are widely used in industries, such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing, metalworking, woodworking and welding.

While crushing injuries and amputations are commonly associated with contacting with moving parts of an equipment, there are many ways in which employees can be injured. WorkSafeBC cites an abrasive wheel used to cut, grind and shape hard materials.

Cracks or damaged wheels that explode in the process of cutting can send flying shrapnels and seriously harm a worker. An abrasive wheel in operation can also scrape a worker’s arm if guards are not in place.

WEAKEST LINKS: If it moves, it merits your attention, notes information from the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA).

Machine guarding protects against rotating parts, nip points, flying chips and sparks. Typically, all moving equipment requires three general areas of safeguards: the point of operation where the work is performed, the power transmission apparatus (such as flywheels, pulleys, chains, gears and belts) and all other parts that move while the machine is powered up.

AT ARM’S LENGTH: Regulation 851 of Ontario’s Occupational Health & Safety Act states that an in-running nip hazard or any part of a machine shall be equipped with a guard or other device that prevents access to the pinch point. The machine must also be shielded so that the product, processed material or waste stock will not endanger the operator. Information from the University of Ottawa notes that effective machine guards should perform the following protective functions: • Restrict access to moving parts and pinch points; • Be firmly secured and installed so that items cannot fall into or shoot out of a machine’s moving parts; • Be designed to permit safe operation of the machine; • Allow for maintenance of the machine when required; • Be equipped with automatic shut-off when the guard is removed or opened; and • Eliminate the point of entry to the machine.

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SAFETY 360: Before a practical understanding of the operational risks relating to machinery can be acquired, a risk assessment is in order. As each party understands a machine from different perspectives, a risk assessment should involve the operator, maintenance personnel and the supervisor, WorkSafeBC notes. The manufacturer, suppliers of safeguards and relevant safety professionals may also need to be consulted.

Repeated observations can also help determine what a worker does when normal production flow is interrupted. The following factors can increase the probability of contact with unguarded moving parts: • Hand-feeding a machine activated by a foot control; • Reaching into a machine to clear jams and misfeeds; • Boredom and repetition; • Frequent access to dangerous areas of a machine for set-up and adjustments; • Lack of operator training and experience; and • Machine cycle speed.

RIGHT FIT: Safeguards can include physical barriers, safety devices, shields and warning signs. Choosing the appropriate guard for its corresponding machine part is crucial to a worker’s safety.

An effective guard provides maximum protection with minimum impact on machine operation, WorkSafeBC notes, citing the following types of safeguards: • Barrier guards: This type of guard is considered the most effective and serves as a physical blockage between the worker and the moving part. A fixed barrier guard must protect a worker from projectiles, harmful fluids or moving parts and physically restrict someone from reaching into parts of the machinery where clothing or body parts might get caught.

• Grid guards: These are used to protect workers from the most common forms of injuries, which occur around poweredtransmission parts often involving conveyer belts, chains, gears, shafts, sprockets and pulleys. As grid guards are made of wire or perforated metal and designed in a woven pattern, they prevent a worker from poking through to the hazardous machinery on the other side.

• Protective barriers: These are designed to physically obstruct a person from going near a dangerous piece of equipment or hazardous area. For instance, WorkSafeBC recommends that rail guards and perimeter fences around construction sites should sit at 1.8 metres high. A ratio to keep in mind is that the height of the proposed protective barrier should equal the minimum height of the danger zone, while taking into account the horizontal distance between the barrier and the dangerous area. If the hazardous area sits at 2,000 millimetres (mm) and the horizontal distance to the danger zone is 500 mm, the proposed protective barrier should be at least 1,800 mm.

methods of safeguarding: Machine guards can also be fixed, interlocked, adjustable or self-adjusting. A fixed guard is a permanent, integral part of the machine and is the preferred form since it does not affect the function of the equipment, Oregon OSHA notes.

Typically, fixed guards are made of sheet metal, screens, wire mesh or bars. Conversely, interlocked guards are tripped when opened or removed from the machine, which cannot be restarted until the guard is back in place.

As its name suggests, adjustable guards offer a vast array of options, while self-adjusting guards are determined by the movement of the stock produced. When product comes in, the guard will move out and the openings leave only enough space for the product to pass through.

NIP AND TUCK: Although there is a veritable smorgasbord of machine guards available for employers, additional precautionary measures should be taken. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario cautions against wearing loose clothing and jewellery, which present a snag hazard. Tying back long hair, knowing the location of any emergency shut-off devices and wearing the required protective equipment, such as hard hats and safety boots, are also recommended.

Physical protections aside, training should also address proper operational procedures of equipment, as awkward hand movements and positions can result in a slip. It is also imperative that any maintenance or repairs should only be performed when the machines are shut off. www.ohscanada.com

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57

TIME OUT

BLADES OF ICE: Talk about cutting-edge beauty. A

worker trying to remove a three-storey-tall icicle from an apartment building in Saskatoon realized that he had his job cut out for him. Mother Nature’s handcrafted icy chandelier proved too much of a match for the worker’s chainsaw when melting water from inside the icicle dulled the blades, The Canadian Press reported on March 1. The hanging hazard was brought to the attention of the building’s supervisor by a concerned resident. The valiant attempt to tame Mother Nature’s creation proved quite a stir as residents and passers-by alike watched man versus icicle, with man triumphing over the crystalline stalactite.

FIVE-SECOND RULE: It may be time to toss out the

five-second rule. Staff members at Toronto South Detention Centre fell sick after they were served jerk chicken that had fallen on the institution’s floor, prompting an investigation by the provincial government and city health inspectors. Not long after the dirty birds were retrieved and served to jail staff members, Toronto Public Health received reports from staff complaining of symptoms of gastrointestinal illness, the Toronto Star reported on March 2. A spokesperson from Toronto Public Health says the institution’s kitchen passed a subsequent health inspection, but could not confirm if the illnesses were caused by the chicken as leftovers were still being examined in a laboratory.

A LITTLE EXTRA: A server at a Tim Hortons in Hamilton,

Ontario is not only rolling up her sleeves at work, but also breaking out into a happy dance whenever someone wins the coffee chain’s annual Roll Up the Rim contest. The employee, who has been serving coffee and donuts in that outlet for six years, says she is happy to put a smile on her customers’ faces, CBC News reported on March 1. An appreciative customer uploaded a video of her cheer, which has since gone viral.

Move over, Gangnam Style.

TWISTED HUMOUR: Drama played out in a public high school in Toronto when a drama teacher was fired for handing out seven pages of violent and racist jokes to his students as part of an assignment. The teacher’s offensive humour came to light after parents complained that his students have been asked to develop a comedy skit based on five jokes on the list, which contained derisive comments about blondes, sexual violence and dead babies, the Toronto Star reported on March 6. But not everyone deemed the teacher’s humour out of line. Some students and parents came to his defence, arguing that his dismissal is a loss to the education system.

HONOUR ROLL: What do artists and cooks have in common? Amorous dalliances at work, so says office romance report, Who’s Finding Love At Work, released in February by career website PayScale. But artists and cooks are by no means the only occupational groups hoping to find Romeos and Juliets among co-workers. The survey, which polled 42,000 respondents about their workplace love life, identified welders, store clerks, those serious folks in the information technol58

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ogy department and — get this — occupational health and safety specialists in the top-ten list. Trailing not far behind are industrial machinery and automotive technicians, food service managers, database administrators and planning and expediting clerks. What about those who are most disapproving of office romances? Dental hygienists and the clergy.

SERIOUS PLAY: It was an obstacle course of a different kind when traffic on a major highway in West Virginia was brought to a grinding halt — not by road accidents or bad weather — but by thousands of Lego pieces that had scattered onto the road. The spill of the unusual contents caused delays and reduced traffic to a one-lane crawl while crews worked to recover the pieces, the QMI Agency reported on March 6. The tiny, colourful building blocks, which belonged to an 11-year-old boy, were stored in containers strapped to the top of his mother’s vehicle when they came loose. The clean-up operation took hours.

CROSSED PATHS: They might not look like flowers but

they sure sting like bees. Two employees at Picnic Island Park in Port Tampa, Florida, were using a front-end loader to remove debris near the park entrance when they unwittingly disturbed a bees’ nest, Huffington Post reported on March 6.

Some 100,000 bees swarmed out and surrounded the workers’ vehicle after they overturned an old truck tire. These “killer bees,” which are much more aggressive than other types of honey bees, were likely transported to the sunshine state on a port ship coming from Africa or South America.

The workers are expected to make a full recovery.

SHook UP: A group of miners in Australia were given the pink slip after an online video of them dancing to the tune of the Harlem Shake in an underground mine sparked a brouhaha. The workers, who were part of an overnight crew working at the Agnew Mine in Western Australia, delivered the convulsive dance shirtless while others wielded tools as dance props, Reuters reported on March 4. A spokesperson of the mine owner said the workers had breached the company’s strict safety policy. Lesson learned? No groove is worth a job — above or underground. plush parachutists: A border guard in Belarus has

learned the hard way that even teddy bears can trigger a political firestorm after a plane dropped hundreds of these cute soft toys carrying pro-democracy messages over the landlocked country. The guard was sentenced to two years at a maximum-security prison for failing to stop the plane from its offensive air drop, organized by a Swedish advertising firm last July, BBC news reported on February 19. The light plane was somehow able to enter Belarusian airspace from neighbouring Lithuania, release the politically incorrect plushies from low altitude over a town and return to Lithuania without being detected. The advertising firm reportedly said it was inspired by Belarusian pro-democracy activists who were carrying teddy bears with protest slogans.

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Anyone responsible for the safety and security of workers in confined spaces knows that customized solutions for the most difficult scenarios are essential in the event of a fall. 3M is committed to providing comfortable, quality products that help give workers effective protection.

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