OH&S Canada September/October 2015

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 S EP TE MBE R /OCT OB ER 2015

C A N A D A

of CHANGE Bringing wind-turbine hazards to light

EYES WIDE SHUT

Tackling the dangers of shift work

TELL-TALE SIGNS

New findings on leading indicators

MIDDLE GROUND

Sit and pedal while at work

NOT JUST DUST

Dishing the dirt on silica

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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

CC A A NNA AD DA A

FEATURES

SE P T E M BE R/ O CT OBE R 2 0 1 5 Vo l u m e 3 1, Nu m b e r 5

WIN D TUR B IN ES 24

Shifting Winds

Workers in the wind-energy sector are exposed to a myriad of hazards. A study out of Quebec suggests that lack of both awareness and safety data may be the biggest barriers.

BY KELLY PUTTER

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S HIF T WOR K

Up in the Night

Much research has been done on the health repercussions of shift work, but the variables associated with working shifts complicate the effort to address its effects on workers.

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BY JACOB STOLLER

S HOW R EP ORT

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OHS Canada gives the lowdown on emerging safety trends, new findings from a white paper on leading indicators and the latest protective products on the show floor.

BY JEAN LIAN

DEPARTMENTS 40

HEALTH WATC H

Work on Wheels

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Sedentary work is a key contributor to physical inactivity among working adults. A study suggests that placing a pedalling device under workstations may be the answer.

BY JEAN LIAN

ED IT O R IA L

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PA N O R A MA

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LET T ER S

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Pushing the Limits

O H&S U P D AT E

Alberta worker dies from fall; overcrowding in Saskatchewan prisons reaches crisis level; decision rules against Ontario hospital’s flu-mask policy; leak detected at Quebec refinery; Newfoundland paramedic’s suicide spurs calls for support; and more.

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Breathing Easy

Many types of work generate dust and toxic particles. Using the right respiratory protection can help filter out these harmful impurities that pervade the air.

BY JEFF COTTRILL

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AC C ID EN T P R EV EN TION

The Dirt on Silica

Crystalline silica is present in many construction materials, but any worker who chips, saws or grinds may also be exposed to this carcinogenic substance.

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TIM E OUT

Caught on camera; no laughing matter; Outlaw outlawed; unwholesome loot; close call; sexting selfies; fiery pudding; and more.

D IS PAT C HES

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BU YER S ’ GU ID E P R O D U C T S HO W CAS E A D IN D EX

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Plastic-coated receipts a hazard; provinces curb healthcare violence; and more.

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S AF ETY GEAR

IN THIS ISSUE

Safety is 30 per cent common sense, 80 per cent compliance and the rest is good luck.

– BARRY SPUD

www.ohscanada.com

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EDITORIAL

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

Pushing the Limits S

C A N A D A

Vol. 31, No. 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

EDITOR JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com

ince the advent of the Internet, online technology has tested workplace safety in various ways. The ease and efficiency of communication brought about by the invention of electronic mail in the early 1970s transformed workplace communication and information dissemination. But exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients soon gave rise to issues like privacy breach, which occurs when someone sends confidential work correspondence or employee information to unintended recipients by mistake.

Before more recent permutations like Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook emerged, a website called Six Degrees came along in the late 1990s. This site has been largely credited as the first social-media site that allowed users to create profiles and “friend” other users. Today, social media has brought about a paradigm shift in how we network with peers and share our mundane, private moments on public, online bulletin boards. This has put workplace ethics and safety to the test once again, as cyberbullying, such as venting frustrations about work and criticizing one’s boss or colleague on these sites, sometimes costs people their jobs when such unprofessional conduct comes to light.

Now, the fracas surrounding Uber, which connects riders to drivers through apps, presents yet another oh&s challenge. Uber drivers are considered self-employed contractors, not employees. Their status as third-party providers has been widely criticized, as it absolves the company from various legal obligations and accountability, such as paying minimum wage and being held accountable for both public and driver safety. Unlike cabbies, Uber drivers are not licenced nor required to meet industry and safety standards.

There is also the issue of no-fault disability insurance. While many companies are covered by provincial workers’ compensation boards, so that employees who are injured at work can receive compensation for lost income, healthcare and other related costs, Uber drivers — being contractors — do not have this protection. An Uber driver in Toronto was caught in a bind in August, when he suffered injuries after his minivan collided with another vehicle while driving a fare. His insurance company disclaimed all benefits, as he was using his car for commercial purposes.

And then there is the issue of workplace violence. From China to Canada, numerous incidents of Uber drivers assaulting female riders have been reported. In August, a female passenger in China was robbed and sexually assaulted while taking an Uber ride. A similar incident took place in Toronto, where an Uber driver sexually assaulted a female rider in September.

In many ways, the ride-sharing service has pushed workplace safety into new territory. Uber has not only expanded the definition of “taxi”, but also created real workplaces and associated oh&s issues that have eluded regulations to date. And safety proponents are still finding their way in the dark.

Recently, the City of Toronto’s licencing committee rejected staff recommendations that would have opened the door to legalizing Uber in the city. While many see that decision as a first victory towards creating a more level playing field between conventional cab drivers and their app-enabled counterparts, the Internet will continue to push the envelope of occupational safety and shape the way we work.

Communicating emerging risks that have yet to be addressed by regulation will become increasingly important as regulations play catch-up. And public pressure stemming from enhanced awareness may be the most effective way to bring about greater corporate accountability. For that, social-media platforms can become an ally in spreading the word. Remember, technology cuts both ways.

EDITOR

JEFF COTTRILL

CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS jcottrill@ohscanada.com

ART DIRECTOR

ANNE MIRON

PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER

PHYLLIS WRIGHT

PRODUCTION MANAGER

GARY WHITE

MARKETING SPECIALIST

DIMITRY EPELBAUM

CIRCULATION MANAGER

BARBARA ADELT badelt@annexnewcom.ca

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

SHEILA HEMSLEY shemsley@ohscanada.com

PUBLISHER

PETER BOXER pboxer@ohscanada.com

PRESIDENT, ANNEX-NEWCOM LP

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.

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.

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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: Circulation Customer Service: Silva Telian (Tel) 416-442-5600 ext. 3636; (Fax) 416-510-6875; (E-mail) stelian@annexnewcom.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.

Jean Lian

Publications mail agreement no. 43005526.

Date of issue: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

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ohs canada

15-10-05 10:00 AM

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panorama $

1 million

Amount to be invested in improving safety at the Canadian Rockies International Airport in southern British Columbia, the federal government announced on July 21.

1

Source: Transport Canada

2

3 5 4

In Compliance: Yukon has adopted the new Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) 2015, which replaces WHMIS 1988. According to a statement dated July 14 from the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board, employers are responsible for educating and training workers in the new system, and many training resources will be available to both employers and employees.

1.

Source: Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board

Review Underway: Saskatchewan is seeking feedback from individuals and organizations regarding the provincial workers’ compensation system. Legislation requires a review to be conducted at least every four years to ensure that the system reflects the changing needs of the workforce and communities. Public hearings have been scheduled to take place across the province in October and November.

2.

Source: Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety

Let’s Get Talking: The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg (UFFW) has launched a new website, PTSDTalk.ca, following the recent introduction of Bill 205, which recognizes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a compensable work disease in Manitoba. The site features videos of firefighters talking about their experiences Source: United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg with the condition and includes links to resources.

3.

4. Picture

Power: An oh&s video created by two students of St. Francis Xavier Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario has reached viewers in the construction industry. Construction firm CRH Canada Group Inc. screened Who I’d Still Have — a two-minute public-service announcement that won the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s annual Source: Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News safety-video contest in June — to about 100 employees on August 11.

in Safety: Nova Scotia is investing $500,000 in first-responder equipment. Zach Churchill, the province’s Municipal Affairs Minister, announced on August 26 that the fund for new equipment would support 47 emergency-service providers across the province, including fire departments, hazardous-material organizations Source: Government of Nova Scotia and search-and-rescue operations.

$

120,000

Fine issued to an Ontario construction contractor on September 17 for the death of a worker, who was killed by a falling steel panel in June 2014. The worker was part of a six-member crew working on a project in Windsor at the time of the incident.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour

77

The number of workers in British Columbia who perished from asbestos-related diseases in 2014.

Source: WorkSafeBC

5. Invest

360° 6

HOTEL ON FIRE More than 1,000 pilgrims in Saudi Arabia were evacuated from a hotel in Mecca after a fire broke out on the eighth floor of an 11-storey hotel in Mecca’s Aziziya neighbourhood on September 17. Saudi civil-defence officials reported that two pilgrims had been treated for injuries from the fire. The blaze came just days after a crane collapse killed at least 111 people and injured more than 390.

Source: The Associated Press

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

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4.5

The number of times more likely that rail shipments of oil and gas will experience accidents than oil-and-gas pipelines will, according to a report, Safety in the Transportation of Oil and Gas: Pipelines or Rail?, released on August 13.

Source: The Fraser Institute

ohs canada

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LETTERS

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

Hello to the nanny state and goodbye to the family farm!

no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the tragic accidents that took place at the Holt mine site.

I say mine site because in one of the deaths, the worker was not a mine employee, and I do understand contractoremployer obligations.

To be clear, I am not downplaying what happened or suggesting there was no doing, but his statements scream lack of information and are insensitive and shortsighted not only to the employer and the Ministry of Labour, but more importantly, to the families of the workers who lost their lives on the job.

Sarah

Steve Belanger

EMBRACING FARM WORKERS Alberta’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is considering plans to extend oh&s law to farm workers. (canadian occupational health and safety news (cohsn), July 14, 2015)

I would rather say hello to the nanny state than have to say goodbye to a loved family member or worker at a funeral service, knowing I could have prevented an accident by following the safety rules on the farm.

Kevin McNicholls

PUSH FOR STRICTER PENALTIES Following the death of a female miner east of Timmins, the Ontario Federation of Labour is demanding more vigorous pursuit of criminal prosecutions for occupational fatalities. (cohsn, June 2, 2015) When a violation of any of our laws is severe enough, jail time for the most senior responsible executives must be the consequence. If the consequence is just a fine, that fine will simply be considered a cost of doing business and will not have deterred similar violations. Whenever intentionally violating health, safety, employment and environmental regulations is proven, the punishments must have real consequences for the executives who decided to violate those regulations.

Kevin Moore

These are uninformed statements at best, and [Ontario Federation of Labour president] Mr. Ryan obviously has 8

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INMATE ASSAULTS OFFICER A correctional officer was severely beaten by an inmate at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre in British Columbia on June 24. (cohsn, June 30, 2015) Attacks by inmates in any correctional facility are becoming far too common.

I work in an Ontario facility, and the number of attacks on officers continues to rise. The Ontario government has just informed corrections officers in Ontario that they are not “essential workers”. This just shows me the disdain that the government has for us. The general public should be concerned, because of the potential for violence.

Michael Laderoute

UNDER FIRE The Conservative government’s proposed federal budget has come under fire from public-sector unions, contending that the budget’s plan to create a $1.4 billion surplus compromises federal employees’ health and safety. (cohsn, April 28, 2015) Why should the Canadian government get paid sick days when most of the rest of the Canadian workforce does not?

MH

I agree [with] MH. I get five sick days a year, and we have short-term disability kick in. The plan they are proposing is not unrealistic; it is reality for the rest of us. They should not have proposed it as a cost saving; it should be described as equality with the rest of Canadians who do not get the luxury of 15 sick days. I only get two weeks of holidays (10 days); after five years, I will get three weeks (15 days). They need a reality check.

CF

GOING DOWNHILL New research suggests that seriously injured workers tend to have shorter lifespans and that those who are permanently impaired in their younger years have the highest risk of dying early. (ohs canada, May/June 2015) I was injured in a logging accident shortly before my 20th birthday (42 years ago) in British Columbia. It was a head injury. My permanent injuries are minor. I have double vision if I look to my extreme left, but I wear regular spectacles anyway, so it is not obvious in my day-to-day living. My facial palsy never fully recovered. I have a crooked smile, and my left eyelid droops badly as I tire. The older I get, the worse it is (as it is for everything else).

I have always managed to work, usually in sales or management, but my personal appearance has sometimes taken a toll on my physiological well-being. So while I have been lucky, it has made me aware of long-term effects of injuries at work and outside work as well. I am very involved in safety at our workplace.

Derek Morrison Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Would you like to share a comment?

Send an email to jlian@ohscanada.com.

Letters may be edited for style, grammar and length.

ohs canada

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OH&S UPDATE

FEDS APPROVE SAFETY RULES FEDERAL — Transport Canada (TC) has approved new railway safety rules for securing trains to prevent further disasters like the fatal Lac-Mégantic derailment in 2013. In a statement issued on July 29, TC calls the decision “another important milestone” in the federal government’s ongoing efforts to make the transportation of dangerous goods safer, based on recommendations by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

“Transport Canada has approved revisions to Rule 112 of the Canadian Railway Operating Rules, establishing multiple layers of defence to secure trains and further reduce the risk of runaways,” TC says in the statement. “The updated Rule 112 formalizes the provisions set out in the emergency directive and makes them permanent, as well as more detailed.

The new rules provide industry with a comprehensive handbrake-application chart to respond to various operating situations, which, once applied, must be confirmed by another employee with the

appropriate level of knowledge.”

The new Rule 112 went into effect on October 14. Until then, the earlier emergency directive on securing trains — specifically regarding the number of applied handbrakes and additional physical securement — remained in force.

NEW PENALTIES FOR ABUSES FEDERAL — Employers who abuse the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP) will face new penalties from Employment and Social Development Canada later this year.

Starting on December 1, employers who violate the specifications and conditions of these programs could face fines ranging from $500 to $100,000 per charge, amounting to a maximum penalty of $1,000,000 within a year. Serious violations could result in bans from a program lasting between one and 10 years or even expulsion, says a statement from the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada union sent out on July 13.

UNDERSTAFFING POSES RISKS BURNABY — The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) has charged that chronic understaffing in the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service (COS) has resulted in officers working in unsafe conditions for years.

On July 14, the union released two reports — one dated June 30, 2011 and the other finalized on May 6, 2013 — both dealing with staffing issues. The earlier report, which was an internal study completed by then-chief conservation officer Edward Illi, stated that the province needed an increase of 40 conservation officers to achieve sufficient strength and that the COS’ single-officer posts went against the Canada Labour Code and the provincial Workers Compensation Act, exposing officers to safety risks.

The second report, completed by Society of British Columbia Conservation Officers (SOBCCO) president Darryl Struthers, charted the COS’ staffing levels from 2001 to 2012. Over that period, Struthers found, the service had

WATER ACCUMULATION CITED IN BOAT TRAGEDY FEDERAL — Flooding led to the capsizing of a fishing vessel last year, an accident that tossed four fishers overboard and killed one of them, according to an investigation report released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) on August 10.

The incident occurred on June 26, 2014 near Little Port Head on the west coast of Newfoundland. Sea Serpent 25, a small fishing boat, had set sail from Frenchman’s Cove with a crew of four to catch crabs. Water began to accumulate onboard the vessel while the crew was emptying traps of the crabs they had caught. The crew tried to bail out the water with a large bucket, but could not work quickly enough, and the boat settled lower into the water. Sea Serpent lost all power and capsized at about 9:00 a.m.

Three of the crew members managed to don personal flotation devices (PFD) following the capsizing and hung onto the boat. The fourth fisher drifted away and was later rescued while clinging onto the gas can and gas tank from the boat. At around 10:00, one of the three remaining fishers showed no signs of life. Two patrolling Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers recovered the other two survivors.

The TSB report indicates that water ingress might have occurred through the vessel’s drain hole. The crew had drained the boat of water through the hole early in the trip. “In this

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occurrence, it is likely that the plug, which was difficult to access, was not re-inserted after this procedure or was not reinserted properly to create a watertight seal,” the report says.

The crew did not notice the water buildup due to their focus on the job at hand. “This is characteristic of a psychological lack of attention, inattentional blindness or perceptual blindness, which happens when an unexpected event is not recognized, even though it is in plain sight,” the TSB writes.

“Cognitive tunnelling, a phenomenon of inattentional blindness, may have contributed to their lack of awareness.”

TSB investigators also found that Sea Serpent had not borne any lifejackets during the fatal trip and that the crew had not been wearing PFDs at the time of the capsizing.

“Of the several unsafe practices on fishing vessels that have been identified by the TSB over the years, not wearing PFDs is a significant one,” the report states. “In the fishing community, some of the reasons for resistance to PFD use include discomfort, the risk of entanglement and the perception that it is not practical or normal to wear a PFD.” The report concludes that the vessel’s insufficient design standards, which did not allow it to remain upright when flooded, and the crew’s lack of training on radio-communication equipment contributed to the accident.

— By Jeff Cottrill

ohs canada

15-10-06 11:52 AM

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS HAZARDS IN LIBRARIES BURNABY — The British Columbia chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has completed the first stage of its ongoing study of workplace safety at the province’s libraries. The union surveyed more than 500 employees at both public and academic libraries during May and June this year, according to a statement issued on August 20.

Although more than 80 per cent of respondents said they rarely or never felt unsafe at work, a draft of the survey report indicated that library employees in the province were occasionally exposed to biohazards, with 37 per cent of respondents claiming that they had been exposed to excrement or urine. Nearly as many had experienced exposure each to vomit, blood and saliva, while used needles and bedbugs were each cited by more than 25 per cent. Only 31 per cent said that they never encountered biohazards at work.

In addition, 56 per cent of respondents said they felt that staffing levels affected their safety at work. Although 65 per cent were rarely or never required to work alone, nearly half of those who did so at least once a month were unfamiliar with lone-worker procedures. Some respondents noted that they felt unsafe when working alone; others felt that their libraries were chronically understaffed.

CUPE B.C. library coordinator Zoe Magnus says the survey was motivated by anecdotal reports that the union has

been receiving for years of increasing pressures on library workers arising from a number of factors. Magnus, a former library worker with 25 years’ experience, points out that cuts in the province’s social safety nets eliminated agencies intended to provide services for people needing employment or shelter, driving them to libraries instead. “So we are getting increasingly a clientele that have greater needs than one would assume if you didn’t work in a public library.”

Even school libraries are facing similar issues, adding further stress to employees. “The social pressures of bullying have led to kids in schools using libraries as a place of refuge,” Magnus says. “Students are gravitating towards trips to libraries for places of support that we wouldn’t normally have thought that is the kind of work library workers do.”

The report makes five recommendations: provide more oh&s training and education; raise awareness of other oh&s issues besides ergonomics; make sure all safety incidents are reported to the respective library’s joint occupational health and safety committee; lobby for minimum-staffing provisions in collective agreements; and initiate special outreach positions in libraries with largely marginalized clienteles.

“We are looking at the release of the full report in December,” Magnus says.

— By Jeff Cottrill

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.

Clayton Abraham CRSP Shane Adam CRSP Adebola Adesida CRSP Islam Adra CRSP Brian Akkerman CRSP Boko Akou CRSP Mark Allan CRSP George Asamoah CRSP David Asekomhe CRSP Donald Ashley CRSP Harjot Aulakh CRSP Jerry Bankas CRSP Steve Bilan CRSP Christina Blair CRSP Ryan Blais CRSP Brice Bouwa Tsemo CRSP Ian Brennan CRSP Allison Burke CRSP Rodney Buysse CRSP Kurtis Calder CRSP Maria Calogeros CRSP Myrna Campbell CRSP Kristopher Carrington CRSP Rhea Cece CRSP Etienne Chabot CRSP Diane Chan CRSP Yanic Chiasson CRSP Michael Chua CRSP Wei Jie Chye CRSP Robert Clark CRSP

John Clarke CRSP Justin Clarke CRSP Jason Clarkson CRSP Mary-Ann Clavette CRSP Neil Clements CRSP Timothy Collins CRSP Travis Cooper CRSP Teresa Corboy CRSP Darren Correia CRSP Kathleen Cote CRSP Kevin Cripps CRSP Daryl Davidson CRSP Madelyn Davidson CRSP Marivic De Guzman CRSP Danielle Desautels CRSP Raymond DeSmit CRSP Glenda Dodgson CRSP Brendon Eaglesham CRSP Jodi Engel CRSP Sashelle Finley CRSP Troy Forman CRSP Andrew Frenette CRSP Lindsay Friesen CRSP Brian Fushell CRSP Allen Gales CRSP Randy Gauthier CRSP Jenine Gebhart CRSP Randolph (Randy) Gordon CRSP Ramona Gossweiler CRSP Romeo Gould CRSP

James Greenwood CRSP Robert Grimson CRSP Susan Gropp CRSP Tammy Hanson CRSP Bree Hawrylak CRSP Bradley Hayes CRSP Sean Henderson CRSP Manuel Herrera CRSP Barbara Hildebrandt CRSP Guy Hiltz CRSP Jennifer Hoey CRSP Thomas Hogg CRSP Steven Holan CRSP Lauren Hurley CRSP Richard Hutchinson CRSP Douglas Janzen CRSP Julie Johns CRSP Stephen Johnson CRSP Andrew Kamel CRSP Cindy Karpan CRSP Rennie Kissoonsingh CRSP Nickolas Kladas CRSP Justin Lajoie CRSP Darcy Lambe CRSP Jessica Levson CRSP Mark Lindsay CRSP Nataliya Lukasheva CRSP Tom Mackay CRSP Eugene MacMahon CRSP Tamera Madden CRSP

Robert Marin CRSP Dustin Martin CRSP Megan Martin CRSP Ravinder Mavi CRSP Christian McCormick CRSP Lorraine McIntyre CRSP Brianna McLaggan CRSP Kristin Sean McPherson CRSP Shannon McWatters CRSP Lisa Medeiros CRSP Kelly Mikkelson CRSP Melissa Molloy CRSP Melissa Morin CRSP Joseph Moulton CRSP Amanda Muench CRSP Andrew Munn CRSP Adam Paoletic CRSP Richard Poulin CRSP Ali Akbar Qadirian CRSP Daryl P. Ramsay CRSP Michael Rau CRSP Peter Raycroft CRSP Kathryn Reichheld CRSP Troy Richardson CRSP Chad Roberts CRSP Maria Robibero CRSP Denine Rodrigues CRSP Scott Rogers CRSP Lee Rosenberg CRSP Preston 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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April Russell CRSP Susan Sawatzky CRSP Cindy Schiewek CRSP Kelly Schulp CRSP Dale Scott CRSP Steven Sharp CRSP Adam Shevalier CRSP Devon Sidwell CRSP Jake Siegner CRSP Daniel Smith CRSP Patrick Smyth CRSP Frances Spencer CRSP Marty Stephenson CRSP Cody Stern CRSP Christopher Taylor CRSP Travis Teague CRSP Billy To CRSP Tracy Lynn Umar CRSP Lorne Uruski CRSP Jolanda Van der Laak CRSP Maria Vomiero CRSP Jeffery Walter CRSP Jennifer Watson CRSP Patrick Sean Waugh CRSP David Wiebe CRSP Erwin Wiebe CRSP Heather Wilson CRSP Tony Wong-Hen CRSP Roger Zhang CRSP Derick Zimmerman CRSP

Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals

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reduced its staff by 32 per cent, while problem wildlife calls had increased by 70 per cent and poaching and polluting calls by 56 per cent over the same period.

“That leaves the issue of under-resourcing for conservation officers and occupational health and safety risks that they face,” says BCGEU president Stephanie Smith, noting that the province currently has nine offices that employ lone conservation officers. At the time of the Illi report, the province had 14.

“Government’s response to that was to close some of the offices and consolidate them. But we still have nine,” Smith argues, adding that officers do not just respond to problem wildlife calls; they are also required to attend to illegal poaching or pollution calls and the illegal sale of animal wildlife parts. “If you think about a police officer attending a call that they know there is a high likelihood that where they are going, there may be weapons, you wouldn’t send one.”

The province’s Ministry of Environment, which runs the COS, did not respond to a request for an interview.

The BCGEU’s release of the reports follows the recent suspension of Bryce Casavant, a British Columbia conservation officer who reportedly clashed with his superiors after refusing to cull a pair of orphaned bear cubs. “He was in a singleofficer office,” Smith says.

She adds that her union has been speaking out about the understaffing issue for many years and that the union has discussed under-resourcing with several government ministries, including the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

POLICE OFFICERS HURT IN ALTERCATION VANCOUVER — A call to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) about a distraught man causing a disturbance led to the death of the man and the hospitalization of six officers.

According to a VPD statement, police responded to a report of the disturbance in southeast Vancouver on August 13. The man became agitated when the first officer on the scene tried to detain him, prompting a call for more officers.

Police attempted to detain the man with “chemical agents”, but this resulted in a physical altercation in which six officers and the man were injured. All of the officers were sent to the hospital and later released. Paramedics tried to revive the man, who succumbed to his injuries. The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is investigating the incident.

WELDER DIES FROM INJURIES AFTER FALL LETHBRIDGE — A worker at a construction site in Lethbridge, Alberta has died of his injuries after falling from a roof, according to information from the oh&s division of the province’s Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour.

Ministry spokesperson Wayne Wood confirms that the 51-year-old man was performing a task on the roof of an elementary school under construction in the subdivision of Legacy Ridge when the incident occurred on August 5. The worker was doing some welding and fell off the roof from a height of about nine metres. “He was transported to the hospital in Lethbridge, and he died shortly after arriving in hospital,” Wood says.

Following the incident, the man’s employer put a voluntary stop-work order on the construction site to allow oh&s authorities to examine the scene of the accident.

NITRATE SPILL PROMPTS ORDER EDMONTON — Alberta Environment and Parks has issued an Environmental Protection Order to a company responsible for an accident on July 15, when a ruptured fertilizer tank spilled about 9,800 litres of urea ammonium nitrate at a worksite near Little Bow River.

A statement sent out on July 23 by the provincial government states that the leaked nitrate moved offsite in the soil towards the river, where it could poison fish. Alberta Environment and Parks ordered 1370996 Alberta Ltd. to submit the following to the regional compliance manager: all raw data, analytical and field results and reports; a delineation and excavation plan; and an aquatic environmental-assessment plan.

The latter two submissions had to be signed by a registered professional and were due on July 24. The company also had to implement the two plans pending the approval of the regional compliance manager, the statement adds.

SASKATCHEWAN PRISONS AT “CRISIS LEVEL” REGINA — The Saskatchewan government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) has expressed disbelief at the provincial government’s reported unawareness of the problem of overcrowding and violence in the province’s correctional centres.

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The union’s reaction came on the heels of a news article, published on August 12 in The Star-Phoenix, which reported that Saskatchewan’s Minister Responsible for Corrections and Policing, Christine Tell, had initiated an investigation into inhumane conditions in the province’s prisons. Tell’s announcement was a response to a letter to the Star-Phoenix written by Saskatoon Correctional Centre (SCC) inmate Cory Cardinal — and signed by 15 other inmates as well as him — detailing the conditions of the prison. Cardinal claimed that the SCC was so overcrowded that prisoners often had to urinate in milk jugs and styrofoam cups or on the floor due to unavailable toilet facilities.

The union claims that the province’s jails are facing “crisis-level conditions” and urges the government to take immediate action. “We have spoken out again and again about the dangerously overcrowded conditions in correctional centres,” SGEU president Bob Bymoen says in a statement dated August 19. “Instead of taking action, the government has delayed the opening of facilities in Prince Albert and at Besnard Lake. They also cancelled an approved remand centre for Saskatoon, which has contributed to the severe overcrowding in all facilities.”

The SGEU previously warned about prison overcrowding in July 2014, following a gang fight that had resulted in stabbing injuries at the SCC. “The concerns raised are not new — they have been raised repeatedly,” says Bonnie McRae, SGEU’s legal inspection and regulatory chair. “This investigation needs to be done quickly to address a situation that remains inhumane for inmates and unsafe for correctional workers and communities.”

age and documentation requirements.

On July 14, Solvent Buddy was issued a fine of $4,780 for failing to keep required documents and inventory records for stored dangerous waste, label hazardous substances clearly and provide an inventory of the stored hazardous material for the local fire department. The firm was also fined $1,400 for failing to supply an emergency-response contingency plan to local emergency services.

SAFETY INITIATIVE LAUNCHED WINNIPEG — The Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA) and SAFE Work Manitoba (SWM) have jointly launched a program to enhance the health and safety of workers in the trucking industry.

The initiative, called RPM Trucking Industry Safety, was announced on September 8 by Manitoba Infrastructure and

CHEMICAL COMPANY FINED ROSETOWN — Solvent Buddy Inc., a company that sells and disposes of chemicals in three locations in Alberta and Saskatchewan, pleaded guilty to five charges regarding violations of Saskatchewan’s Hazardous Substances and Waste Dangerous Goods Regulations.

According to a statement issued by the Government of Saskatchewan on July 28, a March investigation by officers with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment found that the company’s Rosetown facility had been storing hazardous waste materials without following storwww.ohscanada.com

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Transportation Minister Steve Ashton.

The acronym RPM, popularly known as “revolutions per minute”, stands for “Risk. Professionally Managed”.

Dave Kramer, SWM’s portfolio leader for production, says it is the addition of an industry-based safety association.

RPM program director Ed Pschulski agrees. “SAFE Work Manitoba is looking at developing more industry-based safety associations, so the province’s industry can develop its own safety link, much like what construction has for COR,” he explains, referring to the Certification of Recognition program for the Canadian construction sector. MTA reached out to SWM a couple of years ago regarding the need to address workplace injury in trucking, he adds.

RPM will promote health and safety practices in the trucking profession by offering training, programs and advisory or consultancy support services. Manitoba sees about 1,100 injuries annually in the trucking sector, costing the industry roughly $90 million per year, according to information from SWM. “It is a major industry in Manitoba,”

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Kramer says, noting that many head offices are located in Manitoba. “But trucking has seen an increase in injuries, in costs, in fatalities, of motor-vehicle collisions and contact with equipment.” As a result, industry leaders have observed a hike in workers’ compensation premiums over the past several years, “to the point where it really caught their attention.”

Pschulski says one of the long-term goals of RPM is to ensure that trucking companies across the province have effective oh&s programs. “The trucking industry has previously focused on drivers and road safety,” he notes, “and for good reason.” But RPM will take the safety procedures and practices that are already in place and incorporate them into a full spectrum of training, policies and certification, he adds.

A current objective is to get RPM to a point at which it can fully function on its own as a safety association. “We have just formed, and now it is about building capacity to deliver services to their members,” Kramer says, “and really to refine those services to a point where they are very strategic.”

UNION URGES ACTION ON FAHMY OTTAWA — The national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has written a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, demanding that the federal government take action immediately to get journalist Mohamed Fahmy released from prison and returned safely to Canada.

Fahmy was sentenced to three years in prison in an Egyptian court on August 29 for broadcasting false news, importing equipment without security approval and not registering with Egypt’s journalist syndicate.

In the letter dated September 8, CUPE president Paul Moist urges Harper to speak with Egyptian president al-Sisi on the matter.

“Mr. Fahmy was denied the most rudimentary due process and was convicted on the basis of evidence so flimsy and distorted as to be absurd,” Moist writes in the letter, which was also sent to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair.

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DECISION RULES AGAINST FLU-MASK POLICY SAULT STE. MARIE — An arbitrator has ruled that a hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario cannot force nurses to wear influenza masks if they choose not to get vaccination shots during flu season, as specified in the Vaccinate-or-Mask (VOM) policy.

Arbitration hearings between the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), which objected to the VOM policy, and the Ontario Hospital Association, through which the Sault Area Hospital (SAH) had been implementing the controversial policy, took place from October 1 to July 8, according to the final court decision. Arbitrator James Hayes delivered his final verdict in ONA’s favour on September 8, calling the VOM policy a “coercive” tool.

“Nothing in this award is intended to dissuade anyone from the benefit of annual influenza immunization, whatever may be the vaccination efficacy rate in any particular year,” Hayes writes in the decision. “Where their working lives are directly affected, the interests of employees require consideration, and typically, their unions have recourse to rights arbitration to test judgements that have been made.”

Hayes based his decision on evidence from six medical experts during the hearings, concluding that face masks were not an effective way to keep employees or patients safe.

LEAK PROMPTS EMERGENCY SUDBURY — An emergency situation was declared in Sudbury, Ontario, following the accidental release of nitrogen-oxide and nitrogen-dioxide mist into the outdoor air at Vale’s nickel and copper smelter on August 13.

A statement from the company reports that the leak occurred during a

“These coercive employer policies do not truly advance patient safety,” ONA president and registered nurse Linda Haslam-Stroud says in a statement dated September 10. “Our collective agreement protects our patients if the medical officer of health determines that there is an influenza outbreak, by ensuring that comprehensive measures are put in place to reduce the risk of transmission to patients.” She adds that the VOM policies have been criticized as symbolic rather than a “scientifically based tool in the fight against influenza.”

The SAH implemented the VOM policy on January 1, 2014. Thirteen days later, ONA members countered with a group grievance suit. The policy states that all SAH employees must receive annual influenza immunization or wear a surgical or procedure mask during the influenza season, which typically runs from November to April, when in a patient care or clinical area or when engaged in work-related patient interactions in any area of the hospital.

“I find that the policy was introduced at SAH for the purpose of driving up vaccination rates,” Hayes concludes.

“The policy operates to coerce influenza immunization and thereby undermines the collective-agreement right of employees to refuse vaccination.”

— By Jeff Cottrill

planned maintenance period at the Vale Acid Plant in the Copper Cliff area.

“Emergency measures were activated, and as a precaution, a Level 3 emergency was called,” the company says.

“The emergency air horn was sounded at approximately 6 a.m. to notify residents in the nearby area.”

A Level 3 emergency requires local residents to remain indoors and to shut off furnaces and air conditioners until

an “all clear” is declared. No one was injured in the incident. Within two and a half hours, Vale staff determined that wind speed and weather conditions had caused the mist to dissipate and that there was no risk to the community.

The “all clear” was determined at 8:26 a.m., according to the statement.

Roads around Copper Cliff were closed during the emergency, but were reopened later that morning.

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FIRM, SUPERVISORS PENALIZED TORONTO — A Concord, Ontariobased construction company and two of its supervisors were fined a total of $133,000, plus victim fine surcharges, on August 6 for an incident that occurred during work that the firm was performing for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) two years ago.

Matheson Constructors Ltd. was under contract at the time to insulate an overhead water pipe at the TTC’s Malvern Garage in Scarborough, Toronto’s eastern borough. On August 19, 2013, two workers were working near an overhead door from a scissor lift, or a self-propelled elevating work platform, according to a statement from Ontario Ministry of Labour.

The accidental opening of the overhead door struck the scissor lift and knocked it over, sending both workers falling about six metres onto a concrete floor. One worker sustained blunt head trauma and died several days later, while the other had broken bones, but survived.

Madam Justice Sheila Ray found Matheson guilty of failing to ensure the safety of its employees and issued a fine of $125,000, while supervisors Phil Lindsay and Karl Jedan were fined $4,000 each for failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect workers.

BOTTLE MANUFACTURER FINED NEWMARKET — A Vaughan, Ontario company that manufactures plastic bottles was issued a $100,000 fine on August 17, following a fatality last year.

The incident occurred at the CRS Plastics Ltd. facility on March 29, 2014, according to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour. A temporary worker was removing bottles from a blow-mould machine that day, when he was fatally injured after coming into contact with a moving part. The guard for the moving part in the machine was undergoing repairs and had not been replaced. The firm pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a machine with a dangerous moving part was properly guarded.

VIOLATIONS YIELD CHARGES BRAMPTON – A Toronto-based roofing firm has been fined $33,000, and company proprietor Dong Mo fined an additional $14,000 for multiple violations of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA).

According to a court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Sunny Roofing Inc. was convicted of six charges on September 8 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton. Sunny’s offences, which included the failure to ensure that employees wore fall protection, protective head gear and protective footwear, had taken place in Mississauga on April 10 and May 6 of last year and in Brampton last October 11.

Judge Angelo E. Amenta also convicted Mo of failing to ensure that employees wore fall protection and imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge on both Sunny and Mo. Sunny had previously been convicted of OSHA violations only two days before one of the days on which these offences occurred.

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LOSS OF FOOT SPURS PENALTY SARNIA — A judge has sentenced a Petrolia, Ontario manufacturing company to pay a fine of $70,000, plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, in connection with an incident that resulted in the crushing and amputation of a temporary worker’s foot.

Two employees of Sof Surfaces Inc., which makes rubber safety tiles for children’s playgrounds, were cleaning the lids of a carousel machine used to produce tiles on October 9, 2013, a statement from the Ontario Ministry of Labour says. During the cleaning, the workers’ supervisor switched on the carousel machine, which had not been locked out or de-energized before the cleaning task.

This caused a plate to slam down onto a worker’s foot, which later had to be surgically amputated.

At the Ontario Court of Justice in Sarnia, Justice of the Peace Anna Hampson ruled that Sof Surfaces had contravened Ontario Regulation 851, Section 75, which states that workers should perform maintenance on a machine only after any motion that may endanger them has been ceased and any moving part that may cause injury has been blocked.

Sof Surfaces pleaded guilty in court on July 20 to failing as an employer to ensure that proper measures and procedures had been followed.

MINING FIRM PLEADS GUILTY BALMERTOWN — Following an incident in which a mine worker was struck by a haulage car in Ontario two years ago, Goldcorp Canada Ltd. has pleaded guilty to failing to take all reasonable precautions to protect the worker.

The accident took place at the Campbell Complex Mine near Balmertown, a community in the Red Lake municipality, according to a statement from the Ontario Ministry of Labour. On October 13, 2013, Goldcorp employees were loading and moving haulage cars at the mine’s 800 level when they could not stop a series of moving cars, which hit one worker and pinned him between one car and a scoop tram. The employee sustained a broken bone and cuts from the collision.

The case later went to the Ontario Court of Justice in Balmertown, where Justice of the Peace Daisy Hoppe deter-

mined that Goldcorp had failed to ensure that the operator of the locomotive moving the haulage cars had a clear view of the path ahead. The judge sentenced Goldcorp to pay a fine of $100,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, on July 22 of this year.

BLAST INJURES WORKER SUDBURY — A mining employee required medical treatment on the morning of August 2, following an explosion at First Nickel Inc.’s (FNI) Lockerby nickel mine in Sudbury, Ontario.

A statement from FNI president and chief executive officer Thomas Boehlert confirms that the explosion occurred.

The injured worker, who has undergone a medical assessment for minor injuries and smoke inhalation, was off work and staying home as of August 3. Three other employees were examined for smoke inhalation and released immediately without medical treatment.

“The company is investigating the cause of the incident and resuming normal operations,” Boehlert says.

LACK OF MARKINGS CITED SEPT-ÎLES — A lack of power-line markings led to a helicopter accident that seriously injured a pilot and a Hydro-Québec employee last year, says a report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) published on August 13.

On May 13, 2014, the pilot was flying the hydro worker to inspect vegetation encroachment on a 25-kilovolt power line north of Sept-Îles. When the pilot of the chopper made a right turn, he saw a power line immediately ahead and turned right again, but not soon enough to avoid a collision between a cable and one of the aircraft’s main rotor blades. In an attempted emergency landing, the helicopter struck trees, rolled left and fell 50 feet. The pilot and passenger escaped the aircraft, but required treatment at a hospital.

The standard Hydro Quebec triangular markings, intended to warn pilots of the presence of power lines, had been missing from the site of the accident. “If power-distribution companies do not enforce their power-line marking standards, there is an increased risk of collision with wires from low-level flying aircraft,” the report adds.

ACCIDENT CLAIMS MECHANIC DESMARAISVILLE — A 50-year-old worker has died of severe injuries in an incident at a gold mine owned by Metanor Resources Inc., located about 250 kilometres northeast of Val d’Or, Quebec.

A company statement confirms that the mechanic was in a maintenance shop assembling a small haulage truck at Bachelor Mine on August 9 when the accident occurred. First responders and mine rescuers evacuated the worker, but his injuries proved to be fatal.

The Quebec Provincial Police and the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail are investigating the incident.

OIL LEAK AT REFINERY LÉVIS — An inspection of the Jean Gaulin Refinery, owned by the Valero Energy Corporation, detected a leak from a crude-oil tank in Lévis, Quebec on August 19, says a company statement.

Valero does not specify how much of the product spilled from the tank. The company says it was working to recover the leaked crude and that the situation was under control at the time. “The leak is contained in a safety barricade surrounding the reservoir,” the statement says. “Valero Energy’s teams are in the process of transferring the leaking tank’s content to another crude oil tank.”

The company adds that it notified the City of Lévis and the provincial government’s Department of Sustainable Development and Fight against Climate Change of the situation.

This was not the first oil leak at the Jean Gaulin refinery. On October 11 last year, a leak, which was originally reported as a spill of 15,000 litres, occurred. But the company later retracted that number.

INITIATIVE TO REDUCE INJURIES SAINT JOHN — New Brunswick’s workers’ compensation authority has launched an initiative to improve worker safety in the waste-collection industry.

Safe Waste Collection (SWC), a twoyear initiative promoting safety culture in the sector, will focus on education, compliance activities, public awareness of safety issues and recommendations for mandatory safety policies in the industry,

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WorkSafeNB announced on September 1. WorkSafeNB representatives began consulting with employers in the industry to discuss health and safety procedures and practices.

“As we have done with other highrisk industries, WorkSafeNB is focusing its efforts to help workers in waste collection,” WorkSafeNB president and chief executive officer Gerard Adams says in a statement, noting that waste collectors face risks daily. “We are working with employers and workers to ensure they have the resources and support needed to reduce these risks.”

Backgrounder information from WorkSafeNB notes that the province has seen four fatalities in the waste-collection sector since 2003. Waste-collection employees in the province are three times as likely as workers in any other sector to become injured on the job.

The initiative is a result of consultations between WorkSafeNB and numerous stakeholders, whose feedback helped to form the program’s strategies.

Another key aspect of the SWC program will be increased training and orientation for waste-collection workers. Next spring, WorkSafeNB plans to start inspecting industry employers’ facilities and mobile equipment, as well as launching a public-awareness campaign aimed at homeowners to illustrate how they can help provide a safer job environment for these workers. These measures include keeping trash bags free from sharp objects and within recommended weight limits and removing tripping dangers from curbsides or the ends of driveways. “Your curbside is their workplace,” Adams says.

WorkSafeNB also intends to lobby for those who award work contracts in the sector to base their choices partially on safety policies and procedures.

“Like the construction industry,” Adams says, “we want safety to be a priority in the bidding process.”

CARPENTER DIES FROM FALL TRACADIE-SHEILA — Workplace safety authorities are investigating the death of a worker in his 60s who fell from a mobile rolling scaffold. According to a statement from WorkSafeNB, the man worked as a carpenter for Tracadie-Sheila company Boudreau Développement 2000.

On August 7, he was repairing a garage door from the scaffold when he

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fell about 3.3 metres to the ground. He succumbed to his injuries on August 11.

WEEK RECOGNIZES BULLYING FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant announced that he was designating September 7 to 11 as Respectful Workplace Week, during which the provincial government would recognize the issues of workplace bullying and gender inequality. The initiative included a free public lecture series by the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research at the Fredericton Public Library on September 10.

“Workplace bullying is a form of harassment that includes subtle or overt behaviour that is persistent and repeated, unsafe, unwanted, degrading, isolating or intimidating and involves the abuse of power or control,” says Gallant, who is also the province’s minister responsible for women’s equality. “I ask every New Brunswicker to stand up against all forms of violence and abuse to demonstrate that it will not be tolerated in the workplace, at home or in the community.”

EMPLOYER RATE DROPS HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia fishing industry is about to reach its lowest employer rate since 2004, due to significant safety improvements in the sector over the past two years.

According to an announcement from the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia (WCB) on September 1, the industry rate will decrease by 19 per cent for 2016, dropping to $6.51 per $100 of assessment. The WCB credits the rate drop to the establishment of the Safe at Sea Alliance in 2014, after which the number of days lost due to injury in the industry dipped by more than one-third. The rate had previously increased every year for more than a decade, because of a large number of injuries and fatalities in the fishing sector.

“This strong drop in the overall industry rate demonstrates the safety progress we have seen firsthand over the past few years,” WCB chief executive officer Stuart MacLean says in a statement. “The positive momentum needs to continue.

The industry can’t stop now.”

The WCB adds that employer rates will also head south for the aquaculture, fish-buying and fish-processing sectors.

CREW MEMBER MISSING HALIFAX — A 26-year-old crew member from the RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) — a transatlantic ocean liner currently based out of Bermuda — has gone missing, prompting an investigation by the Special Investigation Section of the Halifax Regional Police’s (HRP) Integrated Criminal Investigation Division.

A statement issued by the HRP on August 17 speculates that the man, who hails from Chile, probably fell overboard from the ship on August 15, when the ship was sailing near the coast of Newfoundland, according to information gathered by the police to date.

As Halifax was the next scheduled port of call at the time of the crew member’s disappearance, the HRP have jurisdiction over the case, the statement says.

HRP officers questioned people who had been on the ship prior to the crew member’s disappearance after the QM2 arrived in Halifax on August 17.

BETTER PROTECTIONS NEEDED CHARLOTTETOWN — Following the sentencing of a patient at a Charlottetown mental-health hospital for assaulting a worker, the union representing the facility’s staff has met with the hospital administration regarding violence against employees.

The 21-year-old female patient was sentenced to two months’ jail time for the August 18 attack, which occurred while employees were taking the patient out in public, according to Debbie Bovyer, president of the Prince Edward Island Union of Public Sector Employees. “They sent her out with five staff members. So they knew she was dangerous, but they still sent her out and endangered the staff members,” Bovyer charges.

This was the second time this year that she had been sentenced to prison time for assaulting staff while undergoing treatment at Hillsborough Hospital.

In August, Bovyer and three Hillsborough employees discussed the issue of improving policies regarding violence on the job with the facility’s director of nursing and head of human resources. “We asked them if we, as a working group — namely the union and the employer — could start developing policies that would protect the staff a little better, and we were outright told, ‘No.’”

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MORE SUPPORT URGED AFTER PARAMEDIC’S SUICIDE ST. JOHN’S — The suicide of a paramedic near Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador has spurred calls for improvements in mental-health supports for emergency responders across the province.

Chris Pearce, a paramedic with Eastern Health (EH), killed himself on August 6. Chris Harris, president of the Paramedic Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could have been a factor in Pearce’s death, but stresses that it is impossible to know definitively. ”Only the individual ultimately knows what led them into a particular crisis. Everyone else can only speculate on the possible cause,” Harris says.

On August 10, the National Union of Public and General Employees posted a message on its website quoting Jerry Earle, president of Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public Employees, urging the province to develop a better mental-health support system for paramedics and other professionals in emergency medical services.

“Depending on what jurisdictions you are in, the supports vary from minimal to probably some that are exceptional,” Earle says. “The supports are certainly not consistent, and in some areas, there is very minimal support.”

He cites Toronto and Quebec City as among the municipalities across the country where emergency responders have access to proper mental-health support services.

“There are people that are in place, professionals that can assist,” he says. “That needs to be, I believe, in place for all Bovyer suggests that Hillsborough needs new policies to deal with worker safety without jeopardizing patient care.

She adds that this has been an ongoing problem at Hillsborough for about 20 years and that many other healthcare facilities on the island are also dealing with violence.

Hillsborough employs “commissionaires” to deal with violent patients. “They said they are going to get higher-trained commissionaires,” Bovyer says. “Commissionaires are not really security.”

MINISTRY CHARGED IN FATALITY ST. JOHN’S — Service NL announced on July 23 that it was charging the province’s Department of Transportation and Works for violations of the N.L. Occupational Health and Safety Act. A statement from Service NL says the charges relate to an accident that occurred on July 23, 2013. Wayne Wall, a line painter, was getting ready to paint a “yield” sign on the eastbound lane on the Trans Canada Highway about two kilometres west of Flat Bay, when he was hit and killed by a pickup truck.

emergency medical services.”

Earle, a former paramedic, explains that while most people experience only a few traumatic incidents during their entire lives, “paramedics deal with this pretty well every day.” Accumulative stress builds up during constant traumatic incidents, and there is no time to prepare or walk away from these experiences while on the job. “You just go on and provide services to the general population without the opportunity to actually get help for yourself.”

According to Harris, it used to be the norm for emergency responders to keep their stress private and avoid showing signs of weakness, but that way of thinking has been changing. “As a professional community, we need to understand that it is not a sign of weakness to ask for help in dealing with stress, PTSD and other mental-health issues.”

He cites research and education as necessary steps to assist paramedics who undergo trauma and that paramedics and their families should be educated on how to recognize when they may need help. The public also needs to understand the stresses that these workers face on a daily basis.

Earle points out that such supports are necessary not only for paramedics, but also for firefighters, police officers and emergency medical dispatchers. “They all deal with different types of critical incidents, and there needs to be proper training and supports in place,” Earle says, “Intervention early is one of the best options that are available.”

— By Jeff Cottrill

The Department of Transportation and Works is facing eight charges, including the failure to provide a safe workplace, provide proper instruction and supervision to workers, ensure the provision of sufficient traffic control and implement an occupational health and safety program.

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada Many of the preceding items are based

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DISPATCHES

Plastic-coated receipts pose health hazards to cashiers

By Jean Lian

R

esearchers south of the border have zeroed in on cashiers as a high-risk population regarding elevated exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA). Employees in the banking, service and travel industries who frequently come into contact with thermal printed tickets or receipts coated with BPA — a hormone disruptor widely used to create plastic coatings and harden clear plastics — are also at risk.

“Previous studies have estimated that a cashier working for 10 hours a day handling BPAcoated receipts could be exposed to higher amounts of BPA than the average person, but there have been very few controlled studies done to get an actual measurement of exposure,” says Liesel Seryak, Ph.D., an environmental health scientist and former post-doctoral researcher at the Ohio State University College of Public Health in Columbus.

Dr. Seryak’s research team conducted the study in two parts: one observational and one experimental. Thirty-one participants, comprising 25 cashiers and six non-cashiers, were recruited from the volunteer database ResearchMatch, as well as from paper flyers, advertisements and social networks. In the observational part of the study, the 25 cashiers had their BPA exposure measured in urine samples before and after one regular shift at their job, while the six non-cashiers participating in the experimental portion underwent a single 22-hour monitoring of BPA exposure before, during and after handling receipts in a controlled clinical environment.

Although the researchers are analyzing the data and expect to publish their findings within a few months, a previous study from the University of Missouri in Colombia has shown a link between thermal printed receipts and health hazards. The paper, published in the scientific journal Plos One last October, found that handling thermal receipt paper and consuming food after using hand sanitizer accounts for high levels of BPA in humans.

“Our study provides the first data that thermal paper may be a significant factor in accounting for high levels of bioactive BPA in human serum and total BPA in urine that have been associated with diseases that are increasing in frequency in human populations,” the study concludes. “The elevated levels of BPA that we observed due to holding thermal paper after using a product containing dermal-penetrationenhancing chemicals have been related to an increased risk 20

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for a wide range of developmental abnormalities, as well as diseases in adults.”

According to the University of Missouri study, thermal paper requires a chemical in the surface coating as a print developer. The current preferred developers, BPA and Bisphenol S (BPS) — a purported replacement for BPA — have estrogenic activity, leading to widespread exposure to both of these endocrine-disrupting chemicals. As BPS is more persistent in the environment relative to BPA, the study concludes that it is an unacceptable replacement for BPA. Dr. Seryak notes that it can be difficult to know if receipts or tickets are BPA-coated. She advises that concerned workers can reduce their exposure risk by wearing disposable gloves or washing hands during breaks.

“People should realize that BPAfree doesn’t mean chemical-free. Now, many manufacturers are using BPS instead, and it is also a hormone disruptor,” Dr. Seryak cautions. “Research cannot keep up with how fast technology and consumer sentiment changes.

We could be trading out one perceived problem for another.”

Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

Airport worker injury raises occupational safety issues

By Jeff Cottrill

A

teenage airport employee who was critically injured in a vehicle collision at the Toronto Pearson International Airport has put worker safety in question. The 18-year-old ramp worker, who is a Swissport employee, was driving a motorized baggage dolly in a marked quarter when his vehicle hit a refueling truck coming from another direction on August 20.

“This caused the operator of the baggage dolly to be thrown from the vehicle, and he sustained head injuries,” reports Peel Regional Police media-relations officer Constable Lilly Fitzpatrick. She adds that the worker’s arm became pinned underneath the fuel truck in the accident. Both the ramp worker and the fuel-truck operator, a 49-year-old Brampton resident, were serving the same Air Transat flight at the time of the accident.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour and Pearson’s aviationsafety unit are investigating the incident. “Because there is no foul play that is involved in this, our major collision bureau is

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assisting only,” Constable Fitzpatrick says.

Toronto Airport Workers Council spokesperson Sean Smith says this kind of accident is rare. But when it does occur, “it is unfortunately usually very serious, and it is not the first time we have had incidents like this.”

Smith suggests that worker safety at Pearson Airport may be at risk due to the lack of consistent workplace-safety policy among the companies that operate in collaboration with the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA). “The GTAA develops policies and procedures, communicates them to management, all these dozens of employers, and then counts on them to communicate it to us, the workers,” he explains. “So they only meet on these issues with management and then depend on management, through their respective health and safety committees, to do the procedures.”

Smith adds that many of the companies that operate at the airport are fly-by-night contract ground handlers employing minimum-wage workers. “There are new people coming in all the time,” he notes. “Then there are people working at the airport under different sets of procedures.”

Shabeen Hanifa, the GTAA senior advisor in communications, says that Pearson has airport-wide safety programming that covers all the companies there. “The GTAA’s safety partners range from regulatory bodies to air carriers and ground handlers,” Hanifa says. The GTAA also publishes a handbook for business partners, which includes anyone who operates at the airport, outlining the prerequisites of their operations to ensure the safety, security and sustainability of the GTAA’s operations. “We are always looking at ways to instruct them as to how to grow the airport safety program.”

Smith adds that Pearson Airport is Canada’s largest workplace, with about 40,000 employees. “It is almost like a shopping mall. Everyone is there from different companies, different unions, different contract ground handlers.” He suggests that all safety discussions should involve workers and worker organizations, instead of just the GTAA and employers.

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

Ontario, British Columbia tackle healthcare violence

By Jeff Cottrill

T

wo provinces are taking action to curb violence against healthcare workers. British Columbia’s Ministry of Health is collaborating with the B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU) to provide $2 million in funding to reduce occupational violence at four of the province’s healthcare facilities, while the Ontario government has put together a team of experts to address violence against healthcare workers.

“Violence in the healthcare workplace is a real challenge

faced by many dedicated healthcare workers on a daily basis,” British Columbia Health Minister Terry Lake said at a Vancouver press conference on August 6.

Lake added that this decision had stemmed from an April conference in Richmond, “The Summit to Prevent Workplace Violence in Health Care”, in which the ministry, BCNU, healthcare workers and other unions and stakeholders had discussed the issue of violence. “We have heard the concerns about safety in the healthcare workplace, and we recognize the negative impact that violence and aggression can have on the quality of working life for our healthcare providers.”

The four facilities selected to receive funding are Seven Oaks Tertiary Mental Health in Victoria, Hillside Centre in Kamloops, Abbotsford Regional Hospital in Abbotsford and Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. Lake noted that the four facilities specialize in patients with severe mentalhealth issues and, sometimes, a history of violence. “These sites particularly, I think, are the ones where staff need to be supported, and we need to have the right systems in place.”

Gayle Duteil, president of the BCNU, says Abbotsford Regional Hospital’s emergency department sees daily violence; many nurses at Hillside in Kamloops have been assaulted in recent years, and the Coquitlam hospital is “a very difficult place to work.”

Ontario’s Labour Minister Kevin Flynn acknowledges that violence in the healthcare sector is also a serious hazard in Canada’s largest province. “That is simply not acceptable,” he says in a statement following the provincial labour ministry’s announcement to create a new Workplace Violence Prevention in Health Care Leadership Table.

According to a statement issued by the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) on August 12, the province will — based on advice from the Leadership Table — develop an implementation plan to reduce the number of violent incidents in the sector, while improving the overall attitudes and culture about workplace violence.

A backgrounder from the MOL notes that the Leadership Table will consist of 17 members, including an executive committee of four. But not everyone is satisfied with the composition of the group. In a statement issued on August 13, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) charges that the group comprises too many representatives from the government and employers.

Michael Hurley, president of the OCHU, points out that 12 of the 17 task-force members are direct or indirect employees of the provincial government, while only two represent workers. “Registered practical nurses, who make up a large and growing part of the nursing team, are not represented on this provincial task force, although they are assaulted by patients every day,” Hurley says. “The composition is woefully inadequate and imbalanced.”

Violence in hospitals costs the provincial government about $23.8 million every year, according to MOL data. www.ohscanada.com

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One-third of marketing workers sabotaged: poll

By Jean Lian

D

ealing with job stress and a heavy workload is a tough call as it is, but for many people, there is another dark side to workplace dynamics: guarding against those who shine at the expense of others.

Findings from a recent survey conducted by staffing firm The Creative Group suggest that nearly one-third (31 per cent) of advertising and marketing executives polled indicated that a colleague had tried to make them look bad on the job. The good news is that fewer professionals in this industry are engaging in this type of ill behaviour — the figure is down from 50 per cent in a similar study conducted in 2008.

Findings of the survey, developed by the staffing company and conducted by an independent research firm, are based on responses from more than 400 and 250 advertising and marketing executives in 2015 and 2008 respectively. When executives were asked how best to deal with a sabotaging co-worker, 41 per cent chose confronting the person directly — down from 70 per cent of respondents who felt the same way in 2008. Another 40 per cent of executives believe that notifying the individual’s manager or human resources is the ideal solution — up from 10 per cent seven years ago, according to a company statement issued on August 20.

“A little workplace competition can be healthy and motivating, but if a colleague crosses the line to get an edge over fellow co-workers, it can make for a stressful environment,” Deborah Bottineau, senior regional manager of The Creative Group in Toronto, says in the statement.

The survey groups sabotaging co-workers into three types: credit thieves who boldly steal others’ ideas and grab the glory when initiatives succeed; belittlers who elevate themselves by routinely putting down others; and sly sharks who have a knack for leaving their colleagues in the lurch.

To protect against credit thieves, the survey recommends keeping a written record of one’s activities and accomplishments and providing the manager with frequent projectstatus updates. For dealing with those who like to steal the thunder by putting others down, refuting their criticism by citing facts where possible is recommended, as these individuals will often back off when others stand up to them. As for sly sharks whose tactics are not always overt, ensure that roles and responsibilities on the team are clearly defined and insist on regular check-in meetings to preempt sly sharks from tak22

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ing advantage of lapses in oversight.

“The ability to adapt your style to a variety of personalities and find a balance between being competitive and professional is vital to maintaining productive work relationships and ensuring long-term career success, especially in more collaborative positions,” Bottineau says.

Better security for probation, parole officers, union urges

By Jeff Cottrill

T

he Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) is speaking out about insufficient security in the province’s parole and probation offices in the wake of two incidents in Newmarket, where two probation and parole clients brought weapons with them when visiting their officers.

Ontario’s probation and parole offices are currently protected with “passive and administrative” controls, such as lockers in which clients must place all belongings, signs warning that weapons are prohibited and secure interview rooms in which officers and clients are separated by glass partitions. But in a statement sent out on July 20, OPSEU warned that these measures are not enough.

“We have weapons, anything from guns, knives, brass knuckles, hypodermic needles, entering our offices right across the province,” says Scott McIntyre, OPSEU’s probation and parole provincial health and safety worker representative. “We are not talking one or two incidences a year. We are talking three, four, five — sometimes, it is a dozen weapons incidents in a single month.”

McIntyre says the union has been lobbying for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) to increase security at the offices since 2003. Now, OPSEU is demanding the installation of metal detectors.

“We are looking for an engineering control that is universal, where it is not reliant upon officer discretion, and the employer has vehemently opposed the introduction of metal detectors, stating that it would negatively change the treatment milieu of the office,” he charges.

McIntyre cites one of the Newmarket incidents, which took place in 2013, involving a client on a routine visit to the probation office. The client, who was initially stable, eventually became upset, pulled out a knife and threatened suicide.

The probation officer de-escalated the incident, and the Ministry of Labour (MOL) later investigated. But nothing came of it in terms of improved security measures.

Brent Ross, spokesperson for the MCSCS, says in an emailed statement that the ministry considers the safety of its probation and parole officers to be of paramount importance.

“Every probation and parole office has security protocols in

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place, which we are always working to improve,” Ross says.

“That is why we have been working closely with OPSEU through the Joint Provincial Health and Safety Committee to review the security at our probation and parole offices.

Once complete, recommendations will be brought forward for consideration by the ministry.”

According to McIntyre, the MCSCS initially opposed lockers and secure interviewing areas when OPSEU lobbied for them 12 years ago, saying that the enhanced security would affect office milieus in a negative way. “We know 10 years later, it has not.”

Although McIntyre is not aware of any prior incidents in which a probation or parole officer was shot or stabbed, he says that there have been some near misses. “The police have intercepted offenders in the past who have threatened their probation officers with bodily injury and death.”

The MCSCS had until July 31 to comply with an MOL order to initiate a plan for better control measures, he adds.

Women outdo men in workplace hand hygiene

By Jean Lian

T

he verdict is in: the fairer sex outperforms men when it comes to hand hygiene at work. Almost half (46 per cent) of male respondents say they frequently or occasionally see their colleagues exit restrooms without washing up, compared to 32 per cent of women.

The findings are part of the 2015 Healthy Hand Washing Survey conducted by Bradley Corporation, a manufacturer of commercial plumbing fixtures headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. The results are based on data gleaned from an online survey of 1,030 adults in the United States, who answered questions about their hand-washing habits in workplaces and public restrooms. The respondents, who ranged in age from 18 to 65 and older, comprised 47 per cent men and 53 per cent women.

“We have looked at handwashing habits for a number of years, and women consistently outperform men with their hand hygiene,” Jon Dommisse, director of global marketing and strategic development at Bradley Corporation, says in a company statement dated September 11.

“When asked why they didn’t wash up after using a public restroom, men consistently say they didn’t feel the need. We have also found men are more likely than women to skip the soap and simply rinse their hands.”

While the hand-washing behaviour of men and women may differ, both genders rely on hand hygiene as a key defence

against germs in workplaces. The survey found that when a co-worker is sick, the majority of respondents wash their hands more frequently. Avoidance is another popular strategy: 62 per cent say they steer clear of sick co-workers; 55 per cent stand further away when talking to an ailing colleague; and 53 per cent try not to shake the person’s hand.

As well, 89 per cent of respondents believe that the condition of a workplace restroom indicates how a company values its workforce. While most respondents rate their workplace restrooms fairly high, nine per cent of workers classify theirs as poor or terrible. Of the 42 per cent of employees who have experienced issues, the top complaints include unflushed toilets, odour and towel and soap dispensers that were out, did not work or could not dispense enough.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario, ensuring that employees wash their hands properly after using the washroom is important in reducing the transmission of diseases and gastrointestinal infections. To clean hands effectively, use soap and lather and wash hands for at least 15 seconds or longer if the hands are visibly soiled.

In healthcare settings, waterless hand scrubs and hand sanitizers can be used by paramedics, home-care attendants or other mobile workers where hand-washing facilities are not available. But these agents are not effective when the hands are heavily contaminated with dirt, blood or other organic materials, the CCOHS notes.

Manufacturing firm fined for finger amputations

By Jeff Cottrill

A

company manufacturing metal products for construction was issued a $60,000 fine on July 30, in connection with an incident that resulted in the amputation of a worker’s fingers last year.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, the accident occurred when an employee was using a shear machine to cut scrap material at the Yarl Metal Fabrications Inc. factory in Scarborough on April 23, 2014. The safety guarding had been removed from the machine the day before and not replaced. When the worker was retrieving a piece of material from a corner of the shear machine, he accidentally pressed down the foot pedal and activated the machine, resulting in multiple finger amputations.

Justice of the Peace Chris Triantafilopoulos found that Yarl had contravened Section 24 of Ontario Regulation 851, which states that a machine with an exposed dangerous moving part must have a safety guard in place to block access to the said moving part. The company pleaded guilty to failing to carry out measures and procedures in the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

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WIND TURBINES

Shifting

IMAGE: BORGENHARD_CONSULTING / ISTOCK / THINKSTOCK

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BY KELLY PUTTER

In an energy-hungry world, power derived from a renewable resource is a good thing. But a recent study by researchers from Quebec has highlighted a gap in both safety practices and awareness of the occupational risks associated with working at wind turbines, which is growing in Canada.

How can we harness wind power without throwing caution to the wind?

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C

of working at wind turbines are falls from heights, the remote locations of wind farms and contact with high-voltage electricity and moving parts in a cramped space. The unique conditions of working at wind turbines in Quebec, including weather and isolation, also increase job risks. But accident-prevention programs do not take these specific conditions sufficiently into account, because these plans are based on documentation produced by wind-turbine manufacturers — most of which are European.

Secondly, most wind-farm operators are international or North American companies that run farms in several countries. As a result, the accident-prevention methods they adopt are developed for use in the United States or Europe, where most of their farms are located. The difference in approach applies to lockout practices, which are set into place by foreign engineers whose concept of lockout differs significantly from those practised in Canada. The European approach to lockout is to cut power to certain parts of the turbine and rarely to the whole machine, except under extraordinary circumstances. The result is an already high and increasing risk of electrocution — an area that must be made a priority in terms of accident prevention, according to the report.

As well, the existing resources for evacuating seriously injured workers from isolated wind turbines are insufficient and have limited operational capability. Only the Sûreté du Québec — the provincial police force — has a helicopter airlift service, while local firefighters are not equipped or trained to rescue injured workers from wind turbines.

“Prevention programs are not very detailed and are a long way from

IMAGE: LUCHSCHEN / ISTOCK / THINKSTOCK

anada’s wind-energy sector, when compared to Europe’s, is an infant. But at just a few decades old, this nascent renewable energy resource is clearly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Wind turbines operate in every province, as well as the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. Wind energy accounts for nearly five per cent of domestic energy demand — enough power to meet the needs of more than three million homes each year.

Between 2010 and 2014, Canada’s wind power grew by a whopping average of 24 per cent year over year. With the commissioning of the K2 Wind Power Project in southwestern Ontario in June, Canada has become the seventh country in the world to surpass 10,000 megawatts of installed windenergy capacity — a move that, supporters say, positions the country to continue its rapid growth as a mainstream contributor to the supply of electricity.

As wind turbines are relatively new on the Canadian power-generation scene, the work conditions in these installations have been, until recently, largely unexamined. But a team of researchers in Quebec, who conducted a review of the occupational health and safety risks associated with working in the wind-energy sector, has shed some light on the issue. Their 66-page report, Wind Energy Sector — Occupational Health and Safety Risks and Accident Prevention Strategies, was released in March by the Montreal-based Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST). This first study of Quebec’s wind-energy sector assesses the industry’s workplace-safety practices and the hazards to which its workers are exposed.

“Working in a wind turbine is not at all like working in a conventional factory,” says Jean-Louise Chaumel, Ph.D., professor at the Université du Québec à Rimouski and co-author of the IRSST report.

The exploratory study concludes that the main hazards

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meeting the requirements and good practices advocated by “But in North America, we need to know what type of risk a the CSST,” or the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité Canadian worker could face on the job.” du travail, Quebec’s workplace-safety board, the report says.

The difficulty of compiling such information was comThe dangers of working at these installations that gener- pounded by the lack of an international authoritative orgaate renewable energy cannot be understated. Paul Gipe, author of Wind Power: Renew- “Some workers are working in conditions like freezers.” able Energy for Home, Farm & Business, and a wind-energy advocate and industry analyst for the past 30 years, recounts a near-miss incident. “I have nization that keeps track of such data. The closest agency that nearly fallen off wind turbines myself,” the California resi- researchers found was RenewableUK, a British organization dent says. “I wrote an obituary for a person who was killed that monitors statistics on work-related injuries and fatalities on his own wind turbine.” in the wind sector, primarily in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, the organization turned down the researchers’ request A ROCKY START for access to its data. The IRSST report also paints a grim picThe study’s findings provide a good starting point from ture of oh&s reporting in Canada’s wind-energy sector.

“In Quebec and the rest of Canada, the almost total abwhich the relevant authorities and stakeholders can begin to address the safety concerns highlighted. But the data on sence of wind-farm accident reports over the last 15 years which the findings are based did not come easily, due to the suggests a lack of monitoring and accident reporting,” the lack of oh&s information and statistics regarding on-the- report states, adding that Quebec’s wind-energy industry job accidents, injuries and deaths in the wind-energy sector, has not reported any serious accidents so far, which may, in part, explain its limited interest in accident prevention which is relatively new in Quebec.

“The European manufacturers tend not to explain the and rescue practices. “The fact that the industry is so new to risks involved, because they are in a commercial position in Quebec and, more importantly, the lack of statistics on infront of North American markets,” Dr. Chaumel says. “They dustrial accidents and occupational diseases have hampered are not inclined to explain or show the risks of the machines.” the adoption of suitable accident-prevention measures and While a large portion of wind turbines are made in Ger- training methods.”

As a result, Dr. Chaumel and his research colleagues many and Denmark, China is gaining ground. But when researchers sought workplace-safety data from the manufac- turned to online sources in an effort to identify and analyze turers, the response they received was less than satisfactory. job hazards and prevention methods. Their report looked at “The German engineers and manufacturers would say we are on-the-job accidents and deaths over the past 15 years and the best wind turbines in the world,” Dr. Chaumel relates. selected a variety of health and safety risks tied to working on wind farms, which include collisions, cardiac risks associated with climbing turbines and the large sizes of wind farms.

BLOW BY BLOW Dr. Chaumel estimates that there are approximately 5,000 windenergy workers in Quebec; in addition to that is roughly 5,000 who work either directly or indirectly in the sector across the country. Of the world’s 150,000 wind turbines scattered across more than 90 countries, Canada is home to 5,622. There are currently 236 wind farms in the country; some wind projects or parks have only one turbine, while others have many. Ontario and Quebec have the most wind farms, followed

by Alberta and British Columbia.

Wind energy’s cost competitiveness, coupled with the fact that it produces no greenhouse-gas emissions, means that it is well positioned to continue growing as a mainstream contributor to Canada’s electricity supply, its proponents say. According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), a national, non-profit association that www.ohscanada.com

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promotes the responsible and sustainable growth of wind energy on behalf of its members, wind energy is meeting Canada’s demand for new electricity in a clean, reliable and costcompetitive way. The association believes that as concerns about global climate change grow, wind energy needs to play a critical role in Canada’s transition to a more flexible and decentralized low-carbon electricity system.

“Lots of players in the wind industry are very sophisticated companies [that] have excellent health and safety records, and it is something the industry is very proud of,” says Ottawa-based Tom Levy, director of technical and utility affairs at CanWEA.

ing objects is not limited to ice chunks from blades; wielding tools at heights presents another hazard. Consider dropping a wrench from 100 metres above ground.

“Lots of people are hurt by falling objects,” notes Papp, who points to a rule called “two hands, one object”. “If you have one wrench out, you have to have two hands on it. You can’t be holding yourself in a position.”

The fact that turbines are often erected in remote, wooded areas makes it more difficult for rescue vehicles to locate them visually, which could hamper incident-response times.

As many access roads to turbines are only partially cleared of winter snow, they are off limits to regular vehicles and can only be accessed by snowmobiles or other special vehicles “I wrote an obituary for a person who was capable of traversing on snow and ice. As a result, injured killed on his own wind turbine.” workers must also be transported on these vehicles. FiWorking in a wind turbine, which converts wind into nally, variances in temperatures can range from very cold electrical energy, is often compared to working in a mini outside the turbine to very warm inside the nacelle, each of power plant. Most wind turbines in North America consist which influences the comfort and safety of workers. of a rotor with three large blades connected to an electrical generator through a shaft and gearbox, located inside a PLAY IT SAFE housing called a nacelle mounted on top of a tower and can As in other industries, the responsibility of ensuring the be rotated about the axis of the tower to adjust the amount safety of those who work in wind turbines generally falls on employers, who are required to comply with all applicable of wind capture.

“As soon as you open the door to a wind turbine, there is sections of their provincial Occupational Health and Safety high-voltage equipment and the possibility for an arc flash,” Act. In Alberta, an employer must perform a thorough hazcautions Ron Papp, a former wind-turbine technician and ard assessment to identify all applicable hazards and implecurrently a lead instructor at Lethbridge College in Leth- ment measures to eliminate or control those hazards. The oh&s code identifies 12 common danger zones of working bridge, Alberta.

Dr. Chaumel agrees. “Most people are seeing wind tur- in wind turbines that include cranes and hoisting, machinery bines as a machine moving from the wind, but in fact, it is an and equipment, noise, ventilation, lighting, personal protective equipment and working alone, among others. electrical machinery.”

“Wind turbines are very dangerous by nature,” says Jeff For Papp, the biggest threat stems from electricity. “More people are hurt by electrical [power] than anything else,” he Cameron, an instructor with the wind-turbine-technician says. “I have been shocked by it during the building of a wind program at Holland College in Charlottetown, Prince Edturbine. If you have a wind farm with ten turbines, you have ward Island. “You have people working at heights with rotating machines, there is hydraulic pressure and it is very hazten power plants.”

One of the reasons why electrical hazards rank high is be- ardous working in remote locations at 280 feet in [the] air, so cause they are not visible. “You may have an electrical fault there is a lot to consider.”

As such, Holland College’s program stresses the imporsomewhere and you think you are safe,” Papp notes. “Most people working in this industry are hands-on learners, and tance of workplace safety in every course. But in the windsometimes, it is a little hard for them to see an abstract con- turbine industry, it is common for workers to travel across provincial boundaries. While oh&s regulations differ becept like electricity. “ Weather, such as static in the air or thunderstorms, is an- tween provinces, the function of the legislation is to mainother major issue. Papp notes that big blades moving through tain a safe workplace. For this to happen, Cameron says, it is important that a worker knows his or her responsibilities and the wind can build static charge.

When it comes to wintry weather conditions, Dr. Chau- that of the employer, and that they have not only the opportumel points out that wind-turbine technicians in Canada are nity, but a moral obligation to refuse unsafe work conditions.

“Lost-time injuries are very detrimental to our industry exposed to a greater risk of extreme cold, slipping on ice and being hurt by ice falling off wind turbines than their counter- and our employers’ bottom line, so it is important that the parts in Europe are. “Some workers are working in conditions worker buy into the fact that following oh&s regulations is to everyone’s benefit,” he says. “We also stress the importance of like freezers.”

In colder climates, build-up of ice chunks can be thrown reporting near-misses. Some entry-level employees have the off turbine blades, posing a hazard for workers approach- belief that if there is an incident where no one gets injured, ing or leaving the tower. But the risk of being struck by fall- then it is best to move on and not report it — for fear of being 28

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ON THE HORIZON The wind-energy sector has come a long way in terms of safety since its early days, Gipe notes. “I have been writing about people killed or injured since 1981, and I keep track as best I can of the number of men and women working on wind turbines worldwide,” he claims. “Today, it is pretty rare to hear about work-related deaths. In 2014, I have no record of any deaths. But in the early years, we had multiple deaths per year.”

A summary of fatalities in the global wind-energy sector, compiled by Gipe from 1980 to 2014, pegs the number of deaths at 82. Slightly more than half (55 per cent) of these fatalities occurred during the construction of turbines, 24 per cent took place during the operations and maintenance phase, and nine per cent involved members of the public who did not work in the wind-energy sector. Of the 82 deaths, only five took place in Canada, while the United States has the highest rate of wind-energy fatalities at 28, followed by China and Germany at 12 and 10 respectively.

Gipe explains that negative sentiment against wind energy is largely driven by right-wing voters opposing the current government in Ontario, where there is a need for a lot of windmills and to develop renewable energy further. “It will have to go much further than where it is at now, because you are going to have to turn off the nuclear reactors, and that will be a huge political fight in Ontario.”

Gipe says Canadians, like much of the rest of North America, are spoiled because for years, they do not have to think about where their energy is sourced as long as it is cheap and plentiful. Ontario has been running a risky policy for years, he suggests, and one that may come home to roost.

“Eventually, Ontario will take the path to renewable energy, because it doesn’t have much choice.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Kelly Putter is a writer in Beamsville, Ontario.

Mitigating the risks of harnessing wind power Falls from heights are a real concern, as the tower or nacelle of a wind turbine is situated approximately 80 metres above ground. While prevention is key, preparation and readiness in responding to falls from heights is vital.

A recent report, Wind Energy Sector — Occupational Health and Safety Risks and Accident Prevention Strategies, from the Montreal-based Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), outlines the following steps to rescue a worker: • Move the worker down to the base of the tower, which requires special training and equipment; • Provide speedy ambulance response, which necessitates good communication, navigation and transportation equipment; • Make roads passable in winter or use a special means of transportation over the snow; and • Provide access to helicopter airlift if the worker is incapable of descending the tower or being transported over land.

The report also makes the following recommendations: • Wind-farm operators should create, in French, accident-prevention plans, including emergency-response plans, tailored to address Quebec’s working conditions; • Provide workers with more detailed lockout protocols written in French; • Work with Quebec’s provincial police when designing rescue procedures for seriously injured workers, who need the help of a specially trained rescue team or airlifting by a helicopter; and • Continue to collect data on work accidents at wind farms. www.ohscanada.com

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reprimanded. But in reality, discussing a near-miss is a sure sign of a strong safety culture,” he argues. “It allows you to learn from an incident, improve the procedure and mitigate risk before someone gets hurt.”

Craig Bierl, a loss-control engineer for Chubb Insurance in Chicago, Illinois, believes that wind-turbine employers need to change their approach to job safety by looking at prevention methods and practices from all aspects. “Preventing any types of fire or electrical hazard and controlling those hazards, so you don’t have an event, is key,” he says.

And that includes taking into consideration an employee’s physical fitness, nutrition, coordination and balance and general health and wellness. Bierl recommends that employers institute stretching and fitness routines for employees, as well as fitness evaluations, before allowing them to engage in physically strenuous duties, like climbing a tower.

On the whole, Papp thinks that the wind-energy sector is a safe one in which to work. What he would like to see is a comprehensive set of safety rules that would standardize industry practices across the country and leave less room for error.

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SHIFT WORK

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in the

UP

NIGHT

BY JACOB STOLLER

Roughly one-third of Canada’s employees are required to work outside of conventional daytime hours, and the ensuing disruption to their natural rhythms has been linked to numerous health and safety risks. But the contributing factors are wideranging, making it difficult to predict outcomes for individual workers. Many who are not shift workers face similar risks.

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W

hen most Canadians fall asleep at night, they do so knowing that the services they depend on — healthcare, law enforcement, firefighting, utilities, transportation, manufacturing and oil and gas — continue to function. The millions of individuals who make this possible often do so to the detriment of their own health and safety and, sometimes, that of others.

In recent years, dozens of studies have demonstrated the vulnerability of shift workers to illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and depression. Insufficient sleep due to shift work has been implicated in accidents like the Texas oil-refinery disaster, a number of railway accidents and numerous traffic fatalities.

Much of the damage is connected to the disruption of the circadian rhythm, which regulates our ability to sleep and to be alert. “Sleep, alertness and the circadian rhythm are natural to humans,” says Dr. Robert Whiting, senior project manager of health and safety products and services at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario. “They are all connected.”

The difficulty is that one cannot arbitrarily command the body to comply with a given shift pattern.

“It is like saying, ‘I am going to go to sleep at two in the afternoon and sleep until 9 p.m.,’” he says. “It is almost impossible, unless you can create conditions that simulate night, such as darkness and quiet. And even then, it won’t be good-quality, deep sleep.”

Sleep, however, is not the only issue. “A lot of our healthier behaviours are related to routines and our ability to go to shop for food, eat with the family and things like that,” says Dr. Paul Demers, director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre in Toronto and professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. “So a lot of this is focused on the kind of social disruption that happens when one works at night. You are a bit disconnected with the family and with other people.”

Shift work affects a surprising proportion of the population. According to statistics from Carex Canada, 13 per cent of workers do traditional night and rotating shifts and an additional 19 per cent work regular evenings, split shifts, on-call work or irregular schedules.

Stress and fatigue due to irregular work hours also affect many who are not shift workers. A single mother with two jobs or a harried knowledge worker staying up all night to meet a deadline are “effectively shift workers,” Whiting argues. “That is as much

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shift work as working in the warehouse or doing an eight-hour night shift in a factory.”

CHANGING NATURE A few decades ago, the de facto standard for shift work was the so-called continental plan — a fixed schedule in which workers alternate between day, evening and night shifts. A notable feature is that shifts rotate in clockwise fashion — that is, when a worker’s shift changes, it moves to a time later in the 24-hour cycle, making adjustment easier.

Today, shift patterns are much more varied. “The whole concept of what it means to do shift work has changed so much,” says Andy King, a retired health and safety department leader for United Steelworkers in Toronto. “Now we are talking 10- and 12-hour shifts — two days, two nights, four days off, so there is that kind of variation. Even within one workplace, there can be 10, 15 work patterns, depending on the size.”

An important variation is that shift work is mandated to some and chosen by others. “The biggest trend we are seeing is to 12-hour shifts,” says Sam Sirois, manager of consulting services with Circadian, a multinational company specializing in shift-workrelated solutions, headquartered in Stoneham, Massachusetts. “Employees are driving this, because they want more time off.”

The variables involved make the problem of circadian disruption associated with shift work difficult to study, even within a single organization. The timing of shifts, shift duration, rotation of shift patterns, the amount of rest permitted during a shift, stress levels on the job and physical conditions such as noise and lighting levels are all potential contributors to the short- and long-term harmful effects of shift work.

“The notion of shift has become complicated,” King says. “Each variation has to be looked at slightly differently to understand what the implications are.”

TAKING A TOLL The issue is complex from a biological standpoint, as reflected in a 2015 University of Wisconsin study, Shift Work, Sleep Habits, and Metabolic Disparities: Results from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin, led

by Marjory Givens, Ph.D., an associate scientist with the university in Madison, Wisconsin. The study investigated whether shift work is associated with overweight status and Type 2 diabetes, as well as the connection that such outcomes might have with sleep problems.

“We found that shift

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workers were significantly more likely than traditional schedule workers to be overweight or obese and experience sleep problems, such as insomnia, insufficient sleep or excessive wake-time sleepiness,” the study concludes. However, the relationship between sleep problems and being overweight or obese was not cast in stone. “Experiencing sleep problems was positively associated with being overweight or obese or diabetic, but did not fully explain the relationship between shift work and these outcomes.”

The authors cite several other studies, suggesting that a better explanation might be confirmed by further research. “The underlying biologic pathway between shift work and adverse metabolic outcomes has been posited to include a causal link between metabolic regulation and the molecular function of the circadian clock.”

The findings echo the point made by Dr. Demers that unmeasured behavioural factors could also play a significant role. The study notes that due to the time dependence of their work schedules, shift workers may be less likely to eat meals at home with their families and have reduced participation in team sports. Compared to workers with traditional schedules, shift workers have been reported to go on higher-energy diets or consume more sugar-sweetened caffeinated beverages during work shifts to stay alert. The study also cites a possible connection with “exposure to life-course inequities that result in significant health disparities.”

Another important area of research has been around the association between shift work and cancer, the most widely studied being breast cancer among female nurses. A study led by Johnni Hansen, Ph.D., a senior researcher with the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, was published in January 2001 in the journal Epidemiology. The study looked retroactively at 7,035 Danish women with breast cancer and their matched controls and found that the odds of breast cancer among women who worked at night at

least half of a year were 50 per cent higher than those of day workers. Many have suggested that melatonin, a hormone that protects against cancer, is a key factor here, as studies with animals in laboratory environments have found that the secretion of melatonin decreases under continuous exposure to light.

But a recent study from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario questions this. The Influence of Light at Night Exposure on Melatonin Levels among Canadian Rotating Shift Nurses, led by Anne Grundy, a doctoral student with the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Queen’s University, was published in 2011 by the American Association for Cancer Research.

The study measured melatonin levels in a shift-work environment and observed “no difference in the pattern of melatonin production between the day and night shifts, and only a small inverse relationship between light exposure and change in melatonin on the night shift.”

According to Dr. Demers, more research is needed to pinpoint the major risk factors associated with shift work. “There are more and more studies that say that breast cancer is associated with night-shift work,” he says, “but what we really need to do is figure out what aspects of that are the key aspects.” Identifying what constitutes an unhealthy shift schedule or a dangerous number of years spent on night shift will require long-term studies involving large groups, he adds.

IN THE KNOW Education for both workers and employers is vital to managing the adverse effects of shift work, stresses Dr. Claire Caruso, a research health scientist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Washington, D.C. “People don’t understand how our sleep system works,” she says. “So if somebody has trouble with sleep, it could help them understand the processes that go

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Education for both workers and employers is vital to managing the adverse effects of shift work.

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on to make them sleep at night and be awake during the day.”

Dr. Caruso led the creation of a three-hour online training program, which includes modules on sleep theory, how to manage a lifestyle involving shift work better, best practices for sleep environments and scheduling considerations for managers. While the course was designed for nurses, Dr. Caruso feels that it would be useful to other types of shift workers who have some health-sciences background and to similar day workers who struggle with sleep and fatigue issues.

The course, NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours, is available on the website of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Caruso hopes that it will be widely used. In addition to helping nurses manage long-term health risks, the course teaches workers and their managers how to minimize the effects of fatigue on job safety and performance.

“Of course, there are risks to immediate injury and possibly even death when you are commuting,” Dr. Caruso acknowledges. “If you are tired and you fall asleep at the wheel, that would endanger the nurse as well as other people on the road.” The course opens with a video documenting a tragedy in which a shiftworking nurse lost her life on the way home from a night shift.

Another organization involved in shift-work-related training is Circadian, which was founded by a doctor who became interested in the subject while working 36-hour shifts as an intern, Sirois notes. He finds it ironic that industrial companies that would not think of letting an employee operate an expensive piece of equipment without training do not apply the same logic to shift work.

“They will put people on shift work without any training on how that is going to impact the body and their lives,” Sirois says. “And our bodies are our most sophisticated piece of equipment that we have.”

change in shift patterns. “Nobody likes to be told what to do when you are an adult,” Sirois says. “We have done surveys and found that companies that mandate their schedules have much higher rates of turnover. And people who let employees decide have much lower turnover.”

Toronto Paramedic Services, which employs 1,000 paramedics, worked with Circadian to migrate from a fixed schedule to a program that works better for workers and the business. It was the union that proposed the idea of bringing in a third-party consultant, reports Garrie Wright, deputy chief of Toronto Paramedic Services and a second-generation paramedic who grew up across the street from a dispatch centre.

The challenge was diverse worker needs coupled with fluctuating demand. “There were the paramedic requirement, the operational requirement and the physiological requirement,” Wright says, adding that there could be a thousand possibilities as far as schedules are concerned. “But we had to narrow it down to the best possible for those three major factors.”

The solution, which took two years to develop even after years of prior discussion, involves seven schedules. This allows workers to adopt the most suitable shifts to match their ages, lifestyle requirements and personal preferences. As well, it enables Wright to adjust capacity to meet the demand more effectively.

“This schedule, because we have broken it up into seven different schedules, really takes care of that calldemand curve,” Wright says, “and provides us with the coverage we need on the weekend, the weekday and on night shifts. So we know here in Toronto, Friday and Saturday night, that it is going to be extremely busy, so I can up staff on those nights.”

Regardless of how creative the scheduling is, there are workers who simply do not have the constitution to handle night shifts, according to Jim Beaudry, health and safety lead at General Motors for Unifor in Toronto. “Some people had fatigue issues where they just could not sleep, or they had disease-management issues,” he notes. “So after a transitory period, management and the union would work together to accommodate everybody we could back to swing shift.”

Most workers consent to the night shift voluntarily, Beaudry adds, but he estimates that the so-called graveyard shift is mandated for about 20 per cent of those working that shift.

For employees

Shift work is connected with a wide range of health and safety risks.

CREATIVE SCHEDULING If education is the best weapon for managing the hazards of shift work, communication is a close second, particularly when undergoing a major

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Best Practices for Beauty Sleep Sleep is the time when the body repairs itself from a day of wear and tear. To promote restful shuteye, the following are some of the measures that experts recommend to both shift and non-shift employees:

•

• • • •

Bedrooms for daytime sleeping should be completely dark, not just partially, and cool.

Keep it air conditioned if possible.

Quiet is important, and when daytime noise is a problem, mask it with white-noise generators that simulate the soothing sounds of surf or rain.

Family and friends must become supportive allies in a shift worker’s effort to become comfortable with a shift schedule.

Large meals before bedtime and excessive consumption of alcohol are not conducive to long-term sleep.

Schedule a “cool-down period” of quiet, non-stressful activity before going to sleep.

Exercise during non-work hours builds long-

who work shifts in the manufacturing sector, staying alert on the job during ungodly hours is important.

“The vast majority of manufacturers want to ensure that workers are well rested when they come to work, whether you are on a shift or not,” says Ian Howcroft, vice-president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters in Mississauga, Ontario.

He points out that the demands of shift work are largely determined by operational needs, such as dealing with a high volume of work that may be seasonal or a rush to meet a client’s production needs.

However, he cautions that there are constraints on the number of hours that shift workers are legally permitted to work over a certain period.

“Companies have to ensure that the shift operations that they have meet those requirements,” Howcroft advises, “and the health and safety considerations are being taken into account.”

What happens during a shift is also important. For instance, air-traffic controllers need a work environment that promotes a high level of alertness. What has evolved, Whiting explains, is an eight-hour shift during which controllers work 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off. During their rest breaks, they have access to exercise bikes and nutritious foods that restore energy. Their program is based on work practices adopted by the United States military, which conducted extensive research in controlled environments.

• • •

•

term sleep patterns.

Drugs, such as sleeping pills, may provide short-term relief, but are considered harmful in the long run.

Slow breathing and other relaxation exercises can be helpful.

Consider using a Fitbit activity tracker — a wireless-enabled wearable technology device that measures personal metrics like the number of steps walked, quality of sleep and steps climbed, or other electronic device to monitor sleep patterns when experimenting with better ways to sleep.

Napping for a short period of 30 minutes or so is a well-established practice for supplementing sleep.

“Their model can be applied to airline pilots and truckers and to firefighters and so on to show how you can minimize the adverse effects of shift work,” Whiting suggests.

Research clearly demonstrates that shift work is connected with a wide range of health and safety risks, many of which are difficult to measure and quantify.

“The underlying promoter of ill health is the stress that the shift creates,” King says. “The bottom line is that it is changing the way that you respond to things and puts you under different kinds of stressors that are physical as well as psychological.”

And fatigue associated with shift work is largely a physiological problem, Sirois notes. “If you are tired at 3 a.m., it is not because you are not dedicated enough.

Your body is designed to get tired then.”

While studies that would pinpoint specific risks of shift work is ongoing, there is ample information to guide an informed conversation involving workers and employers.

“You have to get buy-in from all the stakeholders,” Wright advises. “Not only your level in management, but all levels in management. And you have to get buy-in from your employees as well.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jacob Stoller is a writer in Toronto.

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•

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EMERGING TRENDS:

Leading Indicators: The Big Five

By Jean Lian

K

ey findings of a white paper on leading indicators (LIs) were unveiled at a roundtable discussion held at the 2015 National Safety Council Congress & Expo in Atlanta on September 28. Elevating EHS Leading Indicators: From Defining to Designing is the third in a series of papers on LIs, which give advance warning of potential problems and reveal weaknesses in an organization’s procedures or employee behaviour so that corrective actions can be taken before incidents arise.

The paper examines the experiences of eight Campbell Institute members and partners that have developed and implemented LIs at their organizations, namely Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, Exxon Mobil, United States Steel, Fluor, Cummins, NASA and Owens Corning.

“Measurement and evaluation are critical to achieving safety excellence,” Deborah Hersman, president and chief executive officer of the National Safety Council in Itasca, Illinois, says in a statement. “Campbell Institute members have world-class safety systems, so their insight regarding leading indicators is invaluable as we endeavour to make workplaces everywhere safer.”

According to Campbell Institute research associate Joy Inouye, the first white paper focusing on defining LIs came out in 2013. The second white paper, which looked at three types of LIs — behaviour-, systems- and operations-based — and different ways of measuring them in organizations, was released last year. This year, the institute looks at implementing LI programs or design for organizations. “But how do I get started?” Inouye asks. “That is the question we set out to answer.”

The five takeaways that the paper recommends to organizations are as follows: • Look at what is already being measured and determine whether it could be a LI; • Just get started; do not spend too much time deliberating which LI to track; • Make sure that LIs communicate meaningful and actionable information; • Obtain leadership support; and • Integrate LIs into the overall safety-management system in an organization. continues on page 38

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P

rescription painkillers and distracted driving are two emerging threats that workplaces are increasingly grappling with, says National Safety Council (NSC) president and chief executive officer Deborah Hersman at the 2015 NSC Congress & Expo in Atlanta. According to data from the Workers Compensation Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as many as 85 per cent of injured workers in the United States are on painkillers.

“The public has a really blasé attitude about taking painkillers. We conducted a poll this spring, and nearly 40 per cent of Americans have used an opioid painkiller and gone to work,” Hersman says, adding that an employee who has been prescribed painkillers for an on-the-job injury is more likely to take the opioid when he or she gets back on the job. “This is a really concerning fact.”

Painkiller misuse not only increases medical-claim costs and the length of disability, but also threatens job safety.

Common occupational risks associated with the use of prescription painkillers include injuries stemming from incidents, accidents when driving vehicles to and from work or operating machinery or equipment, making critical errors and compromising productivity.

Growing life expectancy, which means that people are working longer, compounds the problem. One in five workers in the United States is 65 or older, and that demographic is expected to grow. “We know that workers of all ages are at risk when they take opioids, but we want to point out some specific research that has been done on older Americans taking opioids and their risks.”

Hersman cites research indicating that older employees

Daniel McGehee, Ph.D., director of transportation and vehicle safety research with the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in Iowa City, offered ride-alongs at NSC 2015 to demonstrate the capabilities of a semi-autonomous car that boasts features such as automatic emergency braking, automatic parking and blind-spot and pedestrian detection.

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THE USUAL SUSPECTS

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS have a greater chance of experiencing cardiovascular events, four times as many crashes, a 68 per cent higher risk of being hospitalized and an 87 per cent greater likelihood of dying.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracking fatal occupational injuries of employees aged 65 and above have risen from 25 deaths per 100,000 workers in 1996 to more than 30 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2014.

“There is a lot of risk associated with taking these opioids for all of us, but we start to see some exacerbated risk for older adults,” Hersman suggests. Figures indicate that a one-week supply of opioids soon after an injury doubles a worker’s risk of disability one year later. “Even though people might be taking an opioid painkiller for something acute, it is a problem long-term.”

She stresses that recovery rates are higher when an employer has a drug-treatment program and an employee knows that he or she will have to undergo drug testing upon returning to the job. “There is a strong incentive tied to that economic relationship you have with an employer.”

That said, physicians have a role to play in the responsible prescription of opioids. “One of the things we are reworking right now is, there are guidelines for prescribing for chronic pain, but one of the things that we don’t have is guidelines for prescribing for acute pain,” Hersman says.

“We are very concerned about the person who is hurt on the job, sprains the ankle or hurts the back, and goes to the doctor and gets a 30-day supply of opioids. That is the start of the downhill spiral,” she notes, adding that three out of four heroin users start from prescription painkillers.

“It is not about the opioids; it is what is happening after that.”

Recommended best practices from the NSC advise that employers provide supervisor education, expand drug-testing programs, coordinate with insurance carriers, report prescriber abuse, evaluate employee-assistance programs and define which drugs cannot be used in safety-sensitive positions.

Three out of four heroin users start from prescription painkillers.

A MONKEY MIND Multitasking is considered an asset in today’s workplaces, but it also contributes to distracted driving. “Hands-free is not risk-free,” Hersman says. “The biggest challenge that we have with the bigger population is, they think if they are on the Bluetooth or if they are doing voice-to-text, they are somehow that safer. We know it is not.” And people tend to overlook cognitive distraction. “When we talk about distraction, it is really about the cognitive distraction.”

According to Ken Kolosh, manager of statistics with the

Patrick Kapust, deputy director of the directorate of enforcement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in Washington, D.C., announced the preliminary 10 most frequently cited workplace-safety violations for 2015: 1. Fall protection: 6,721 2. Hazard communication: 5,192 3. Scaffolding: 4,295 4. Respiratory protection: 3,305 5. Lockout/tagout: 3,002 6. Powered industrial trucks: 2,760 7. Ladders: 2,489 8. Electrical – Wiring method: 2,404 9. Machine guarding: 2,295 10. Electrical – General requirements: 1,973 The NSC’s president and chief executive officer, Deborah Hersman, describes OSHA’s top-10 list — up to date as of September 8 — as a roadmap that identifies the hazards companies want to avoid on the journey to safety excellence. “In injury prevention, we go where the data tell us to go.”

NSC, motor vehicles are the leading cause of death for workers. “It is not a new trend, it is unfortunate and it is likely to increase even further,” Kolosh says.

While the prolific use of digital technology has given rise to distracted driving, technology can also be used to address this issue. The NSC is working with the University of Iowa Public Policy Center on a national campaign, My Car Does What?, to educate drivers on new vehicle safety technologies, which include increasing the stability and control of cars, providing warnings about crash threats and automatically intervening to avoid or reduce the severity of a crash.

Daniel McGehee, Ph.D., director of transportation and vehicle safety research with the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in Iowa City, has conducted research in driver performance and distraction. He has developed numerous advanced driver-assistance systems and post-crash technologies that prevent or reduce the severity of collisions. “Companies, when they buy cars in their fleet, need to consider these technologies to reduce these injuries and fatalities,” he says.

While these technologies may add a few thousand dollars more to the price of a vehicle, the price of semi-autonomous technology has gone south. Such technology used to be available only in luxury cars, “but now, they are coming into the lower end as well,” Dr. McGehee says. “Spending a couple thousand bucks more today before it becomes standard tomorrow, and I think they will begin to see some really big differences in the amount of crashes or the severity of crashes that they have.”

Hersman thinks that highway fatalities can be prevented. “If we can build a better car that prevents everyone from making that mistake,” she says, “technology can be a game changer.” www.ohscanada.com

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continued from page 36

Identifying which LIs to adopt is a measured decision, and organizations can leverage on existing systems like audit tools as an LI. “They did not have to create something from whole cloth,” Inouye says of participating organizations in the white paper. “Don’t spend so much time deliberating the suite of leading indicators that you are going to be using. Everything is going to require adjustment at some point in the future,” she notes, adding that the paper indicates an annual review as a general rule of thumb.

Inouye cites near-misses as an example of an indicator that can translate into meaningful and actionable information. “It depends on how you look at near-misses. If you are collecting and counting near-misses just for the sake of counting them, it is not really a leading indicator. If you look at a near-miss as ‘this almost happened’, what are the hazards that contributed to ‘this almost happened’, and then tackling those hazards and using that as a tool for preventive and proactive action, that is actually telling you some meaningful information and giving you some actions.”

Leadership buy-in and support are crucial. “You have to have senior leadership on board with a leading-indicator program,” Inouye says. The white paper cites United States

Steel as a company in which a change in senior leadership in 2013 brought renewed focus to LIs as part of the company’s goal-setting process, after the organization had put the program on hiatus for a couple of years.

And for a LI program to take off, it has to be integrated into the safety-management system. “If you are looking at LIs as collecting information, what do you actually do with that information? Do you feed that back to your overall safety-management system? That is the key to making this work for you,” Inouye says.

But companies need to have a certain level of organizational maturity before implementing LI programs. Small companies that are at the low end of that maturity curve may not be ready for LIs, which, like any part of safety, are a journey. “You need to build that maturity, build that culture of safety, and that is when you can figure out that I am at a point I can start implementing this,” Inouye suggests.

The next white paper on LIs may not be ready until a couple of years’ time. “A lot of these organizations are at different points into their journey right now,” Inouye says. “We caught them at different points, but we also want to catch them two years later to see where things are heading.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals 2015 Volunteer of the Year Announcement Scott Desautels currently holds the Position of Director of Health Safety and Environment at Strike Group Inc and prior to this held the position of Manager, HSE Systems and Sustainability for two years. Scott also held various position in the previous five years in management and supervision in the Health, Safety and Training Department at Penn West Exploration. While at Penn West he led the development and implementation of the Safety Planning Process which involved teams of workers and management. Before transitioning to the Oil and Gas industry he worked at Canadian Pacific Railway for 25 years both at the field and corporate office level, in health and safety and in the engineering department.

These positions allowed him to work in various locations across Canada and the United States where he, as part of a team, learned and applied health, safety and loss control that enabled the company to be a leader in the industry. Scott holds a Civil Engineering Diploma from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and in 1998 completed the University of Alberta, Applied Science Certificate program in Occupational Health and Safety. Scott is a member of the Association of Science and Engineering Technology in Alberta, as a Certified Engineering Technologist (C.E.T.), and is a member of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE).

A CRSP since 1999, he has served as the Chair of the Regional Screening Centre for Alberta South since 2007.

The Board’s Volunteer of the Year program was initiated in 2001 in conjunction with its 25th anniversary and the United Nation’s “Year of the Volunteer”. The Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP) is a public interest, ISO 17024 (Personnel Certification Body) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) accredited, self-regulating, selfgoverning organization established in 1976 under The Canada Corporations Act for the purpose of certifying Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (CRSP)®/Professionnel en sécurité agréé du Canada (PSAC)®.

Board of Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals Canadian Conseil canadien des professionnels en sécurité agréés Registered 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4, Safety info@bcrsp.ca, www.bcrsp.ca Professionals

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Product Showcase The 2015 NSC Congress & Expo featured more than 1,000 exhibitors showcasing a wide range of products with various occupational safety applications.

Below is a snapshot of some of the latest safety equipment.

Hand Protection: Ansell Ansell introduces a range of single-use gloves with ERGOFORM Ergonomic Design Technology, which aims to minimize hand fatigue and discomfort. Ansell gloves designed with ERGOFORM are engineered to deliver high-performance musculoskeletal support and reduce the risk of ergonomic injury caused by prolonged or repetitive manual tasks. As the first single-use-glove manufacturer to apply ergonomic testing and design to its products, ERGOFORM design technology is available on four glove styles, including Microflex® XCEED®, Microflex Neogard®, TouchNTuff® 73-300 and TouchNTuff 73500, suited for use across industries.

Fall Protection: Ikar GmbH The new controlled-descent device ABS 4 for fall-rescue and training applications offers performance, strength and endurance exceeding the requirements of the current European and ANSI standards.

Easy to handle and with working lengths of up to 200 metres, the Ikar Bison can operate through an 3,800-metre descent with a nominal weight of 200 kilograms.

Emergency Evacuation: Evacusafe, LLC Head Protection: 3M 3M launched its newest auto-darkening filter 3M™ Speedglas™ helmet. The Auto-Darkening Filter 9100XXi is touted as a welder’s window to a new world. The new lens offers more vivid colours, sharper details and greater contrast, enabling welders to weld, grind and see their finishes with greater precision. Apart from enhanced optics, other key features include compatibility with all welding helmets in the 3M™ Speedglas™ Welding Helmet Series 9100 and fast switching between welding and grinding modes.

Evacusafe Excel Chairs are designed to enable the safe and comfortable evacuation of people with limited or impaired mobility in the event of an emergency.

Lightweight and easy to set up and use, the chair has a friction-controlled track for slow and controlled descent that easily glides down stairs, fire escapes and flat surfaces with up to 180 kilograms on board with no lifting or manual handling required. When not in use, the chair folds flat for hanging.

Heat-Stress Prevention: Electric Fan Engineering The patent-pending Thermal Star body-cooling system keeps heat stress at bay by providing cooling relief to outdoor workers who are exposed to high temperatures. The portable and compact system contains a belt-mounted, battery-operated fan apparatus that discharges air directly against the body through waistmounted nozzles or spiral-air distribution tubes placed around the chest, head or neck. As air passes over the body, it creates a cooling effect by evaporating the body’s moisture and perspiration. www.ohscanada.com

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HEALTH WATCH

SEDENTARY WORK

Active on Wheels

By Jean Lian

T

he adverse health effects stemming from sedentary work are well documented. For some workplaces, equipping an office with standing desks or treadmill workstations may not be practical or feasible — not to mention the prohibitive costs of replacing conventional workstations with their avant-garde counterparts.

But a recent study out of the University of Iowa may have found a middle ground: placing portable pedalling devices under workstations, which would allow sedentary employees to be more active without having to make major changes to their work areas.

Lucas Carr, assistant professor of health and human physiology and member of the Obesity Research and Education Initiative at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, found that employees who used to sit all day are now moving at work without having to get up. The study also found that those who pedalled more are more likely to lose weight, indicate improved concentration at work and have fewer sick days than their colleagues who pedalled less.

Comfort and ease of use are key. “We wanted to see if workers would use these “We think devices over a long period of time, and we better on found the design of the device is critically important,” Carr says in a statement issued our feet by the university on August 10.

Privacy, which can be achieved by prothan in viding each employee with a pedalling device, is another essential component, as few our seat.” employees would use a high-end exercise bike or treadmill desk placed in the hall for common use. “It is a great idea in theory, but it doesn’t work over the long haul for most people,” Carr suggests.

The study findings, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, were based on a 16-week pilot study — the third-longest in a series of studies that Carr conducted to test portable pedal machines among workers with sedentary jobs. His interest stems from growing evidence that people who sit all day — even if they are active outside of work — are at heightened risk for serious health conditions, such as multiple chronic diseases, poorer cognitive function and mental distress.

“A lot of companies have gone the route of building expensive fitness facilities that typically get used only by the most healthy employees,” Carr notes. “The people who need to improve their health the most are less likely to use worksite fitness facilities.” Providing the option for employees to be active at their desk could be an effective way to improve their health, especially among those who are reluctant to exercise, he suggests. This, in turn, could lead to reduced healthcare costs for employers.

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SHADES OF INACTIVITY The health risks arising from sedentary lifestyles have reached an epidemic level. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 3.3 million people die annually due to physical inactivity, making it the fourth-highest cause of mortality. The Canadian Cancer Society indicates that Canadian adults are not physically active for most of the day, with both men and women spending almost 70 per cent of their waking hours in sedentary activities.

A survey on the state of physical activity out west paints an alarming picture. Results from the 2015 Alberta Survey on Physical Activity, conducted by the University of Alberta, shows that one-third of Albertans sit for 10 hours or more a day, with the average Albertan sitting nine hours per weekday and 8.25 hours on each weekend day. Employment status also influences the amount of time spent being sedentary.

Students and full-time employees are most likely to sit for more than 10 hours per day, while the unemployed, retired, semi-retired or those who are on leave or disability are most likely to be sedentary for less than six hours per day.

Dr. Christina Loitz, the report’s co-author and knowledge translation specialist at the Alberta Centre for Active Living in Edmonton, says in a statement issued on March 9 that sedentary behaviour is associated with poor health, independent from physical inactivity. “This means if one sits for 12 hours a day and exercises for 30 minutes, they are still at risk of several chronic diseases.”

Nora Johnston, director of the Alberta Centre for Active Living, advises Albertans to be mindful of their activity levels and to make slow, sustainable changes. “Workplaces and communities can create a culture that supports moving more, standing more and being more active,” she adds.

The survey makes recommendations in three key areas: active transportation like walking, cycling or wheeling; leisure-time activities, such as dog walking, outdoor fun, sports and active time with others; and workplace practices that include active breaks, standing more often, using the stairs, fitness facilities and walking meetings or challenges.

ACTIVE BODY, ALERT MIND Apart from better health, being physically active also has cognitive benefits. A recent study from the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health, released on April 24, found that students with standing desks are more attentive than their seated counterparts. In fact, preliminary results show 12 per cent greater on-task engagement in classrooms with standing desks, which equates to an extra seven minutes per hour of engaged instruction time.

The findings were based on data regarding almost 300 children in second through fourth grade in the United States over the course of a school year. Engagement was measured by on-task behaviours, such as answering a question, raising

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a hand or participating in active discussion.

“Standing workstations reduce disruptive behaviour problems and increase students’ attention or academic behavioural engagement by providing students with a different method for completing academic tasks, like standing, that breaks up the monotony of seated work,” Mark Benden, Ph.D., associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health in College Station, Texas, says in a statement.

“We think better on our feet than in our seat.”

If it works for kids, it should work for adults. But before firms start modifying their office layouts to incorporate standing workstations, another study yields conflicting insights.

Prolonged standing is associated with short-term adverse health issues, including fatigue, leg cramps and backaches, which can affect job performance, according to a recent study by the Santa Monica, California-based Human Factors and Ergonomics Society — the world’s largest scientific association for human factors and ergonomics professionals.

“The work-related musculoskeletal implications that can be caused by prolonged standing are a burden not only for workers, but also for companies and society,” María Gabriela García, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zürich — an international university for technology and the natural sciences in Zurich, Switzerland — says in a statement issued on July 13.

In Long-Term Muscle Fatigue After Standing Work, García’s research team asked participants of two age groups to simulate standing work for five-hour periods. Participants

were allowed to take brief, seated rest breaks and a 30-minute lunch. Evidence indicated significant long-term fatigue following the five-hour workday, even when it included regular breaks, and adverse symptoms that persisted for at least 30 minutes following a seated recovery period. Young adults aged 18 to 30 were just as likely to experience long-term fatigue as workers over the age of 50 were.

“Long-term fatigue after prolonged standing work may be present without being perceived,” García cautions. “Current work schedules for standing work may not be adequate for preventing fatigue accumulation, and this long-lasting muscle fatigue may contribute to musculoskeletal disorders and back pain.”

Meanwhile, Carr is encouraged by the response he received from 27 employees of a company in Iowa City, who volunteered to have pedalling devices placed under their desks. An activity monitor connected to the devices tracked each participant’s daily pedal time, which averaged 50 minutes a day over 16 weeks. Each week, participants also received three emails on how to move more at work and to shift their posture. At the end of the study, 70 per cent of participants chose to keep their pedalling devices.

“This is something that could be provided to just about any employee, regardless of the size of their company or office,” Carr says. “They can use it whenever they want.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

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SAFETY GEAR

RESPIRATORY PROTECTION

Breathing Easy

By Jeff Cottrill

N

o matter what kind of work is being done, a worker has to keep breathing. Sometimes, that can be difficult in an environment short of oxygen or one in which the dust of harmful substances is present the air.

Daniel Curts, senior technical specialist with the personal safety division at 3M Canada in London, Ontario, says there are several reasons why workers need respiratory protection.

“The primary reason is, there is an elevated concentration of a gas, vapour or particulate due to the process the worker is doing, such as painting, cutting, welding, cleaning or demolishing items.” Some full-face protectors or hoods provide added protection for the face and eyes, while “several types of respirators have features that cool or heat the clean air, which can directly impact a worker’s productivity,” he notes.

Dynamic Safety International (DSI) president and chief operating officer John Greer, based in Laval, Quebec, lists pharmaceuticals, construction and food processing as among the industries that require respiratory protection. “Probably one of the largest users is cement plants,” he says.

THE BASIC TYPES There are two primary types of facial masks: the P95 and the more common N95. The P95 is designed primarily for welders to protect against oil particles in fumes from welding, while the N95s are used in environments with dry dust, Greer says. Other workers who require N95 respirators include those who do sanding, dry walling or construction work involving cement bags, dust and dirt. Standard face masks usually have replaceable filtering cartridges, he adds.

There is also an older make of respirator, the RP1000, mostly useful for what Greer calls “nuisance dust.” In past decades, these respirators were used for paint-spraying work, but are now considered insufficient. “There is still some of those used in the food industry,” he says.

Another option is a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), used mostly by fire departments and industries in which employees work in confined spaces where oxygen may be in short supply. An SCBA, which includes an air tank carried on a worker’s back and connected to a full-face mask or hood, is intended mostly for environments that are immediately dangerous to workers’ lives. Supplied-air respirators like SCBAs are common in environments where workers do not know the full concentration of a gas, vapour or particulate.

Manish Gupta, national accounts manager with Draeger Safety Canada Ltd. in Mississauga, Ontario, says Draeger offers a full range of respiratory gear. The healthcare sector, in which germs frequently pervade the air, is a big market for respiratory masks and equipment, as are workers who clear away asbestos and mold. “One of the great things about respiratory protection is, just about everybody uses it,” Gupta says.

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COMFORT LEVELS Before an employer invests in respiratory protection, “the first thing that any company should do is look into implementing environmental controls where possible to eliminate or reduce the exposure,” advises Dennis Capizzi, outbound product-line manager for respiratory protection and thermal imaging cameras for MSA in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. If this does not bring the contaminants below the occupational exposure limit, it is time to buy protection products.

Comfort and fit are important factors that potential buyers must consider. “With most respirators, they should do fittesting,” Greer says. One way to determine whether a user is getting a fit is for the user to put his or her hand over the exhalation valve and blow. “If you can feel leakage out the sides, you know it is not fitting right. But if the mask bulges like a balloon, then you know you have got a good seal.”

Rick Hansen, Toronto-based Canadian sales manager for respiratory products with Honeywell Safety Products, says many people use disposable respirators, but do not fit-test them. “That is a mistake, because you don’t know whether that respirator is providing a proper seal around the face to protect from the influx of the contaminant into the respirator.” He notes that the Ontario Ministry of Labour has begun asking employers for fit-testing records for respiratory products to ensure that workers are properly protected.

“Lack of discomfort is a prime consideration, because they are going to have to wear them for long periods of time, usually, and they are more likely to wear them if they are not really irritated by them,” Hansen adds, citing comfort as a reason not to make cost savings a top priority with respirators. “The Dust masks more expensive respirators are the more comfortable respirators, because they sometimes are made of better materials.” Cheaper function more respirators tend to be made of synthetic rubber, rather than silicones, he notes.

CSA Group, which designs stanefficiently dards for the use of personal protective as they get equipment (PPE) in Canada, has authored Z94.4: Selection, Use and Care of dirtier.

Respirators, which helps employers and workers select the right type of respirator. The fourth edition of the standard, dated 2011, states that an employer in a workplace with respiratory hazards must prepare a respiratory protection program in written form.

Such a program includes hazard assessment, selection, fittesting and training in the use of the product.

The standard also identifies three basic selection criteria: a systematic review of the hazards; an understanding of regulatory guidelines; and the manufacturer’s information on the type of product and its limitations.

“The first thing that the employer should determine is why

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PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): MSA, 3M CANADA, DYNAMIC SAFETY INTERNATIONAL

they are considering the use of a respirator in their workContrary to what one might assume, dust masks someplace,” Curts says. The process starts with a hazard assessment times function more efficiently as they get dirtier, because the and concludes with the minimum type of respirator needed to grime can close off passages that might allow certain particles protect a worker. “Management may decide to utilize a higher to leak through. “Dirt filters out other dirt,” Greer says. “So level of protection because they may be looking for not only just because it is dirty does not mean it is not working.” the health protection, but also increased productivity as well Interference with the ease of inhalation is the most imporas cost savings,” he notes. tant reason to change a dust mask, Greer adds. A dust mask Sometimes, several options are suitable for the same type of should also be replaced when it has become unsanitary if it hazard. Instead of determining that dust masks are necessary could cause dermatitis. simply because a worksite has determined what its hazard is, As with other kinds of PPE, regular inspections go a long employers or supervisors should assess whether a half-mask way towards increasing the longevity of respirators. Capizzi with a replaceable cartridge is a better solution. recommends setting up in“One of the options is to kind of spection guidelines within the consider what the hazard is and training modules of a respirathen all the options, as opposed tory protection program. to just trying to find a solution as “Before the user dons their fast as you can,” Gupta suggests. respirator, they want to make As workers’ faces and comsure that they inspect all comfort standards vary, “there ponents of [the] respirator is seldom a workforce that can for any cracks, tears, tackifit with one style of respirator,” ness, missing parts, et cetera,” Hansen notes. “You have to use Capizzi says. “If an inhalation or exhaat least two to get something to lation valve is missing, obviously, you fit everybody properly.” want to tag that respirator for repair Gupta cautions against 3M Canada ofand replace it.” picking the cheapest option, fers an Organic A change-out schedule is required citing the N95 mask as an ex- Vapour Service Life for mask cartridges. For example, using ample. “You buy a box for, Indicator Cartridges a certain type of cartridge in a particular whatever it is, $20, something respirator (top right). Other options include type of work environment at a specific rate like that. Now they are starting Dynamic Safety International’s disposable would necessitate a cartridge replacement to realize that it actually be- P95 respirator (bottom right) and MSA’s selfafter a certain number of hours. comes a very expensive option contained breathing apparatus (top left).

Hansen recommends using masks in when you look at it long-term.” rotation and wiping them at the end of evAccording to Gupta, it is usually more economical to buy ery work shift with an antiseptic cleaning pad to make them half-masks with replaceable cartridges than going through last longer. “Once a week and once every two weeks, they multiple replaceable masks. should be completely disassembled, washed and put out to To ensure that respirators are working effectively, an em- air-dry, and then put back into service.” ployer should understand the environment, Capizzi says.

Although it is usually best to replace the cartridge at the “And testing the environment regularly to make sure that you end of every shift, “a lot of times, people hold off as long as understand the conditions that you are going into, should they can, because it is still working,” Gupta says. He adds that those conditions change.” some workers may not realize that cartridges do expire and An employer must train the workforce on the environ- fill up with contaminants. He recommends that users ask the ment and the equipment they are using. On top of complet- manufacturing distributor how long the product’s cartridges ing medical and fit-testing evaluations, employers should last and how frequently they should be replaced. also have proper clearances and make sure that the chosen In most cases, it is not practical or worthwhile to try to masks fit properly, Capizzi adds. make cartridges last longer, Capizzi says. “There is really not an effective solution, outside of removing a little of the conUNTIL BREATH DO US PART taminant or reducing the humidity in the room.”

How long can a respirator last, and how frequently should Although respiratory masks and SCBAs are necessary for cartridges be replaced? That depends on the product and the many jobs, they are not perfect protectors. “There is a really work involved, Curts says. broad conception that once you put a respirator on, it will “Most disposable respirators are meant to be worn for one protect you from anything. That is simply not true,” Hansen shift,” he notes. “In some situations, like a hospital environ- warns. “You are bound to have some small leaks around facement, the company’s protocols dictate that the respirators be piece seals.” Even the most effective N95 mask designed for changed more frequently, depending on the biological agent certain atmospheres allows a small amount of micron parthat the workers may be exposed to.” ticles to permeate the mask when it is still brand new, before Some kinds of face pieces can last for many months or the dirt has built up to provide an extra filter. even years, Curts notes. “However, the cartridges and filters “You have got to be really careful of the concentrations or typically have much shorter life expectancies. The cartridges’ whatever the hazard is,” Hansen says. service length is a function of the airborne concentration of Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada chemicals, [a] worker’s breathing rate, relative humidity, sorJeff Cottrill is editor of canadian occupational health & safety news. bent material in the cartridge and temperature.” www.ohscanada.com

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ACCIDENT PREVENTION

CRYSTALLINE SILICA

The Dirt on Silica THE “S” WORD: Crystalline silica — a basic component of soil, sand, granite and many other minerals — is a term likely to strike fear in the hearts of many in the construction sector. Although construction workers may be particularly at risk of exposure to silica, which is the primary component of many construction materials, anyone who chips, saws, grinds, crushes, drills, hauls, tunnels, power-cuts or hydroblasts rock, concrete or masonry structures is at peril.

Those who fall within the ring of risk include jewellery makers, tombstone finishers, employees who make cement, brick and asphalt pavement, shipyard workers who perform abrasive blasting operations, those who perform maintenance, repair and replacement duties and employees in the tool-and-die, steel and foundry industries, according to information from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Washington, D.C. In fact, silica is so common that any workplace activity that creates dust can expose workers to airborne silica, WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia cautions.

SOMBRE NUMBERS: Approximately 380,000 Canadians — of whom 93 per cent are male workers — are occupationally exposed to silica, according to Burnaby, British Columbia-based CAREX Canada, a national surveillance project that estimates the number of Canadians exposed to substances associated with cancer in workplaces and community environments.

Construction is the largest industry exposed to this carcinogenic material, with the building-construction industry and trade contractors accounting for about 54 per cent of exposed workers. By occupation, the largest exposed groups for both men and women are construction trade labourers (105,000), heavy-equipment operators (41,000) and plasterers and drywallers (34,000).

TWO SIDES OF A COIN: There are two forms of silica: crystalline and amorphous.

Crystalline silica, which has a diameter of two micrometres or less, is commonly found in quartz in most rock types, while amorphous silica is often present in laboratories in the form of silica gel — a white powder used in chromatography.

Unlike crystalline silica, which is known to be hazardous, the physical, chemical and toxicological properties of amorphous silica are not entirely clear, according to a laboratory safety bulletin from the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario. As such, it is recommended that amorphous silica be handled with the same level of care as its crystalline form.

HARMFUL TO HEALTH: Silica is hazardous mainly in dust form. Silicosis normally progresses by repeated exposure to small concentrations of silica dust over the decades, although acute silicosis can develop from exposure to high concentrations of silica dust over a couple of years, the University of Windsor notes.

Temporary irritation results when this carcinogenic substance comes into contact with the skin, eyes and mouth over a short period of time. Silicosis may continue to develop even after removing oneself from exposure. There is no proven treatment for silicosis, which usually results in death through blood circulatory failure, tuberculosis or lung cancer.

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BY THE BOOK: In British Columbia, workplaces have an occupational exposure limit of 0.025 milligrams per cubic metre — the maximum amount of crystalline silica to which a worker may be exposed during an eight-hour work shift.

Exposure-control plans are required by the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. An effective plan must provide a detailed approach to protect workers from exposure to crystallinesilica dust, including health-hazard information, engineering controls, safe-work procedures, worker training and record keeping.

In Ontario, the Regulation for Construction Projects, O. Reg. 213/91 applies to all construction projects, according to the province’s Ministry of Labour (MOL). Although silica is not mentioned specifically, sections of the regulation that would apply to situations in which workers could potentially be exposed to silica include having a competent person to perform tests and necessary observations to detect hazardous conditions on a project, ensure that workers use appropriate personal protective equipment, provide washing facilities and ventilate a worksite adequately.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: In order for measures addressing silica-dust exposure to be effective, they must cover four areas: engineering controls; work and hygiene practices; personal protective equipment; and training, according to the MOL guideline, Silica on Construction Projects.

Engineering controls: • Substitution: Whenever possible, substitute crystalline-sil ica materials with less toxic materials, such as crushed glass, olivine or other material for silica sand in abrasive blasting.

• Process control: When substitution is not feasible, changing how a process is performed can lower silica exposure.

Examples include using wet methods in cutting, grinding and drilling operations and modifying an abrasive operation to produce a coarser dust that settles more readily and is less likely to be trapped in the lungs if inhaled.

• Enclosure or isolation: Separate dusty operations from non-dusty areas and keep workers who are not involved in the operation out of the area. If isolation is not effective, seal off the area where the dust-generating process is being performed completely with an enclosure.

• Ventilation: The most effective use of ventilation to control a silica hazard is to remove dust at its source, such as using a local-exhaust ventilation.

• Hygiene practices: Recommended housekeeping measures include requiring workers to wash and shower at the end of each shift, prohibiting eating and drinking in contaminated areas, keeping the receptacles of silica-containing waste tightly covered and keeping surfaces clean by washing or vacuuming them.

• Personal protection: Protective clothing and respirators are all part of dust-control protection. A respirator program that includes written procedures for the selection, use, care and maintenance of personal respiratory-protection equipment should be implemented. Workers must be instructed and trained on the care and use of personal protective equipment prior to use.

• Building awareness: Training is an important component in preventing silica exposure. That includes instructing workers on the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, the hazards of silica (including health effects and symptom recognition), identifying typical operations containing silica, personal hygiene, respiratory requirements and work procedures.

UH-OH: Prevention is good, but being ready also means knowing what to do when exposure has taken place. In the event that respiratory symptoms are observed in an employee who works with silica, move the affected individual to an area with fresh air and seek medical assistance. If silica dust has come into contact with the eyes, flush the eyes gently in an eyewash station for at least five minutes. Instruct the victim to look in all directions, and if the particle remains, hold the eyelids open over the eyewash station for another five minutes until the particle has been removed. Seek medical attention immediately if irritation persists. No serious health effects are usually expected if dermal exposure to silica dust occurs. If mild irritation is observed, flush with lukewarm water for five minutes until the chemical has been removed. www.ohscanada.com

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CD Nova www.cdnova.com

Bullard www.bullard.com

LEHDER Environmental Services www.lehder.com

AIR QUALITY

APRONS, WELDER

MONITORING Alpha Controls and Instrumentation www.alphacontrols.com Avensys Solutions www.avensyssolutions.com CD Nova www.cdnova.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

ASSOCIATION, SAFETY Hand Tools Inst www.hti.org Intl Safety Equip Assoc www.safetyequipment.org

Critical Enviro Tech www.critical-environment.com

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services www.wsps.ca

Graywolf Sensing Solutions www.graywolfsensing.com

Workplace Safety North www.workplacesafetynorth.ca

Levitt Safety www.levitt-safety.com

AUDIO AND LUNG FUNCTION TESTING

AIR QUALITY, INDOOR

Bertrand Johnson Acoustics www.bjainc.com

BARRIER CREAM Trillium Intl www.dermadefense.com

BOOKS, BOOKLETS, NOTEBOOKS Carswell, a Thomson Reuters Business www.carswell.com

Natl Safety Council www.nsc.org

Collins Safety Inc. www.collins.ca ROYER www.royer.com

BREATHING AIR Air Systems International www.airsystems.com

CERTIFICATION AND TESTING

Board of Certified Sfty Prof www.bcsp.org Lineman’s Labs www.ltl.ca

AIR SAMPLING

AUTOMATIC EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS

Argus-Hazco www.argus-hazco.ca

HeartSafe www.heartsafe.ca

BioFit Engineered www.biofit.com

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The Global www.globaltotaloffice.com

BOOTS, SAFETY

Benson Medical Instruments www.bensonmedical.com

Stantec Consulting www.stantec.com

Micwil Group of Companies www.micwil.com

CONFERENCES

AUDIOMETERS

Graywolf Sensing Solutions www.graywolfsensing.com

GWS Ergonomics www.gwsergo.com

DEVTRA Inc. – The “CHECKER” www.thechecker.net

Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals www.bcrsp.ca

CLARCOR Industrial Air | UAS www.uasinc.com

Chairs www.chairslimited.com

CHAIRS, ERGONOMIC

CONFINED SPACE 3M Canada www.3M.ca/safety EHS Canada www.ehscanada.ca Industrial Scientific www.indsci.com RKI Instruments www.rkiinstruments.com Safety Direct www.safetydirect.ca YOW Canada www.yowcanada.com

CONSULTANTS, ENVIRONMENTAL AirZOne One www.airzoneone.com

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CorWil Technologies www.cwt-ltd.ca

Stantec Consulting www.stantec.com

Therm-Omega-Tech, Inc. www.ThermOmegaTech.com

Haws www.hawsco.com

ERIS www.erisinfo.com

T. Harris Environmental www.tharris.ca

Kit Care Corp www.kitcarecorp.com

LEHDER Environmental Services www.lehder.com

EMERGENCY OXYGEN UNITS

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services www.wsps.ca

HeartSafe www.heartsafe.ca

Therm-Omega-Tech, Inc. www.ThermOmegaTech.com

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

FACE PROTECTION

EHS Canada www.ehscanada.ca

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Optrel www.optrel.com/usa

ECOLOG NEWS www.ecolog.com

FALL PROTECTION

Pinchin Ltd. www.pinchin.com SNC-Lavalin Inc. Environment & Water www.snclavalin.com/environment Stantec Consulting www.stantec.com T. Harris Environmental www.tharris.ca TankTek Environmental Services www.tanktek.com

CONSULTANTS, ERGONOMIC Chairs www.chairslimited.com Phoenix OHC www.phoenix-ohc.ca Workplace Safety & Wellness Solutions www.workplacesafety-ontario.com

CONSULTANTS, OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE CorWil Technologies www.cwt-ltd.ca Phoenix OHC www.phoenix-ohc.ca

Workplace Safety North www.workplacesafetynorth.ca

CONSULTING, ENGINEERING CorWil Technologies www.cwt-ltd.ca SNC-Lavalin Inc. Environment & Water www.snclavalin.com/environment

LEHDER Environmental Services www.lehder.com

CPR DEVICES AND EQUIPMENT

SNC-Lavalin Inc. Environment & Water www.snclavalin.com/environment

St. John Ambulance National Office www.sja.ca

Solid Waste/Recycle www.solidwastemag.com

DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Natl Inst Of Disability Mgmt www.nidmar.ca Niagara Software www.wcbpro.ca

DRIVING SAFETY Natl Safety Council www.nsc.org

Sonic Soil Sampling www.sonicsoil.com TankTek Environmental Services www.tanktek.com

ERGONOMIC SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT ErgoCanada – Ergonomics Portal of Micwil Group of Companies Ltd. www.ergocanada.com Jenalex Inc. – Ergonomic Products www.jenalex.ca

Pinchin Ltd. www.pinchin.com

DUST MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

T. Harris Environmental www.tharris.ca

3M Detection Solutions www.3m.com/detection

CONSULTANTS, OH&S

CD Nova www.cdnova.com

Chairs www.chairslimited.com

EARMUFFS

GWS Ergonomics www.gwsergo.com

3M Canada www.3M.ca/safety

The Global www.globaltotaloffice.com

EARPLUGS

EYEWASH STATION, PRESERVATIVES

AirZOne One www.airzoneone.com Alert@Work Human Resource Services www.alertatwork.com Electrolab Training www.electrolab.ca Health Sys Group www.healthsystemsgroup.com O’Reilly Health & Safety Consulting www.ohsconsulting.ca

3M Canada www.3M.ca/safety

EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT Argus-Hazco www.argus-hazco.ca

Micwil Group of Companies www.micwil.com

ERGONOMIC TABLES

Fall Protection Systems www.fallprotectionsystems.com

Safety Direct www.safetydirect.ca Team-1 Academy www.team1academy.com Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com YOW Canada www.yowcanada.com

FILTRATION SYSTEMS Air Systems International www.airsystems.com CLARCOR Industrial Air | UAS www.uasinc.com

FIRST AID A-Med Supply – Div. 1602041 Ontario www.a-medsupply.com Can U Rescue? www.canurescue.com Canadian Red Cross www.redcross.ca/workplacefirstaid

A-Med Supply – Div. 1602041 Ontario www.a-medsupply.com

EYEWASH, EMERGENCY

Phoenix OHC www.phoenix-ohc.ca

Armstrong Medical www.armstrongmedical.com

A-Med Supply – Div. 1602041 Ontario www.a-medsupply.com

Pinchin Ltd. www.pinchin.com

Haws www.hawsco.com

Bradley Corporation www.bradleycorp.com

Dentec Safety www.dentecsafety.com Forestry Suppliers www.forestry-suppliers.com Kit Care Corp www.kitcarecorp.com SOS Emergency Response www.sostor.com

FIRST AID TRAINING Can U Rescue? www.canurescue.com Canadian Red Cross www.redcross.ca/workplacefirstaid

www.ohscanada.com

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MSA – The Safety Co. www.msanet.com

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HeartSafe www.heartsafe.ca St. John Ambulance National Office www.sja.ca SOS Emergency Response www.sostor.com

FLAME RESISTANT – CLOTHING DuPont Personal Protection www.personalprotection.dupont.ca International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com Mount Vernon FR www.mvmfr.com NASCO Industries, Inc. www.nascoinc.com Ranpro www.ranpro.com Workrite Uniform www.workrite.com/canada

FLAMMABLE STORAGE CABINETS Tenaquip www.tenaquip.com

GAS DETECTOR TUBES

GLOVES, PROTECTIVE

HEALTH SERVICES

Draeger Cda www.draeger.ca

Ansell www.ansell.com

GAS DETECTORS

DuPont Personal Protection www.personalprotection.dupont.ca

Canadian Association of Optometrists www.opto.ca

Alpha Controls and Instrumentation www.alphacontrols.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Argus-Hazco www.argus-hazco.ca Critical Enviro Tech www.critical-environment.com Draeger Cda www.draeger.ca Graywolf Sensing Solutions www.graywolfsensing.com Industrial Scientific www.indsci.com Lineman’s Labs www.ltl.ca MSA – The Safety Co. www.msanet.com

Elite Training Company www.elite-training.ca Lift Truck Safety Training Centre www.liftrucksafetytraining.ca

FUNCTIONAL ABILITIES EVALUATION Capital Vocational Specialists www.cvs.ca

Showa www.showagroup.com Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

GOGGLES, SAFETY Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

F.O. Safety Eyewear www.fosafetyeyewear.ca

FORK LIFT TRAINING

Sat-T-Gard www.saftgard.com

GLASSES, SAFETY

FOOTRESTS

Micwil Group of Companies www.micwil.com

Ronco Protective Products www.ronco.ca

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

Foot-Cares www.foot-cares.com

Ranpro www.ranpro.com

RKI Instruments www.rkiinstruments.com Canadian Association of Optometrists www.opto.ca

BioFit Engineered www.biofit.com

Lineman’s Labs www.ltl.ca

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com Sat-T-Gard www.saftgard.com Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

GLOVES International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com

GLOVES, DISPOSABLE

HAND CLEANERS Deb Canada www.debgroup.com

HARD HATS Bullard www.bullard.com

Foot-Cares www.foot-cares.com

HEALTH, OCCUPATIONAL Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety www.ccohs.ca

HEARING PROTECTION Bertrand Johnson Acoustics www.bjainc.com Electro Med www.emi-canada.com Moldex-Metric www.moldex.com Sat-T-Gard www.saftgard.com Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com

HEARING TESTING Electro Med www.emi-canada.com

HEAT STRESS MONITORS 3M Detection Solutions www.3m.com/detection International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

HEAT STRESS, DRINKS, EQUIPMENT

MSA – The Safety Co. www.msanet.com

Dentec Safety www.dentecsafety.com

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS MANAGEMENT Pinchin Ltd. www.pinchin.com Veolia ES Canada Services Industriels Inc. www.Veoliase.com

HAZARDOUS WASTE, TREATMENT, REMOVAL

GAS DETECTION

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Avensys Solutions www.avensyssolutions.com

Ronco Protective Products www.ronco.ca

Industrial Scientific www.indsci.com

Showa www.showagroup.com

HEALTH & SAFETY DATABASE COLLECTIONS/ MANAGEMENT

RKI Instruments www.rkiinstruments.com

Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com

Debolt Data Depository www.deboltdata.com

Cartier Chem www.cartierchem.com

HIGH VISIBILITY APPAREL International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

HYGIENE ArjoHuntleigh Canada www.ArjoHuntleigh.com

IDENTIFICATION PRODUCTS Accuform Signs www.accuform.com K-Sun www.ksun.com Tenaquip www.tenaquip.com

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9015

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F.O. Safety Eyewear www.fosafetyeyewear.ca

15-10-07 10:11 AM

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

But we expect our sensors to last much longer than that.

Choose the detector with sensors that are warranted for 5 full years, not 18 months.

9015

It’s a mistake to overlook something as small as a sensor when buying gas detectors. That’s because the purchase price of a gas detector is only a fraction of the cost to operate one. Sensor replacement over time can cost you thousands of dollars in sensors, labour, calibration, and downtime. At Dräger, we believe a quality sensor needs to be more than just accurate. It should last, too. That’s why the sensors in the X-am® 2500, X-am® 5000, and Pac® 7000 come with a 5-year warranty – the longest on the market. Isn’t it time to start thinking small and saving big? www.draeger.com/xam-discount

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C A N A D A

BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016

INCENTIVES & PROMOTIONS Glove Guard LP www.gloveguard.com Peavey Performance Systems www.safetyjackpot.com

INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EVALUATIONS Capital Vocational Specialists www.cvs.ca Workplace Safety & Wellness Solutions www.workplacesafety-ontario.com

INFECTION CONTROL PRODUCTS ArjoHuntleigh Canada www.ArjoHuntleigh.com Deb Canada www.debgroup.com

INSTRUMENTATION Alpha Controls and Instrumentation www.alphacontrols.com American Slip www.americanslipmeter.com Avensys Solutions www.avensyssolutions.com Critical Enviro Tech www.critical-environment.com Electro Med www.emi-canada.com Forestry Suppliers www.forestry-suppliers.com GENEQ Inc. www.geneq.com

JOB SITE ANALYSIS/ PHYSICAL DEMANDS ANALYSIS Capital Vocational Specialists www.cvs.ca Workplace Safety & Wellness Solutions www.workplacesafety-ontario.com

LABORATORY SERVICES AirZOne One www.airzoneone.com Pinchin Ltd. www.pinchin.com

LAW, ENVIRONMENTAL ERIS www.erisinfo.com

LEGISLATION EcoLog Legislation and EcoLog Legislative Tracker www.ecolog.com

LENS CLEANERS Nanofilm www.nanofilmusa.com

LIFTING EQUIPMENT ArjoHuntleigh Canada www.ArjoHuntleigh.com Jenalex Inc. – Ergonomic Products www.jenalex.ca Starquip Industrial Products www.starquip.com

LOCKOUT EQUIPMENT Accuform Signs www.accuform.com Brady Canada www.bradycanada.ca Stonehouse Signs www.stonehousesigns.com Tenaquip www.tenaquip.com Unique Products www.e-zeelockouts.com

MATERIAL HANDLING Exair www.exair.com Justrite Mfg www.justritemfg.com Rockwell Automation, www.rockwellautomation.com

KNIVES, SAFETY

Siemens Process Industries & Drives www.usa.siemens.com/industry

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Starquip Industrial Products www.starquip.com

Martor USA www.martorusa.com

Strider www.strider-resource.com

OLFA www.olfa.com

MATS, ANTI-FATIGUE

The Safety Knife Company www.safetyknife.net/

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Jenalex Inc. – Ergonomic Products www.jenalex.ca

Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

Mount Vernon FR www.mvmfr.com

MATS, ANTI-SLIP

NASCO Industries, Inc. www.nascoinc.com

No Skidding Prod www.noskidding.com Safeguard Technology www.safeguard-technology.com

MSDS MANAGEMENT AUTHORING & DISTRIBUTION

Ranpro www.ranpro.com Ronco Protective Products www.ronco.ca Showa www.showagroup.com

Debolt Data Depository www.deboltdata.com

VF Imagewear Canada Inc. www.bulwark.com

NEWSLETTERS

Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com

Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News www.ohscanada.com

Workrite Uniform www.workrite.com/canada

EcoLog Legislation and EcoLog Legislative Tracker www.ecolog.com ECOLOG NEWS www.ecolog.com OHS Canada Media www.ohscanada.com

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

NOISE CONTROL

Armstrong Medical www.armstrongmedical.com Collins Safety Inc. www.collins.ca Dentec Safety www.dentecsafety.com

Exair www.exair.com

F.O. Safety Eyewear www.fosafetyeyewear.ca

NOISE DOSIMETERS

Grace Industries, Inc. www.graceindustries.com

3M Detection Solutions www.3m.com/detection GENEQ Inc. www.geneq.com OHD www.ohdusa.com

ONLINE TRAINING Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News www.ohscanada.com Danatec Educational Svcs www.danatec.com E-Training www.etraintoday.com Electrolab Training www.electrolab.ca OHS Canada Media www.ohscanada.com SafetySync www.safetysync.com YOW Canada www.yowcanada.com

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE APPAREL

Great Lakes Safety Products www.glspi.com International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com J. J. Keller & Associates Inc. www.jjkeller.com/jjk Kit Care Corp www.kitcarecorp.com Levitt Safety www.levitt-safety.com ROYER www.royer.com Safety Direct www.safetydirect.ca

PUBLISHERS Carswell, a Thomson Reuters Business www.carswell.com EcoLog Legislation and EcoLog Legislative Tracker www.ecolog.com ECOLOG NEWS www.ecolog.com

DuPont Personal Protection www.personalprotection.dupont.ca

ERIS www.erisinfo.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

HazMat Management Magazine www.hazmatmag.com

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016 OHS Canada Media www.ohscanada.com Solid Waste/Recycle www.solidwastemag.com

RAINWEAR International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com NASCO Industries, Inc. www.nascoinc.com Zenith Safety Products www.zenithsafety.com

REFLECTIVE APPAREL International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

RESCUE, CONFINED SPACE, HIGH ANGLE

www.carswell.com Hand Tools Inst www.hti.org J. J. Keller & Associates Inc. www.jjkeller.com/jjk

SAFETY PRODUCTS, TRAFFIC Brady Canada www.bradycanada.ca Great Lakes Safety Products www.glspi.com International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

SAFETY PRODUCTS, UTILITY

SAFETY SUPPLIES & EQUIPMENT American Slip www.americanslipmeter.com

Cartier Chem www.cartierchem.com

Stonehouse Signs www.stonehousesigns.com

Collins Safety Inc. www.collins.ca

SKIN CARE PRODUCTS

Dentec Safety www.dentecsafety.com

Deb Canada www.debgroup.com

Fall Protection Systems www.fallprotectionsystems.com

Trillium Intl www.dermadefense.com

Forestry Suppliers www.forestry-suppliers.com

SLEEP MANAGEMENT

Glove Guard LP www.gloveguard.com

Team-1 Academy www.team1academy.com

Grace Industries, Inc. www.graceindustries.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Justrite Mfg www.justritemfg.com

Justrite Mfg www.justritemfg.com

Levitt Safety www.levitt-safety.com

RESPIRATORS Moldex-Metric www.moldex.com Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com

RESPIRATORY PROTECTION Bullard www.bullard.com Dentec Safety www.dentecsafety.com Draeger Cda www.draeger.ca Great Lakes Safety Products www.glspi.com Moldex-Metric www.moldex.com

RETURN-TO-WORK Health Sys Group www.healthsystemsgroup.com Natl Inst Of Disability Mgmt www.nidmar.ca

SAFETY FLOORING No Skidding Prod www.noskidding.com Safeguard Technology www.safeguard-technology.com

SAFETY MANUALS, POSTERS, ETC. Carswell, a Thomson Reuters Business

Strider www.strider-resource.com The Safety Knife Company www.safetyknife.net/

SAFETY PROGRAMS, TRAINING E-Training www.etraintoday.com Electrolab Training www.electrolab.ca Elite Training Company www.elite-training.ca Hand Tools Inst www.hti.org J. J. Keller & Associates Inc. www.jjkeller.com/jjk Lift Truck Safety Training Centre www.liftrucksafetytraining.ca Natl Safety Council www.nsc.org O’Reilly Health & Safety Consulting www.ohsconsulting.ca Peavey Performance Systems www.safetyjackpot.com SafetySync www.safetysync.com Team-1 Academy www.team1academy.com

ICC The Compliance www.thecompliancecenter.com K-Sun www.ksun.com

Glove Guard LP www.gloveguard.com

OHD www.ohdusa.com

Brady Canada www.bradycanada.ca

Bradley Corporation www.bradleycorp.com

EHS Canada www.ehscanada.ca

RESPIRATOR FIT TESTERS

Alert@Work Human Resource Services www.alertatwork.com

SLIP CONTROL American Slip www.americanslipmeter.com

Pacesetter Sales www.pacesettersales.com Safeguard Technology www.safeguard-technology.com SOS Emergency Response www.sostor.com Strider www.strider-resource.com The Safety Knife Company www.safetyknife.net/

No Skidding Prod www.noskidding.com Trusty Step www.trusty-step.com

SOFTWARE, ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION, RISK ANALYSIS Niagara Software www.wcbpro.ca

Trillium Intl www.dermadefense.com

SOFTWARE, AUDIT, WCB, WHMIS

Unique Products www.e-zeelockouts.com

DEVTRA Inc. – The “CHECKER” www.thechecker.net

Wayne Safety www.waynesafety.com

Internet Based Learning www.whmis.net

SEATING, ERGONOMIC

Niagara Software www.wcbpro.ca

BioFit Engineered www.biofit.com

SHOWERS, EMERGENCY

SOFTWARE, HEALTH & SAFETY

Bradley Corporation www.bradleycorp.com

Benson Medical Instruments www.bensonmedical.com

Haws www.hawsco.com Therm-Omega-Tech, Inc. www.ThermOmegaTech.com

SIGNS AND LABELS

SAFETY RAILINGS

Accuform Signs www.accuform.com

Fall Protection Systems www.fallprotectionsystems.com

AddLight.com www.addlight.com

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety www.ccohs.ca DEVTRA Inc. – The “CHECKER” www.thechecker.net ErgoCanada – Ergonomics Portal of Micwil Group of Companies Ltd. www.ergocanada.com

www.ohscanada.com

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016

K-Sun www.ksun.com Rockwell Automation, www.rockwellautomation.com SafetySync www.safetysync.com

SOLVENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL Arkema www.arkema-americas.com

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

O’Reilly Health & Safety Consulting www.ohsconsulting.ca

WHMIS, TRAINING, MSDS ETC.

Acute Environmental & Safety Services www.acuteservices.com

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services www.wsps.ca

Canadian Red Cross www.redcross.ca/workplacefirstaid

Alert@Work Human Resource Services www.alertatwork.com

Workplace Safety North www.workplacesafetynorth.ca

Bertrand Johnson Acoustics www.bjainc.com

YOW Canada www.yowcanada.com

SOUND LEVEL METERS

BC Tech Institute www.bcit.ca/study/programs/6850cert

GENEQ Inc. www.geneq.com

Can U Rescue? www.canurescue.com

OHD www.ohdusa.com

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety www.ccohs.ca

SPILL CLEANUP, SUPPLIES, SERVICES

Danatec Educational Svcs www.danatec.com Debolt Data Depository www.deboltdata.com ICC The Compliance www.thecompliancecenter.com

TRANSPORTATION OF DANGEROUS GOODS

Internet Based Learning www.whmis.net

Veolia ES Canada Services Industriels Inc. www.Veoliase.com

Monarch Regulatory Services www.monarchregservices.ca

UNIFORM SERVICES

St. John Ambulance National Office www.sja.ca

DPA Communications www.dpac.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Cartier Chem www.cartierchem.com

E-Training www.etraintoday.com

VF Imagewear Canada Inc. www.bulwark.com

TankTek Environmental Services www.tanktek.com

Electrolab Training www.electrolab.ca

VENTILATION, CONFINED SPACE

Veolia ES Canada Services Industriels Inc. www.Veoliase.com

Elite Training Company www.elite-training.ca

Air Systems International www.airsystems.com

SPIROMETERS

Health Sys Group www.healthsystemsgroup.com

Continental Fan Canada www.continentalfan.com

International Sew-Right www.safetyclothingcanada.com

Benson Medical Instruments www.bensonmedical.com

ICC The Compliance www.thecompliancecenter.com

Euramco Safety www.euramcosafety.com

TDG TRAINING

Intl Safety Equip Assoc www.safetyequipment.org

Mount Vernon FR www.mvmfr.com

VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Internet Based Learning www.whmis.net

ARETE Safety and Protection www.arete.ca

Workrite Uniform www.workrite.com/canada

Danatec Educational Svcs www.danatec.com Monarch Regulatory Services www.monarchregservices.ca YOW Canada www.yowcanada.com

TRAINING AIDS & MANUALS Armstrong Medical www.armstrongmedical.com

LEHDER Environmental Services www.lehder.com Lift Truck Safety Training Centre www.liftrucksafetytraining.ca Monarch Regulatory Services www.monarchregservices.ca Natl Inst Of Disability Mgmt www.nidmar.ca

WORK ALONE SAFETY ARETE Safety and Protection www.arete.ca Grace Industries, Inc. www.graceindustries.com

WORK CLOTHING

WATER/WASTEWATER QUALITY CONTROL Rockwell Automation, www.rockwellautomation.com

WORKSTATIONS ErgoCanada – Ergonomics Portal of Micwil Group of Companies Ltd. www.ergocanada.com

WHMIS TRAINING

GWS Ergonomics www.gwsergo.com

YOW Canada www.yowcanada.com

The Global www.globaltotaloffice.com

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016 ALPHABETICAL

C A N A D A

LISTINGS

products services

2016 For products and services directory please see alphabetical listings starting on page 46 3M Canada Company 300 Tartan Dr London ON N5V 4M9 Toll-Free: 800 265-1840 www.3M.ca/safety 3M Detection Solutions 1060 Corporate Center Dr Oconomowoc WI 53066 262 567-9157 Fax: 262 567-4047 Toll-Free: 800 245-0779 3mdetection@mail.com www.3m.com/detection Mktg Mgr Melissa Wesemann

A-Med Supply – Div. 1602041 Ontario Limited 408-242 Johnson St Kingston ON K7L 1Y3 Location: 100 Harry Walker Pkwy N Newmarket ON L3Y 7B2 905 953-9946 Fax: 905 953-8351 info@a-medsupply.com www.a-medsupply.com Agent Ed Maloney

Neutraliser™ Eyewash & Skin-Rinse by A-Med™ with attached Eye-Opener. First Aid for all chemical burns – Alkali, Hydrochloric or Hydrofluoric Acids contains: - Polyhexanide (PHMB) to reduce Seconddegree wound pain & kill germs upon contact

- Disodium EDTA to encapsulate acid/alkali - Phosphate Buffers to maintain the eye’s pH - Isotonic - NPN 80032394 licenced Topical & Ophthalmic use iPreserve™ sterile, eyewash water preservative: efficacy certified per USP 30% Shelf Life: passed Freeze Test HS(12) & meet NATO MIL-ST 32073-1 for chemically critical 4 yr. expiry date.

Accuform Signs 16228 Flight Path Dr Brooksville FL 34604 352 799-5434 Toll-Free: 800 237-1001 Toll-Free Fax: 800 394-4001 customerservice@accuform.com www.accuform.com Mktg/Social Media Spec Jim Redmile Acute Environmental & Safety Services Inc. 3-730 Bridge St Waterloo ON N2V 2J4 519 747-5075 Fax: 519 747-4608 Toll-Free: 866 448-5075 info@acuteservices.com www.acuteservices.com Pres Ron Campbell AddLight.com 559 Griffith Rd Charlotte NC 28217-3517 704 525-6210 Fax: 704 525-6310 Toll-Free: 888 367-1010

info@addlight.com www.addlight.com Pres Paul Holmes Air Systems International 829 Juniper Cr Chesapeake VA 23320 757 424-3967 Fax: 757 424-5348 Toll-Free: 800 866-8100 Toll-Free Fax: 800 247-5850 sales@airsystems.com www.airsystems.com Airzone One Ltd. 222 Matheson Blvd E Mississauga ON L4Z 1X1 905 890-6957 Fax: 905 890-8629 info@airzoneone.com www.airzoneone.com Consultant Charles Geen Alert@Work Human Resource Services 427 Briarvale Crt Saskatoon SK S7V 1B8 306 975-1165 Fax: 306 652-6161 Toll-Free: 866 975-1165 schurgoode@sasktel.net www.alertatwork.com Owner Carolyn Schur Alpha Controls and Instrumentation Inc. 6-361 Steelcase Rd W

Markham ON L3R 3V8 905 477-2133 Fax: 905 477-4219 Toll-Free: 800 567-8686 www.alphacontrols.com Sls Mgr Marc Brand American Slip Meter, Inc. 720 N Indiana Ave Englewood FL 34223 941 681-2431 Fax: 941 681-2487 info@americanslipmeter.com www.americanslipmeter.com Pres Bill Stephenson Ansell 105 rue Lauder Cowansville QC J2K 2K8 450 266-1850 Fax: 450 266-6130 Toll-Free: 800 363-8340 serviceclientcanada@ansell.com www.ansell.com ARETE Safety and Protection inc.

204-2323 Quebec St Vancouver BC V5T 4S7 604 732-1799 Fax: 604 732-1798 Toll-Free: 877 337-1122 aretesafety@arete.ca www.arete.ca Argus-Hazco 26-2283 Argentia Rd Mississauga ON L5N 5Z2

Emails published should be used only to contact the company regarding their products. These emails are NOT CASL compliant. www.ohscanada.com

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016

905 858-3215 Fax: 905 858-3192 Toll-Free: 800 361-3201 info@argus-hazco.ca www.argus-hazco.ca Gen Mgr Rose Calabrese ArjoHuntleigh Canada Inc. 300-90 Matheson Blvd W Mississauga ON L5R 3R3 800 665-4831 Fax: 800 309-1116 Toll-Free: 800 665-4831 Toll-Free Fax: 800 309-1116 info.canada@arjohuntleigh.com www.ArjoHuntleigh.com Arkema Inc. 900 First Ave King of Prussia PA 19406 610 205-7000 Fax: 610 205-7913 Toll-Free: 800 225-7788 www.arkema-americas.com Armstrong Medical Industries, Inc. 575 Knightsbridge Pkwy Lincolnshire IL 60069 847 913-0101 Fax: 847 913-0138 Toll-Free: 800 323-4220 csr@armstrongmedical.com www.armstrongmedical.com Avensys Solutions Inc. 422 Consumers Rd Toronto ON M2J 1P8 416 499-4421 Fax: 416 499-0816 Toll-Free: (Customer Service) 888 965-4700 info@avensyssolutions.com www.avensyssolutions.com Benson Medical Instruments Co. 5000 – 310 Fourth Ave SE Minneapolis MN 55415 612 827-2222 sales@bensonmedical.com www.bensonmedical.com Sls Mgr Dave Mayou; Dir-Mktg Michelle Sahlin Bertrand Johnson Acoustics Inc. 302-5995 boul Gouin O Montréal QC H4J 2P8 514 332-2050; (Customer Service) 514 335-3021.

Fax: 514 339-1057 Toll-Free: 800 363-0958 info@bjainc.com www.bjainc.com Pres Ninon Bertrand BioFit Engineered Products PO Box 109 Waterville OH 43566-0109 Location: 15500 Biofit Way Bowling Green OH 43402 419 823-1089 Fax: 419 823-1342 Toll-Free: 800 597-0246 biofit@biofit.com

www.biofit.com Exec Asst Liz Sworden Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP) 100-6700 Century Ave Mississauga ON L5N 6A4 905 567-7198 Fax: 905 567-7191 Toll-Free: 888 279-2777 info@bcrsp.ca www.bcrsp.ca Mktg Coord/Commun Coord Arlene Duval Board of Certified Safety Professionals 2301 W Bradley Ave Champaign IL 61821 217 359-9263 Fax: 217 359-0055 bcsp@bcsp.org www.bcsp.org Mktg/Outreach Dir Lisa Spencer Bradley Corporation W142 N9101 Fountain Blvd Menomonee Falls WI 53051 262 251-6000 Fax: 262 251-5817 Toll-Free: 800 272-3539 info@bradleycorp.com www.bradleycorp.com Sr Mktg Mgr Kris Alderson Brady Canada 50 Vogell Rd Units 3 & 4 Richmond Hill ON L4B 3K6 905 764-1717 Fax: 905 764-3670 Toll-Free: 800 263-6179 Toll-Free Fax: 800 387-4935 www.bradycanada.ca Mktg/Commun Mgr Melanie Toulmin British Columbia Institute of Technology 3700 Willingdon Ave Burnaby BC V5G 3H2 604 432-8220 Fax: 604 432-8988 Toll-Free: 800 663-6542 Ext. 8220 www.bcit.ca/study/programs/6850cert Prog Dir David Wood

Canadian Association of Optometrists 234 Argyle Ave Ottawa ON K2P 1B9 613 235-7924 Ext. 215 Fax: 613 235-2098 Toll-Free: 888 263-4676 Ext. 215 ovp@opto.ca www.opto.ca Dir Douglas Dean Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) 135 Hunter St E Hamilton ON L8N 1M5 905 572-2981 Fax: 905 572-2206 Toll-Free: 800 668-4284 clientservices@ccohs.ca www.ccohs.ca Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News 80 Valleybrook Dr North York ON M3B 2S9 416 510-6893 Fax: 416 510-5140 www.ohscanada.com Editor Jeff Cottrill Canadian Red Cross 170 Metcalfe St Ottawa ON K2P 2P2 613 740-1900 Fax: 613 740-1911 Toll-Free: 877 356-3226 mas@redcross.ca www.redcross.ca/workplacefirstaid Dir-Mktg/Bus Dev Carolyn Tees Capital Vocational Specialists Corp 304-2781 Lancaster Rd Ottawa ON K1B 1A7 613 736-9117 Fax: 613 736-9771 Toll-Free: 888 736-9117 information@cvs.ca www.cvs.ca

Bullard 1898 Safety Way Cynthiana KY 40514 Fax: 859 234-6858 Toll-Free: 877 285-5273 Toll-Free Fax: 800 877-6858 info@bullard.com www.bullard.com Mktg/Commun Mgr Deborah Puracchio

Carswell, a Thomson Reuters Business 2075 Kennedy Rd Scarborough ON M1T 3V4 416 609-3800 Toll-Free: 800 387-5164 Toll-Free Fax: 877 750-9041 www.carswell.com Mktg Mgr-Legal Print/Inside Sls/Print Retention Isabelle Rocher

Can U Rescue?

515 Washington St Elora ON N0B 1S0 905 515-0874 sheila@canurescue.com www.canurescue.com Owner Sheila Grady

Cartier Chemicals Ltd. 2610A boul J.B. Deschamps Lachine QC H8T 1C8 514 637-4631 Fax: 514 637-8804 Toll-Free: 800 361-9432

info@vytac.com www.cartierchem.com Pres/Mgr-VYTAC Div Bill Robins CD Nova Ltd. 5330 Imperial St Burnaby BC V5J 1E6 604 430-5612 Fax: 604 437-1036 Toll-Free: 800 663-0615 sales@cdnova.com www.cdnova.com Chairs Limited 7-10 Ilsley Ave Dartmouth NS B3B 1L3 902 468-2854 Fax: 902 468-1269 Toll-Free: 800 565-2854 info@chairslimited.com www.chairslimited.com Pres Joan Downing CLARCOR Industrial Air | UAS 4440 Creek Rd Cincinnati OH 45242 513 891-0400 Fax: 513 891-4171 Toll-Free: 800 252-4647 filtration@CLARCOR.com www.uasinc.com Sls Mgr Bill Sovik Collins Safety Inc. 648 Progress Ave Kingston ON K7M 4W9 613 389-9886; (Customer Service) 514 526-7931 Ext. 232.

Fax: 613 389-9943 info@collins.ca www.collins.ca Ops Mgr Robert McCallum Continental Fan Canada Inc. 12-205 Matheson Blvd E Mississauga ON L4Z 3E3 905 890-6192 Fax: 905 890-6193 Toll-Free: 800 779-4021 cfm@continentalfan.com www.continentalfan.com CorWil Technologies Ltd. 203-1449 St Paul St Kelowna BC V1Y 2E4 778 478-9857 www.cwt-ltd.ca Sr Proj Technologist Powell Maxfield Critical Environment Technologies Canada Inc. 145-7391 Vantage Way Delta BC V4G 1M3 604 940-8741

Emails published should be used only to contact the company regarding their products. These emails are NOT CASL compliant.

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016 Fax: 604 940-8745 Toll-Free: 877 940-8741 marketing@cetci.com www.critical-environment.com Gen Mgr Frank Britton Danatec Educational Services Ltd. 201-11450 29 St SE Calgary AB T2Z 3V5 403 232-6950 Fax: 403 232-6952 Toll-Free: 800 465-3366 info@danatec.com www.danatec.com Bus Dev Alina Martin Deb Canada 42 Thompson Rd W Waterford ON N0E 1Y0 519 443-8697 Fax: 519 443-5160 Toll-Free: (Customer Service) 888 332-7627 Toll-Free Fax: 800 567-1652 www.debgroup.com Debolt Data Depository Box 35046 Midtown Post Office Edmonton AB T5J 0B7 Location: 10818 Jasper Ave 780 428-4992 Fax: 780 633-4025 deboltinfo@shaw.ca www.deboltdata.com Sls Mgr Paul J Cachia Dentec Safety Specialists, Inc. 100 Harry Walker Pkwy N Newmarket ON L3Y 7B2 905 953-9946 Fax: 905 953-8351 Toll-Free: 888 533-6832 Toll-Free Fax: 888 953-9946 dentec@dentecsafety.com www.dentecsafety.com Pres Claudio Dente DEVTRA Inc. – The “CHECKER” PO Box 265 Oakville ON L6K 0A4 Location: 146 Lakeshore Rd W 905 825-0172 Fax: 905 469-8831 Toll-Free: 800 291-4719 info@thechecker.net www.thechecker.net Gen Mgr David Lefevre DPA Communications Corp.

PO Box 45033 Toronto ON M4P 3E3 416 205-9604 info@dpac.com www.dpac.com Pres Jane England Draeger Safety Canada Ltd. 1-2425 Skymark Ave

Mississauga ON L4W 4Y6 905 212-6000 Fax: 905 212-6602 Toll-Free Fax: 877 651-0906 lynn.scharfe@draeger.com www.draeger.ca DuPont Personal Protection PO Box 2200 Streetsville Mississauga ON L5M 2H3 Location: 1919 Minnesota Crt Mississauga ON L5N 0C9 Fax: 905 816-3062 Toll-Free: 800 387-2122 information@dupont.com www.personalprotection.dupont.ca Mktg/Bus Support Heather Jordan

613 962-9577 Fax: 613 962-0284 Toll-Free: 800 267-7482 safety@electrolab.ca www.electrolab.ca Elite Training Company 102 Rawling Cres Brampton ON L6Z 1N8 905 846-5509 info@elite-training.ca www.elite-training.ca

E-Training Inc. 101 – 2314 S Route 59 Plainfield IL 60586 815 556-9384 Ext. 2 Fax: 815 531-1075 info@etraintoday.com www.etraintoday.com Pres Niall O’Malley

ErgoCanada – Ergonomics Portal of Micwil Group of Companies Ltd. PO Box 9022 Saskatoon SK S7K 7E7 Location: 102 Wheeler St Saskatoon SK S7P 0A9 306 382-5995 Fax: 306 382-4995 Toll-Free: 866 335-3746 sales@ergocanada.com www.ergocanada.com Pres Michael Craggs

EcoLog Legislation and EcoLog Legislative Tracker 80 Valleybrook Dr Toronto ON M3B 2S9 416 442-5600 Ext. 3570 Fax: 416 510-5128 Toll-Free: 888 702-1111 Ext. 8 llubka@ecolog.com www.ecolog.com Acct Mgr Vince Naccarato

ERIS Ltd. 80 Valleybrook Dr Toronto ON M3B 2T5 416 510-5204 Fax: 416 510-5133 Toll-Free: 866 517-5204 Toll-Free Fax: 866 251-8611 info@erisinfo.com www.erisinfo.com Dir-Sls/Bus Dev Mark Mattei

EcoLog News 80 Valleybrook Dr Toronto ON M3B 2S9 416 442-5600 Ext. 3570 Fax: 416 510-5128 Toll-Free: 888 702-1111 Ext. 8 llubka@ecolog.com www.ecolog.com Acct Mgr Vince Naccarato

Euramco Safety 2746 Via Orange Way Spring Valley CA 91978 619 670-9590 Fax: 619 670-7345 Toll-Free: 800 472-6326 theteam@euramcosafety.com www.euramcosafety.com

EHS Canada Inc. 2964 South Grimsby Rd 18, RR 1 Smithville ON L0R 2A0 905 643-3343 Fax: 905 643-3211 info@ehscanada.ca www.ehscanada.ca Sr Proj Mgr Cathy Courage Electro-Medical Instrument Co. 1-2359 Royal Windsor Dr Mississauga ON L5J 4S9 905 822-3188 Fax: 905 822-9920 Toll-Free: 800 263-6430 emi-canada@bellnet.ca www.emi-canada.com Cust Support/Serv Mgr Rick Cameron

Electrolab Training Systems PO Box 320 Belleville ON K8N 5A5 Location: 335 University Ave Belleville ON K8N 5T7

Exair Corporation 11510 Goldcoast Dr Cincinnati OH 45249-1621 513 671-3322 Fax: 513 671-3363 Toll-Free: 800 903-9247 techelp@exair.com www.exair.com

F.O. Safety Eyewear Inc. 200-1916 Dewdney Ave Regina SK S4R 1G9 403 527-3661 Fax: 403 580-8190 Toll-Free: 855 527-3661 ckessler.fosafetyeyewear@shaw.ca www.fosafetyeyewear.ca VP-Bus Dev Charlotte Kessler F.O. Safety Eyewear Inc is a leading supplier of prescription and non-prescription safety eyewear. We provide everything from the traditional ONGuard frames to the latest in WileyX and Edge sealed /close fitting eye-

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wear. We use digital polycarbonate hardcoated safety lenses in all prescription eyewear to ensure our clients receive the highest quality lenses. Our wholly owned state-of-the-art digital manufacturing lab allows us to provide this product at incredibly competitive pricing.

Our 40+ retail locations throughout Western Canada (including Fort McMurray, Fort St John, Prince George, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Saskatoon to name a few – for more visit www.fosafetyeyewear.ca. We can also provide our clients onsite fittings to ensure we are able to fully service any client.

Contact us today for more info.

Fall Protection Systems 224 N Highway 67, #193 Florissant MO 63031 Fax: 314 551-0600 Toll-Free: 888 596-5367 sales@fallprotectionsystems.com www.fallprotectionsystems.com Mktg Mgr Danielle Thomas Foot-Cares 4998A Sixth Line Acton ON L7J 2L8 647 236-2256 Toll-Free: 800 663-2550 michael@foot-cares.com www.foot-cares.com Pres Michael T Glogowski Forestry Suppliers Inc. PO Box 8397 Jackson MS 39284-8397 Location: 205 W Rankin St Jackson MS 39201-6126 601 354-3565 Fax: 601 355-5126 Toll-Free: 800 647-6450 Toll-Free Fax: 800 543-4203 int@forestry-suppliers.com www.forestry-suppliers.com Supvr Charlie Rogers GENEQ Inc. 10700 rue Secant Montréal QC H1J 1S5 514 354-2511 Fax: 514 354-6948 Toll-Free: 800 463-4363 info@geneq.com www.geneq.com Pres Maurice Parisé Glove Guard LP PO Box 946 Highlands TX 77562 Location: 1625 E Houston St 281 426-2714 Fax: 281 426-6135 Toll-Free: 888 660-6133 safety@gloveguard.com www.gloveguard.com Office Mgr Linda Hanks

Emails published should be used only to contact the company regarding their products. These emails are NOT CASL compliant. www.ohscanada.com

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Grace Industries, Inc. 305 Bend Hill Rd Fredonia PA 16124 724 962-9231 Fax: 724 962-3611 Toll-Free: 800 969-6933 info@graceindustries.com www.graceindustries.com Sls Mgr Dan Smith

Personal safety accountability monitors and emergency signaling systems for Lone Workers and Mobile Lone Workers. Audible and motion sensing man-down PASS Alarms and wireless TPASS alarms provide safety monitoring, evacuation, and location of workers in any situation. Taking our lone worker applications “on the road”, we have teamed up with vehicular telematics specialist to provide a GPS enabled Mobile Lone Worker solution. Replace your Lone Worker check-in system with real time protection!.

Graywolf Sensing Solutions 6 Research Dr Shelton CT 06484 203 402-0477 Fax: 203 402-0478 Toll-Free: 800 218-7997 salesteam@graywolfsensing.com www.graywolfsensing.com Marketing Admin Cassandra Rivera Great Lakes Safety Products Inc. 3303 Walker Rd Windsor ON N8W 3R9 519 972-6605 Fax: 519 972-6620 sales@glspi.com www.glspi.com Pres/Owner Thomas Diemer GWS Ergonomics Inc. 22 Moresby St Richmond Hill ON L4B 4K8 905 761-0370 Fax: 905 761-0371 info@gwsergo.com www.gwsergo.com Pres Ralph Cilevitz Hand Tools Institute 25 North Broadway Tarrytown NY 10591 914 332-0040 Fax: 914 332-1541 hti@hti.org www.hti.org Tech Mgr John Foote Haws 1455 Kleppe Ln Sparks NV 89431 775 359-4712 Fax: 775 359-7424 Toll-Free: 888 640-4297 info@hawsco.com www.hawsco.com

HazMat Management Magazine 80 Valleybrook Dr Toronto ON M3B 2S9 416 510-6798 Fax: 416 510-5133 Toll-Free: 888 702-1111 bobrien@hazmatmag.com www.hazmatmag.com Pub Brad O’Brien Health Systems Group 6519A Mississauga Rd Mississauga ON L5N 1A6 905 858-0333 Fax: 905 858-3136 Toll-Free: 888 809-0333 service@healthsystemsgroup.com www.healthsystemsgroup.com Pres Kim Snider

heat, Hi Vis, Welders Clothing, Tarps,Parkas, Sleeves, Aprons, Shop Coats,Head Protection, Gloves, Mitts for welders, maintenance, High temperature, puncture resistant, Neck Guard over 400 items. We custom design to suit your needs with a No Minimum Order. We ship Internationally / Drop ship as per your instructions.

Internet Based Learning Ltd. 687 Whitehaven Cres London ON N6G 4V6 519 850-9892 Fax: 519 850-2254 info@ibl.ca www.whmis.net Dir-Sls/Mktg Paul Williams

HeartSafe EMS 159 Victoria St Bolton ON L7E 3G9 416 410-4911 Fax: 905 857-7312 Toll-Free: 888 322-3791 info@heartsafe.ca www.heartsafe.ca Corp Dir-Education Glenn Burke

J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. PO Box 368 Neenah WI 54957-0368 Location: 3003 Breezewood Ln Neenah WI 54956 920 722-2848 Toll-Free: 800 327-6868 Toll-Free Fax: 800 727-7516 sales@jjkeller.com www.jjkeller.com/jjk Mktg Dev Mgr Stephanie Hallman

ICC The Compliance Center Inc. 7-205 Matheson Blvd E Mississauga ON L4Z 1X8 905 890-7228 Fax: 905 890-7070 Toll-Free: 888 977-4834 Toll-Free Fax: 866 821-0735 sales@thecompliancecenter.com www.thecompliancecenter.com Bus Dev Mgr Greg Monette

Jenalex Inc. – Ergonomic Products 1711-3230 Yonge St Toronto ON M4N 3P6 416 485-9487 Toll-Free: 800 536-2539 info@jenalex.ca www.jenalex.ca Pres Hans Lofgreen

Industrial Scientific Corp.

140-120 Pembina Rd Sherwood Park AB T8H 0M2 780 467-2423 Fax: 780 467-2105 Toll-Free: 800 338-3287 info@indsci.com www.indsci.com

Justrite Mfg. Co., L.L.C. 300 – 2454 Dempster St Des Plaines IL 60016 847 298-9250 Fax: 847 298-9261 Toll-Free: 800 798-9250 Toll-Free Fax: 800 488-5877 justrite@justritemfg.com www.justritemfg.com

International Safety Equipment Association 1901 N Moore St Arlington VA 22209 703 525-1695 Fax: 703 528-2148 isea@safetyequipment.org www.safetyequipment.org Pres Daniel K Shipp

International Sew-Right Co. 6190 Don Murie St Niagara Falls ON L2E 6X8 905 374-3600 Fax: 905 374-6121 www.safetyclothingcanada.com

International Sew Right has been manufacturing and custom designing safety clothing since 1983. Safety Clothing, PPE, Arc Flash, High

LEHDER Environmental Services Limited 210-704 Mara St Point Edward ON N7V 1X4 519 336-4101 Fax: 519 336-4311 Toll-Free: 877 534-3371 info@lehder.com www.lehder.com Principal Mark Roehler Branch Office: Edmonton, Alberta: 780 462-4099 Fax: 780 462-4392 info@lehder.com.

Levitt-Safety 2872 Bristol Cir Oakville ON L6H 5T5 905 829-3299 Fax: 905 829-2919 Toll-Free: 888 453-8488 csr@levitt-safety.com www.levitt-safety.com Lift Truck Safety Training Centre Inc. PO Box 22004 Edmonton AB T6L 0A1 780 465-5001 Toll-Free: 888 665-5001 www.liftrucksafetytraining.ca Lineman’s Testing Laboratories of Canada Limited 46 Meridian Rd Etobicoke ON M9W 4Z7 416 742-6911 Fax: 416 748-0290 Toll-Free: 800 299-9769 main@ltl.ca www.ltl.ca Mktg Mgr Lisa Downs Martor USA 29 – 1235 S Kimps Crt Green Bay WI 54313 920 662-9646 Fax: 920 662-9648 info@martorusa.com www.martorusa.com

K-Sun Corporation PO Box 309 Somerset WI 54025 Location: 370 SMC Dr 715 247-4440 Fax: 715 247-4003 Toll-Free: 800 622-6312 Toll-Free Fax: 800 522-9108 info@ksun.com www.ksun.com Gen Mgr Linda Law

Micwil Group of Companies Ltd. PO Box 9022 Saskatoon SK S7K 7E7 Location: 102 Wheeler St Saskatoon SK S7P 0A9 306 382-5995 Fax: 306 382-4995 Toll-Free: 866 335-3746 sales@micwil.com www.micwil.com

Kit Care Corporation 6358 Viscount Rd Mississauga ON L4V 1H3 416 243-3030 Fax: 416 243-3082 Toll-Free: 800 387-1858 Toll-Free Fax: 866 777-0787 kitcarecorp@kitcarecorp.com www.kitcarecorp.com Pres Gerald J Yaffe

Moldex-Metric Inc. 10111 W Jefferson Blvd Culver City CA 90232 310 837-6500 Fax: 310 837-9563 Toll-Free: 800 421-0668 sales@moldex.com www.moldex.com Natl Sls Mgr David Schuck; Mktg Mgr Craig Smidt

Emails published should be used only to contact the company regarding their products. These emails are NOT CASL compliant.

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016 Monarch Regulatory Services Inc. 20 Kings Gate Dundas ON L9H 3Z7 905 628-6631 Fax: 905 628-9252 www.monarchregservices.ca Pres Chrim Middleton, DGPA

No Skidding Product Inc. 266 Wildcat Rd Toronto ON M3J 2N5 416 667-1788 Fax: 416 667-1783 Toll-Free: 800 375-0571 leon@noskidding.com www.noskidding.com

Mount Vernon FR PO Box 7 Trion GA 30753 Location: 91 Fourth St 706 734-4815 Fax: 706 734-3531 mvmfr@mvmills.com www.mvmfr.com

Occupational Health Dynamics 2687 John Hawkins Parkway Pelham AL 35244 205 980-0180 Fax: 205 980-5764 Toll-Free: 888 464-3872 sales@ohdusa.com www.ohdusa.com Pres Andy Coats

MSA – The Safety Company 222-5535 Eglinton Ave W Toronto ON M9C 5K5 416 620-4225 Toll-Free: 800 672-2222 info@msanet.com www.msanet.com Product Mgr Sean Donovan Nanofilm 10111 Sweet Valley Dr Valley View OH 44125 216 447-1199 Fax: 216 447-1137 Toll-Free: (Customer Service) 888 363-7364 orders@nanofilmusa.com www.nanofilmusa.com Sls Rep Gina Montello NASCO Industries, Inc. 3 N E 21st St Washington IN 47501 812 254-7393 Fax: 812 254-6476 Toll-Free: 800 767-4288 sales@nascoinc.com www.nascoinc.com Dir-Mktg Andrew Wirts National Institute of Disability Management and Research 4755 Cherry Creek Rd Port Alberni BC V9Y 0A7 778 421-0821 Ext. 201 Fax: 778 421-0823 nidmar@nidmar.ca www.nidmar.ca Asst Exec Dir Joyce Gravelle National Safety Council 1121 Spring Lake Dr Itasca IL 60143-3201 630 285-1121 Fax: 630 285-1315 Toll-Free: 800 621-7619 customerservice@nsc.org www.nsc.org Mktg Mgr Heidi Mitchell Niagara Software Ltd. 29 Kelsonia Ave Toronto ON M1M 1B2 416 520-7478 www.wcbpro.ca Pres Paul Ambos

C A N A D A

OHS Canada Media 80 Valleybrook Dr Toronto ON M3B 2S9 416 510-5102 Fax: 416 510-5140 pboxer@ohscanada.com www.ohscanada.com Pub Peter Boxer

OHS Canada Media is Canada’s frontrunning OH&S information & education resource, including OHS Canada Magazine, the nation’s leading publication serving OHS&S professionals since 1985.

OHS Canada Media includes; Pipeline Magazine (Canada’s Oil & Gas Safety Magazine), Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News, Canada’s only weekly news source dedicated to occupational health & safety and both www. ohscanada.com & www.pipelinemagazine.ca, providing daily news, web-dedicated editorial, video, industry news and much, much more.

OLFA – North America – Div. of World Kitchen, LLC 9525 W Bryn Mawr Ave, Unit 300 Rosemont IL 60018 Toll-Free: 800 962-6352 Toll-Free Fax: 866 509-9902 olfainformation@worldkitchen.com www.olfa.com Natl Acct Mgr Philippe Plouffe Optrel Inc. PO Box 1454 East Greenwich RI 02818 Location: 5 Division St #35 401 398-7240 Fax: 401 398-2740 info_us@optrel.com www.optrel.com/usa VP-Sls Grant Cooper O’Reilly Health & Safety Consulting Stratford ON N5A 5W6 416 294-4141 info@ohsconsulting.ca www.ohsconsulting.ca Owner Yvonne O’Reilly

Pacesetter Sales & Associates 18 Cardinal Crt McKellar ON P2A 0B4 905 478-8042 clindsay@pacesettersales.com www.pacesettersales.com Pres Craig Lindsay Peavey Performance Systems/Safety Jackpot 10749 W 84th Terrace Lenexa KS 66214 913 888-0600 Fax: 913 495-6757 Toll-Free: 800 235-2495 info@safetyjackpot.com www.safetyjackpot.com Sls Mgr Pat Tracy Phoenix OHC, Inc. 401-837 Princess St Kingston ON K7L 1G8 613 544-4046 mail@phoenix-ohc.ca www.phoenix-ohc.ca Pres/Principal Tom Beardall Pinchin Ltd. 2470 Milltower Crt Mississauga ON L5N 7W5 905 363-0678 Fax: 905 363-0681 Toll-Free: 855 746-2446 info@pinchin.com www.pinchin.com CRM/Events Coord José Barinque Ranpro Inc. PO Box 430 Simcoe ON N3Y 4L6 Location: 620 Ireland Rd 519 426-1094 Fax: 519 426-5313 Toll-Free: 877 744-0449 Toll-Free Fax: 888 272-6776 ranpro@ranpro.com www.ranpro.com Accntg Mgr Nancy Malcolm RKI Instruments, Inc. 33248 Central Ave Union City CA 94587-2010 510 441-5656 Fax: 510 441-5650 Toll-Free: 800 754-5165 john@rkiinstruments.com www.rkiinstruments.com Sr Application Engr John Villalovos Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1201 South Second St Milwaukee WI 53204-2496 414 382-2000 Fax: 414 382-4444 Toll-Free: 800 223-5354 webmaster@rockwellautomation.com www.rockwellautomation.com Ronco Protective Products 70 Planchet Rd Concord ON L4K 2C7 905 660-6700 Fax: 905 660-6903

C A N A D A

Toll-Free: 877 663-7735 ronco@ronco.ca www.ronco.ca Mktg Mgr Vani Kshattriya ROYER 712 rue Principale Lac-Drolet QC G0Y 1C0 819 549-2100 Fax: 819 549-2584 Toll-Free: 800 567-7693 client@royer.com www.royer.com Saf-T-Gard International, Inc. 205 Huehl Rd Northbrook IL 60062 847 291-1600 Fax: 847 291-1610 Toll-Free: 800 548-4273 Toll-Free Fax: 888 548-4273 safety@saftgard.com www.saftgard.com Pres Richard Rivkin Safeguard Technology Inc. 1460 Miller Pkwy Streetsboro OH 44241-4640 330 995-5200 Fax: 330 995-5201 Toll-Free: 800 989-1695 jgkerlek@safeguard-technology.com www.safeguard-technology.com VP Jerome Kerlek Safety Direct Ltd. P.O. Box 3026 Sherwood Park AB T8H 2T1 Location: 100-2210 Premier Way Sherwood Park AB T8H 2L2 780 464-7139 Fax: 780 464-7652 inquiries@safetydirect.ca www.safetydirect.ca Pres Brett Zeissler SafetySync Corporation 1324 36 Ave NE Calgary AB T2E 8S1 403 668-6402 Toll-Free: 866 668-6402 Toll-Free Fax: 855 321-0003 info@safetysync.com www.safetysync.com St. John Ambulance National Office 400-1900 City Park Dr Ottawa ON K1J 1A3 613 236-7461 Fax: 613 236-2425 Toll-Free: 888 840-5646 register@nhq.sja.ca www.sja.ca Showa 253 rue Michaud Coaticook QC J1A 1A9 819 849-6381 Fax: 819 849-6120 Toll-Free: 800 565-2378 info@showagroup.com www.showagroup.com

Emails published should be used only to contact the company regarding their products. These emails are NOT CASL compliant. www.ohscanada.com

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016

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C A N A D A

BUYERS’ GUIDE 2016

Siemens Process Industries & Drives 3333 Old Milton Parkway Alpharetta GA 30005-4437 770 751-2000 Fax: 678 297-8316 Toll-Free: 800 241-4453 helpline.si@siemens.com www.usa.siemens.com/industry SNC-Lavalin Inc. Environment & Water 110-20 Colonnade Rd Ottawa ON K2E 7M6 613 226-2456 Fax: 613 226-9980 environment@snclavalin.com www.snclavalin.com/environment Bus Dev Mgr Austin Sweezey Solid Waste & Recycling Magazine 80 Valleybrook Dr Toronto ON M3B 2S9 416 510-6798 Fax: 416 510-5133 Toll-Free: 888 702-1111 Toll-Free Fax: 866 251-8611 bobrien@solidwastemag.com www.solidwastemag.com Pub Brad O’Brien Sonic Soil Sampling Inc. 668 Millway Ave Concord ON L4K 3V2 905 660-0501 Fax: 905 660-7143 Toll-Free: 877 897-6642 Toll-Free Fax: 888 251-7445 sonic@sonicsoil.com www.sonicsoil.com SOS Emergency Response Technologies 126-160 Tycos Dr North York ON M6B 1W8 416 789-7689 Fax: 416 789-5470 Toll-Free: 888 645-8323 info@sostor.com www.sostor.com Stantec Consulting Ltd. 300-2100 Derry Rd W Mississauga ON L5N 0B3 905 858-4424 Fax: 905 858-4426 Toll-Free: 800 649-4424 rob.robinson@stantec.com www.stantec.com Rob Robinson Starquip Industrial Products Ltd. 4-40 Dynamic Dr Toronto ON M1V 2W2 416 286-7116 Fax: 416 286-8595 info@starquip.com www.starquip.com Sec-Treas C Stella

Stonehouse Signs, Inc. PO Box 546 Arvada CO 80001 Location: 5550 West 60th Ave Arvada CO 80003 303 422-2356 Fax: 303 467-1382 Toll-Free: (Customer Service) 800 525-0456 Toll-Free Fax: 800 255-0883 sales@stonehousesigns.com www.stonehousesigns.com Mktg Mgr Becky Roche Strider-Resource PO Box 290 Bond Head ON L0G 1B0 Location: 5667 King Rd Nobleton ON L0G 1N0 905 859-3901 Fax: 905 859-4345 service@strider-resource.com www.strider-resource.com T. Harris Environmental Management Inc. 101-93 Skyway Ave Toronto ON M9W 6N6 416 679-8914 Fax: 416 679-8915 Toll-Free: 888 275-8436 info@tharris.ca www.tharris.ca Pres/CEO C John Fisher TankTek Environmental Services Ltd. 970 Third Conc Rd Pickering ON L1V 2P8 905 839-4400 Fax: 905 839-6600 Toll-Free: 877 789-6224 inquiries@tanktek.com www.tanktek.com Pres Thomas Burt Team-1 Academy Inc. 19-760 Pacific Rd Oakville ON L6L 6M5 905 827-0007 Fax: 905 827-0049 brian@team1academy.com www.team1academy.com Ops Mgr Brian Kovalcik Tenaquip Ltd. 22555 aut Transcanadienne Senneville QC H9X 3L7 Toll-Free: 800 661-2400 info@tenaquip.com www.tenaquip.com Cust Serv Mgr Chris Oliver The Global Group 1350 Flint Rd Downsview ON M3J 2J7 416 661-3660 Fax: 416 667-0338 Toll-Free: 877 446-2251 www.globaltotaloffice.com Dir-Mktg Nicole Adams The Safety Knife Company 7948 Park Dr

St. Louis MO 63117 314 645-3900 Fax: 314 645-0728 sales@safetyknife.us.com www.safetyknife.net/ Dir-Mktg Laura Wissman

toronto@waynesafety.com www.waynesafety.com Mgr Aaron Nisker Branch Office: Calgary, Alberta: 800 315-4866 Fax: 403 273-4662 Web: calgary@waynesafety.com.

Therm-Omega-Tech, Inc. 353 Ivyland Rd Warminster PA 18974-2205 215 674-9992 Fax: 215 674-8594 Toll-Free: 877 379-8258 valves@thermomegatech.com www.ThermOmegaTech.com Sls/Mktg Mgr Tom Ruggierio

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services Suite 300-5110 Creekbank Rd Mississauga ON L4W 0A1 905 614-1400 Fax: 905 614-1414 Toll-Free: 877 494-9777 customercare@wsps.ca www.wsps.ca

Trillium International (Derma Defense Ltd.) PO Box 41063, Shaughnessy Port Coquitlam BC V3C 5Z9 Toll-Free: 888 801-8488 pbthiessen@gmail.com www.dermadefense.com

Workplace Safety & Wellness Solutions Vaughan ON L4K 4K7 416 270-3181 Fax: 905 597-0116 info@workplacesafety-ontario.com www.workplacesafety-ontario.com Occup Ther Anna Matrosov

Trusty Step International 271 Western Ave Lynn MA 01904 781 593-9800 Fax: 781 598-4937 Toll-Free: 800 323-0047 safety@trusty-step.com www.trusty-step.com Pres Stan Handman Unique Products Inc. 16865 110 Ave Edmonton AB T5P 1G8 780 974-7039 Fax: 780 444-0807 Toll-Free: 780 974-7039 Toll-Free Fax: 780 444-0807 upi@shaw.ca www.e-zeelockouts.com Owner Pat Hanlon Veolia ES Canada Services Industriels Inc. 1705 3e Av Montréal QC H1B 5M9 514 645-1621 Fax: 514 645-5133 Toll-Free: (Customer Service) 888 778-6699 ca.mkg.info-veolia.all.groups@veolia.com www.Veoliase.com VF Imagewear Canada, Inc. 9146 Yellowhead Trail NW Edmonton AB T5B 1G2 780 479-4444 Ext. 0 Fax: 780 477-1718 Toll-Free: 800 667-0700 Ext. 0 Toll-Free Fax: 866 419-1110 kendra_derbyshire@vfc.com www.bulwark.com Dir-Sls/Mktg Tim LeMessurier Wayne Safety Inc. 1250 Sheppard Ave W Toronto ON M3K 2A6 416 661-1100 Fax: 416 661-3447 Toll-Free: 800 387-3713

Workplace Safety North 690 McKeown Ave North Bay ON P1B 7M2 705 474-7233 Fax: 705 472-5800 Toll-Free: 888 730-7821 info@workplacesafetynorth.ca www.workplacesafetynorth.ca Workrite Uniform Company Canada 7031 68 Ave NW Edmonton AB T6B 3E3 780 466-6385 Fax: 780 466-7560 www.workritefr.ca

YOW Canada Inc. 1306 Algoma Rd Ottawa ON K1B 3W8 613 688-2845 Fax: 613 248-0711 Toll-Free: 866 688-2845 info@yowcanada.com www.yowcanada.com

YOW Canada Inc. provides high quality occupational health and safety training and materials to aid Canadians with safety compliance. Bilingual online courses includes WHMIS 2015, Transportation of Dangerous Goods, Workplace Violence & Harassment, and much more. YOW Canada Inc. – Safety Compliance Made Easy!.

Zenith Safety Products 22555 aut Transcanadienne Senneville QC H9X 3L7 Toll-Free: 866 457-1163 Toll-Free Fax: 866 457-1164 info@zenithsafety.com www.zenithsafety.com

Emails published should be used only to contact the company regarding their products. These emails are NOT CASL compliant.

58

B U Y E R S ’ G U I D E 2016 ohs canada

BG products list SepOct 2015.indd 58

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@OHSCanada

OHS CANADA

Your #1 SOURCE of Occupational Health & Safety Information

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Subscribe to OHS Canada and receive:  BONUS Handbook - choose one: TILT! - Everything you need to know about Lift Truck Safety Stayin’ Alive - An introduction to Health & Safety on the job training for Young Workers and New Employees A Measure of Security - Tips, advice and cautions for building a safe and secure workplace

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BG products list SepOct 2015.indd 59

15-10-07 10:11 AM

PRODUCT SHOWCASE an advertising feature

MSA GRAVITY® UTILITY FULL BODY HARNESS MSA Gravity® Utility Full Body Harness is well-suited for confined space, rescue, transmission tower, telecom tower and rope access applications. Made of nylon web, it is equipped with PVC-coated d-rings and Kevlar® backpad. Tested for arc flash; it meets all requirements of ASTM F887 and ANSI Z359.1 standards. To learn more:

1-800-672-2222 MSAsafety.com

SAFETY EYEWEAR – 1500 SERIES We wear fall protection when working at heights and hearing protection on loud work sites. Why, then, do we go without sunglasses in the bright summer months when working outside? Perfectly blending comfort, performance and flair, the 1500-Series offers a streamlined frame design with attitude and bold style.

Visit 3M.ca/Safety for more information.

WORKRITE UNIFORM COMPANY LAUNCHES FR CLOTHING APP Workrite Uniform Company’s industry-changing FR clothing smartphone app is now available for download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play nationwide. The app features an FR dictionary, educational videos, FR fabric usage and care information, and 360-degree images and product details for Workrite® FR, Dickies® FR and Walls® FR workwear.

Workrite Uniform Company 800-521-1888 www.workrite.com/canada

THE HATSCAN HANDI-GUIDE SERIES The leading source of expertise on occupational health and safety law in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada.

Each title in this series provides quick, reliable access to the law plus the expert insight that helps you interpret the law. Powerful safety tools for you and your employees!

Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business Order your copies today! www.carswell.com Toll free 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto 416-609-3800

Handi- Guide to Alberta’s OH&S Act, Regulation and Code - $35.95 Handi- Guide to British Columbia’s OH&S Regulation - $46.95 Handi-Guide to Saskatchewan’s OH&S Act and Regulations - $36.95 Handi-Guide to Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulations - $44.95 Handi-Guide to Atlantic Canada’s Workplace Health and Safety Legislation - $89.95 Handi-Guide to Federal Workplace Health and Safety Legislation - $54.95

GOGGLE GUARD The new Goggle Guard™ clip is a fast and convenient way to keep safety goggles securely held to a hard hat. Made from a high quality plastic, the clip snaps to the brim of most hard hats and some bump caps. Goggle Guard™ clip also features a pencil clip.

Customize your clips with a company name, logo, contact information or even your own safety slogan!

Glove Guard 1-888-660-6133 www.gloveguard.com

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ohs canada

15-09-29 12:32 PM

www.ohscanada.com

A D V E R T I S I N G D I R E C T O RY

www.ohscanada. com

C A N A D A

3M

Dentec Safety

MSA Safety

A-Med

Draeger

Nasco Inc.

BCRSP

Glove Guard

Thermacell

Canadian Red Cross

Internet Based Learning

True North

Carswell

Martor

Workrite

www.dentecsafety.com For ad see page 7

www.3M.ca/ESLI For ad see page 64

www.msasafety.com For ad see page 63

www.draeger.com For ad see page 49

www.a-medsupply.ca For ad see page 41

www.nascoinc.com For ad see page 14

www.gloveguard.com For ad see page 13

www.bcrsp.ca For ad see page 11

www.thermacell.com For ad see page 9

www.whmis.net For ad see page 41

www.dragonwear.com For ad see page 15

www.martorusa.com For ad see page 12

www.carswell.com For ad see page 16

ADVERTISING DIRECTORY

www.ecconference.ca For ad see page 5

www.workrite.com/canada For ad see page 2

Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News

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?

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 Is your company ready for the GHS, which takes full effect in Canada in 2018?

JULY/AUGUST 2015 Can workplace injury shorten lifespan?

Yes

40%

Yes 96%

No

39%

No 2%

Not Sure

21%

Not Sure

2%

Total Votes

249

Total Votes

695

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

TIPPING POINT: A costly mistake, but fortunately one that was reversible, thanks to the staff at a bakery in Calgary. A customer who bought $49 worth of baked goods at Sidewalk Citizen mistakenly left a whopping $525 tip. Employees at the bakery did not notice the gratuity until they were cashing out at the end of the day, The Canadian Press reported on September 8. Suspecting that the overly generous tip might have been an error, the staff alerted the Royal Bank, which contacted the customer, who returned to claim her refund. Lesson learned?

Go slow on the debit machine and always check what has been keyed in before pressing OK. CANDID CAMERA: Political parties may want to con-

sider tightening their candidate-screening processes in future. Jerry Bance, who had been running as a Conservative candidate for the Parliament seat representing ScarboroughRouge Park in the Toronto area, has been identified by the CBC as the home-repair technician who was caught on footage urinating into a cup and dumping the fluid into a kitchen sink he was supposed to be repairing. The hidden cameras were planted as part of a Marketplace exposé on repairmen overcharging customers for simple repairs, a program that aired in 2012, UPI reported on September 8. Bance was not the only Conservative candidate who was embarrassed by a past deed. The campaign of his fellow Toronto-area candidate Tim Dutaud also ended after a YouTube video of him making prank phone calls and derogatory statements about people with disabilities surfaced.

JUST FOR LAUGHS: It is not Halloween yet, but a 9-1-1

caller was spooked when he reported seeing a unicorn chasing a screaming man through a cemetery in Victoria on the night of August 30. Police officers who arrived at the scene found a man wearing a unicorn mask, waving a large, black hunting knife, as a terrified man tried to get away, according to The Canadian Press. It was only after the officers ordered the masked unicorn to drop his weapon that they learned the two men were making a funny video. The jokers apologized to the officers for the unintended concern they had raised.

The police officers were not amused.

SANDWICH FOR A SNAKE: A man who threw a

snake across the counter of a Tim Hortons outlet in Saskatoon last December has been given a conditional discharge with six months of probation for mischief and causing a disturbance.

The 21-year-old, who was upset that diced onions were not put on his sandwich, responded by throwing a snake behind the counter. He was ordered not to go back to the store where the incident had occurred and to pay a $500 victim surcharge as part of his sentence, The Canadian Press reported on August 27. The snake — aptly named Outlaw — has since been taken to an animal sanctuary where it now resides.

THE NEW NORMAL?: A single mom whose car had

been stolen from behind her home in Calgary on August 24 had to deal with a bigger headache after police contacted her to collect her recovered car, which had undergone a forensic

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audit. What she found inside the vehicle spoke of nothing less than shoddy police work: an overlooked bag of cocaine, a crack pipe, a knife and a pellet gun tucked under the front passenger seat, according to the Calgary Sun. Riled by the blatantly poor police work by Calgary’s finest, the woman has filed an official complaint with the Calgary Police Service Professional Standards section.

ROUGH LANDING: It was a close call for a 70-year-old

pilot, who literally crawled away from death when his small plane flipped, following an emergency landing after the plane experienced engine trouble. Several people in the area came to help when the two-seater, ultra-light kit plane came down in the community of Walden at Calgary’s southeast. The pilot and lone occupant of the plane was taken to hospital with only minor injuries, the Calgary Sun reported on August 22.

This incident took place barely two weeks after a similar crash occurred just west of Calgary on August 8, when a small plane made an impromptu hard landing in a field. In that incident, the pilot also walked away unharmed.

BARELY WORKING: For those who take kinky selfies and share them, be careful of whom you send them to. A 23-year-old Chicago man lost his job after he mistakenly sent not one, but two, naked selfies to the human resources manager who had just hired him, the Toronto Sun reported on September 2. The manager contacted police after receiving the two naked selfies, only to realize that the sender was none other than the job applicant himself when he made a followup call the next morning. The manager did not press charges, but the offer of employment has been rescinded. Ouch.

COP OUT: Free meal for a bad-taste joke? That was what

the Arby’s sandwich chain did, after a restaurant manager and a clerk at an outlet near Miami sparked a furor for cracking a joke about refusing to serve police officers. A police officer at an Arby’s drive-through accused the clerk of refusing to accept her credit card when she ordered a meal at the restaurant and the manager of telling her that the clerk did not want to serve her because she was a cop, Reuters reported on September 4. Back at the station, the officer lodged a complaint that led to the police chief issuing a press release, demanding an apology from the sandwich chain. In a public letter, Arby’s apologized to all Miami-area police departments, fired the manager and suspended the clerk. As a reconciliatory gesture, the chain invited all officers in the Miami area to receive a free combo meal for one day. Yummy.

NOT JUST PUDDING: It was too early in the year for

Santa to come save the day, but a group of firefighters in Devon, a county in England, did when they were called to a house after a Christmas pudding caught fire in a microwave. It was not clear why the seasonal treat was being served in September, but the firefighters duly put the fiery pudding out, British tabloid Metro reported on September 8. No one was hurt and the damage was limited only to the Christmas pudding.

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

ohs canada

15-10-02 10:34 AM

There’s nothing predictable about life on a work site. That’s why we’re here for you 24/7. Whether you need safety equipment ASAP. Or training for the crew. In fact, our first call resolution record is consistently above 94%.

Get a free safety evaluation at MSAsafety.com keyword: eval. or use the QR code below to sign up.

© MSA 2015 • ID 5759

www.ohscanada.com

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Time to toss

Providing added peace of mind, the End of Service Life Indicator (ESLI) with the first visual indicator for organic vapour cartridges from 3M, takes the guesswork out of life.

3M.ca/ESLI

End of Service Life Indicator

#NoGuesswork #ImprovingLives 3M and 3M Science. Applied to Life. are trademarks of 3M. Used under license in Canada. Š 2015, 3M. All rights reserved. 150903644 E BA-15-20639

TimeOut Sept_Oct 2015.indd 64

new life

half life

end-of-life

toss

15-10-02 10:34 AM