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 JANU ARY / F EB RUARY 2015
on the
C A N A D A
credible CREDENTIALS Probing the depths of safety certification programs
TICK TOCK
Shift changes hike injury risks
AIMING FOR ZERO
Firms recognized for safety efforts
ON THE LINE
Curbing violence against healthcare workers
CITY GETS GRANULAR
Edmonton tackles silica-dust exposure
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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
C R ED EN TIALS 20
CC A A NNA AD DA A
Raising the Bar
J A N U A RY/ F E BR UARY 2 0 1 5 Vo l u m e 3 1, Nu m b er 1
Construction sites are fraught with hazards. Is the certification training for National Construction Safety Officers rigorous enough to enable them to keep out danger? BY KELLY PUTTER
S AF ETY AWAR D S 26
A Pat on the Back
Three companies in Ontario’s mining, forestry and printing and converting sectors have received awards recognizing their efforts in improving workplace safety. BY DANNY KUCHARSKY
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S HIF T WOR K
20
Between Shifts
New research suggests that employees who switch shifts are at higher risk of being injured on the job than those on regular graveyard shifts. BY JEFF COTTRILL
DEPARTMENTS
26
Donning the proper safety gloves can protect workers’ prized digits from sustaining potential injuries from impact, vibration, laceration, burns or amputation. BY JEFF COTTRILL
40
S P EC IAL R EP ORT
Blood on Scrubs
A spate of violent incidents against healthcare workers has cast doubts on whether hospitals and mental institutions are doing enough to shield their employees from harm.
COVER ILLUSTRATION:
36
S AF ETY GEAR
Lending a Hand
BY JEAN LIAN
City Gets Tough on Silica
Industrial hygienist Caroline Switzer talks about the City of Edmonton’s strategy in tackling silica-dust exposure among its workforce.
IN THIS ISSUE ED IT O R IA L
4
PA N O R A MA
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O H&S U P D AT E
8
Watch Your Step
British Columbia worker pulled into silo; Saskatchewan nursing home probed; Ontario’s bill to protect vulnerable workers; rule changes for Nova Scotia’s offshore workers; Newfoundland and Labrador police want full coverage; and more.
AC C ID EN T P R EV EN TION 4 4
Locking Danger Out
Employees who operate machinery can be hurt as a result of improper lockout procedures. Following a set of basic precautions can keep workers safe, not sorry.
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TIM E OUT
Pot without luck; biocrap; mark of guilt; office drive-through; nuts about nuts; and more.
D IS PAT C HES
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A N N U A L R EA DE R PO L L P R O D U C T S HO W CAS E A D IN D EX
46 48 49
Feds get flak over sex-work laws; creating an ’appy workforce; and more.
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IN C ON V ER S ATION
32
Do I believe in the concept of zero harm? Let’s just say I believe that nothing is impossible.
– DAVE COLLINS
www.ohscanada.com
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A D I NDE
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
Watch Your Step O
EDITOR JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com
Jean Lian
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CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Pipeline Magazine
JASON CONTANT JContant@bizinfogroup.ca
CARMELLE WOLFSON ASSISTANT EDITOR cwolfson@ohscanada.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JEFF COTTRILL jcottrill@ohscanada.com ART DIRECTOR PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER MARKETING SPECIALIST CIRCULATION MANAGER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER PUBLISHER PRESIDENT, ANNEX-NEWCOM LP
ANNE MIRON PHYLLIS WRIGHT GARY WHITE DIMITRY EPELBAUM BARBARA ADELT badelt@bizinfogroup.ca SHEILA HEMSLEY shemsley@ohscanada.com PETER BOXER pboxer@ohscanada.com ALEX PAPANOU
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
DAVID IRETON, Safety Professional, Brampton, Ont. AL JOHNSON, Vice President, Prevention Services WorkSafeBC, Richmond, B.C. JANE LEMKE, Program Manager, OHN Certification Program, Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ont.
DON MITCHELL, Safety Consultant, Mississauga, Ont. MICHELE PARENT, National Manager, Risk Management and Health and Wellness,
Standard Life, Montreal, Que. TERRY RYAN, Workers’ Compensation and Safety Consultant, TRC Group Inc., Mississauga, Ont. DON SAYERS, Principal Consultant, Don Sayers & Associates, Hanwell, N.B. DAVID SHANE, National Director, Health and Safety, Canada Post Corporation, Ottawa, Ont. HENRY SKJERVEN, President, The Skjerven Cattle Company Ltd., Wynyard, Sask. PETER STRAHLENDORF, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Health, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ont. JONATHAN TYSON, Association of Canadian Ergonomists/Association canadienne d’ergonomie, North Bay, Ont. OHS CANADA is the magazine for people who make decisions about health and safety in the workplace. It is designed to keep workers, managers and safety professionals informed on oh&s issues, up to date on new developments and in touch with current thinking in the oh&s community. WEBSITE: http://www.ohscanada.com INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS contained in this publication have been compiled from sources believed to be reliable and to be representative of the best current opinion on the subject. No warranty, guarantee nor representation is made by Annex-Newcom LP as to the absolute correctness or sufficiency of any representation contained in this publication. OHS CANADA is published six times per year by Annex-Newcom LP, a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business information services. The yearly issues include: January/ February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/ December. Application to mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is pending at Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14304. U.S. Postmaster, Office of Publication, send address corrections to: OHS Canada, 2424 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls, NY 14304-0357. ADDRESS: OHS CANADA MAGAZINE, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9. TELEPHONE: Customer Service: 1-866-543-7888; Editorial: 416-510-6893; Sales: 416-510-5102; Fax: 416-510-5171. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Canada: $110.50/year; USA: $132.50/year; foreign: $137.50. (Prices include postage and shipping; applicable taxes are extra.) SINGLE COPIES: Canada: $6.00; USA: $8.00; foreign $10.00 Bulk subscription rates available on request. Indexed by Canadian Business Periodicals Inc. ISSN 0827-4576 OHS Canada (Print) • ISSN 1923-4279 OHS Canada (Online) Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. From time to time, we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Customer Service: (Tel) 416-510-5189; (Fax) 416-510-5167; (E-mail) asingh@bizinfogroup.ca; (Mail) Privacy Officer, Annex-Newcom LP, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Canada. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and may be used for your personal, non-commercial purposes only. All other rights are reserved, and commercial use is prohibited. To make use of any of this material, you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information, please contact the editor. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
POSTAL INFORMATION: Publications mail agreement no. 40069240. Postmaster, please forward forms 29B and 67B to Annex-Newcom LP, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Canada. Date of issue: JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
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© Workrite Uniform Company Inc.
ntario is getting serious about falls. Come April 1, the new Working at Heights Training Program will become mandatory for those who work at heights in construction projects that fall under the province’s Regulations for Construction Projects. The standard will address rights and responsibilities related to working at heights, hazard identification, ladder safety and proper use of personal protective equipment. The Working at Heights Training Provider Standard has been developed to set out requirements for prospective training providers. Those trained under the current fall-protection training requirements before April 1, 2015 will have until April 1, 2017 to be trained under the new requirements. The move should come as no surprise, considering that falls are the number one cause of critical injuries and deaths of workers at construction sites across Ontario. The statistics are dismal: Ontario’s Ministry of Labour reports that falls accounted for half of the 21 workers who died in incidents on construction projects in 2013. In British Columbia, falls from heights from 2004 through 2013 claimed 92 workers’ lives and resulted in 22,610 serious injuries. Carpenters, roofers and labourers have the highest likelihood of falling at residential worksites, with falls from ladders and roofs or scaffolding being the most common. WorkSafeBC launched a campaign last September to reduce the number of falls from heights and partnered with five Lower Mainland construction companies representing 22 jobsites. Similarly, Alberta’s health and safety officers conducted worksite inspections at residential building sites across the province last summer and focused on the use of fall-protection equipment by roofers and framers. The residential construction sector was also the subject of focused campaigns in 2011 and 2012. The regulatory requirements regarding fall protection on a construction project, as set out in Sections 26 to 26.9 of the Regulations for Construction Projects, state that constructors and employers must install guardrails or take other protective measures if workers are at risk of falling more than three metres. But it is not uncommon to see workers, especially those working on residences fixing roofs and eavestroughs, on top of houses without safety harnesses. And that applies to non-construction workers as well. This past summer, I saw a pest controller at the top of a bungalow — sans fall protection — looking for openings on the roof where animals could find their way into the house. Construction work is dangerous for many reasons: physical exertion, high workload, time pressure, exposure to the elements and simply working in an environment fraught with hazards like falling loads, slippery surfaces and being at heights. The year 2015 has barely started, and three Ontario-based companies have already been cited for fall-related injuries or fatalities. On January 13, New Mex Canada Inc., a Brampton-based retailer of furniture and accessories, was fined $250,000 and two of its directors were jailed 25 days each, after pleading guilty to safety violations that led a warehouse worker to fall to his death in 2013. On January 19, a construction worker employed by Solar Erectors Ltd. sustained serious injuries from a fall at an industrial site in Barrie. On January 27, Jebco Industries Inc., which operates a coatings, linings and moulding facility in Innisfil, was fined $30,000 after a worker was observed working on top of a flatbed trailer without using a safety harness. The new training program is a step in the right direction. But training aside, workers have to bear in mind daily that while the skyscrapers they build are tall and mighty, the builders are mere mortals who are not above the law of gravity.
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C A N A D A
Vol. 31, No. 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
A D A
© Workrite Uniform Company Inc.
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STAY WARM: WorkSafeBC is reminding employers and workers to work safely during winter. In a statement issued on January 8, WorkSafeBC urged employers to do a risk assessment. They should also create a cold-exposure plan to determine who is working where, what they will be exposed to and for how long, make heaters available, put up barriers to block wind chill and identify slipping hazards. Source: WorkSafeBC 1.
ONE UP ON HUMAN RIGHTS: Discrimination against transgender people is against the law in Saskatchewan, following the province’s introduction of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2014 on December 2. The new act adds gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination and repeals an exemption that allowed landlords to refuse renters based on sexual orientation if they were renting suites or duplex units attached to the landlord’s own home. Source: Government of Saskatchewan 2.
BREAKING FALLS: A mandatory training standard for working at heights in the construction sector will go into effect in Ontario on April 1. The provincial labour ministry announced on December 9 that the new Working at Heights Training Program Standard seeks to ensure that workers are sufficiently familiar with ladder safety, hazard identification and fall-protection equipment. Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour 3.
4. NO MORE FRACKING: New Brunswick became the third province in Canada to ban hydraulic fracturing on December 18, when Premier Brian Gallant announced a moratorium on the practice. The ban will stay in effect until a social licence is in place, clear information about fracking’s effect on health and the environment is available and there is a plan to mitigate the effect on public infrastructure, consult with First Nations and maximize benefits for citizens of the province. Source: Office of the Premier, New Brunswick
Fine levied against furniture retailer New Mex Canada Inc. for a worker fatality in 2013. The conviction, issued on January 14 by the Ontario Provincial Court, also sentenced two of the company’s directors to 25 days in prison.
Source: Ontario Federation of Labour
175
Number of workplace fatalities in the Canadian air-taxi industry from 2004 to 2014. This figure represents 65 per cent of the country’s total aviation failures over the same period. Source: Transportation Safety Board of Canada
82%
Percentage of domestic-violence victims who reported that the violence also harmed their performance at work, according to a study examining the effects of domestic abuse on workplaces in Canada, released on November 27. Source: Canadian Labour Congress
5. HEARING
THINGS: The Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia’s hearing-loss policy has undergone revisions that went into effect on January 1. Now, any worker who requests medical benefits for hearing loss must have a confirmed permanent medical impairment, must undergo a hearing test within five years of leaving a noisy work environment and will not have deductions for natural, age-related hearing loss. Source: Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia
360°
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30%
GAS BLAST Seventeen people were killed and 33 others wounded in a gas explosion at an auto-parts factory in Foshan, Guangdong, China on December 31. Witnesses heard three blasts at the Fuhua Engineering and Manufacturing Co. factory, which was closed for cleaning at the time. A nearby glass factory was damaged as well. The disaster occurred only a day after China’s State Council announced that it had fired two city officials deemed responsible for a dust explosion, which claimed 146 lives in August at another auto-parts factory in Kunshan.
Percentage of decline in workrelated injury rates in Ontario from 2004 to 2011. A study by Toronto’s Institute for Work and Health, published on December 18, attributed this change primarily to a dip in the number of occupational injuries, due to employers’ investments in injury prevention.
Source: The Associated Press
Source: Institute for Work and Health
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OH&S UPDATE
TREE DAMAGE DOWNS PLANE FEDERAL — The damage to a plane wing
from a tree strike likely contributed to a fatal air crash in the Northwest Territories two years ago. On January 8, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its investigation report into the accident that occurred on August 22, 2013, claiming the life of the pilot, who was the only person aboard the float plane. On that day, a Transwest Air DHC-3 turbine-powered Otter aircraft left Scott Lake, Northwest Territories for Ivanhoe Lake, but did not arrive at its destination. The company notified the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, which dispatched a search-and-rescue aircraft. The following day, the wreckage of the plane was found in a lake between the takeoff location and destination. The TSB found that damage to the plane from a prior tree strike and a number of stressors throughout the day had
contributed to the accident. “The right wing was damaged [from] impact with several trees, and the damage was not evaluated or inspected by qualified personnel prior to the subsequent takeoff,” a TSB statement notes. “The investigation also revealed that a number of stressors throughout the day disrupted the pilot’s processing of safetycritical information and likely contributed to an unsafe decision to depart and operate a damaged, uninspected aircraft.” To enhance its operations, Transwest held discussions with its pilots concerning their responsibilities to remove themselves from flight duty if they do not feel fit to fly. The company also issued a safety directive on September 30, 2013, outlining the company’s expectation of compliance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations and action to be taken if an aircraft is damaged, which includes refraining from flying until a licensed engineer has inspected and signed a release for that aircraft. The release of the report came two
months after the TSB announced that it would conduct a safety-issues investigation into Canadian air-taxi operations to understand the risks in the sector.
REPORT IDENTIFIES KEY RISKS FEDERAL — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has highlighted safety issues that it says pose the greatest risk to Canada’s marine, rail and air transportation sectors. On November 26, the TSB released its updated watchlist for 2014, which includes the multimodal issue of safety management, Transport Canada (TC) oversight and the following safety issues: loss of life on fishing vessels; following railway signal indications; onboard video and voice recorders; railway-crossing safety; transportation of flammable liquids by rail; approach and landing accidents; and risk of collisions on runways. In addition, the TSB had identified in recent investigations — including the
BAD WEATHER A FACTOR IN SINKING OF VESSEL FEDERAL — A wide turn around a sandbar and accompany-
ing breaking waves led to the tragic grounding and sinking of a lobster-fishing vessel near the New Brunswick coast in 2013, an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) concludes. Three fishers aboard the Marie J drowned when the small boat sank on its way back to McEachern’s Point Harbour in Tabusintac Bay on the morning of May 18, 2013. According to the TSB report published on November 13, 2014, the vessel got caught in bad weather during its return and made a wide turn around a red buoy, bringing the boat close to a sandbar. Two large waves hit the vessel and grounded it on the sandbar for about 20 minutes, until additional waves pushed it into deeper water, sinking it. A strong north-wind warning was in effect, and none of the three victims was wearing lifesaving gear at the time, even though three lifejackets were aboard the boat. The vessel was also equipped with three personal flotation devices (PFDs), six flares and a fire extinguisher. “The master had learned his trade locally within the Tabusintac fishing community, where it was common practice for fishermen not to wear PFDs and to carry only the lifesaving appliances necessary for regulatory compliance,” the report says. “If lifesaving appliances are not used, there is increased risk of injury or death to crew members during an emergency.”
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The TSB says the only available channel to McEachern’s Point was difficult to navigate because of its narrow width, limited depth and position with respect to the wind and waves at the time. The report cites three possible reasons why the vessel master made the wide turn: the master had a limited view of the buoys; he was unfamiliar with the boat’s handling characteristics; or the wind and waves had put the boat in a particular position where it had to make the turn. Another likely factor was that the Tabusintac Bay buoy contractor had asked the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) if the buoys could be moved to a different gully in the channel several weeks before the incident, but information about the buoys’ new positions had not been passed on to the CCG. Fishers could be exposed to unidentified safety risks if shortrange aids to navigation are placed in a channel and no review of their placement is conducted. Information about changes to these aids must be communicated; otherwise, it could hamper search-and-rescue missions. “The safety of fishermen will be compromised until the complex relationship and interdependency among safety issues is recognized and addressed,” the report reads. “If there is no focused and concerted effort at the provincial level to promote fishing safety, then fishermen may not employ safe working practices.” — By Jeff Cottrill
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one into the Lac-Mégantic derailment — problems with TC oversight, a failure to identify companies’ ineffective processes and an imbalance between auditing processes versus traditional inspections. Kathy Fox, the TSB’s chair, says a safety management system (SMS) on its own is not enough, which is why the TSB is calling on TC to oversee all SMS and processes regularly to ensure that they are effective. The board is also calling on TC to ensure that flammable liquids are safely transported by rail by requiring railway companies to classify these products properly, ship them in containers of the safest design and conduct routine risk assessments.
COLLISION HIGHLIGHTS ISSUES FEDERAL — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has highlighted two of its watchlist issues — following railway signal indications and onboard video and voice recorders — in the wake of the release of its report on a train collision in May 2013.
On May 18, 2013, a Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) train was approaching Dunmore, Alberta, when it passed a stop signal and struck the side of an eastbound CP train leaving the hamlet, according to a TSB statement issued on December 16, 2014. A train conductor suffered minor injuries in the incident, which derailed two locomotives and four rail cars and damaged several other cars. The demands of other operational tasks likely diverted the attention of the crew members on the westward train away from establishing a common understanding of the wayside signals. “The train was then operated as though the way was clear,” the statement says. As these occurrences continue to happen, the TSB has called for additional physical safety defences to ensure that rail workers consistently recognize and follow railway signal indications governing operating speed or operating limits. The investigation also found that until locomotive in-cab video and voice recorders are installed on lead locomotives, there is a risk that information integral to accident investigations will con-
tinue to be unavailable. “That is why the TSB has called on the railway industry to ensure communications in the locomotive cab are recorded, and [the TSB] is committed to working with Transport Canada (TC) and the industry to remove any legislative barriers that would prevent the installation of these devices,” the statement notes. CP says it is “fully supportive” of cabmonitoring technology for both post-accident analysis and its use during in-train operations to prevent accidents. Keith Kreel, CP president and chief executive officer, adds that correct implementation of this technology has lowered the frequency of collisions by nearly half in similar industries. The day after the release of the TSB report, TC announced the new Grade Crossing Regulations to improve railway safety. The following new regulations will take effect over the next seven years at locations where a railway line crosses a road at the same level: bringing all grade crossings in Canada to the same standard; clearly defining the person who is responsible for the design, con-
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struction, maintenance and inspection of the crossing surface, signage and warning systems; requiring railway companies and road authorities to share basic safety-related information on their grade crossings; and requiring rail companies to report leading-indicator data to TC.
DIESEL EXHAUST CAN ALTER DNA VANCOUVER — Just two hours of expo-
sure to diesel-exhaust fumes can lead to fundamental health-related changes in biology, a new study from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vancouver Coastal Health suggests. The study found that diesel exhaust causes changes in methylation — the carbon-hydrogen “coating” that attaches to many parts of a person’s DNA — affecting about 400 genes at about 2,800 different points. In some places, it leads to more methylation, but more often, it decreases methylation, concludes the study, published in January in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology. “The fact that DNA methylation was
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affected after only two hours has positive implications,” says Dr. Chris Carlsten, an associate professor in the UBC’s division of respiratory medicine and the AstraZeneca chair in occupational and environmental lung disease. “Any time you can show something happens that quickly, it means you can probably reverse it — either through a therapy, a change in environment or even diet.” According to the UBC statement, the study seated volunteers in a polycarbonate-enclosed booth, about the size of a standard bathroom, where they breathed in diluted and aged exhaust fumes “that are about equal to the air quality along a Beijing highway or under certain conditions at busy ports, rail yards, mines and industrial sites.” The researchers examined how diesel-exhaust exposure affected methylation, which can silence or dampen a gene, preventing it from producing a protein — sometimes to a person’s benefit, sometimes not. The study has implications for workers at risk of diesel-exhaust exposure, such as toll-booth operators, mechanics, railroad workers and ship crew members.
WORKER PULLED INTO SILO CROFTON — A worker has died following
an industrial accident. At about 7:50 p.m. on December 9, the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment received a call from Catalyst Paper mill in Crofton, British Columbia, regarding a contract truck driver who had gone missing while delivering wood chips to the mill. “Officers attended to the scene and determined that there was enough to support the belief that the driver had been taken by a conveyor belt and carried into one of the storage silos,” the RCMP says. WorkSafeBC is leading the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
CAB DRIVER ESCAPES UNSCATHED CHILLIWACK — A taxi driver in Chilliwack, British Columbia has escaped injury after he was attacked on January 6. At about 5 a.m., members of the Chill-
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iwack RCMP detachment responded to a complaint of a robbery, the RCMP’s Upper Fraser Regional Valley Detachment reports. One passenger allegedly tried to rob the taxi driver at gunpoint. The driver exited the taxi and ran away, as another suspect attempted to blind him with pepper spray. The driver was not injured, and the investigation continues.
TRUCKER FOUND UNDER TIMBER SPALLUMCHEEN — The Coroners Service
of British Columbia, Transport Canada and the RCMP are investigating the death of a worker on December 3. Truck driver John Sleypen, 50, of Kamloops had just delivered a load of heavy timber to the Rapid-Span Precast plant in Spallumcheen, near Vernon. As the timber was being unloaded, another worker found Sleypen trapped under a significant amount of timber, the Coroners Service reports. He was transported to Vernon Jubilee Hospital, but could not be resuscitated.
PROGRESS MADE IN ACTION PLAN RICHMOND — Five months after the an-
nouncement of the WorkSafeBC Review and Action Plan report, the regulatory agency posted its first update of its progress online on December 9. Key progress to date includes the development of a health and safety association in the wood-manufacturing sector, possibly by mid-2015, and the implementation of a revised “major case management” protocol. The report, which includes 43 recommendations on improving workplace health and safety in the province, was released on July 15 by Shirley Bond, British Columbia’s Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills and Minister Responsible for Labour. The 192-page report, prepared by WorkSafeBC administrator Gordon Macatee, came more than two years after a fire and explosion destroyed the Babine Forest Products sawmill in Burns Lake in January 2012, killing two workers and injuring 20 others. Other progress items since July in-
clude the following: • Implement a sustained, dust-safety compliance plan for sawmills and wood-manufacturing employers and have new policies for sawmills and other wood-processing manufacturers; • Create a gatekeeper position to ensure oversight of all appropriate legal information to relevant parties (this person has the authority to decide when an incident ceases to be a cause investigation and becomes a prosecution investigation); and • Finalize the signing of two memoranda of understanding — one between WorkSafeBC and police agencies to cooperate and share information when conducting concurrent, joint or sequential investigations into the same incident, and the other between WorkSafeBC and the Criminal Justice Branch. Bob Matters, chair of the United Steelworkers’ Wood Council, says that while there is still much work to be done, he is happy with the progress so far. He adds that the new policies on wood-dust migration and control will help to ensure that sawmills are safer.
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Macatee reports that 13 items have been fully completed, 18 are in progress and on track for completion as scheduled and 12 require legislative changes. “To date, 96 sawmills have chosen to conduct daily independent inspections with weekly reporting to WorkSafeBC and 22 have chosen to have WorkSafeBC continue to conduct focused inspection activities on their mills,” Macatee says.
HOTLINE FOR FOREIGN WORKERS EDMONTON — The Temporary Foreign Workers Association (TFWA) has created a confidential hotline to help workers get answers about their rights, both under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and on the job. The association announced the hotline on January 12. The toll-free number,
1-888-366-0194, will provide information about legal entitlements, such as rates of pay, overtime and immigration requirements, to callers. “The new hotline is a confidential resource for workers who need answers about their rights at work,” says Wally Ewanicke, an organizer with Unifor, which is a member of the TFWA along with Migrante Canada. Marco Luciano, Edmonton-based secretary general with Migrante Canada, argues that temporary foreign workers (TFWs) deserve dignity and respect in the workplace, just like other workers. “There is no such thing as disposable labour.” The announcement of the hotline came on the heels of a report from the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), which alleges that some of the work on Edmonton’s new downtown arena is being done by TFWs from the United States, even though hundreds of qualified Canadian ironworkers are available. Construction on Rogers Place, a 20,000-seat venue that is set to become the new home of the Edmonton Oilers in 2016, began last March. Gil McGowan, president of the AFL, says contracts to build parts of Edmonton’s Arena District were awarded to local firms that employ Canadian workers, but that Rogers’ Place was given to an outside firm. McGowan says members of the AFL, Ironworkers Local 720 — which has 300 qualified ironworkers on the “jobs list at the hiring hall a few blocks from the arena’s location” — and the Edmonton and District Labour Council held a protest in Edmonton on January 15. He adds that trades organizations are petitioning the federal government to rescind any TFW permits granted for the project.
FIRM FACES CHARGES OVER FALL RED DEER — A contracting company in the Calgary region faces several oh&s charges, following an incident last July in the city of Lacombe, where a 14-yearold employee fell from a residential roof. The operators of Vital Contracting Ltd., based in Airdrie, Alberta, appeared in court in Red Deer on December 19 to answer to one count of inappropriately employing a person younger than 15 years old and charges of failing to train a worker in fall protection and develop a fall-protection plan. The company is also accused of failing to ensure the safety
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of a worker, supervise the worker competently and keep employment records. Brookes Merritt, spokesperson for Alberta’s Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour in Edmonton, says this case is notable because it involves two workplace-safety areas that are notoriously risk-prone: jobs involving young workers and tasks requiring fall protection. “What we have here is a confluence of two of the most concerning elements of workplace legislation,” Merritt says. “They both present risk to a segment of the workforce that is at high risk already, and they are both preventable.” Vital Contracting is being prosecuted under both the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Employment Standards Code. Merritt points out that charges under the latter are relatively rare and that these are the first charges laid under employment-standards legislation in the province since 2009.
ALLEGED ASSAULT INVESTIGATED REGINA — The Regina Police Service is
investigating the alleged neglect and assault of a resident at the city’s Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home (SMSCH).
The SMSCH says it has provided a video recording of the incident and other details to police and that the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region has engaged an external investigator to look into the matter. “Following notification of the incident, the employees involved were immediately removed from our premises and suspended until further notice,” the home’s executive director, John Kelly, says in a statement issued on December 12. “We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to resident harm.” He adds that beyond addressing the immediate needs of the resident, the home will hold those responsible accountable for their actions. The SMSCH is also reviewing and doubling its investment in employee training, to ensure that resident safety is the focus of all its workers. Saskatchewan’s Minister of Health, Dustin Duncan, says the ministry is exploring its options, including placing an administrator in charge of the facility, conducting additional investigations and inquiries, assigning management support for a facility and looking at best practices from other jurisdictions, such as gentle persuasion training and purposeful hourly interactions. “Any time these types of cases come forward,” Duncan
says, “we take them very seriously.” The alleged assault came on the heels of the announcement of an investigation by Saskatchewan Ombudsman Mary McFadyen into the care that the SMSCH was providing. In particular, the probe was to examine the circumstances surrounding the care of Margaret Warholm, who died last year amid allegations of neglect at the home.
FIRMS FINED FOR VIOLATIONS WINNIPEG — Two companies in Mani-
toba have been fined for violating the province’s workplace safety regulations. According to a statement issued by Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health on November 13, Norbert’s Manufacturing Ltd. in Glenboro was fined $50,050 for an incident that took place on April 3, 2012. On that day, a worker’s hand made contact with a hydraulic shear’s blade, resulting in four fingers being partly amputated. The worker was instructed to remove a physical guard that would have prevented contact with the blade when the incident occurred. The firm pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the employ-
FATALITIES PROMPT CHANGES IN INVESTIGATION PROCESS EDMONTON — Four unrelated workplace fatalities in Alberta within two weeks have spurred the provincial government to adjust the way it investigates workplace-safety issues. “It is rare that we see a high number of fatalities in a short period of time,” says Brookes Merritt, spokesperson for Alberta’s Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour in Edmonton. “But it does happen, and usually, as is the case here, it is basically a series of unfortunate coincidences.” The first incident occurred on November 18 in Calgary, where workers for Insituform Technologies, LLC were installing sewer liner with a duo-gland inversion machine for prime contractor Chinook Infrastructures. The 40-year-old victim, who was struck in the head by the machinery while trying to release a strap from an air-pressure ram, succumbed to serious head injuries. Workplace-safety officers issued a stopuse order on the duo-gland inversion machine. The second incident took place on November 20, when a 60-year-old man in Calgary was killed while working for Nor Cal Construction, Inc. via a local temp agency, Blue Collar Temps. Merritt reports that the man was helping other workers to dismantle a cinderblock wall when the wall collapsed on him, killing him instantly. The following afternoon, a 42-year-old employee of Donalco Western Inc. fell nearly five metres from a ladder in St. Albert. The worker later died in hospital. The fourth incident involved an Edmonton worker, who was fixing a leaking
hydraulic line on a Bobcat on December 2, when the bucket fell and crushed him. Ministry authorities issued a stop-use order on the Bobcat, which belonged to an employer working on a contract for SPAR-Marathon Roofing Supplies. In response to the spate of incidents, Merritt says, the government has established a new employer index system that will take employers’ unique oh&s histories into consideration whenever authorities investigate incidents and risk. “Rather than just looking at the numbers of disabling-injury rates and lost-time claim rates,” Merritt says, “we are factoring in some other items, such as the number of fatalities that they have had, if any, the number of stop-use or stop-work orders they have had, if any, any administrative penalties they may have incurred since we brought in a new administrative-penalty system last year, and other similar indicators.” The new system is intended to give the provincial government a more holistic view of how individual employers practice health and safety, he adds. “So employers who show up on the index with a very high number, a worrisome number, will be subjected to the highest level of intervention from occupational health and safety, which means they are essentially put on notice.” Merritt calls the series of accidents “a tragic reminder” that these incidents are preventable and that workers and employers need to remain vigilant about operating safely. — By Jeff Cottrill
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ee was sufficiently trained to use the shear safely. The second company, Rakowski Cartage and Wrecking Ltd. in Winnipeg, received a total penalty of $18,800 over an incident on August 27, 2012, when a worker cut his left hand seriously while feeding copper wire into a wire stripper. Rakowski pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of employees and failing to supervise them adequately.
COMPANY PENALIZED AFTER GUILTY PLEA BARRIE — A company that operates a coatings, linings and
moulding facility in Innisfil, Ontario has pleaded guilty after an employee was found working on top of a flatbed trailer without a safety harness. Although no one was injured in the incident, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour issued a $30,000 fine to Jebco Industries Inc. on January 27. On February 13, 2013, a ministry inspector attended Jebco’s industrial workplace to follow up on a previous inspection. Upon arrival, the inspector saw the load of a flatbed trailer was being covered with a tarpaulin and secured. On the passenger side of the truck was a forklift, with its forks raised in the air and loaded with a platform, upon which stood a worker adjusting the straps at the top of the load on the flatbed trailer. The inspector then observed the worker leaving the platform and climbing on top of the load, located about 13 feet from the ground. The worker, who was perched on the edge of the load on the flatbed truck, was trying to tarp it without using
fall-protection equipment. The Occupational Health and Safety Act and Ontario Regulation 851 require that any worker exposed to the hazard of falling more than three metres wear a safety belt or harness and lifeline. In addition, the inspector saw two workers standing under the load of the forklift. This contravenes a section of the regulation that states that a lifting device must be operated so that no part of the load passes over any worker. Jebco Industries Inc. pleaded guilty to failing, as an employer, to ensure that measures and procedures prescribed by law were carried out in the workplace.
MAN FACES CHARGES FOR ATTACKING OFFICER TORONTO — The Toronto Police Service (TPS) has arrested a man in connection with an assault on an officer. On December 23, plainclothes officers were investigating the theft of a vehicle, the TPS reports. The officers approached a vehicle parked at an apartment building, and the passenger surrendered to officers without incident. But police later alleged that the driver struck one of the officers with the vehicle while fleeing, causing non-life-threatening injuries. Kirisanth Pathmanathan, 24, was arrested on January 3 and charged with 13 counts, including assault on a peace officer, assault with intent to resist arrest, dangerous driving, failing to comply with probation and two counts of theft under $5,000.
FAILED BRAKING DEVICES SPUR FINE RICHMOND HILL — Ritz Architectural Systems Inc., a supplier
and installer of metal cladding, roofing and panel systems for buildings, was fined $60,000 on December 8, after two workers fell from scaffolding. On September 28, 2012, two employees were installing fascia and soffits on a building under construction in Richmond Hill, Ontario, the labour ministry reports. The employees were working from a wheeled scaffold and tried to engage the wheel’s locking mechanisms, but three of the four mechanisms were not in working order. The scaffold on which the workers were standing rolled off the sidewalk and tipped over, critically injuring the workers. Ritz Architectural Systems Inc. pleaded guilty to failing, as an employer, to ensure that scaffolds mounted on castors or wheels had suitable braking devices on each wheel and had the brakes applied when a worker was on the scaffold.
FEDERATION CALLS FOR PROGRAM OVERHAUL OTTAWA — The Canadian Federation of Independent Business
(CFIB) is calling for major changes to the country’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to address labour shortages and help more temporary foreign workers (TFWs) achieve permanent residence. In a report published on December 1, the CFIB proposed replacing the TFWP with a new “Introduction to Canada Visa” (ICV), which would allow an entry-level TFW to work for an employer for two years as a step towards living in Canada indefinitely. The ICV would allow TFWs to change jobs if their employers do not live up to their commitments, and each employer
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LEGISLATION TO PROTECT VULNERABLE WORKERS TORONTO — The Ontario government plans to introduce
new legislation that protects vulnerable workers, including foreign workers, co-op students and temporary workers. Bill 18, or the Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2014, passed its third reading on November 6 and will be brought into force after receiving royal assent. It is the first bill that the new government has passed in this sitting, provincial labour minister Kevin Flynn notes. The Act encompasses the following: oh&s coverage for co-op students; tying minimum wage to the inflation rate; time limits on the recovery of unpaid wages; recruitment fees and seizing of travel documents of temporary foreign workers; and liability in double-employer situations under temporaryhelp agencies for unpaid wages and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) experience ratings. Currently, under the workers’ compensation experienceratings system, temp agencies shoulder the costs of workplace injuries. Input from the Workers Action Centre and the Institute for Work and Health suggests that employers have been outsourcing the riskiest jobs to temporary-help agencies, Flynn notes. As such, the WSIB is reviewing its experienceratings system. The bill would allow the government to make regulations that would require the WSIB to attribute experience costs to client employers following workplace injuries. The Act also introduces “joint and several liability” between temporary-help agencies and their client employers. If an employee is not treated right by the agency or if the agency does not fulfill its contract with the employees, client employers assume the liability. “The underlying theme is that we want employers to use reputable temporary-help agen-
would be required to employ one Canadian at the same wage rate to qualify for hiring an ICV worker. The report also called for strict enforcement of the program on national and provincial levels. “It is really our attempt to provide a permanent solution to chronic labour shortages,” says Monique Moreau, the CFIB’s director of national affairs. The proposal is also a reaction to changes that Jason Kenney, federal Minister of Employment and Social Development, and Chris Alexander, Minister of Immigration, announced in 2014. Kenney initiated a moratorium on access to the TFWP by the food-services sector in April; two months later, both ministers increased fines, application fees and employer inspections, among other reforms designed to prevent program abuse. “We had a few bad eggs, or bad apples if you will, who were abusing the program,” Moreau concedes. “There should have been more oversight of individuals who were abusing the program.” According to Moreau, a serious problem with Canada’s current immigration
cies,” Flynn says. But Deena Ladd, coordinator at the Workers Action Centre in Toronto, contends that the bill would not make major changes in terms of addressing liability for workplace injuries in multiple-employer situations. She cites a temp-agency worker who was injured while working for a client company. “Even if you have been there for 15 years, your right to return to work, your right to accommodation at work, is not with that company; it is with your temp agency,” Ladd says. “The temp agency has no ability to return you to work, because they have no appropriate assignments.” The new bill will also amend the definition of “worker” in Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act to include co-op students and others performing unpaid work for employers under school programs. “Now that we have actually changed the terminology so that unpaid students, learners and trainees are all covered under the definition of worker, they have got exactly the same rights as other paid workers,” Flynn says. For foreign workers, protections previously granted to live-in caregivers under the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act would be expanded to include all foreign employees who come to Ontario under an immigration or foreign-temporary-employee program. Recruiters are prohibited from charging fees, and employers are prohibited from recovering placement costs from foreign workers. Further provisions in the bill include lifting a $10,000 cap on the recovery of unpaid wages and increasing the period of recovery to two years. — By Carmelle Wolfson
system is that only high-skilled individuals can get into the country permanently. “We are admitting great numbers of these very skilled individuals who then don’t necessarily find work in their fields,” she notes. The ICV, by contrast, would give low-skilled workers a fair path to citizenship. “You should not need a Ph.D. to live the Canadian dream.”
UNION URGES CHANGES TO BILL TORONTO — Representatives from the corrections division of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) have been lobbying the province’s MPPs from all political parties to support Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA) with Respect to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The proposed bill, which passed first reading in the provincial legislature in July, would recognize post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as an occupational disease for first responders, including firefighters, police officers and paramedics.
Under the bill, if an emergency-response worker suffers from PTSD, the disorder is presumed to be a result of the nature of the worker’s employment, unless the contrary is shown. “Everyone recognizes corrections workers can face significant trauma in the course of the daily duties,” Dan Sidsworth, chair of OPSEU’s Corrections Division, says in a statement on November 5. “However, the bill in its current form does not include correctional officers as first responders. This is a significant problem for our members who can be severely impacted by PTSD and the complications they face filing a WSIA claim.” Sidsworth adds that he told Yasir Naqvi, the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, that recognizing correctional officers in Bill 2 would “be a huge step to improving the morale of staff, which would have a positive influence on conditions in the institutions.” Sidsworth says there were 855 assaults on correctional staff last year alone, more than in any other province in Canada.
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AMENDMENTS USHER IN RULE CHANGES HALIFAX — Offshore oil and gas workers in Nova Scotia are now covered under one set of workplace safety rules. Amendments to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation (Nova Scotia) Act came into effect on December 31. Among other changes, the amendments include the following: adding a new oh&s section to the Act; clarifying the roles and responsibilities of governments, regulators, employers and employees; and assigning authority for safety officers to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. Mirror amendments were adopted federally in the Offshore Health and Safety Act and in Newfoundland and Labrador. “Nova Scotia’s offshore is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Atlantic Canada and represents huge potential for our province,” Nova Scotia Energy Minister Andrew Younger says in a joint statement from the provincial Department of Energy and Department of Labour and Advanced Education. “These changes complement the work already under-
The safety of correctional officers was also a priority for OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas, who requested that the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services “quickly address” the number of inmates who are suffering from mental illness, which is estimated to be 30 to 40 per cent of the inmate population. “Our members need the proper training, staffing and equipment to deal with these situations, as well as support when they are affected by trauma in the workplace,” he says.
FIRM RECEIVES HEFTY FINE TORONTO — A numbered company was
fined $400,000 on November 28 over the death of a worker and injury to another at a construction site in Toronto more than three years ago. On October 11, 2011, workers were on the construction site of the Toronto Transit Commission subway near York University, where twin bored tunnels were under construction to add an 8.6-kilometre subway line from the existing Downsview Station to the Vaughan Corporate Centre in York Region. Numbered company 1842887 Ontario Ltd./ OHL-FCC, a limited partnership, was constructing the project. On the day of the incident, an employee of Advanced Construction Techniques Ltd. (ACT), which had been subcontracted as a general contractor, was operating a drill rig equipped with an auger to create a shaft, Ontario’s Ministry of
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way to promote workplace safety in every industry across Nova Scotia, to ensure all workers, whether on land or sea, return home safely at the end of each day.” The statement adds that the amendments apply to all offshore petroleum activities in the province. They also support an occupational health and safety culture that recognizes shared responsibilities in the workplace, provides joint management of oh&s by federal and provincial governments, ensures that workplace safety applies to workers in transit to, from or between offshore platforms, and adds new provincial oversight to the Department of Labour and Advanced Education for offshore health and safety. Tony Cornect, Minister of Service NL, says the amendments are tailored to the offshore working environment and incorporate fundamental oh&s principles, including a worker’s right to refusal, right to know and reprisal protection for raising health and safety concerns. — By Jason Contant
Labour says. Another worker, under the direction of the ACT crew, was operating an excavator. A third worker employed by subcontractor Anchor Shoring and Caissons Ltd. was operating a backhoe loader to remove excavated earth. The labour ministry says the drill-rig operator had raised the auger from the hole and swung the mast. Witnesses saw the rig moving back and forth with the auger in the air and saw one of the tracks fall into a rut. Suddenly, the rig toppled, and the mast and casing crushed the excavator, including the backhoe. The 25-year-old worker operating the backhoe was killed, and the excavator operator was seriously injured. An investigation determined that inadequate site preparation and a soil base unable to withstand the weight and pressure of the drill rig, combined with a procedure of digging dispersal holes filled with wet material, had significantly reduced the ground-bearing capacity of the prepared working surface where the drill-rig tracks were located. In addition, the rig was operating on a slope greater than allowed within safe parameters. Mike Gallagher, business manager of Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents the deceased and injured workers, argues that the accident deserves the maximum $500,000 penalty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Gallagher is also calling on the provincial government to adopt training standards developed by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and
an industry committee of contractors, manufacturers and labour representatives. He also wants training to be mandatory for drill-rig operators. The company was also fined $20,000 for a subsequent safety violation that occurred on March 15, 2012. On that day, labour-ministry inspectors at a tunnelling construction project for another subway expansion found that self-contained breathing apparatuses necessary for a tunnel-rescue procedure were not being inspected monthly.
ORDERS ISSUED OVER INJURY TORONTO — Ontario’s Ministry of Labour
has issued 10 orders to a wind-tower manufacturing firm over a worker injury. On November 4, police responded to a report of a 47-year-old worker whose feet was pinned in machinery at CS Wind Corporation in Windsor. Sergeant Matthew D’Asti, public information officer with the Windsor Police Service, says the worker, who was wearing protective footwear at the time of the incident, sustained multiple fractures. Ministry spokesperson Bruce Skeaff confirms that the worker was pulled into a steel-bending machine. An inspector attended the site and issued five orders: a pre-start engineering report; training records for the injured worker; the development of procedures for situations in which a worker is in close proximity to the machines; training for workers regarding the aforementioned procedures;
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and ensuring that controls are locked out while working in the machine. Five non-related orders were also issued: three required guardrails around pits and machines and two called for the provision of proper walking platforms on two bending machines.
FATALITY IN TRAINING MISHAP PETAWAWA — A Canadian soldier has
died following a training accident at Garrison Petawawa, the largest military base in the country. On the evening of November 21, Craftsman Kyle Sinclair was working on a Coyote armoured patrol vehicle at the facility in southeastern Ontario when the incident occurred, Department of National Defence (DND) spokesperson Lt. Jean-François Carpentier reports. The 27-year-old army private was found unconscious and taken to nearby Pembroke General Hospital. He was resuscitated and transferred to Ottawa Civic Hospital, where he passed away. According to the DND’s website, Sinclair was with The Royal Canadian Dragoons and belonged to 2 Service Battalion, which provides second-line combat service support. Sinclair began his 24-month on-the-job training program in July, Carpentier confirms. Sinclair’s death is the third known soldier fatality in Canada since last October. On October 20, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and another member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) were injured in a hit-and-run incident in SaintJean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. Vincent, a member of the CAF since 1986, died later that day from his injuries. Two days later, reservist Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, was fatally shot at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
FALLEN FISHERMAN DROWNS PORT MOUTON — A fisherman has died after falling into the water while on the job in Port Mouton, near Halifax. Sergeant Paul MacDougall of the local RCMP division says a police officer responded to a call on November 13 about a 61-year-old man who had fallen overboard from a fishing vessel. An investigation under the Coroner’s Act determined that no foul play had occurred. Police passed the case over to the occupational health and safety division
of Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour and Advanced Education, which determined that the man — identified only as Mr. Roy — had been preparing his docked fishing boat for the beginning of fishing season at the time of the incident. “It looks as though Mr. Roy was working on a ladder and rough seas caused him to lose his grip and fall into the water,” department spokesperson Chrissy Matheson says, noting that this was the province’s third fishing fatality in 2014.
FULL COMPENSATION URGED ST. JOHN’S — The Royal Newfoundland
Constabulary Association (RNCA) is calling for changes to workplace health and safety legislation that would allow full compensation for injured officers. Vanessa Colman-Sadd, director of communications with Service NL, says officers currently receive 80 per cent of their pre-injury net earnings, up to a maximum gross of $61,615, as of January 1. The RNCA wants that increased to 100 per cent. Colman-Sadd says the department recently underwent a statutory review process for Newfoundland and Labrador’s compensation system, during which the RNCA made their request for full coverage for officers injured in the course of their duties. But the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission’s Statutory Review Committee did not make that recommendation to the government in its final report. “There is no province in Canada [that] provides a wage-loss benefit of 100 per cent of pre-injury net earning exclusively to police officers,” Colman-
Sadd notes. “There are six provinces [that] allow employers to top up, though, for all injured workers.” She stresses that RCMP officers are covered federally and that the compensation issue applies only to RNC officers. Colman-Sadd says changing legislation to allow for full compensation or top-ups would result in significant costs to employers and the workers’ compensation system for the RNC and all injured workers alike. “Any changes made to the workers’ compensation system must take a balanced approach, considering the needs of workers and employers.” Doug Cadigan, president of the St. John’s Fire Fighters Association, says the association fully supports the RNCA’s position. “We think emergency responders are unique in that unlike all other workers in the province, once we begin responding to an emergency, we no longer have control of our workplace.” He adds that while employers are responsible for ensuring a safe work environment, it has been proven in the past that “this cannot be accomplished” at a fire or another emergency.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada Many of the preceding items are based on stories from our sister publication, canadian
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DISPATCHES
Controversial sex-work bill comes into force By Jeff Cottrill
T
he passing of Bill C-36 into law has sparked opposition from various parties, who fear that the bill will increase violence against sex workers by further criminalizing prostitution. The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which Justice Minister Peter MacKay introduced on June 4, was enacted on December 6. The law amends the Criminal Code to make “purchasing sexual services or communicating in any place for that purpose” a criminal offence. Other amendments prohibit “receiving a material benefit” from sex work, advertising prostitution and communicating in a public place for the purpose of selling sex services. The new legislation also aims to “modernize” the offence of procuring people for the purpose of sex services, while equating prostitution offences with human-trafficking ones. Clarissa Lamb, press secretary and spokesperson for the Office of the Minister of Justice, says MacKay based the bill on nationwide input from educational organizations, support services, women’s groups, police forces and the general public. She adds that the new legislation targets pimps profiting from sex work and johns fulfilling the demand, not sex workers. Among the unions speaking out against Bill C-36 is the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. Deb Tungatt, the union’s regional vice-president, argues that increasing penalties for customers will drive sex workers to “even more remote areas” and reduce their ability to screen johns. Tungatt proposes full decriminalization of prostitution. As well, a group of 25 Toronto city councillors, who signed a letter to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on December 2, requested that she refer the bill to the Ontario Court of Appeal to determine whether the bill’s contents were constitutional. Lamb claims that the new law brings in measures to protect women, including enabling sex workers to hire bodyguards, work from a fixed indoor location and negotiate safer ways to sell services — except in or next to places designed for use by children. The government also plans to contribute $20 million to support exit-strategy programming for sex workers over the next five years. Following the passing of Bill C-36 into law, the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) released a report calling for the protection of sex workers under oh&s regulations. Sex Work in Canada: The Public Health Perspective, published on December 12, examines the public health effects of prostitu 18
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tion and recommends the following: regulate and legitimize prostitution as a business; provide exit-strategy programs for those who want to leave the profession; establish programs to deal with the root causes of coercion into sex work; and devote efforts to fight human trafficking. But Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre in London, Ontario, thinks criminalizing the purchase of sex work is a better solution. “Regulating an industry that exploits women is contributing not only to men’s violence against women, but [it] is also a reactive way to deal with the issue,” she says of the CPHA report. Ian Culbert, CPHA’s executive director, says the report is not a reaction to Bill C-36. “Our goal was to put a different perspective out there and get Canadians talking about the topic in a different framework.” Jeff Cottrill is editorial assistant of
ohs canada.
Saskatchewan steps up on community policing By Jason Contant
S
askatchewan has rolled out its Community Safety Officer (CSO) program, designed to help RCMP and municipal police officers focus on higher-priority calls. Christine Tell, Saskatchewan’s Minister Responsible for Corrections and Policing, announced on December 1 that under the program, officers would allow communities to address “low-risk, high-priority” policing needs, such as traffic, liquor and bylaw enforcement, and to serve as crime-prevention community liaisons. Tell estimates that 75 per cent of police service calls are non-criminal in nature. Of the 25 per cent that have a criminal element, only about five per cent lead to criminal charges. Jordan Jackle, senior communications consultant with Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Justice, says the creation of the program was prompted by a “request from municipalities for greater uniformed law-enforcement presence within the community, as well as the ability to enforce low-risk-of-harm, high-priority issues.” Any community can apply to hire CSOs, and the number of CSOs available across the province will depend on demand from the municipalities. Ray Orb, acting president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), adds that the association’s membership has expressed a need for an “alternative
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enforcement option”, especially in high-growth areas of the province. The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and SARM collaborated with police and other officials in developing the program. Jackle reports that a six-week curriculum for CSOs is being developed at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. Training includes skills that support low-risk policing like de-escalation techniques, report writing and evidence handling. The first class of recruits is expected to begin training in February. Jason Contant is editor of
pipeline
magazine.
Cloud apps may increase employee satisfaction By Carmelle Wolfson
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echnology plays a key role in productivity, but can it also affect workers’ psyches? A link may just exist between the use of technologies like cloud apps — software applications accessed via the Internet — and workers’ levels of happiness and job satisfaction. Tech Overload is Overblown: Cloud Apps and the Happiness Effect, published this past December by Toronto-based technology solutions and services provider Softchoice, says 74 per cent of workers who use cloud apps for work report being happy with their jobs, compared to 19 per cent of those who do not. The study, which surveyed 1,000 fulltime employees across North America, also finds that employees who are allowed to choose which apps they use are twice as likely to be happy at work than those who do not have the option. “The fast, furious deluge of mobile devices and cloud apps into our personal and professional lives has fuelled a common perception that technology leads to overworked, disengaged staff,” says Francis Li, vice-president of information technology with Softchoice. “On the contrary, technology — and cloud apps in particular — has the potential to play a key role in solving long-standing employee-engagement challenges.” Cloud-app use, the study suggests, could also be tied to work-life balance. Of those surveyed, 85 per cent of cloud-app users said they had optimal work-life balance, compared to 59 per cent of those who did not use these apps. Participants also reported improved employee productivity, job excitement and business success with increased cloud-app use. Although the study did not identify the factors that gave rise to this correlation, Li believes that flexible work arrangements are the key to a happy workforce. He adds that core applications that are not readily delivered over the Internet, in which workers must log in, be at a computer or have a virtual private network connection, are viewed as “cumbersome” by
Softchoice employees. “If they can access what they need to be productive both personally and professionally via a device, without a whole lot of limitations, that is what we are finding is really enabling productivity and overall job satisfaction,” Li notes. Carmelle Wolfson is assistant editor of
Board accused of rebating unsafe employers By Jeff Cottrill
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he Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) alleges that the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) has been rebating millions of dollars each year to employers found guilty of safety offences. In a report commissioned by the OFL and published on November 24, author Joel Schwartz — a lawyer with the Industrial Accident Victims’ Group of Ontario in Toronto — points out that the experience-rating system allows the WSIB to compensate firms for claims costs following penalties. From 2011 to 2013, the report claims that the WSIB granted premium rebates to 135 Ontario companies convicted under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Almost $15 million went to 58 per cent of these employers in the respective years when their offences had occurred. “There is a policy that allows the board to deny employers by rebate in the same year that a worker is killed on the job, but that is quite a narrow approach,” Schwartz says. The following are among the cases cited in the report: • After a Home Depot worker in Bradford was hurt by a falling pallet of patio doors in April 2013, the store was fined $90,000, but then rebated $2.5 million; • Following a serious worker injury by a crane motor in 2009, Arcelormittal Dofasco Inc. received a rebate of $3 million after paying a fine of $100,000; and • Goldcorp Canada Ltd. paid a $350,000 fine and got a $2.7 million rebate, after a worker was run over by a scoop tram. Christine Arnott, spokesperson for the WSIB, says in four of the seven workplace fatalities profiled, the report inaccurately states that rebates ranging from $675,000 to $2.7 million were paid to these employers, when all four of these rebates were cancelled under WSIB’s Fatal Claims Adjustment Policy (FCAP). The WSIB has cancelled $10.9 million in premium rebates through the FCAP since 2009, with another $4 million in rebates pending review. Schwartz misidentified the employers in two other cases, in which the WSIB supposedly had not paid rebates to the correct companies, Arnott adds. The report recommends that an expert body oversee and hold the WSIB accountable and that the WSIB scrap its experience-rating system. Arnott says a revamp of the experiencerating system is already underway. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
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CREDENTIALS
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Construction sites are dangerous workplaces with some of the highest on-the-job injuries and fatalities. The National Construction Safety Officer program, administered by provincial construction-safety associations, certifies individuals who have practical knowledge in various construction-related health- and safety-management skills. But some are questioning the credibility of this entry-level certification and whether it undermines the overall stan-
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ne of the key concerns surrounding the National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO) program is whether the training offered, combined with an individual’s field experience, is rigorous enough to equip safety officers with practical knowledge to identify and tackle hazards on a work site. Dave Rebbitt, president and owner of Rarebit Consulting in Fort McMurray, Alberta, claims that until recently, the Alberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA) was promoting the view that its NCSO designation was a premier certification on par with that of the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP). Thanks to a recent change in leadership, he says, the association is starting to examine its standards. “This whole thing is about businesses demanding safety professionals we just can’t produce,” Rebbitt says. “The demand for safety has far outstripped the ability of any college or professional designation to supply it. Their effectiveness is being questioned, because their training is so rudimentary.” But those in the line of fire maintain that the NCSO designation is simply a starting point for those who want to get a foothold in the safety profession and not meant to compete with higher-standard credentials like the CRSP. “The NCSO is an entry-level point for safety professionals,” says Dan MacLennan, executive director with the ACSA in Edmonton. “We have thousands take our training every month just to be up on safety.” Edmonton-based safety consultant Keith Adams agrees. “Compared to an NCSO, the CRSP is like a Master’s degree.” The CRSP designation is considered a benchmark in the oh&s profession and the designation of choice for safety professionals in Canada. Many employers prefer or require applicants of workplace safety positions to hold the CRSP designation, particularly for mid-career and senior positions, notes information from the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP) in Mississauga, Ontario. The ACSA, which bestows the highest number of NCSO certifications in Canada, offers the NCSO program and other safety training to roughly 20 classes of students a day at eight locations across the province. “To compare to the CRSP designation is not something we do,” says Tammy Hawkins, ACSA’s learning services director. “We don’t see them as the same thing.” She clarifies that the criticism levelled
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against the NCSO title is largely a result of confusion around the designations among those who are hiring — not the associations offering the courses. “If you are working in the industry, you will see job ads all the time advertising for someone with an NCSO or CRSP designation,” explains Hawkins, who holds both designations, in addition to the Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) Gold Seal and an oh&s certificate from the University of Alberta. “I know they are worlds apart, and so does anyone who has pursued either or both of them. But the person advertising potentially doesn’t, so this is where we get into trouble.” Paul Casey, vice-president of programs and strategic development with the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) in Mississauga, Ontario, thinks that criticisms against the NCSO and similar accreditations are misguided. “It is blaming the program for an outcome related more to poor hiring practices,” Casey says. “In any hiring practice, you would validate knowledge and expectations of the role — that would be my first response to any of this. I wouldn’t take their word on a resume.” THE GENESIS Alberta is the birthplace of the NCSO designation, which was developed in the early ’90s to provide general safety knowledge to those who were employed in the construction sector. An NCSO certification allows one to work as a safety officer anywhere in Canada, and candidates must have at least three years of field experience in the construction industry. For certification purposes, field experience is defined as experience gained through employment as a construction worker, foreman, health and safety coordinator or any individual who actively works in construction on a full-time basis. Fulfillment of the experience requirement must be verified by a letter from a current or past employer or a construction-related trade union. Candidates of the NCSO program are required to complete 13 courses, comprising 11 compulsory courses and two electives. The compulsory courses include classes in principles of health and safety management, leadership for safety excellence, construction safety administration and first aid. Elective courses encompass alcohol, drugs and safety, back-injury prevention, construction environmental awareness, fall-protection planning and hazard management, according to information from the ACSA. Following NCSO certification, safety practitioners could pursue a certificate program in a university, followed by a diploma program, which is a two-year degree. The CRSP is the highest national designation for safety generalists. Bruce Collins, executive director of the Nova Scotia Construction Safety Association in
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Dartmouth, points out that two decades ago, professional safety certifications were few and far between. “Now there is a market and demand, because laws have changed and put greater onus on workers and owners.”
age of one in eight. “CRSPs are less effective in preventing traumatic fatalities in Alberta, perhaps because they are so grossly outnumbered by practitioners with little formal training at a ratio of 17 practitioners for every CRSP working in a frontline safety role,” Rebbitt suggests. On the other hand, Ontario’s density of safety professionals is in the middle of the pack, but shows the strongest correlation between the number of safety practitioners and reduction in workplace fatalities. “British Columbia has one of the lowest densities of CRSPs, but has the second-highest fatality rate in Canada,” Rebbitt notes, adding that raising the number of CRSPs would help reduce workplace fatalities in that province. Citing two high-profile cases in Ontario — the 2012 cave-in of a mall’s roof in Elliot Lake and the 2009 Christmas Eve scaffolding collapse in Toronto — that have prompted lawsuits against the provincial labour ministry over the competence of safety officers, Rebbitt thinks that legal action may give rise to a trend in which the public increasingly questions the competence of safety inspectors. “Those who are supposed to be the gatekeepers, in many cases, may not be demonstrably competent in a way that would satisfy any court. This situation is in large part attributable to the large number of ‘certifications’ being given out by safety associations and others looking to make a buck, coupled with employers who do not know any better,” he suggests. “It is difficult to demonstrate competence to anyone when all you can say is, ‘I took some seminars,’ or ‘I have a lot of experience.’ Imagine if your airline pilot told you that.”
“Compared to an NCSO, the CRSP is like a Master’s degree.”
QUANTITY OR QUALITY According to Statistics Canada, the construction sector accounted for nearly seven per cent of Canada’s total workforce between 2000 and 2010, yet data collected by Rebbitt show that it was responsible for nearly 31.5 per cent of traumatic workplace fatalities over the same period. In 2010, that number rose to more than 38 per cent. Most Canadian provinces offer construction safety-related certifications other than the NCSO. They include the Construction Health and Safety Officer certification by the IHSA and the Construction Safety Coordinator credential offered by the CCA’s Gold Seal certification program, notes Don Sayers, chief executive officer and oh&s team leader at Don Sayers and Associates in Fredericton, New Brunswick — a consulting firm that provides safety management and training solutions. Other professional designations include those for nurses, hygienists, ergonomists and more. All these professions require minimum post-secondary schooling, on top of a mandatory professional examination administered by the respective professional association, which is a separate entity from the training provider. A few years ago, Rebbitt decided to study if the rapid growth in safety practitioners was having a positive effect on workplace safety in North America and the United Kingdom. The findings of his 2012 Master of Business Administration thesis, entitled The Value Proposition of the Safety Professional, were quite puzzling: workplace fatalities were statistically flat, or rising in cases like the construction industry, although there were more safety practitioners than ever before. From 2000 to 2010, the number of Canadian workers in health and safety doubled to nearly 32,000. In Alberta, there were 21 construction fatalities in 2000 (excluding occupational illness and diseases); by 2013, that number had climbed to 26. Yet Alberta has the highest density of people working in health and safety in North America, with approximately 339 safety practitioners per 100,000 workers in 2011. Of those workers, just one in 17 is a CRSP, compared to the national aver-
VOICES OF DISSENT Critics of the NCSO program say the fact that the certification body is typically the same organization that administers the certification and conducts the training presents a conflict of interest, which takes a toll on
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the certification’s credibility. “You are buying a credential from someone selling it,” Sayers contends. But Collins questions that line of argument. “That would be the same as going to Dalhousie University and getting an education degree and being upset, because Dalhousie teaches and administers the degree,” he illustrates. “As a complaint, it is not logical.” Collins says the NCSO certification is designed for foremen and supervisors responsible for safety in the construction sector, in addition to other responsibilities. “It is meant to supplement a supervisor’s skills. Not every employer in the world has more than 20 employees. There are more employers that employ 19 or less and a whole range that employ 10 or less, so they are not likely to have a safety officer on staff.” As a result, owners or supervisors in these firms often wear the safety hats themselves. Another bone of contention regarding provincial safety-designation programs stems from the fact that participants in many of these programs are not required to write final exams at the end of their multicourse programs, which include mandatory and elective courses averaging around two weeks each. The remuneration of NCSOs also comes into play. A 2013 BCRSP salary report shows that the median salary for CRSPs hovers in the $80,000 range, and nearly 50 per cent of respondents reported salaries above $100,000. On the other hand, NCSOs can earn $30 to $60 an hour. Factor in overtime and shift premiums, and an NCSO can easily command a pay cheque of $80,000 or more per year in Alberta upon obtaining certification. But unlike in other parts of Canada, such as the Atlan-
tic provinces, economics drives employers’ preference for NCSOs. “Employers are saying, ‘I want to hire an NCSO,’” Sayers says. “They are thinking, ‘Why would I pay big bucks for a CRSP generalist when I can get an NCSO for less?’” Add to that the fact that some employers have difficulty differentiating an NCSO from a CRSP, and “this is one of the biggest issues facing the profession today,” Rebbitt says. Sayers thinks that most practising safety professionals working in a pan-Canadian context regard the NCSO designation as in the same league as that of a construction safety officer (CSO) or a construction safety specialist and other similar provincial credentials. “Virtually every province now has a construction safety association, and they all recognize the cash flow available from creating their own ‘unique’ construction safety moniker,” Sayers suggests. “Alberta has had the deepest pockets and has therefore built a broader curriculum,” he comments, “but not necessarily deeper. And by attaching the preface ‘national’ to the ‘construction safety officer’ title, they have created the mythology that their offering is somehow truly pan-Canadian.” But Collins takes exception to the criticism that provincially-designated safety programs, such as those offered in Nova Scotia, are profit-driven. “My job is not to get up in the morning and train more people than I trained yesterday.” Rather, it is to ensure that the association’s member employers have access to province-wide services at a reasonable and fair cost, he says.
The struggle lies in balancing improvements to the program and keeping it accessible.
Testing the Water It is estimated that as many as 200 to 300 certifications and designations in Canada fall under the occupational health, safety and environment domain, says Nikki Wright, executive director of the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals in Mississauga, Ontario. As employers and government organizations rely on the certification process to hire employees and award contracts, the following are among the considerations when evaluating the quality of a certification: • Valid and reliable examinations; • High-quality questions in certification exams; • Passing scores (which indicate whether a candidate meets a minimum level of competence); • Transparency (a certification program should
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publish documents that clearly define the certification responsibilities of the organization); • Third-party accreditation; • Recertification (to ensure that certified individuals continue to advance their knowledge and skills); and • Recognition (to determine to what extent the certification program is recognized by employers and organizations). “When selecting an oh&s certification, it is imperative to review the quality of the certification using the above criteria,” Wright advises. “An oh&s certification that does not meet these standards may waste time, effort and money.”
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Darryl Braaten, managing director with Xi Safety Inc. in Calgary, Alberta, points to the pressures of the province’s booming economy as a motivating force behind some workers’ misrepresentation of their construction experience, embellishment of the breadth and length of their experience, or both. “I have seen kids who were slopping pizza, and they have someone fabricate their construction experience and then get their diploma with little or no understanding of what they are faced with when they get in the industry.” Braaten thinks that the NCSO title needs to be redefined as a trade-safety certification to appropriately reflect it as an entry-level credential. Unlike electricians who must complete a fixed number of hours before getting their journeyman’s tickets, “we are cranking kids out in 14 days in the NCSO,” he cautions. “All it does is give you enough information to make you dangerous.” SUBSTANCE MATTERS Braaten’s observation of inexperienced safety practitioners being thrown in the middle of a construction site with experienced tradespersons is not uncommon. Private consultants say this often results in more experienced tradespersons disregarding the advice — right or wrong — of the less experienced safety practitioner. Scott Casano, senior health and safety consultant with Casco Safety Consulting Services in Vancouver, relates an incident on a job site last spring in northern British Columbia where an NCSO misidentified a piece of equipment, causing management to arrive at the wrong area of the job site. Upon describing the location at which management was supposed to show up, the NCSO said, “It is near those big diggy things,” in reference to 100,000-pound excavators. Like Braaten, Casano believes that the NCSO title is a misnomer, implying that the person holding the designation is a full-on safety expert. Edmonton-based safety consultant Keith Adams notes that he would like to see NCSO-like programs revised to be more in line with three- and four-year journeyman programs for tradespersons, such as electricians and pipefitters. “It needs to be changed because as it stands now, we are hurting as many today as we were five years ago,” Adams says. “Green workers are sent out to the field, and they are not fully prepared, and that has a lot to do with the fast pace of work we are into now.” Bruce Stevens, regional manager for the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia (ASTTBC) in Surrey, could not agree more. The ASTTBC offers a three-tiered certification program that allows members to work towards a career in construction safety. All new certification holders begin as “provisional” to ensure that they understand the difference between belonging to an industry association and belonging to a professional association in which
they are held accountable. By accumulating experience and meeting annual continuing-education requirements, members can apply to be reclassified as a full CSO and, eventually, hold the senior title of a registered CSO. As the only professional association governed under provincial statute in Canada that awards a construction safety certification, the ASTTBC is independent of any industry or construction association. Construction safety practitioners awarded certification by the ASTTBC must meet clear and defined academic-competency and learning-outcome standards in 35 subject areas from a CSO training course, delivered by trainers accredited and audited by the ASTTBC. “If I am an employer, I want to engage a safety officer who is not only up-to-date and involved in continual learning, but also is committed to what ethical practice means,” Stevens says. “Also, I want the safety person I hire to have the added risk-protection insurances if working on a contract basis.” He recommends that employers in British Columbia looking to fill CSO positions check candidates’ current certification identification cards issued by the ASTTBC. “If they produce it, then that person is a CSO. If they do not, they will not bring with them those critical elements only available via membership in a professional association. The issue of credibility is distinctly clear.” For Hawkins, the criticism that the ACSA and other provincial associations are in the business of turning profits on the backs of students and industry members is nothing short of hurtful. “It could cause people who would benefit from our extremely affordable training to not pursue it. We partner with industry in our common goal of better protecting the health and safety of our workers. Our one-day cost is $60 for members and $75 for associate members,” she says, claiming that she knows of private companies charging much higher fees than provincial associations. Hawkins reports that the ACSA is looking at implementing more stringent standards in both evaluation and experience requirements. One of the options being considered is changing the NCSO title to that of an advisor. The association is also exploring the idea of adding a final exam and a general level of field competency to demonstrate that participants have the required experience. But the struggle lies in balancing improvements to the program and keeping it accessible. “The NCSO should not be accessible to everyone,” Hawkins says, “but something that says, yes, you gained information from courses you took with us.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
Kelly Putter is a writer in Beamsville, Ontario. www.ohscanada.com
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BY DANNY KUCHARSKY
Last year, three companies were awarded Ontario’s top safety award from Workplace Safety North, a health and safety organization for the province’s mining, forestry, paper, printing and converting sectors. Every year, the Workplace Excellence Awards recognize companies in each of these sectors that demonstrate a commitment to preventing illness and injury. Just what exactly have these firms done right?
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ruger Inc. Packaging has come a long way. Many years ago, it was not uncommon to see about 90 workplace incidents a year at its containerboard and packaging plant in Brampton, Ontario, compared to just a couple now. The company’s efforts at improving workplace safety through the years has earned Kruger the President’s Award for excellence in occupational safety in the paper, printing and converting sector on September 17, 2014. This is the second year in a row that the company has been honoured with the accolade from Workplace Safety North (WSN). The other two winners of the province’s President’s Award are Shuniah Forest Products in Thunder Bay and Lake Shore Gold Corp. in Timmins. “We have had a safety culture for a long time,” says Joe Oleiro, Kruger’s human resources manager. “We do more than what is mandatory.” Success will be achieved only when the company hits zero incidents, he adds. To receive the award, which is presented every September at WSN’s annual general meeting, a company must score at least 80 per cent on a self-assessment, which is then reviewed by WSN and validated by an onsite visit from a field consultant. While all companies that earn 80 per cent or higher on their self-assessments are eligible for recognition award plaques, only the top companies in each of the three industries and the top small business will receive glass trophies, naming them President’s Award winners. Companies must have zero traumatic fatalities over the previous year if they wish to be recognized. www.ohscanada.com
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Last year, 23 companies out of 24 applicants received the recognition awards — up modestly from 20 companies recognized in 2013. “We want to reinforce the positive journey that [employers] are on in continuing to ensure that workers go home safe, and that is what this is all about,” says Candys Ballanger-Michaud, WSN’s president and chief executive officer in North Bay, Ontario. MEASURE OF SAFETY According to Ballanger-Michaud, WSN looked at other awards programs as well as its historical awards programs, which were based purely on statistics or lagging indicators. “What we wanted to do was introduce leading indicators in what is happening in the workplace, and we wanted it to be a joint awards program — we have both management and worker representatives completing a self-assessment.” Leading indicators focus on a company’s future safety performance, while lagging indicators measure a firm’s past performance. The self-assessment can be done with a joint health and safety committee, or a worker health and safety representative if the company has fewer than 20 employees. “The selfassessment is really an opportunity for you to take a barometer of where you are in the evolution of your own health and safety program,” Ballanger-Michaud says. The self-assessment is worth 75 per cent (120 points) of the total mark, while statistical analysis accounts for the remaining 25 per cent (30 points). The statistics examine the company’s percentage reduction in lost-time injuries in the previous two years, the percentage reduction in total injuries
Participating companies that have received the awards are “thrilled,” according to Ballanger-Michaud. “They are very humble. They recognize that this is a journey and there are always areas for improvement.” More importantly, she adds, “they are creating a solid safety culture within their organizations where every worker has each other’s back, and they are working together in order to make sure that workers are safe. I can’t see that there is any downside to it.” Philip Bousquet, manager of industrial and government relations with the Ontario Mining Association in Toronto, says such awards provide external validation that companies are on the right track when it comes to workplace safety. They also help to raise awareness of good industry practices. “When a company receives a safety award, what often happens is, they are contacted by other companies who want to know what are you doing to promote good practices and innovative ideas,” Bousquet says. GOING FOR GOLD Participating in the awards program was “a way of getting positive recognition,” says Timmins, Ontario-based Jamie Mortson, manager of health and safety with Lake Shore Gold Corp., which won the President’s Award for mining. “We knew we were building a good program here, and we wanted to encourage people.” When the company did the audit last February, the goal was to clinch the WSN award and “show them that we are making progress with our safety program and that we are continuing to grow as a company.” Mortson says he was surprised when the company received notification that it was in the running for the President’s Award, because it is a fairly young company. “But we also knew that we were able to learn from a lot of the larger groups and implement their programs, or similar programs, and tailor them to the way our operation runs. It was very encouraging,” he notes. The Workplace Excellence Award is not an accolade only for the safety department, but for the entire group, Mortson adds. “The operations people actually won the award — they are the people who actually put the program into practice and executed it. We just set up the blueprint, the framework, and monitored it.” Lake Shore Gold made the transition from exploration in 2007 to a producing mining company that operates two sites in the Timmins area. The mining firm has approximately 450 employees and 200 contractors. When Mortson joined the company in 2011, he faced the situation of having to put safety programs on paper into practice. But building a safety culture was not the biggest obstacle that he had to overcome. “People are very proud in mining, and there are people out there that figure they are immune to injury; they are invincible. They haven’t been hurt before,” he observes.
Such awards provide external validation that companies are on the right track when it comes to workplace safety. based on statistics from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and the reduction in the total injury rate by percentage compared with the company’s same rate group. The two firms with the highest scores in each sector are inspected by auditors, who review the documentation submitted by the company to ensure its accuracy. “We do that in order to maintain the integrity of the program,” Ballanger-Michaud says. The selected auditors have no conflicts of interest with the companies they visit, she adds. Depending on the size of the company, auditors spend anywhere from half a day to more than a day onsite. In addition to auditing firms that are eligible for the President’s Award, about five to 10 per cent of participating companies receive random onsite audits. Ballanger-Michaud notes that self-assessments have generally proven to be accurate. In some cases, auditors have even found that companies judged themselves too severely, although there have been occasions in which, upon inspection, the firms do not live up to their self-assessments. “It is also an opportunity for us, in those cases, to educate them on what their interpretation is, versus what it really is.” 28
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Oleiro agrees. “You get people who are complacent, who think, ‘I have never gotten hurt.’ Safety doesn’t come naturally to them.” Developing a strong safety culture means getting rid of that sense of invincibility among workers, Mortson says. He reports that Lake Shore Gold has since developed a registry for high-risk jobs that are inherent in any mine, such as handling explosives and mobile equipment or working at heights. The company is also in the process of creating a registry for medium- and lower-risk jobs. “There is always something that comes up that has to be addressed,” Mortson says. “For example, we have had a couple of slips and falls across the yard or in the dry area, and when you look at it, that is not a high-risk area. Until we work on getting that zero harm in to the point where there are no medical injuries, then we have got a lot of work to do.” He points out that ground control is a key safety issue. “Wherever you go underground, there is always rock over your head.” Another major concern is that when drivers of 50-tonne trucks run underground, they cannot see workers on foot, unless they make themselves visible. “We put a lot of focus on that, shift in and shift out,” Mortson notes. Workers are also required to complete a five-point safety card for every shift worked and are called upon to make note of any unsafe conditions they find. In addition, Lake Shore Gold conducts quarterly safety audits. “We have got an internal responsibility system audit that we have designed. We keep revising it as we go,” Mortson says, adding that these audits continually involve people who are new to the audit process. “It is not just safety people,” he explains. “Workers conduct the audits and interview supervisors, contractors and fellow workers.” Supervisors and workers also receive ongoing training, he adds. “We tell our workforce, ‘If you are not trained, haven’t been given any instruction on the job or whatever you are being asked to do, do not do it. Let your supervisor know and, if necessary, refuse that work.’ It has never come to that, but work refusals have been in place for a number of years.”
Pre-shift huddles are held with the miners to review safety information and anything that is going on that may affect them. Safety meetings are also held regularly. “We go to a lot of effort to make sure people are well-informed of what is going on,” Mortson says. He points out that the mine is also active in the area’s Porcupine Northeastern Ontario Mine Safety Group, a mining safety group in Ontario that holds quarterly meetings. “People are used to sharing information in our industry. When you are in mining, you are not in competition to sell your product,” he suggests. But there is always a competition for people, so “you have got to take care of the people that you have got” and make sure they work in a safe manner.
WHEN A TREE FALLS Like those in the mining industry, forestry workers face numerous hazards, ranging from steep terrain to heavy equipment. “[It is] very important that operators work as a team, facilitating each piece of the operation from the cutting to the chipping,” emphasizes John Venasky, safety advisor with Shuniah Forest Products in Thunder Bay, Ontario. His company won the President’s Awards in both the forestry and smallbusiness categories. The accolade shows employees that “all of the work they have done and all of the commitment they have had to safety have now been awarded,” Venasky says. Company president Neil Maunula “even had a tear in his eye” when the company received this award, he adds. Shuniah underwent rigorous audits prior to winning the awards. The company has created a safety culture by implementing a behaviour-based safety program in which em-
Close Call When Joe Ducharme, a millwright who works both on the ground and underground, began working for Lake Shore Gold in 2009, “there were a lot of incidents, little things,” he recalls. The mine “was off to a bad start,” he says. “But it just turned the page. After that, it went from worse to good.” Ducharme, who is on the company’s joint health and safety committee, says meetings and, in particular, reporting of near-misses led to improvements. “When somebody reports something, you get on it right away; you don’t leave it until tomorrow.” Near-miss reports have included such things as a burnt receptacle that started to smoke when a power tool was plugged in. “We shut it down and
reported it.” As a result of such reporting, safety at work has improved by leaps and bounds. ”But there is always room for improvement,” he stresses. To encourage near-miss reports, the company holds a monthly draw in which the supervisor with the highest number of near-miss reports submitted by his group wins a $50 gift certificate. There are also quarterly and annual draws for prizes. The awards are “a little something to sweeten the pot and keep the guys engaged,” says Jamie Mortson, manager of health and safety with Lake Shore Gold Corp. in Timmins, Ontario. Leather jackets have also been given to the workforce to celebrate the company winning the Workplace Safety North President’s Award.
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ployees work as a team, communicate with one another and understand their jobs well. Job rotation has also played an integral role in fostering better teamwork. “Let’s say a guy is a buncher operator,” Venasky cites by way of example. “You are going to do some road work, and he is also qualified for that, and he goes on an excavator. It is a new challenge.” Venasky argues that moving people around enables them to understand the challenges in another part of the operation and how they can assist others in their duties. “An excavator, if you are building roads, you don’t want to have tremendously deep ditches that can fill with water. That is a safety hazard. They get to see that.” One problem that Shuniah faced when inculcating safety on the job was limited financial resources. “The crux of the whole thing was to get the employees involved to protect themselves and their brothers and sisters to not be injured on the job,” Venasky says. “That was the only way we could do it.” But getting employee buy-in was no mean feat. “At first, people were sort of apprehensive,” Venasky notes. “When they started seeing that there were less injuries and that they were looking after each other and making sure everyone went home at the end of the day with all of their fingers and toes, it became the norm.” Now, he says, employees are not afraid to speak out when something is amiss, such as when a co-worker is not wearing a hard hat or reflective vest. “We are way past that, because
everybody does it.” As well, the joint health and safety committee conducts inspections and will not hesitate to bring to the table things that need to be corrected, says Venasky, who conducts inspections and audits of workers. Oleiro hopes that positive reinforcement will bolster safety culture. He suggests that the biggest challenge is getting people to take ownership of safety without having to be told, reprimanded or held accountable. As well, companies must recognize the costs involved in not having optimal safety programs in place. “Safety impacts the bottom line,” Oleiro says, and that could come in the form of penalties, reassessments that result in higher premium rates and replacing and retraining injured workers. “People can get discouraged sometimes, and
ETY F A S
“There are people out there that figure they are immune to injury; they are invincible.” an award like this may help to say, ‘Look, we are doing the right thing.’” For Mortson, the rewards of investing the time and effort to make sure that things are done properly are clear. “We have no problem meeting our production targets. We see a direct correlation.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
Danny Kucharsky is a writer in Montreal.
Missing Pieces More research on occupational health and safety practices in small businesses is needed — that is one of the conclusions reached by Curtis Breslin, a scientist at Toronto’s Institute for Work and Health (IWH), who studied workplacesafety services for small businesses. Breslin says there is not enough research to determine whether safety awards, such as Workplace Safety North’s Workplace Excellence Awards, help improve job safety. “We don’t have the data on interactions between incentives and small business.” Breslin was part of a team that explored interventions tailored specifically to address occupational health and safety issues in small businesses in 2009. The resulting paper, entitled Improving Health and Safety in Small Businesses, defines small businesses as those with 100 or fewer employees and that comprise 97 per cent of goods-producing companies and 98 per cent of service-producing businesses in Canada. He points out that there were little in the way of stud-
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ies that evaluated workplace safety interventions in small businesses. Out of about 5,000 studies that were evaluated, only 19 were judged to be adequate in terms of size or quality. While training and safety audits can be conducted in businesses of any size, small businesses may benefit from social cohesion, which serves as “a potential lever for changing practices.” However, Breslin cautions that financial restraints preclude small businesses from functioning like large businesses in terms of the workplace safety measures that they can implement. Breslin reports that the IWH is conducting the Ontario Leading Indicators Project, which focuses on differences between large- and small-sized firms and studies the measures that help predict workplace injuries across companies. He says the project “will be a really good opportunity” to look at what kind of workplace-safety practices and cultures influence safety outcomes in businesses, both small and large.
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SHIFT WORK
BETWEEN
SHIFTS BY JEFF COTTRILL
IMAGE: ILLUSTRATION SOURCE / LISA HANEY
From retail and healthcare to transportation and security,
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shift work during irregular hours is an occupational requirement for about 30 per cent of Canadian workers, according to Statistics Canada. But switching from regular daytime work hours to a nightshift can wreak havoc on a worker’s circadian rhythm and sleep pattern, which, in turn, can affect health and safety.
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Shift work is a likely factor in occupational disease and injury.
A
recent longitudinal study by Toronto’s Institute for Work and Health (IWH) found that not only do evening-shift and nightshift workers have a higher injury risk than that of daytime workers, but they are even more at risk when alternating between shift schedules. For Better or Worse? Changing Shift Schedules and the Risk of Work Injury among Men and Women, published in the September 2014 issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health (SJEH), is an extension of a 2011 study that explored the difference in injury risks between men and women who worked different shifts permanently. Study author Dr. Imelda Wong, an IWH post-doctoral fellow and a board member of the Vienna-based international shift-work-research organization The Working Time Society, conducted her research with data from Statistics Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. This survey examines samples of Canadian workers for information about their occupations over six-year periods. Over the three survey periods from 1999 to 2004, 2002 to 2007 and 2005 to 2010, Dr. Wong noted injuries leading to either more than a week’s absence from work or receipt of workers’ compensation. She also classified workers into four categories: those who worked days only; those who worked only non-standard shifts, such as evenings or nights; those who switched from daytime hours to non-standard shifts; and those who switched in the opposite direction. “We had hypothesized that people who worked regular daytime shifts would have a more protective environment or might have better sleep habits,” Dr. Wong says, “and so switching from a non-standard shift to a regular daytime shift may actually reduce the risk of injury.” The 11-page study reveals something different. People who work non-standard shifts permanently are 1.5 times more likely to be injured than those who work only day hours are, but that number rises for workers who change shifts — even those who switch to daytime hours. People who change from non-standard hours to daytime hours are 2.4 times more at risk of injury than nine-to-five workers are, and those who switch from day to non-standard are 2.6 times more at risk. Dr. Wong says nothing in the data explains why workers who switch shifts are more at risk. She theorizes that health conditions and disrupted cognitive functions may contribute to it. She also cites information from previous studies, suggesting that working at night can result in changes in normal biological processes, poor concentration, increased fatigue and effects on psychosocial and behavioural stressors like
diet and exercise. “It could be a variety of different things,” she notes. “It just opens up a lot of opportunities for future studies to explore this even further.” MARS VERSUS VENUS The IWH study also compares injury rates between men and women, finding that women who work non-standard shifts on a permanent basis are at a higher risk of occupational injury than are men working non-standard shifts. But the risk of injury for those who switch, while still higher, is similar for both genders. “It could be linked to work-life-balance issues,” Dr. Wong says of the difference between genders for injury risk in nonstandard shifts. She points out that studies have shown that women generally spend more time on household duties than men. Men and women also tend to work in different occupations, which might contribute to them having different exposures to hazardous conditions. She suggests that the compensation system is another possible factor. “Some studies have shown that women and men have different experiences with the compensation system.” According to the study, there may be an initial period of adjustment for men who have recently switched from days to non-standard shifts that hikes their risk for injury, but over time, those risks are diminished. Women who worked only non-standard shifts were less likely to report a work injury as women who had recently started non-standard shifts were, but the risk of injury was almost twice that of women who worked regular day shifts. “Both sets of findings speak to the importance of implementing occupational health and safety policies and programs early after changes in shifts. They also point to the potential importance of greater awareness and health and safety action on an ongoing basis,” the study concludes. Findings of the IWH’s research echo a 2003 study by Circadian Technologies, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based company that advises corporations on how to manage employee performance and safety over extended work hours. Circadian found that nightshift workers were 20 per cent more likely to have severe accidents and five times more likely to make serious mistakes. “Fatigue is certainly an influence,” confirms Circadian consultant Andrew Moore-Ede from his office in Stoneham, Massachusetts. He says more accidents and injuries occur during nightshifts, when workers’ reaction times slow down and cognitive performance tends to decline. The difficulty www.ohscanada.com
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of sleeping during the day exacerbates the fatigue problem. “You are dealing with more light, more noise.” Moore-Ede adds that some companies entice employees to work non-standard hours by offering these hours as overtime. “Employees like overtime to provide a little extra pay in their cheques, and employers like it too, because it provides a lot of flexibility,” he notes. “But generally, once you creep up above 12 to 15 per cent of overtime rates, that is when we start to see an increase in accidents and injuries.”
The IARC reached its conclusion after reviewing numerous studies in which the circadian rhythms of rodents had been disrupted by changes in light patterns and other factors and other studies that had examined workers undergoing shift rotations. In Canada, members of the IWH, the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) in Toronto and Queen’s and Ryerson Universities have been conducting their own research over the last few years on links between shift work and cancer. “There are ideas about how it causes cancer, but not everybody agrees on it,” says OCRC director Paul A. Demers, Ph.D. “The most widely accepted cause is [that] disruption of circadian rhythms impacts the kind of melatonin cycle, as well as other types of circadian cycles within the body. That disrupts hormone levels that, in turn, have an impact on the risk of cancer. So the focus has been mostly on cancers that are hormone-centred.” Dr. Demers cites another recent study in which he participated, conducted in part by researchers from the University of British Columbia. This study, also published in the SJEH, examined interventions that attempted to reduce the apparent health effects of shift work. The best results tended to come from fastforward rotating shifts — for example, shifts that rotate from morning to afternoon to night every few days, as opposed to afternoon-tomorning rotation over longer periods. Promotion of exercise and a healthy diet and controlled light exposure, particularly through light-blocking glasses, also helped reduce the ill effects of shift work. Only hypnotics — psychoactive drugs manufactured to treat insomnia — led to mixed results. The IWH study focuses exclusively on injury, and Dr. Demers thinks that the cancer risk of shift work is a separate issue. “There is no doubt that working at night increases the risk of injury,” he notes. “Then there are other factors, I am sure, that come into play. Perhaps we could say, well, having a lack of sleep may make you more prone to injury, but it is really not directly connected.” Dr. Wong points out certain limitations in her study: it does not take into consideration reasons for switching shifts, and its sample population consists of employees in highereducation and stable professions, rather than in more hazardous jobs.
“There are ideas about how it causes cancer, but not everybody agrees on it.”
NURSING WOUNDS According to information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario, research into this area has increased in recent years, due to shift rotation being cited for such incidents as air crashes and nuclear catastrophes. Sectors of varying risk, including mining, customs and immigration, industrial work and protective services like police and firefighting, also employ shift work. One profession that relies greatly on non-standard work hours is nursing. Andy Summers, vice-president of health and safety with the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) in Toronto, is familiar with the IWH study. He acknowledges that shift work is a likely factor in occupational disease and injury. “Unfortunately, nursing — like many professions in healthcare — is 24/7, so we actually cannot get past that problem,” Summers says. “They are asked to do a week of days and then do a week of nights, then a week of days and a week of nights. It is that switch that we notice is the biggest problem.” Summers suggests that constant changes in shifts may increase workers’ stress and anxiety, mainly due to sleep deprivation and inconsistency, which can lead to more injuries and health issues. “It takes time for the risk period to return to zero,” he notes, “by which time, of course, they have already gone back to another shift.” As a result, nurses have no resting period in which to adapt to rotating shifts. While this problem is not unique to the nursing sector, the effects of it can be considerable when a worker is trying to aid hospital patients who are ill, injured or dying. “When things can go wrong in healthcare, they really go wrong,” Summers says. “Somebody puts a piece of paper in the wrong place or forgets to do something, the consequences aren’t necessarily as dire as when you are doing it as a nurse.” A POSSIBLE CARCINOGEN Other research suggests that nightshift work carries a risk for potential disease. In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France classified shift work as possibly carcinogenic — a likely indirect cause of breast, prostate and endometrium cancers — while other studies have found links to cardiovascular disease and pregnancy complications. 34
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As Dr. Wong examined injuries leading to a minimum of one week’s absence, her data may exclude many less catastrophic acute injuries. As well, the study does not indicate the specific injuries of the workers, nor which professions are more likely to incur those respective injuries. REDUCING RISKS Stuart Rudner, an employment lawyer and a partner at Rudner MacDonald LLP in Toronto, notes that while the study of this topic seems to be in its infancy, “it is certainly suggesting that shift work is creating some very real risks.” He says employment law and workplace safety legislation do not say anything specific about shift work at this time, unless one counts general rules like a certain amount of breaks and hours off. “But there is this general requirement of providing a safe work environment.” This requirement, Rudner says, has evolved greatly over the years. “It used to involve making sure the people on the construction site were wearing hard hats and steel-toed boots, and as you know, now it includes things like harassment and bullying.” In Ontario, since Bill 168 amended the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act to require employers to conduct risk assessments, providing a safe work environment has become more of a proactive requirement. “So it is not just walking around the workplace and looking for loose floorboards. It is considering any factor that might add some risk,” he says. Rudner speculates that there may come a time when some types of shift work are regarded as occupational hazards. “I don’t think there is an immediate need for drastic action. But I do think what will happen over the next little while is that if more studies are done, employers need to be aware of the results.” And once industries and legislators know more about the potential hazards of shift work, “those employers will have to adjust the way they schedule their shifts to minimize the risk,” he adds. Summers says the nursing sector has been trying to mitigate the adverse effects of shift work by limiting the amount of shift changes a worker can have in a certain period. He also notes that the ONA has
been calling for better staffing levels for nurses, particularly during nightshifts, because staff shortages in Ontario have reduced the amount of breaks that nurses can take. Dr. Demers thinks that the risk of injury may be easier to combat than the risk of disease arising from shift work. “Fatigue is relatively easy to measure compared to disruption of circadian rhythms, and it is easy to conceive of having short-term solutions that actually work better for controlling injuries.” Among the possible areas that researchers have been looking at for solutions, Dr. Demers adds, are controlled lighting, pharmaceuticals, behavioural approaches and shorter shifts. “The length of shift has been looked at with the idea that shorter shifts are better, although some people have argued the opposite,” he notes. Because changes in eating, sleeping and working patterns have such an overwhelming effect, the CCOHS advises that shift workers maintain regular meal patterns as much as possible and sleep on a regular schedule. Drinking lots of water and avoiding greasy comfort foods can help. Workplaces can also assist on two levels: organizational (through better scheduling, education and improved facilities) and individual (by assisting workers in managing their diets and sleep habits). Moore-Ede agrees that better eating and sleeping patterns can help mitigate the adverse health effects of shift work. He also recommends that organizations establish policies to manage fatigue risk. “We are seeing more and more 24-hour operations starting to embrace this,” he says. A typical fatigue-risk management policy examines how the company addresses fatigue, what its hours-of-service policies are, how many consecutive days in a row and how many hours in a day an employee may work, and similar issues. It can also review the work environment, including lighting conditions and temperature, and how these factors can enhance alertness during nightshifts. While research into shift work and its influence on health and safety may be in its early stages, there is enough evidence of an associated risk to warrant further study and to get the word out to people who can implement changes to improve the situation across workplaces. “I am hoping this paper generates more discussion among employers and employees and policy makers about the risks associated with shift work,” Dr. Wong says. “The results may highlight the need for more occupational health and safety policies and programs.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
Jeff Cottrill is editorial assistant of www.ohscanada.com
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SAFETY GEAR
HAND PROTECTION
Lending a Hand By Jeff Cottrill
I
n many jobs, particularly those that involve operating machinery or handling dangerous substances, our hands are vulnerable to injury. “Injuries to the hands are the number one cause of work-related incidents,” says Terry Smith, national sales and marketing manager with Showa Group in Coaticook, Quebec. “The most hours that people lose in a year are because of hand injuries.” The type of industries that require hand protection for employees includes construction, the automotive sector, bottling, sheet-metal manufacturing, forestry, aerospace and steel mills. Many sectors need to shield workers’ hands from sharp objects like blades and glass, machinery, burns and chemical spills. Manufacturers also make gloves that can resist vibration, punctures, liquids and hard impacts. High-visibility work gloves for darker environments or work at night are also available. Depending on job demands, gloves need to be able to protect without hampering the task at hand. Jason Kokoszka, associate director for mechanical protection with Ansell Healthcare LLC in Iselin, New Jersey, points out that employees working “Anytime with sheet metal need high cut protection and yet must retain the ability to you take the grip the sheet on the assembly line. Oil and gas industry workers also gloves off, need back-of-the-hand impact protection, because they are working with you are more pumps and valves, Kokoszka adds. “Within the mechanical world, you might need something that is a more susceptible to lightweight, multi-purpose glove that an injury.” is not going to give you cut protection, but it is going to be high in abrasive resistance,” he notes. “As you are working with abrasive material, the gloves are going to hold up; they are not going to break down as quickly as some of the other gloves out there.” The material from which gloves are made depends on the hazards against which they are designed to protect. Cutresistant gloves, for example, often contain Kevlar, stainless steel or DSM Dyneema. Chemical-resistant gloves are usually made of latex, natural or synthetic rubber or plastics, while gloves that protect hands from cold weather are made of wool or waterproof materials. Anti-vibration gloves, which shield workers’ hands from carpal tunnel syndrome by absorbing the shock effects of jackhammers, chainsaws or other vibrating equipment, can come in leather, nitrile or Kevlar. FLEX AND PROTECT While reliable protection is the main function of safety gloves, comfort and flexibility are also important, since workers need 36
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to be able to use their hands to do their jobs effectively. In the past, safety gloves tended to be thicker and bulkier and lack dexterity. Although this helped with protection, it also made the gloves uncomfortable to wear. “So what individuals would do is, they would take the gloves off,” Kokoszka says. “Anytime you take the gloves off, you are more susceptible to an injury. You might forget to put the gloves back on, and then you could get a laceration.” Today, many glove manufacturers use a knitting process in which varying stitch designs around the stress areas help lessen hand fatigue and enhance flexibility, making the gloves practical and safe. Manufacturing workers who operate a lot of machinery, for example, might prefer gloves that are thinner and do not affect manual dexterity. The type and strength of protection in gloves may vary from job to job, but comfort is a universal need, notes Rafael Manrique, Ansell’s associate director for single-use gloves and chemical protection. “It goes across industries,” Manrique says, adding that recent technologies like Aqua-Dry — a moisture-management technology — help make safety gloves less of a burden to wear. “When you have, for example, a glove that is able to absorb perspiration, it makes, ultimately, the wearing of the glove much more comfortable to the end user.” And one-size-fits-all does not apply when it comes to safety gloves. “There is such a myriad of different work environments out there that you can’t just have one glove that will do it all,” says Eric Lehtinen, president of Impacto Protective Products Inc., based in Belleville, Ontario. “So you have to use a variety of different sewing techniques, a variety of different materials on the palm of the glove, on the back of the hand, to make sure that you are giving the adequate amount of protection and then the adequate amount of dexterity.” Style and appearance can indirectly influence the effectiveness of a glove, Lehtinen adds. “People have discovered that if workers can like wearing the glove, they like how it looks, then it is easier to get them to wear the safety equipment that the company needs.” Workers are also less likely to lose safety gloves that they have taken a liking to, he suggests. Another vital characteristic to consider is the fit. An illfitting glove not only creates discomfort, but can also result in hand fatigue, which adds to potential workplace hazards. Superior Glove Works Limited, a safety-glove-manufacturing company based in Acton, Ontario, offers on its website a simple, downloadable hand-measuring chart that allows a worker to determine the proper glove size via hand width. There is also a chart for finding the right sizes of safety sleeves for workers who often find themselves dipping their arms into hazardous substances. But the most important factor for choosing a brand or type of safety glove remains the glove’s ability to protect from the job’s specific hazards. “There are more and more certifications out there — whether it be for anti-puncture, anti-
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PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP): GLOVE GUARD LP; ANSELL HEALTHCARE LLC; SUPERIOR GLOVE WORKS LIMITED
cut and things like that — with differing levels of protection,” Lehtinen says. He adds that a buyer should put the onus on the manufacturer to ensure the product meets the relevant standards. “That is something that all reputable glove and personalprotective-equipment manufacturers are more than willing and able to do.”
need latex material for food handling, neoprene or nitrile for oils and fuels, butyl for gases or water vapours or a silicon coating for handling liquid nitrogen, information from Superior Glove’s website notes.
HIGH TURNAROUND Unlike other types of personal protective equipment, which can last a long time if workers maintain it propLEVEL WITHOUT A CUT erly, safety gloves tend to be replaced frequently. According to information from Superior “If people take care of the gloves, they can last a Glove, cut-resistant gloves protect against long time, but there are many factors,” Smith says. three kinds of injuries: abrasive cuts, such “Some people have hard hands, some people are goas rubbing against material parts with ing to be rough on them, some people may be doing sharp or jagged edges; slicing cuts caused 1,000 pieces a day of whatever they are working on.” by the slipping motion of a sharp edge, Because of their apparent disposability, employers like that of a knife; and impact cuts from often consider price a primary factor when deciding getting hit by falling metal or glass. what kind of gloves to supply. But Frank MacDonald, the firm’s viceSmith recommends keeping quality president of sales, explains that cut-reas the top priority. Showa tests all of sistant gloves can be classified into five its gloves to make sure that they can levels of strength in cut protection, five last for as long as eight hours withbeing the highest. “Steel mills, for instance, they need a out any chemicals seeping through. minimum 2,500-gram cut protection, which would be “When we sell a glove and they cut number four,” MacDonald says. Sheet-metal plants look at our information and use our also need high cut protection, up to level four or five. sales team, they know that they are Julie McFater, Superior Glove’s marketing and protected with the gloves that we are communications manager, adds that the level of cut offering them. And if we are unable resistance is determined by how the yarns are woven to provide a glove to protect them, together in production. “We do a lot of research into we will tell them,” he says. that,” McFater says, adding that the company tries to Lehtinen also recommends pricombine different yarns and fibres to oritizing quality over price, although make combinations that stay lightdisposability cannot be ignored. “In weight and comfortable, yet still prosome conditions where there is extect the worker. posure to chemicals or particularly hard Tactile sensitivity is another trait wearing in garments,” he concedes, “disthat employers should consider when posable safety gear is a necessity in this selecting cut-resistant gloves, as well as day and age.” price per hour of protection, she adds. While Impacto aims to manufacture Superior Glove specializes in cutgloves that last for weeks or even months, resistant gloves made of Kevlar. “Most rather than for hours, “in some cases, people are familiar with Kevlar,” Macthere is just nothing you can do about it, Donald says. “When you put Kevlar out and it is unfortunate,” Lehtinen says. there, they think bullet-proof vests and Nathan Peterson, marketing and sales just body armour in general, helmets. Glove Guard offers a safety clip to keep representative with Glove Guard LP in The material is inherently cut-resistant.” gloves from getting lost (top), while AnHighlands, Texas, has observed a current When choosing heat-resistant sell (centre) and Superior Glove (bottom) trend in employers’ buying habits. “They gloves, an employer should first estab- offer a range of gloves to suit various are buying their workers the really exlish the type of heat hazards from which job demands. pensive brand, mainly because they want employees need protection. Considerto increase safety,” he says. ations include whether the heat is moist or dry, if thermal or As a result, employers have to make sure that workers do atmospheric exposure is involved, if an open flame or a spark not lose the gloves, “because the more that they are having to is present and, if so, what the air temperature is when the replace them, the more their cost goes up.” That is why Glove flame or spark is lit. Guard has pioneered clips that keep safety gloves hooked Certain gloves use an outer layer of silicone-coated Kevlar onto workers’ belts, overalls or other items of clothing. to allow workers to touch hot surfaces without burning or Another reason why some companies are choosing highmelting the gloves, while other kinds of multi-layer protec- er-quality safety gloves with less disposability is concern for tion can guard against extreme heat hazards in the steel in- the environment. “I think companies are trying to get away from gloves that are just going to end up in a landfill,” Lehtindustry and other types of jobs. Similarly, chemical-resistant gloves come in different en suggests. “They are looking for gloves that can, perhaps, be types to protect the hands from various chemicals. It is laundered over the years or will certainly just last in a variety best to clarify with the manufacturer or seller what the job’s of different conditions.” Since the costs of glove replacement can pile up quickly, it chemical hazards are and determine whether employees www.ohscanada.com
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helps if workers know how to take care of their safety gloves. Apart from the hand-measuring chart, Superior Glove also offers laundering guides that can be downloaded from its website. The proper way to launder gloves depends on the glove’s material, as many of the fabrics have strict limits. “If you put bleach in with a Kevlar glove, it will come out looking like orange juice,” MacDonald says. “Bleach is
Kevlar’s enemy.” But with a high-performance polyethylene, “we can bleach that to use it with solvents, and it will withstand that breakdown.” Dyneema gloves can also handle bleach, but not temperatures higher than 144 degrees Celsius. As such, users need to wash them in cold water and dry them in low or no heat. Proban gloves, which are made of a chemical called cythioate, cannot be
cleaned with soap, as that increases their flammability, but oxygen-based bleach in a temperature lower than 24 degrees Celsius is fine. Leather requires drycleaning, while nylon needs warm water for washing and low-to-no heat for drying, and wool must be washed gently in cold water with a mild detergent, instructions from Superior Glove notes. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario recommends following the supplier’s instructions on cleaning and maintaining safety gloves. Additionally, one should always avoid wearing gloves with metal parts near electrical equipment and inspect them for tears and other defects prior to each use. GETTING A GRIP Technology is evolving, and safety gloves have benefited from it. Not only have they become more comfortable to wear and flexible over the years, but they can also grip objects and surfaces better now. “We have actually developed a glove that has a built-in grip technology from a single-use disposable glove that can be utilized in an environment where you are dealing with a wet or slightly oily area,” Manrique says. “We are leveraging some of those technologies that we have developed over the years to really improve the products to deliver really user-unmet needs.” Showa Group has also been active in pioneering new technological developments. In October 2012, the company came out with the world’s first nitrile biodegradable disposable glove. Showa Group currently makes four types of biodegradable safety gloves, including two types of chemical-resistant ones that resemble dishwashing gloves. These products, while being disposable, cause less damage to the environment when they are thrown away. Despite this breakthrough, Showa emphasizes selling the value of the gloves over their disposability. “Our glove may be a little more expensive,” Smith concedes, “but you are going to get a lot more life out of it. So in the long run, you are going to save.” Superior Glove is working on creating newer dipped products for gloves to enhance their protective ability, MacDonald reports. The firm hopes to develop its line of puncture-resistant gloves further, primarily for the forestry sector. Kevlar, leather, nitrile and Dyneema are
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HAND ON GUARD In addition to becoming obsolete quickly, safety gloves tend to get lost all the time. And replacing gloves can be costly for companies. To address this problem, Glove Guard LP — a safetyproduct company based in Highlands, Texas — has devised a solution. Its Glove Guard and Utility Guard clips are designed to hold a worker’s safety gloves in place at his or her side. The worker attaches the clip to a belt loop, waistband, harness or any other type of clothing worn during work and then clips the gloves onto it whenever he or she is not wearing them. “The majority of the time, workers are putting their gloves either in their back pocket, or they are putting them in the warehouse,” observes Nathan Peterson, marketing and sales representative with Glove Guard. “Our clips basically allow workers to keep up with their gloves at all times.” Peterson adds that Glove Guard has sold these clips
materials it commonly uses for puncture resistance. Flame resistance is another developing innovation that Ansell has adopted for safety gloves for use in industries in which fire, hydrocarbon flashes or electric arcs are a possibility, including oil and gas. “If your clothes are flame-resistant, but your gloves are not, what is the point? Because your hands are going to get burned,” Kokoszka cautions. The company
to companies in industries across the spectrum, most commonly oil and gas, construction, manufacturing and even air travel and food services. Employers have bought Glove Guard clips throughout North America and overseas. One firm claims that the clips have reduced its rate of glove loss by 86 per cent. “People are using the glove clips,” Peterson says, “and because of that, they are able to save on their glove-replacement costs.” The economic benefits aside, Glove Guard clips also offer extra safety features. “They all have a safety breakaway on them,” Peterson says. If the gloves get caught up in any machinery or anything dangerous on the plant site, the clip will come apart after sustaining a pressure of 15 pounds. “So it won’t pull them into any wood chippers or anything like that.” In addition, the company manufactures a metal-detectable clip, which will be picked up by metal detectors if it gets caught in food products.
also specializes in insulated gloves for work in cold weather, such as in the Canadian oil sands. “Different industries have different applications,” he says. “Workers need to be not only productive and efficient, but also be protected.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
Jeff Cottrill is editorial assistant of
ohs canada.
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Order Today! Take advantage of the 30-Day Risk-Free† Examination. Visit lexisnexis.ca/ohs or call 1-800-387-0899 † Pre-payment required for first-time purchasers. Price and other details are subject to change without notice. We pay shipping and handling if payment accompanies order. Excludes shipping and handling for rush orders LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under licence. Butterworths is a registered trademark of Reed Elsevier (U.K.) Limited and its affiliated companies. Other products or services may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. © 2015 LexisNexis Canada Inc. All rights reserved. LN-OHS3e-Ad7x4-01/15
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SPECIAL REPORT
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
Blood on Scrubs By Jean Lian
A
recent spate of violence against healthcare workers in Ontario and British Columbia has revived the debate on whether healthcare institutions are doing enough to protect employees on the job. On December 29, a registered nurse was beaten and critically injured while providing care to a patient at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. The employer did not notify the Ontario Ministry of Labour until nearly a day later, in contravention of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The centre is also facing charges over another incident that occurred in January 2014. A nurse was beaten by a patient, and another nurse who came to her assistance was also hurt. In a statement issued on December 23, CAMH says it is “very disappointed” that the labour ministry has laid charges against the Centre and that it will defend them in court. Earlier in December, a nurse was attacked by a patient in the emergency room of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, following a similar incident in 2013. Out west, a doctor at Penticton Regional Hospital in British Columbia was found unconscious after being savagely beaten by a patient on December 5. Nurses at the hospital reported that the patient had walked out of a closed-door session calmly and announced that the staff member might be dead. Gayle Duteil, president of the British Columbia Nurses’ Union (BCNU) in Burnaby, says the attack in the Penticton hospital highlights the dangerous lack of security in the province’s psychiatric and forensic facilities. “Every day, nurses and other healthcare professionals put themselves on the line and risk being attacked on the job, because of inadequate protection against violent patients,” Duteil says in a statement. Since the attack, BCNU has called on the Interior Health Authority in Kelowna to launch an investigation, provide personal alarms and cameras and assign security personnel to psychiatric units. It has also demanded that the patient not be returned to the unit and that if the patient is sent to another site, a risk assessment and safety plan must be put in place, along with additional trained staff and security prior to transfer.
ON THE RECEIVING END The healthcare sector is particularly prone to violence, and healthcare workers are 16 times more likely to be victims of, or witnesses to, acts of violence compared to other publicservice personnel, concludes a review by Stéphane Guay, associate research professor with the department of psychiatry at the University of Montreal. Guay co-authored the systematic review of literature on violence against healthcare workers, the findings of which were published last October. “Most of these acts are committed by patients or their rela 40
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tives and can cause many adverse effects. However, to date, no literature review has identified all the consequences that victims or witnesses of workplace violence may face,” he says. The review, which looked at 68 studies, reveals seven types of consequences that may result from acts of workplace violence: physical; psychological; emotional; financial; social repercussions like a sense of insecurity; those related to functioning at work, such as sick leave; and those related to patient relationships and quality of patient care, including a sense of fear toward patients in general and loss of pleasure in working with patients. The review also shows that violence has the most negative effects on an individual’s psychological and emotional states. According to four of the studies reviewed, between five and 32 per cent of victims suffer from post-traumatic stress. Increased vigilance, irritability and sleep disorders were also reported. Consequences at the professional level were also significant. In 12 of the 68 studies reviewed, 13 to 60 per cent of victims considered leaving their jobs after an act of violence. According to a chart from the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) comparing the province’s lost-time injuries between healthcare workers and those in manufacturing, construction and mining, there were 639 lost-time injuries from workplace violence among healthcare workers in 2013, compared to 77, 10 and one in the other industries respectively. Nancy Johnson, labour relations specialist in oh&s and workers’ compensation with the ONA in Toronto, says the biggest challenge in addressing violence in the healthcare secSTEP BY STEP According to the guideline Developing Workplace Violence and Harassment Policies and Programs by the Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario, certain types of work conditions can put employees at risk of workplace violence. They include handling cash, having direct contact with clients, working alone or in small numbers, working with unstable or volatile people, operating in a communitybased setting and having a mobile workplace. As the Occupational Health and Safety Act requires a place of employment to have a policy and program on workplace violence, the first step in developing such a program is to identify the violence hazards in a workplace, the community and similar workplaces. This is followed by assessing the risk of violence in the workplace. The possible controls identified in this step can help when drawing up a workplace-violence program, which should involve workers, supervisors, joint health and safety committee representatives and/or the union. Lastly, employers should monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the program — an ongoing process that may require occasional improvements.
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tor is employers not fully understanding workplace health and safety law and the potential personal liabilities in failing to protect workers. “Enforcement agencies have not been holding them to account when they fail to take every reasonable precaution to protect workers,” she suggests. Security measures in healthcare institutions vary widely, depending on patient volume, the nature of the client population, location and whether the facility is a mental-health centre, a remote hosSecurity pital with few workers overnight or one located in a high-crime neighbourhood. measures in The contracts employers have with healthcare providers or workers also determine the security measures adopted. Johnson says institutions some security guards are not allowed to touch a person, while others can physivary widely. cally restrain an individual. “Given the preventable injuries our members have suffered in attacks, security measures in many institutions are woefully inadequate to protect workers and their patients.” According to Henrietta Van hulle, executive director of health and community services with the Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) in Toronto, providing care in high-stress situations contributes to the heightened risk of violence for healthcare workers. “The other risk factor is that the person you are providing care to has psychological issues or dementia that might preclude them from being aware of the consequence of their action.”
Susan Fuciarelli, director of health and community services with the PSHSA, says healthcare workers never really know who is coming in the door. “And if that patient or client is transferred from one institution or organization to another, that history does not necessarily follow them.” Johnson is likely to agree. “There is a requirement in our OHSA for the employer to advise workers of a history of violence of a person they may encounter at work. In our experience, healthcare employers struggle with the notion of furnishing that information,” she says. Van hulle advises healthcare organizations to follow the hierarchy of controls when looking at risk factors. “The biggest piece is risk assessment,” she says, stressing the need for a process to identify patients with a risk for violent behaviour and to ensure that the information is communicated to staff in a way that complies with other regulatory requirements. Sharing best practices in workplace-violence prevention among healthcare institutions is also recommended. Van hulle reveals that the PSHSA is undertaking a project, jointly funded by Ontario’s labour ministry and the PSHSA, that looks at workplace-violence issues in the province. “The outcome of this project is to have a toolkit with a different number of tools, processes, checklists or best-practice listings of what organizations can do, because there are pockets of excellence and we would like that to be available to everyone.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
Jean Lian is editor of
ohs canada.
Congratulations to the following OHS professionals who have recently been granted the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP)® Professionnel en sécurité agréé du Canada (PSAC)® designation. Ian Abbs, CRSP Kinan Aboujamra, CRSP Jenna Adams, CRSP Wayne Andrus, CRSP Darcie Annesley, CRSP Sahar Ashtiani, CRSP Wesley Aulbrook, CRSP Edwin Rommel Austria, CRSP Kyla Bach, CRSP David Beatty, CRSP Myriam Beauchemin, CRSP Joanne Betts, CRSP Mervyn Betts, CRSP Swapan Biswas, CRSP Colin Bolton, CRSP Warren Braithwaite, CRSP Richard Brenton, CRSP Katherine Browning, CRSP Natalie Carscadden, CRSP Micheal Carter, CRSP Christopher Caruso, CRSP Paul Chamberlin, CRSP Paul Chamoun, CRSP Joyce Chen, CRSP Leora Chiprut, CRSP Hymen Chu, CRSP Jon Clippingdale, CRSP Christine Collins, CRSP Sandy Cooper, CRSP Nigel Corduff, CRSP Cody Craig, CRSP Kyle Craig, CRSP
Dwayne Dalton, CRSP Christopher Davis, CRSP Natalia Day, CRSP Shauna DeBock, CRSP Jason DesJardins, CRSP Jordan Desrosiers, CRSP Sundeep Dhasi, CRSP Jennifer Dickson, CRSP Karen Donnelly, CRSP Dave Duguay, CRSP Robert Duncan, CRSP James Kieran Dunne, CRSP James Ekelund, CRSP Paula Elliott, CRSP Nasim Esfahani, CRSP Judith (Jodi) Flatt, CRSP Peter Gallagher, CRSP Marisue Gardonio, CRSP Quinn Gillard, CRSP Mark Glazier, CRSP Robert Goertz, CRSP Dee Gollnitz, CRSP Stephen J. Gordy, CRSP Nicole Goyette, CRSP Brian Guilfoyle, CRSP Juanita Hanley, CRSP Kimberley Hanson, CRSP Daryl Harvey, CRSP Travis Harvey, CRSP Kevin Hassel, CRSP Richard Heslop, CRSP Fraser Hewitt, CRSP
Terri Hofinger, CRSP Doug Hollett, CRSP Raymond Hopkins, CRSP Gregory Horner, CRSP Jonathan Howard, CRSP Ayadi Ibrahim, CRSP Dale Ivie, CRSP Melissa James, CRSP Anne Johnson, CRSP Jeffrey Josey, CRSP Tamara Kapanen, CRSP Stacey Kazakoff, CRSP Chris Keeping, CRSP Randy Kelly, CRSP Manuel Kindt, CRSP Brian Kossey, CRSP Karren Kossey, CRSP Jason Kramer, CRSP Christopher Kroes, CRSP Scott Krompocker, CRSP Danka Krsmanovic, CRSP Bruno LaVigueur, CRSP Yusau Lawal, CRSP Kevin LeDrew, CRSP Steven Leer, CRSP David «Brock» Lonson, CRSP Sean MacCormack, CRSP Cary MacDonald, CRSP William Mitchell MacGregor, CRSP Eughena Cecilia MacNeil, CRSP Steven MacPhail, CRSP Jamie Magee, CRSP
Drazan Mandic, CRSP Jesse Martell, CRSP Katherine Martens, CRSP Cindy Masch, CRSP Jessica McCaughey, CRSP Sarah McCurdy, CRSP Garry McGauran, CRSP Byron McWhinnie, CRSP Kenneth Mercer, CRSP Timothy Merkley, CRSP Lloyd Merriam, CRSP Ulrika Merrick, CRSP Steven Musselwhite, CRSP Jennifer Nam, CRSP Erin Nawrot, CRSP Jonathon Neville, CRSP Sherry Ng, CRSP Darcy Niedermaier, CRSP Laura Niznik, CRSP Tyler Nolan, CRSP Akinwunmi F. Oladipo, CRSP David Otteson, CRSP Catherine Parsons, CRSP Verneke Peters, CRSP Jessica Pu, CRSP Christopher Reeves, CRSP Jennifer Remington, CRSP Vincent Rieu, CRSP Carolin Robinson, CRSP Samuel Rodriguez, CRSP Trevor Routledge, CRSP Jacqueline Roy, CRSP
The BCRSP is a self-regulating, self-governing organization accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to ISO 17024 (Personnel Certification Body) and by BSI Management Systems to ISO 9001 (Quality Management System). Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals/Conseil canadien des professionnels en sécurité agréés 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4 905-567-7198, 1-888-279-2777, www.bcrsp.ca
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Jason Roy, CRSP Doug Sanders, CRSP Celine Serrano, CRSP James Shepherd, CRSP Noel Slaney, CRSP Rodger Sloan, CRSP Derek Smart, CRSP Michelle Smook, CRSP Gavin St. Michael, CRSP Kimberly Stubbs, CRSP William Sutherland, CRSP Melanie Sveinson, CRSP Jason Taylor, CRSP Tanessa Thompson, CRSP Colin Tobin, CRSP Flavia C. Torres-Moya, CRSP Melinda Triebwasser, CRSP Ashley Turcotte, CRSP Corrie Ann Vallis, CRSP Alex Vandelden, CRSP Kartik Vyas, CRSP Kevin Watson, CRSP Laura Watson, CRSP Frank Watts, CRSP Kirby Wempe, CRSP Lisa Wheeldon, CRSP Craig White, CRSP Karl Woolfsmith, CRSP Richard Wright, CRSP Lacey Wutzke, CRSP
Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals
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IN CONVERSATION
SILICA
City Gets Tough on Silica When materials containing silica, such as asphalt, brick, cement, concrete, stone and sand, are disturbed through blasting, cutting, chipping, drilling, grinding or blowing, the tiny particles generated can get into the lungs. Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica is associated with silicosis, lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis and airway diseases. In 2009, Alberta Occupational Health and Safety lowered the occupational exposure limit for silica dust
to meet the eight-hour occupational exposure limit of 0.025 mg/m3 stipulated by the American Conference of Industrial Hygienists. This prompted the City of Edmonton to embark on a project to reduce silica-dust exposure among its workers. This one-year project evolved into an ongoing process, and the Silica Dust Strategy was born. Caroline Switzer, industrial hygiene consultant with the City of Edmonton, talks to ohs canada about the strategy.
OHS: What are the objectives of the Silica Dust Strategy? CS: The objective overall is the safety of the workers. They hired me specifically for the silica project to seek out any areas with the potential to be exposed to dust or silica. I have never worked with a company that did hygiene that way; it is a very proactive approach to looking at hazards. The normal process is to wait for a complaint of it being too dusty before doing sampling, whereas my direction was to find places anywhere in the city that could be dusty and sample. We did hygiene sampling in the areas, and this included detailed notes on job description or processes, tasks and the equipment used. We wanted to protect the workers once we found out they were exposed. The majority of the time, the interim solution — until other controls could be put in place — would be respirators. We wanted to add any workers who were exposed to the health-surveillance program — that meant chest X-rays and pulmonary-function tests for the workers. We wanted to make sure we educate the workers so that they comply with recommended controls and help implement those controls. Then we could focus on other controls to lower the exposure.
not been done before, or even if it had been done and different equipment or procedures had been used, we would conduct hygiene sampling. In terms of the sampling we did, we wanted to look from the perspective of worker exposure and from worker task. So we wanted to know, during a normal work period, would the worker be overexposed to silica dust for the entire shift, and if so, by how much? Once we saw what the workers were doing, I would be able to recognize maybe two or three different tasks throughout the day that caused dust and then isolate those tasks to see how much of their exposure was due to those tasks. Then we could look at a solution to lowering these levels during these tasks.
OHS: How effective has the strategy been? CS: Thus far, it has been very effective for us. We found more areas than we thought we were going to that had worker exposures. We were able to reduce a lot of the exposures, because we had the details of the equipment and the processes used. OHS: What methods were used to examine exposure? CS: I went out to different areas of the city, and I just watched what the workers were doing. If I noticed they were doing tasks that were very dusty or that they were in an area that was very dusty, I would look to see if we had any past sampling done and, if so, what the levels were. If the previous reports did not include documentation on equipment used or observations, then further sampling was required. I would research the task workers performed to see if there were other companies conducting the same tasks. Did they have any hygiene-sampling methods done? That is a tough one; a lot of the time, even if they have hygiene sampling done, people don’t want to share that information. If sampling had 42
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OHS: Prior to the strategy, how significant was silica-dust exposure and silicosis among city workers in Edmonton? CS: We had a general idea of our high-risk exposure areas, such as street sweeping, tunnelling, road maintenance and sand-blasting activities. There were probably 15 to 20 studies done over a 20-year span previously for silica. Until we started to research all the different job activities workers were conducting, we did not realize how extensive it would be. We found many other areas that we would not have thought would have exposures, such as workers conducting sweeping and grinding in closed cabs. Silica-dust exposures and silicosis were not really noted as a significant issue before the lowering of the occupational exposure limit. OHS: Does the environment contribute to exposure levels? CS: The work environment definitely played a role. We had lots of outdoor workers who would be working right beside, say, a barren land in warm, dry summer months. The wind would blow dust, dirt and road debris toward the workers. These exposures can further increase if vehicles drive by and roads are dry. We also have workers digging and drilling rock in confined spaces underground, and if there is no proper ventilation or dust removal systems in place, exposure levels can be very high. OHS: Which city workers are at greatest risk of exposure? CS: I would say any workers in a dusty environment without
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controls or personal protective equipment would be at risk. But in the City of Edmonton, the ones at most risk were the walk-behind motorized sweepers, bridge-repair crews gunblasting on concrete bridges to remove graffiti, aggregate recycle-plant workers, workers hand-tunnelling within a confined space, road construction crack-seal crews using cutters on asphalt and workers grinding off painted lines on roads. OHS: How can workers tell if they have been exposed to silica dust as a result of their jobs? CS: There are different ways. If they have ever had chest Xrays or pulmonary-function tests done, their healthcare providers may be able to tell if they were exposed. Secondly, if I have done hygiene sampling in their area, then I would tell them if their levels are over the exposure limit. OHS: What are the physical symptoms of exposure? CS: They include shortness of breath, severe cough and fatigue. If a worker is exposed to silica over long periods of time or to very high levels for a short duration, silicosis and lung cancer can develop. OHS: What are the existing preventive measures? CS: The best preventive measure is elimination of the hazard if we can. So we have changed from sand-blasting to using other alternative materials, like garnet-blasting. That is only good if you are not sand-blasting something else that contains silica, like asphalt or concrete. Next, we might look at a possible change in engineering controls (adding dustsuppression systems or ventilation), change in the process or procedure in which an activity is conducted and of course, personal protective equipment (PPE) if the hazard cannot be controlled. OHS: How effective are these measures? CS: Here are some good examples of effective measures: we eliminated the use of compressed air to blow the dust off the cracks in the roadways before they are filled with tar by a crack-seal crew. Compressed air was replaced with a vacuum process, which reduced worker occupational exposure levels by 77 per cent. Another measure was using water when cutting concrete — the workers who used water when cutting concrete had reduced silica levels by 91 per cent on average. Thirdly, keeping the windows of street sweepers closed and having proper HEPA filtration in the cab reduced silica levels by 68 per cent. OHS: What are some of the major findings of your research on silica-dust exposure among city workers? CS: Workers who used compressed air had very high silica exposures. We had air compressors used by some of our fleet services; they would take out filters from street sweepers and blow them off with compressed air. That task alone would put them over the occupational exposure limit for the day. Workers conducting dusty activities inside closed cabs (such as street sweepers and road grinders) would also be overexposed if equipment was not maintained, did not have HEPA cab filters or if workers opened windows. Workers operating motorized “walk-behind” sweepers were almost always overexposed. Any dusty activities within a confined space (like hand- and mole-tunnelling) without the proper dust suppression or ventilation had overexposures.
OHS: Did you discover anything unexpected in your study? CS: We had tunnelling crews jackhammering and shovelling underground in very, very moist clay conditions. The soil conditions were wet enough that I was standing in water. However, those workers were still over the occupational exposure limit for silica. This was very surprising, because they were in a confined space, the moisture was not enough to suppress the dust. Another surprising one for me was the difference clean coveralls made. We did a small study on our confinedspace crews in our tunnels with week-old coveralls that had been dirty and soiled, versus changing to clean coveralls every morning. They had a reduction of 33 per cent in their silica exposures. As well, worker decontamination by the removal of coveralls and boots prior to entry into the lunchroom reduced silica levels in the lunchroom by 50 per cent. OHS: What challenges did you encounter when collecting samples for this study? CS: Resources were a challenge. Doing a hygiene sample for a group of workers for three to five days was not enough to get the good data that we needed to confirm what tasks were causing the increase in silica levels. In some cases, with the aggregate recycle-plant workers especially, it took me a month of sampling just to determine, “These are your most dusty areas,” and “This is where we have to try and focus our efforts to lower your levels.” Other challenges were separating out certain tasks. Sometimes, workers only do a task for 10 to 15 minutes in a day, and it is hard to get an accurate sample result with shorter sample duration. So I had to become innovative and do sampling in a certain way. OHS: What protective measures can workers take? CS: If you are in an enclosed cab, make sure that the vehicle is maintained properly and has proper HEPA filtration. Maintain the air conditioning and do not open windows. When you are doing any kind of cutting of concrete, asphalt or brick, use of water is important. Use water trucks to wet dry dusty roads. Do not use compressed air to blow off dust; the use of vacuums is a better alternative. If you cannot get silica levels low enough by putting these controls in place, then PPE and proper decontamination will be required. Workers need to be aware of the hazards within their environment and be trained in ways that they can protect themselves. OHS: What is next for the strategy? CS: The strategy is ongoing. We are looking into a lot more of the engineering-type controls, which take longer to implement because they require more funding. For example, we have an area responsible for building a facility, which is planning to install a “dust shower” for their workers. As the worker steps into an enclosed booth, air flow is activated and loose dust is removed via a vacuum system. Also, more education for all workers in the areas, stressing the importance of why we are doing this and why they need health surveillance. OHS: Is there anything you would like to add? CS: What we are doing at the City of Edmonton is very proactive. That is something all companies should be striving to do more often everywhere. The more information and awareness we have about silica exposure, the better. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. www.ohscanada.com
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ACCIDENT PREVENTION
2
LOCKOUT/TAGOUT
4
Locking Danger Out WHAT IS LOCKOUT? In work environments that use powered equipment, machinery or any other source of stored energy, potential hazards are present when employees perform maintenance, repairs, installations, inspections or other non-routine tasks. Regardless of whether it is in construction, manufacturing, engineering, oil and gas, maritime work, agriculture or printing, machines that start up unexpectedly could cause lacerations, amputations or crushing injuries through moving blades or chains and pinching conveyor belts. A lockout procedure that physically locks equipment into a safe mode by de-energizing it via a switch, circuit breaker, line valve or block is imperative in any sector that uses machinery run by electricity or any other stored power source.
TAG, YOU’RE OUT: Canadian standard CSA Z460-05 (R2010), Control of Hazardous Energy — Lockout and Other Methods defines lockout as the placing of a lock on an energy-isolating device so that workers cannot operate it until the lock has been removed. While a lockout procedure is mandatory for many jobs throughout Canada, provincial regulations vary. For example, Part 10 of British Columbia’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulation specifically covers lockout, as do Sections 139 and 140 of Saskatchewan’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. Tagout refers to the process of labelling a device or system during lockout to indicate why lockout is required, when it was initiated, the authorized individual who applied the lock to the system and who is permitted to remove it. Together, a lockout/tagout procedure — also known as “lock and tag” — can prevent the accidental startup of machinery or equipment and protect employees from coming into contact with electricity or other machine hazards.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto reported in 2010 that losttime injuries (LTI) resulting from improper lockout and/or ineffective machine guards ranked among Ontario’s top four causes of occupational injuries and that the injuries from lockout failure tended to be more severe. According to the WSIB’s Annual Report for 2009, 2,171 LTIs resulted from employees getting caught in or compressed by machinery, while 427 were caused by friction, pressure or vibration and 361 resulted in amputation. In 2013, the WSIB reported that six per cent of LTIs in the province stemmed from machine-related incidents, with about 2,500 injuries occurring each year.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION: The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario lists the following basic steps in a standard lockout/ tagout procedure: • Identify the energy source(s) that must be locked; • Notify all relevant employees of what is being locked, why, for how long and who the authorized individual conducting the lockout is; • Shut the equipment down in the usual manner; • Isolate hazardous energy from the system, based on the equipment’s respective instructions; • Dissipate any residual or stored energy; • Lock the equipment and tag it; • Verify that the system is locked properly by checking it visually and testing it; • Perform the maintenance, repair or other intended service; and • Unlock the equipment and remove the tags. It is also recommended that the worker who locked the system be present when the system is restarted, to ensure that those who are working on the system are out of potential harm’s way. 44
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LOCKED IN STEP: The aforementioned procedure template may vary slightly when dealing with different types of work environments and machinery. The Ontario Ministry of Labour advises agricultural workers to put a warning sign over the ignition of a machine and notify others that someone is working on it. Farm machine operators should also avoid cleaning, lubricating, adjusting or unplugging equipment while it is running, unless the owner’s manual specifically allows or recommends it. An employer should provide sets of written lockout instructions tailored to the specific type of workplace and the number of systems that require lockout and tagout. These instructions should indicate the specific machine, where and how lockout devices are installed, how to control and de-energize the machine’s stored energy, how to verify the energy isolation, which individual is authorized to perform the lockout and who needs to be notified of it.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY: The CCOHS says every workplace party has a responsibility in the lockout program. Managers must draft, review and update the program while identifying people and equipment involved, providing protective gear and monitoring compliance. Supervisors should ensure that properly trained employees use the right equipment while following established procedures and that workers help develop the procedures and report any problems with the process or equipment. As lockout/tagout is a vital part of workplace safety, intensive, specified training for everybody is important. Employers can train workers and supervisors through courses offered by safety companies throughout Canada, which include the Occupational Safety Group in London, Ontario, CayCan Safety Consulting in Sherwood Park, Alberta or St. John Ambulance’s online education centre in British Columbia and the Yukon. These programs typically cover legal requirements, hazardous-energy control, lockout steps, tagout devices, other basic procedures and/or general definitions.
CALAMITY OF ERRORS: ESC Services, a Milwaukee consulting firm specializing in lockout/tagout services, identifies three common myths about lock-and-tag regulations: a company may be exempt from lock and tag due to its field or size; certain equipment may be exempt, because of its age or if power is supplied through a cord and plug; and a company’s exemplary safety record makes the regulations inapplicable. Overlooking lockout/tagout can result in serious injury or death. WorkSafeNB in Saint John, New Brunswick cites the following mistakes associated with lockout: • Not applying a tag, or applying a tag without locking; • Leaving the lock or the energy cutoff unclosed, or closing the lock improperly; • Leaving the key in; • Misplacing multiple lock devices; and • Using the same lock by several workers.
GROUP EFFORT: Simply shutting down equipment controls is not enough; only a full lockout procedure can ensure safety. In cases in which multiple employees are working on the machinery, care must be taken to ensure that none of them inadvertently reconnects the energy source before the work is completed. WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia recommends that group lockouts use “scissor adaptors” to apply multiple locks to a system. Each worker must be responsible for placing his or her own personal lock on the energy-isolating device. When the work is finished, each worker is responsible for removing his or her own lock. If necessary, a supervisor may remove a worker’s lock after making every reasonable effort to contact the worker and ensuring that the equipment will be operated safely afterwards. In such a case, the lock removal must be documented and the worker must be informed of it at the beginning of his or her next work shift. www.ohscanada.com
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JUST ASKING In 2014, we covered a range of health and safety issues relevant to Canadian workplaces. The magazine has reported on the safe transportation of dangerous goods, workplace-bullying policies in British Columbia, Manitoba’s efforts to tackle claim suppression and the over-prescription of opioids for injured workers. ohs canada continues to reach out to readers for feedback on workplace safety issues in our online poll, the results of which are published in the magazine. Below is a rundown of what you had to say this past year:
Use of Force Are conducted energy weapons like Tasers safe for use?
Yes No Undecided Total votes
34% 53% 13% 74
Workplace Violence Are healthcare workers at a higher risk of violence than police officers are?
Penalties and Legislation
56% 26% 18% 160
Yes No Not sure Total votes
Are high fines effective in deterring oh&s violations? Yes
No Not sure Total votes
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46% 41% 13% 135
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Farm Safety Should farm workers in Alberta be covered under workplace safety legislation?
92% 6% 2% 242
Yes
No Undecided Total votes
Migrant Workers Should injured foreign workers be covered for healthcare after their work permits expire?
51% 46% 3% 93
Yes No Undecided Total votes
Concussions and Head Injuries Should fighting in professional hockey be banned? Yes
No Undecided Total Votes
47% 52% 1% 108
Surveillance Should workers’ compensation boards increase the use of surveillance to weed out fraud?
Yes No Undecided Total votes
43% 54% 3% 290
Natural Disasters Does your workplace have a plan that addresses oh&s risks from severe weather events?
Yes No Don’t Know Total votes
66% 24% 10% 241
Go on — have your say. Check out www.ohscanada.com to vote in our latest poll.
www.ohscanada.com
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WORKRITE EXPANDS DICKIES FR CLOTHING LINE Workrite Uniform Company expanded its popular Dickies® FR clothing line. The line now includes a classic coverall, five shirt styles—including work, knit and snap front — two popular jean styles, three colors of relaxed straight-fit pants, two insulated hooded jackets, and an insulated bib.
Workrite Uniform Company 800-521-1888 www.workrite.com/canada
WORKING AT HEIGHTS TRAINING COURSES If your workers face fall hazards, you’re required to provide them with FallProtection training. Let the knowledgable staff at Team-1 Academy train your team. Also ask us about our Inspection and Rescue Services. No matter what your needs, we have a solution!
Visit www.team1academy.com 905-827-0007
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www.ohscanada.com
www.ohscanada. com
A D V E R T I S I N G D I R E C T O RY C A N A D A
3M
Draeger
www.3M.ca/safety For ad see page 52
Showa-Best
www.draeger.com For ad see page 31
BCRSP
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Glove Guard
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Team-1 Academy
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BW Technologies by Honeywell www.gasmonitors.com For ad see page 2
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LexisNexis
Workrite
www.lexisnexis.ca/ohs For ad see page 39
Carswell
www.workrite.com/canada For ad see page 5
Martor
WSPS
www.martorusa.com For ad see page 14
www.partnersinpreventionconference.com For ad see page 9
ADVERTISING DIRECTORY
www.carswell.com For ad see page 10
Nasco www.nascoinc.com For ad see page 12
The Annual Index for articles published in OHS Canada in 2014 is now available online at our website.
C A N A D A
ANNUAL INDEX 2014
www.ohscanada.com
So, what’s on your mind? JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 Should Canada mandate the full disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing?
DECEMBER 2014 Does your workplace have a plan that addresses oh&s risks from severe weather events?
Yes
96%
Yes
No
3%
No
24%
Unsure
1%
Undecided
10%
814
Total Votes
240
Total Votes
66%
Go on — have your say. Check out www.ohscanada.com to vote in our latest poll.
www.ohscanada.com
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TIME OUT
A REAL “POT” LUCK: There is a limit to the kind of fun that a large, bearded man in a nearby alley had forced him one may have at an office potluck. The City of Hamilton, Ontario recently fired two male employees for bringing cannabis-laced brownies to a holiday party at a local public-works yard on December 22. One unknowing city worker became sick after consuming the baked treats and was sent to the hospital, The Hamilton Spectator reported on January 14. The ill worker recovered shortly afterwards, but city officials were not amused and launched an internal investigation, resulting in the dismissal of the perpetrators for having illegal drugs on city property. On a positive note, at least the fired workers have more free time to get stoned.
SNAKE EYES: Motels host some rather shady guests sometimes, but one in the east side of Owen Sound, Ontario housed a tenant better described as “slithery”. On January 10, the motel’s manager discovered a 1.5-metre boa constrictor that had been left in one of the rooms for nearly a week. The reptile’s owner, who had been renting the room for a month, had left behind his unwanted pet, according to the Owen Sound Sun Times. He left instructions for a local friend to pick up the snake and take it to a pet store, but the friend bailed. Owen Sound Police officers took the snake to a store instead. FERTILIZER WITH NO MERRITT: The compost indus-
try of Merritt, British Columbia is under fire from activist groups and First Nations representatives for using “biosolids”, or processed human excrement, as fertilizer. Representatives from the province and the regional district have insisted not only that the practice is environmentally safe, but that provincial regulations permit it, Vancouver newspaper The Province reported on January 15. But Friends of the Nicola Valley is worried that using “sewage sludge” as compost could contaminate the air, land and drinking water, as well as affect the local First Nations fishing industry. Regardless of who is right, all agree on some level that the practice is full of crap.
ON PINS AND NEEDLES: A budding fashion designer in Kamloops, British Columbia learned a unique hazard of the fashion industry the hard way. The Grade 12 student was stitching an outfit for an upcoming show while holding two pins in his mouth, when he laughed at a joke told by a friend and swallowed one of the pins, CBC News reported on January 13. The young man’s father rushed him to the hospital, and an X-ray showed that the pin had entered his digestive tract. At last report, the boy was waiting for the pin to exit the “natural” way, while getting additional X-rays to check for inner punctures. Lesson learned? Either put the pins down, or stay away from funny people. INCRIMINATING MARK: A case of robbery at a pizza
place in Uniontown, Pennsylvania was solved by an unusual piece of evidence: toilet paper. A 29-year-old male entered the restaurant on December 27, carrying a note scribbled on toilet paper reading, “I have a gun. Give me $300,” Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA reported. After an employee hit the panic button, police arrived and arrested the culprit, who told them
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to commit the crime. But that wild story went straight down the toilet after the police searched the man’s apartment and found a freshly opened roll of bathroom tissue, with a pen impression of the note visible on one sheet. Maybe next time, he will smarten up and use an Etch A Sketch instead.
MEAN GIRLS: Schoolteachers may face danger from students brandishing guns or knives, but hand sanitizer? That was the weapon of choice of three fourth-grade girls planning to murder their teacher in Elba, New York, according to a news report by Buffalo TV station WKBW on January 8. The teacher was highly allergic to hand sanitizer, so the trio wanted to put the substance on various objects they knew the teacher would touch. Fortunately, one of the kids’ parents found out about the plot and contacted the school in time. The students were not charged due to their ages and because they had not carried out the scheme. Still, it may take a lot of after-school detentions to make up for this nefarious prank. HERE BE DRAGONS: Employees of a certain reptile
store in Delray Beach, Florida have little to fear from the critters for sale; instead, they should beware of the owner. The 40-year-old shopkeeper was arrested for battery and cruelty to animals after taking a live bearded dragon lizard and putting it in his mouth, swinging it around, throwing it in the air and hitting his workers with it repeatedly. The man also threw Gatorade on his employees during the incident, the Broward/ Palm Beach New Times reported on January 5. The store had previously made the news in 2012, when a customer choked to death during a shop-sponsored roach-eating contest.
ALL TRUCKED UP: Of all the possible health and safety risks of working inside an office, getting hit by a truck does not usually make the list. But a worker in Toledo, Brazil narrowly escaped that very fate recently after a large black truck careened into an office building, following a collision with another vehicle. Security cameras captured the young woman getting up to leave her desk only a second before the truck burst through the wall behind her seat, The Daily Mirror reported on January 7. She escaped the debacle with only minor injuries, as did the driver and 16 other office workers. In future, office planners may want to consider keeping employee desks in first-floor offices far away from outer walls. NUTS ABOUT NUTS: An executive with Korean Air
Lines ordered some macadamia nuts while flying home from New York. But when the flight attendant brought them in a bag rather than on a plate, the executive went nuts. She assaulted and threatened crew members, forcing the flight to return to its gate so that she — the daughter of the airline’s chairman — could kick the offending attendant off the aircraft, The Associated Press reported on December 30. The executive was later arrested in Seoul and charged with endangering flight safety and in-flight violence. Now, that is one nutty flight! Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada
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www.ohscanada.com
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