OHS Canada July/August 2012

C A N A D A’ S O C C U PAT I O N A L H E A LT H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E J U LY / A UGUST 2012

C A N A D A

Old meets New Harmonizing WHMIS with the new classification

deadly dust

In full force against dust explosions

double-dealing

Keeping an eye out on fraudulent claims

MEA CULPA To plead or not to plead guilty

mental TRAUMA Fleshing out psychological injury

lead them to safety

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

c o m b u stible dust

CC AA NN A AD DA A

Features

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Dust to Dust

J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 2 Vo l u m e 2 8 , N u m b e r 5

The destruction of two sawmills in British Columbia has triggered investigations and an industry-wide review of mill safety and dust-control practices.

By Jean Lian

G l o b a l Harmonization

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New Letters, Old System

A new classification for hazardous chemicals promises enhanced safety, but making the transition from WHMIS to the new system presents challenges.

By Donalee Moulton

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c l a i m s Fraud

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Compromising Positions

Claims fraud, although by and large uncommon, can lead to increased costs, lower morale and affect the timely return-to-work of injured workers.

By Angela Stelmakowich

departments 44

A cc i d e nt Prevention

Crack in the Sky

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Knowing when and where to seek shelter from lightning strikes is key for outdoor workers who may cross paths with the wrath of Mother Nature.

46

l aw f i le

Not Seeing Eye to Eye A study on the disconnect in fines between those meted out by Ontario’s labour ministry and the courts prompts a re-evaluation of responses to oh&s charges.

By Greg Burchell

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For workers who carry loads, lifting devices that offer assistance in various forms can help protect workers’ backs and prevent repetitive strain injuries.

in this issue E ditoria l

Fair Weather Foe

By Jason Contant

4 6

O H &S UP DATE

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Dis patc hes

Bull’s eye on reel hazards; keeping tabs on distracted driving; stage collapses in fair weather; online trespass; and more.

Profe ss i o n a l d i r e c t ory product sh ow c a s e Ad I ndex

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W or k e rs’ Co m p ensation

Sizing up Invisible Hurt

letters

Federal government blocks Yukon inquest; City of Vancouver guilty of retaliation; Alberta caregiver killed; Saskatchewan mine gets maximum fine; hand injuries spur penalties in Manitoba; forklift rollover claims one in New Brunswick; fatality on shrimp boat in Newfoundland; and more.

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Sa fe t y Gear

A Helping Hand

The reversal of a ruling on a mental anxiety claim in favour of a worker highlights the complexities of determining psychological injury.

By Jean lian & jason Contant

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T i m e Out

Santa calls; bon appetit; bucket-listed; negligee melee; divine guidance; push factors; and more.

20

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.

– margaret fuller

54 56 57 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

Fair Weather Foe S

ummer — a season during which many of us plan getaways — is also the busiest time of the year for some occupations.

The combination of long daylight hours and fair weather means booming business for professions, such as roofing, construction, logging and landscaping. That means many outdoor workers are climbing extension ladders, going up on rooftops and scaling heights on bucket trucks, fixing utility lines or falling trees.

This burst of outdoor commercial activities is also accompanied by a seasonal spike in work-related injuries. A research report published in 2007 by New Zealand’s Department of Labour in Wellington found that more work-related fatal incidents tend to occur during the summer months, followed by autumn. While summer months in New Zealand unfold in a different time of the year than in Canada, the finding speaks to the same risks faced by outdoor workers in both countries during this peak season.

A roofer, who fell to his death while working on a three-storey home in Toronto on June 21, is a case in point. Just two weeks prior to this incident, another worker fell from the roof of a two-and-a-half storey home in Ancaster, Ontario. Fortunately — if it is even appropriate to use this term — the worker sustained non-life threatening injuries. It was also around the same time last year when a worker replacing the roof of a summer vacation home, owned by the former premier of British Columbia, fell to his death on July 4, 2011.

Tales like these have been told all too often, like spinning a reel of old film over and over. Every time a worker is injured, or worse, killed as a result of falling from heights, a fresh blow is dealt to the families concerned; employers once again express their regret that one incident is one too many; and the relevant authorities conduct another round of investigation that finds the same causes, same conclusions.

The statistics on injuries and fatalities related to workplace falls are sobering.

Every year, about 20 people die from falls in workplaces in Ontario. There are approximately 17,000 lost-time injuries stemming from falls in the workplace. Samelevel falls — like slips and trips — account for 65 per cent of all fall-related injuries annually, followed by fall from heights at 34 per cent, notes information from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Toronto.

Factors that contribute to work-related falls include poor working conditions, sloppy housekeeping practices, lack of protective devices and unsafe work practices. However, a false sense of security — that it can only happen to someone else — is as much a factor as those listed above.

It is worth noting that accidents do not happen the first, second or even third time of doing a job unsafely. Herbert William Heinrich, an American industrial safety pioneer from the 1930s, wrote that for every 330 unsafe acts, 29 will result in minor injuries and one in a major or lost-time incident. Being consistently unsafe without incident does not imply safety; it merely means the probability of a mishap striking has yet to reach its roll of the dice.

As mercury soars and outdoor workers go out and about their businesses during this lucrative season, let us all bear Heinrich’s law in mind. Reiterating the importance of observing fall protection safety (that includes conducting a risk assessment, using fall protection equipment, ensuring proper supervision and providing worker training) may sound like a broken record — but so do reports of workers injured or killed by a fall hitting the news.

Summer is beautiful. Let us all work hard safely, so we can all go back to our families and enjoy this gorgeous, short-lived season.

Jean Lian

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C A N A D A

Vol. 28, No. 5 JUly/august 2012

EDITOR JEAN LIAN

jlian@ohscanada.com managing editor jason contant

jcontant@ohscanada.com assistant editor greg burchell

gburchell@ohscanada.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Hazardous substances WILLIAM M. GLENN ART DIRECTOR anne miron PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER MARKETING SPECIALIST Circulation Manager

PHYLLIS WRIGHT Cathy Li DIMITRY EPELBAUM Barbara Adelt

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER SHEILA HEMSLEY

shemsley@ohscanada.com PUBLISHER peter boxer

pboxer@ohscanada.com PRESIDENT, BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP BRUCE CREIGHTON

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

DAVID IRETON, Safety Professional, Brampton, Ont. ALLAN JOHNSON, Director of Construction, Hospitality, Oil and Gas, Workers’ Compensation Board of B.C., Vancouver, B.C. Jane Lemke, Program Manager, OHN Certification Program, Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ont. DON MITCHELL, Safety Consultant, Mississauga, Ont. MICHELE PARENT, National Manager, Risk Management and Health and Wellness, Standard Life, Montreal, Que. TERRY RYAN, Workers’ Compensation and Safety Consultant, TRC Group Inc., Mississauga, Ont. DON SAYERS, Principal Consultant, Don Sayers & Associates, Hanwell, N.B. DAVID SHANE, National Director, Health and Safety, Canada Post Corporation, Ottawa, Ont. HENRY SKJERVEN, President, The Skjerven Cattle Company Ltd., Wynyard, Sask.

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

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

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

OHS CANADA is published eight times per year by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Ltd., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business information services.

The yearly issues include: March, April/May, June, July/August, September, October/November, and December. Application to mail at ­Periodicals Postage Rates is pending at Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14304. U.S. Postmaster, Office of Publication, send address corrections to: OHS Canada, 2424 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls, NY 14304-0357.

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

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POSTAL INFORMATION: Publications mail agreement no. 40069240. Postmaster, please forward forms 29B and 67B to Business Information Group. 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9.

Date of issue: JULY/AUGUST 2012

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LETTERS

Recent issues of ohs canada and our website, www.ohscanada.com, have provided readers with plenty to chew on: a derailment in Ontario that killed three employees, a mine operator in Saskatchewan given the maximum fine, and Nova Scotia’s release of health and safety guidelines for the film production industry. Below are some reader comments about these and other articles:

Rail Safety The website posted a feature article published in the June, 2012 edition of ohs canada, which looks at positive train control technology as an alternative safety system in the wake of a derailment in Ontario that claimed the lives of three engineers.

The railways do not care, unless you give them all the equipment for free.

They force crews to work long hours, with no breaks. Their equipment and signal system has not improved in safety in over 30 years. To the railways this is all just collateral damage and the bottom line is, it’s just a tax deduction.

Rick Longworth

The Right Thing The website carried an article by

cana-

dian occupational health & safety news

(cohsn)

in June about a potash surface mine operator in Saskatchewan receiving the province’s maximum fine in connection with a worker fatality two years ago.

May 11th 2010, two years since the event took place and 4 years after another similar event took place where a young man received an injury that resulted in a significant loss of mobility for the rest of his life. The union is “happy” that the company did the right thing. Sadly enough, the comment reflects the perspective from the president of the union, a gross misunderstanding of what the right thing is. Six years ago, two years ago and today.

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The right thing would be to provide personnel sufficient protective measures to ensure that the fathers, husbands, sons, uncles, brothers and friends can return home safely. Sad comment from an individual positioned as a leader, his training/competency in assessing safe working practices, should become a matter of public record.

Introducing the requirement for a union president or any union representative to have appropriate hazard identification skills may be a more effective memorial tribute to Mr Artic.

This would be a memorial that provides ‘leaders’ with the skills to proactively address life-threatening conditions before their fellow, members and associates were exposed to them.

I guess there could be an argument put forth by either party that there existed sufficient, corrective or preventative measures in place now and 6 years ago. $420,000 — it would be interesting to see if the company’s legal fees were more than the judgement. One person with a significant loss of mobility and another family with a loss of a father, and the company is fined almost the cost of a new home in many cities. If I sound angry, it’s because I am ... especially when preventable accidents are repeated on unionized sites.

Happy Father’s Day. Patrick Hanly

Reel Guide The website featured a cohsn article in May about the release of guidelines by Film Nova Scotia to boost the safety of the province’s film production industry.

I have worked in the field of transportation for more than 33 years, so I have seen a lot of changes in safety in my time. I will admit it has been hard to train the mindset of the older workers, but I have seen a big change in the attitudes of all workers. Where I see we have a ways to go is with some managers and supervisors who, for some reason, still don’t get the value of safe

workplace. I believe now we have the workers educated it’s time to [make] mandatory some of these courses for the people at the top of the ladder.

Ricky L Hebb

Back to Basics The website carried an article by cohsn in May on the federal government’s application to block a scheduled inquest into the death of a Yukon RCMP officer in 2010, citing jurisdictional issues.

One more inquest just to find that “common sense” went missing again.

We are dealing with trained professional adults. Wear a life jacket, stay with the boat. That’s what we teach our kids.

Some get, some never will.

Louise Rivett

New Direction The website posted a cohsn article published in April on rising workplace fatality rates as the nation observes the National Day of Mourning.

Your article is mistaken. NB and NL have also laid charges. Also, the statistics indicate that the approach we are taking is not working. One of the reasons for this is there is no national body that administers oh&s in Canada. We have 14 jurisdictions with their own legislation, WCBs etc. Their main focus is not on occupational health and safety, but rather to justify their existence. It is time for a different approach.

James Power 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.

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OH&S UPDATE

Lack of safety plan cited FEDERAL — The Transportation Safety

Board of Canada (TSB) has identified the lack of a practical and active risk management system onboard a fishing vessel as a contributing factor in a worker’s death last year.

On May 3, 2011 at 5.5 nautical miles southwest of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, a crew member fell overboard while retrieving paravane stabilizers, a TSB statement says. The captain made several attempts to rescue the crew member, but was unsuccessful.

“Our investigation found that the deckhand was not wearing safety equipment and this reduced his chances of survival and rescue,” says TSB regional

manager Pierre Murray. “The captain was left alone onboard the vessel and was unable to carry out all of the activities necessary to position the vessel and recover the deckhand from the water.”

Since the incident, the company has provided water-activated inflatable personal flotation devices for each crew member on its vessels and issued a directive ordering their use, the TSB reports.

regulatory changes urged LANGLEY — The coroner’s jury from an inquest into the death of three workers at a mushroom farm in Langley, British Columbia in 2008 has recommended that WorkSafeBC amend the Occupational

Health and Safety Regulation (OHSR) to include improved training requirements for agricultural workers.

The inquest, which ran from May 7 to 16, probed the deaths of three workers who died at A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd on September 5, 2008.

Two workers from the mushroom farm were attempting to clear a blocked pipe in the pump shed when they were exposed to hydrogen sulphide gas and an oxygen-deficient environment. Coworkers from two adjacent mushroom businesses, H.V. Troung Ltd and Farmers’ Fresh Mushrooms, tried to rescue the workers without wearing personal protective equipment. Three workers succumbed to the environment, one was left unable to hear and speak and the other

Feds block inquest into officer death YUKON — The Attorney General of Canada has filed an application to block a scheduled inquest into the death of a Yukon RCMP officer in 2010, citing jurisdictional issues.

The five-day inquest into the death of Constable Michael Potvin, 26, was initially scheduled to begin on May 14, says Yukon chief coroner Sharon Hanley. The application was heard several days later by Judge Karen Ruddy of the Territorial Court of Yukon, who is acting as coroner.

On July 13, 2010, Potvin and Corporal Brent Chapman of the Mayo RCMP detachment were conducting a short patrol of the Stewart River to test the performance of an aluminum boat when it capsized, the application says. Chapman remained with the boat and was rescued just prior to the boat running aground, but Potvin left the vessel as it capsized and was last seen swimming towards the shore. His body was found about two weeks later.

Although both members had been wearing RCMP-approved personal flotation devices (PFD) during the first run of the boat, neither was wearing a PFD during the fourth run when the boat capsized.

In its application, the Attorney General argues the inquest should not proceed as its purposes have already been served by the seven investigations into the incident, including those from the RCMP, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

“Any public education about water and boat safety can be better accomplished through a public safety campaign,” the application says. Furthermore, the jury in a coroner’s inquest in the territory is not authorized by statute or regulation to make recommendations, only to issue a verdict identifying the deceased and when, where and how the death occurred.

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“An examination of the broader circumstances surrounding the death will encroach improperly on the exclusive federal jurisdiction of the RCMP over its administration, operation and management,” the application adds.

Since the incident, the RCMP has made changes to its safety practices on and around water, both locally and nationally, says David Gilbert, director of organizational strategy with the RCMP’s M Division, which represents the Yukon.

Among others, these steps include the following: • Requiring employees in the Mayo RCMP detachment to wear suitable PFDs when near or on waterways; • Confirming that members in non-supervisory roles are required to take Canada Labour Code Part II awareness training — including an orientation of, and training about, conditions and hazards of the Stewart River — and that this training had been received by members of the Mayo detachment; • Removing the boat involved in the incident from service across the country; • Instituting a basic water transport coordinator position at the M Division and identification at each detachment of such a coordinator; • Developing guidelines to assist RCMP divisions in conducting thorough annual inspections of police vessels; • Instituting an operators’ checklist, vessel emergency procedures and a vessel log book to be completed prior to voyage; and, • Ensuring all RCMP officers expected to use water transport be given a five-day water transport course and relevant additional training.

— By Jason Contant

has been in a coma since.

The coroner’s jury made 15 recommendations: three to the provincial Minister of Environment, 11 to WorkSafeBC and one to the BC Ambulance Service.

Among the recommendations to WorkSafeBC were that the OHSR be amended to require: • yearly reporting by all employers identifying all confined spaces on their premises and the existence of plans and procedures for minimizing risks associated with confined spaces; • yearly reporting by all employers confirming compliance with the OHSR and its requirements; • every existing agricultural worker, manager and owner complete a twoday training course on occupational health and safety approved and certified by WorkSafeBC prior to, or within the first month of involvement in the agricultural industry; and, • the aforementioned two-day training course be completed within two years of the amendment to the regulation.

WorkSafeBC spokesperson Megan Johnston says the amendment recom-

mendations will take time to implement as “WorkSafeBC is obliged by law to consult and hold public hearings before changes can be made to the regulation.”

Other recommendations were already in progress prior to the inquest, Johnston reports, citing the recommendation that WorkSafeBC work with the Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Association to co-ordinate and enhance education and enforcement activity regarding confined spaces and other hazards in the agricultural sector. The agency has also increased the number of agricultural inspectors, with six full-time officers assigned to the sector now compared to two in 2007, Johnston adds.

Raj Chouhan, NDP labour critic and MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds, says he is pleased with the recommendations, but unsure if they will all be accepted.

He notes the recommendation to the BC Ambulance Service, that every ambulance be equipped with an atmospheric test metre with an oxygen sensor, was the same as that from an inquest into the May, 2006 incident at Teck Cominco in which two workers and paramedics died

at the decommissioned Sullivan Mine in Kimberly, British Columbia. That recommendation has not been implemented.

“Although these recommendations are not binding, the government should accept them,” Chouhan says. “We should not be waiting for more of these things to happen.”

Firms get record penalty EDMONTON — Two related companies in Alberta have been fined a combined record amount of nearly $2.5 million more than four years after a worker was fatally crushed in a workplace incident.

Prime contractor Perera Development Corporation was fined $1.25 million and a $187,500 victim surcharge on June 4 after being found guilty of 10 oh&s charges, says Alberta Human Services spokesperson Barrie Harrison in Edmonton. The counts relate to the failure to ensure the health and safety of a worker; stabilize the soil in an excavation; that a worker was protected from cave-ins or sliding/rolling materials and

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that oh&s regulations were followed, among other charges.

Perera Shawnee Ltd was fined $900,000, plus a 15 per cent victim fine surcharge of $120,000, after being found guilty of three charges.

Three charges against contractor Don Perera were stayed, Harrison reports.

The incident that spurred the charges took place at 3:30 pm on February 14, 2008. Randy Williams, a 47-year-old

employee of Steph Trucking, was in the cab of his dump truck at a Calgary construction site when a massive earth wall collapsed, burying the dump truck and killing Williams. An excavator was loading earth into the worker’s truck at the time of the incident.

Though the firm and its subsidiary organizations are now defunct, Harrison says this case is a “precedent setter.”

The $2,457,500 total penalty eclips-

es the former highest-ever penalty of $500,000, doled out on one charge in 2006. A 14-year-old worker was fatally injured when a truck box fell on him while he was sandblasting it.

Worker’s fall prompts fine EDMONTON — CCS Contracting Ltd was fined $70,000 on May 30 more than three years after a worker was seriously injured in a fall.

On January 21, 2009, a worker fell approximately 12 metres from a roof while helping a co-worker operate a roof cutting machine, says information from Alberta Human Services in Edmonton.

CCS Contracting was issued a $5,000 victim fine surcharge, with the remaining $65,000 serving as a creative sentence directed to the aboriginal Bent Arrow program and the Alberta Construction Safety Association.

Caregiver killed on the job CAMROSE — For the second time in as many years, a caregiver in Camrose, Alberta has been killed on the job.

On May 12, members of the Camrose Police Service (CPS) were called to the Marler Supported Independent Living home, part of Camrose Community Connections, in response to the homicide of a 61-year-old worker. The body of the support worker was found in the downstairs area of the four-suite duplex, which helps teenagers who need assistance to live independently, says CPS spokesperson Inspector Lee Foreman.

Foreman says a 17-year-old boy, who was a resident of the home, was arrested the day after the incident in Vermillion, Alberta. He has been charged with second-degree murder and theft of the worker’s vehicle. He was scheduled to appear in Camrose youth court in June.

An autopsy determined the death of the worker, identified as Dianne McClements, was due to “multiple sharp injuries,” police say in a statement.

Barrie Harrison, a spokesperson with the occupational health and safety division of Alberta Human Services (AHS) in Edmonton, says the department is making arrangements to meet with the CPS “so that we can review their investigative files and then determine whether an occupational health and safety investigation should be implemented.”

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P R O J E C T : : E N G I N E E R I NG S Y STE M : : L I F E C YC L E

City found guilty of retaliation VANCOUVER — The City of Vancouver and a manager have

been found guilty of retaliation against an employee.

The ruling from British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal member Enid Marion, issued June 8, notes that Umesh Pathak had been trying for over a decade to become a manager after moving to Canada from India in 1976 and has worked for the city since 1999. Umesh claimed that his superior, Ray Stensrud, who retired in 2010, had denied him any opportunities to advance his standing.

Pathak went to the province’s Equal Opportunity Employment Program in December of 2007 and filed a human rights complaint against the city and Stensrud in June of 2008 after being overlooked for a promotion. Less than a year later, Pathak was suspended for five days without pay following an altercation regarding his conduct and work duties.

Pathak filed a complaint alleging racial discrimination against the city and Stensrud, and another one claiming retaliation for the initial complaint. Marion determined that Pathak had not proven discrimination under the Human Rights Code and dismissed it, but found his complaint about retaliation valid.

“Apart from some initial positive comments about Mr Pathak, Mr Stensrud demonstrated tangible animosity and disrespect towards Mr Pathak at many points in his evidence. I found his recollection of events to be inconsistent at times and, as noted later in this decision, unreliable on certain points,” Marion writes.

The incident occurred a little more than a year after 41-year-old caregiver, Valerie Wolski, was suffocated on February 13, 2011 while caring for a mentally impaired man at a home in Camrose.

Terrence Saddleback, 25, was charged with manslaughter, but a report from AHS says he was found mentally unfit to plead and stand trial.

worker Fatality spurs penalty MAYMONT — An Edmonton-based company has been fined $16,800 following an incident three years ago that killed a worker. In-Line Contracting Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that an effective safeguard was put in place to prevent contact with a dangerous part of a machine, notes a statement from Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety in June.

The conviction relates to an incident on August 24, 2009 near Maymont, Saskatchewan in which a worker was killed when he was dislodged from a piece of machinery that rolled onto him while installing culverts. Four other charges against the firm were stayed.

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The city has been ordered to pay $5,000 in damages to Pathak for injuries to dignity, feelings and self-respect, to rescind the suspension of Pathak in November of 2008 and remove the letter of suspension, and reimburse him for any lost benefits or wages.

“We were satisfied with the finding that the employer had retaliated against Mr Pathak for filing the human rights complaint, but we were disappointed that we weren’t successful on the race, colour, ancestry, place of origin side of it,” says Dan Soiseth, the lawyer who represented Pathak.

Pathak filed the retaliation complaint regarding his suspension after he returned to work. While Pathak was subjected to “adverse treatment” when he was not selected for job promotions, Marion “[is] not persuaded that they provide a sufficient factual basis, when considered in context, upon which to infer that Mr Pathak was treated adversely because of his race, colour, ancestry or place of origin.”

But if Pathak had not launched the human rights complaint, he would not have been suspended and subject to an overly aggressive investigation into his workplace behaviour or the “unnecessary, denigrating and disrespectful comments” about his work ethic, Marion adds.

“I am compelled to the conclusion that Mr Stensrud retaliated against Mr Pathak because he had filed a human rights complaint. I also find that the City is liable for this breach of the Code as his employer,” Marion writes.

— By Greg Burchell

Mine gets maximum fine VANSCOY — A potash surface mine op-

erator in Saskatchewan has received the province’s maximum fine after pleading guilty to a safety violation in connection with a worker fatality two years ago.

On May 11, 2010, Edward Artic, a 10-year employee with Agrium Inc’s Vanscoy site, was working inside a hoist well when a component from a load being lifted by an overhead crane fell six stories and struck the 59-year-old worker in the head, killing him instantly.

Agrium pleaded guilty on May 28 to failing to provide or maintain a working environment that ensured, as far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of a worker. It was given the maximum fine of $300,000 and an additional $120,000 victim surcharge.

Three other charges were stayed.

Tamara Harrison, the crown prosecutor assigned to the case, explained that a maximum fine was sought because the incident resulted in a fatality, Agrium had a previous similar conviction — in 2006, a rock fell and resulted in a worker sustaining a serious injury — and judges

specifically allow prosecutors to look at the fact that because the accused is a large, profitable company, the fine must be high enough to serve as a deterrent.

Agrium’s lawyer says the company “recognized that anything you can do could be done better. There is always a constellation of factors that contribute to the cause of the accident,” and Agrium was one of those factors, says Michael Tochor, partner at MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP in Regina.

Since the incident, the company has spent $3.6 million on remedial measures at the site, located southwest of Saskatoon, Tochor notes. This includes redesigning and retrofitting the entire hoist well, reworking health and safety policies and procedures, providing financial assistance to the family and counselling for workers, and constructing a memorial tribute to Artic on the site.

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety recently introduced amendments that would bump the maximum penalty in cases with a serious injury or death from $300,000 to $1.5 million, making them the highest in the country. The amendments will take effect this fall.

Backhoe operator guilty NIPAWIN — A Saskatchewan worker has

been found guilty of two oh&s charges in connection with a massive explosion that killed two workers and injured five others in April of 2008.

Self-employed backhoe operator Lorry Riemer was found guilty of failing to ensure that mechanical excavation did not take place within 600 millimetres of an existing pipeline and failing to ensure his actions do not expose workers to health and safety risks, says a May 16 decision from Judge Barry Morgan of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan.

Riemer was scheduled to be sentenced in court on June 18, confirms Shannon McMillan, communications consultant with the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety in Regina.

The charges relate to an explosion at BJ’s Sausage and Meats in downtown Nipawin on April 18, 2008. The force of the explosion completely demolished the butcher shop and claimed the life of Jack Boxall and his son Brent, who were using separate trucks to haul debris away from the work site and were standing in front of the shop at the time. Five others, including Riemer, were injured.

On the day of the incident, Riemer was using a backhoe to knock down buildings on the site. During the work, Riemer noticed that one load of fill had been dumped on or too close to a gas line riser across the back lane from the butcher shop. Riemer took a shovel to try to determine its location. When this proved unsuccessful, he used the backhoe to remove dirt from the area and snagged the riser.

That resulted in the service line connected to the riser being pulled free of the main gas line, allowing gas to seep and pool in the basement of the butcher shop for about 45 minutes. “He couldn’t see anything, but he could smell gas,” the decision says, adding that relays on compressor units located in the basement of the butcher shop were determined to be the likely source of ignition. “[Riemer] was working around a live gas riser, he knew of the risks involved with working around live gas lines, yet he conducted his undertaking in a way that was not necessary,” Judge Morgan writes. “The way to deal with this would have been to expose the riser by hand, thereby ensuring that what did occur, that being snagging the line with the

backhoe bucket, could not occur.”

SaskEnergy, Saskatchewan’s natural gas distribution company, was charged with five counts, including failing to properly guard a gas pipe riser, failing to develop and implement written procedures for the safe installation, use and maintenance of a system, and failing to ensure workers were properly supervised — all of which were stayed, McMillan reports.

workers’ HANDs injured BRANDON — Two companies in Manitoba were fined on May 24 after workers suffered hand injuries in two incidents.

The first incident occurred on December 9, 2008. A worker severed four fingers from his right hand, which were later re-attached, when kickback occurred while cutting a piece of plywood with

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an Altendorf table saw, says a spokesperson from the Workplace Safety and Health Division (WSHD) of Manitoba Family Services and Labour in Winnipeg. Jacobson & Grenier Ltd in Brandon was fined $36,050 for failing to ensure that a machine or tool in the workplace was capable of safely performing the functions for which it was used.

The second firm to receive a fine on the same day was Brandon-based AtomJet Industries 2002, in connection with an incident on March 28, 2010. A worker reached his hands into a press to pull out a boot plate when the equipment pressed a new piece on top of a finished one, pinching the worker’s fingers in a U-shaped part of the device.

The worker suffered three broken fingers on his left hand with partial amputation of the index finger, and substantial loss of skin to the middle finger and one broken finger on his right hand, notes information from SAFE Manitoba. The employer was fined $42,050 for failing to ensure that a boot plate press with a two-hand activation system was safe and posed no risks to health.

gas leak at customs facility HAMILTON – A gas leak involving a little-known asphyxiant at an Ontario customs facility has spurred an investigation from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

On June 12, workers at Intermediate Terminals in Hamilton, Ontario came in to work and discovered a flame at the neck of one cylinder of phosphine gas, says Dave Christopher, fire safety officer with Hamilton Emergency Services.

When firefighters arrived, however, the flame had apparently self-extinguished.

“It came in as a hazmat call, so we took readings,” Christopher says, adding the cap protecting the tank was damaged and the material is susceptible to spontaneous combustions. “There were no elevated levels; they couldn’t get any readings. When they talked to the manufacturer, we realized what we had.”

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a pesticide in stored grains.

“It’s an asphyxiant. It can cause burns if inhaled. It can also cause frostbite — because it’s cold, it can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled,” Christopher says, adding that it is believed there was some residual gas within the tank.

Christopher reports that four firefighters and two workers at the facility were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. They responded in bunker gear due to the unknown nature of the hazard and were decontaminated before being sent to hospital, he adds.

The facility is unique in that materials from an American shipper arriving at a loading dock are cleared by customs; a Canadian shipper then picks it up and ships it throughout the country Christopher explains. “[They] unload at one side of the loading dock and offload the other side into a truck and it’s delivered [to] where it needs to go. It’s not a warehouse where this would be stored for days on end,” he says.

The cylinders are owned by Niagara Falls, Ontario-based Cytec Canada Inc, which operates the only phosphine and

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phosphine derivatives plant in North America, notes information from the company’s website.

Besides the HRSDC investigation, the provincial Ministry of Transportation is also investigating, Christopher says, noting the cylinders have a special wrapping and their transportation must be logged so that it is known where the product is at any given time.

An HRSDC spokeswoman confirms the federal government’s Labour Program is conducting an investigation.

started to remove it, while the rest of the crew found a jam at the front of the machine, the statement says. Not realizing the student was on the other side, the crew restarted the machine, drawing the young worker’s hand in between two rollers at the rear of the press.

A ministry investigation found the guard at the rear of the press was not adequate to prevent injury.

WSIB in dire straits TORONTO — Without some “radical and

young worker hurt by press ST. CATHARINES — A United States-based

printing company was fined $60,000 on June 8 after a young worker was injured by a press in Stevensville, Ontario.

American Color Graphics Inc., conducting business as Vertis Communications, was fined after pleading guilty to failing to ensure that an in-running nip hazard on a printing press was equipped with a guard or other device to prevent access to a pinch point, says a statement from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.

On August 24, 2010, workers shut down a press after it jammed and activated a device to prevent the machine from restarting as they tried to identify the problem. A summer student discovered a jam in the rear of the press and

rapid steps” within the next 20 years, the insurance provider to more than 70 per cent of workers in Ontario will, at one point, be unable to pay its clients.

A new report, Funding Fairness — A Report on Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance System, estimates the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is carrying $14.5 to $16.7 billion in unfunded liability, and has approximately half of what it needs to meet its current obligations.

“For virtually its entire history, Ontario’s workers’ compensation system has been funded at levels usually well below 100 per cent, and sometimes far below the 2009 level of 54 per cent that prompted the Auditor General’s comments,” the report states, citing the provincial auditor general’s concern over

the WSIB’s inability to eliminate its unfunded liability triggered the review. “In contrast, most other Canadian workers’ compensation systems had no unfunded liability; rather they were in surplus, fully funded or nearly so.”

Information from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada says in 2010 the average funding ratio for workers’ compensation boards in Canada was 106 per cent. Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are also below full funding.

If the WSIB stays below 60 per cent funding, a “tipping” scenario — in which it cannot pay its workers’ benefits or has to take drastic measures — is very likely, the report cautions. All it would take is “simply the recurrence of one or more adverse events” the WSIB has already experienced in the past decade. This could include a sudden loss of investment earnings, a spike in occupational disease claims, the need to cover new benefits mandated by legislation, a deep recession or depression leading to a fall in premium revenues, or a combination of the above.

The review presents a 20-year funding strategy to eliminate the unfunded liability that would see employers paying a surcharge on top of their regular premium, which could be eliminated once full funding was reached. Another recommendation is that if the government

Mine operator, supervisor charged SUDBURY — A slew of charges have been laid against mine operator Vale Limited in connection with a double fatality one year ago.

On June 8, 2011, about 350 tons of wet, sandy muck came barrelling down an ore pass at the company’s Stobie Mine in Sudbury, Ontario. An investigation by Vale found that a crash gate into the area where supervisor Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, were working was left open, allowing the muck to flood the area, burying the workers.

A total of nine charges under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act were laid against Vale in May, and another six against a supervisor with the company.

Charges against Vale include the following failures: • Ensure workplaces in the mine were kept free from accumulation or water flows that could endanger workers; • Provide instruction and supervision to the deceased workers regarding the accumulation of water that might endanger workers in the area; • Prevent the movement of material through an ore pass while hazardous conditions existed; • Ensure that a transfer gate on an ore pass could be operated and monitored from a safe location;

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• Maintain the drain holes at the 2400-level of the mine; • Ensure that water, slime and other wet material was not dumped into the number seven ore pass at the 2600-level of the mine; and, • Ensure that its “Wet Control Instruction for Pulling Wet Chute/Ore Pass” procedure was followed at the 3715 ore pass and the number seven ore pass.

“As this is a very serious matter, we need to consider the charges very carefully before we determine how we will proceed,” Angie Robson, manager of corporate affairs for Vale’s Ontario operations, says in a statement. More than 30 recommendations are being implemented as a result of the company’s investigation.

In late February, an investigation report by Local 6500 of the United Steelworkers union, conducted separately from Vale, called for a criminal investigation into the fatalities, charging that negligence was responsible for the deaths. The report listed 165 recommendations to improve work conditions at the mine. The union also called for a review of mine safety in Canada, noting the last significant inquiry was conducted 30 years ago.

— By Greg Burchell

introduces new benefits after premium rates for the year have been set, it should reward the WSIB with a “one-time, earmarked contribution” to adjust for the costs the new benefits will add.

In a statement, labour minister Linda Jeffrey says a new regulation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act would require the WSIB to reach 60 per cent funding by 2017, and full funding a decade later.

Union battles denied claims TORONTO — The union representing

workers at a General Electric facility says it will continue to fight with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) over its decision to deny the claims of 150 of its members.

In 2004, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union organized an intake clinic with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW). Almost 700 current and retired workers from the Peterborough, Ontario facility were checked for illnesses that could have been caused by working in the facility.

The intake clinic resulted in 262 claims being filed with the WSIB, which accepted 112 claims and rejected 150.

The CAW said in a statement in May that they will be appealing the board’s decision to reject the claims. “It was only after the number of common illnesses started to mount that any action was taken,” says CAW president Ken Lewenza.

Leslie Piekarz, executive director of the Toronto OHCOW clinic where the workers were checked, says workers were diagnosed with lung cancer and asbestosis from asbestos exposure, as well as kidney, stomach and colon cancer, work-related asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and noiseinduced hearing loss.

“The workers were exposed to a number of things. In this project, people think of asbestos, but there were many, many other chemicals that they worked with in the manufacturing sector,” Piekarz says.

Those chemicals included trichloroethylene, benzene, toluene, silica, lead and epoxy, and could have been either airborne or dermal exposures.

Sari Sairanen, the health, safety and environment director at CAW, says the reason given for denying many of the claims was the lack of information, medical or otherwise. “If claims are denied, we always look at appealing them because

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we believe there is a correlation with the exposures in the workplace and the medical condition,” Sairanen says. “This has been an ongoing process. Workers were exposed in the ’70s and ’80s.”

Asbestos-related illnesses have a latency period between 10 and 30 years, depending on the frequency and degree of exposure. “The claim will be allowed if the evidence supports a link between exposures and the disease,” WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott says in an email, noting that each case will be looked at on its own merits.

updated directory available MONTREAL — The Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) has made available on its website the updated version of its directory on industrial machine safety devices.

Available in French and English, the directory has been updated to take into account the arrival on the market of new products and several manufacturers, an IRSST statement said in May. Besides identifying the most popular products, it presents some 150 manufacturers and 76 safety devices, grouped into 10 classes, including electrical, programmable electronic, mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic safety devices, the statement adds.

Forklift tipover claims one Charlo — A young worker was killed in a forklift-rollover incident on June 12.

Shortly before 8:30 am, 19-year-old Herve Bernhard, an employee of Design Built Mechanical Inc. in Charlo, New Brunswick, was fatally injured when a forklift fell on him, Fidele Cormier, assistant regional director for WorkSafeNB’s northeast region, says from Saint John.

Sergeant Alain Tremblay, a spokesperson for the Belledune detachment of the RCMP, confirms the worker had already succumbed to his injuries before police and paramedics arrived. Sergeant Tremblay says it is believed the worker was caught underneath the machine, which tipped over after colliding with another forklift in the storage yard behind the company’s building.

The RCMP released the scene to WorkSafeNB, but continues to assist with the investigation. No compliance orders had been issued, Cormier says.

Thumbs down to demerit SAINT JOHN — WorkSafeNB has re-

leased the results of its recent stakeholder consultation regarding demerits.

“Based on its evaluation of evidence, such as accident frequency rates being at the lowest level ever recorded, fines imposed by the courts increasing and the consultation results, the board of directors has decided not to pursue a legislative amendment allowing for a system of demerits,” WorkSafeNB chairperson Sharon Tucker says in a statement.

Of the responses, 61 per cent of the 79 stakeholders said demerits are not a necessary tool to the range of enforcement options already available.

While there is no consensus on the issue, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they do not think demerits are necessary, do not believe demerits provide a better result than existing tools and oppose WorkSafeNB pursuing a legislative amendment, a backgrounder notes.

Campaign targets back injury HALIFAX — The Workers’ Compensation

Board of Nova Scotia (WCB) and the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education are teaming up on a new social marketing campaign to help prevent back injuries at work.

Last year, more than 2,000 workers in the province suffered a serious back injury resulting in time lost from work and reduced quality of life. Back injuries accounted for 30 per cent of all time-loss injuries, says a WCB statement.

The campaign recruits “back protection agents” and print advertisements share real-life stories profiling workplaces where changes have been made to protect backs from work-related injury.

“Overall, workplace injuries are down in Nova Scotia, but there is still a lot of work to do to make them a thing of the past,” Stuart McLean, CEO of the WCB says in a statement. “With back injuries representing such a large percentage of workplace injuries, tackling them directly will help us build on our progress and bring us closer to establishing a true culture of safety in Nova Scotia,” he adds.

The Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador has recently launched a similar campaign.

Flagger fatality prompts conviction CARBONEAR — A paving company in Newfoundland has been convicted of two oh&s charges on June 8 following a fatal injury to a worker three years ago.

Concord Paving Limited of Carbonear, Newfoundland was convicted of failing to provide traffic control procedures and equipment in conformity with current regulations and failing to provide the information, instruction, training, supervision and facilities necessary to ensure the safety of a worker, notes a June 8 decision from Judge Lois Skanes of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

One additional charge was withdrawn by the Crown and three others were dismissed. The dismissed charges relate to the alleged improper positioning of signs and flagpersons; failure to ensure adequate precautions were taken where an operator’s vision is obstructed; and failure to ensure a worker remained out of the range of swinging equipment.

The charges follow an incident in Holyrood, Newfoundland on May 22, 2009. Concord Paving employee Tom Connors was carrying out ditching and grubbing work on a highway with another flagger when an excavator operated

WCB eyes fall protection CHARLOTTETOWN — The Workers Compensation Board of Prince Edward Island (WCB) is gearing up to begin its zero-tolerance campaign against fall protection violations. In July, health and safety officers with the WCB will be inspecting workplaces for fall protection violations by strictly enforcing the Occupational Health and Safety Act and regulation, a board statement says.

Shrimp Worker Killed PORT AUX CHOIX — A worker was killed while working aboard a shrimp boat off Newfoundland on May 8.

At 4 pm, a several thousand-pound tub loaded with shrimp dropped from a hoist and landed on the 57-year-old fisherman from Anchor Point. The worker was performing cleaning duties underneath it when the fatal incident occurred.

The ship, Krista Kaye, had set out to sea the night before at around 11 pm with a crew of four, says Constable Scott Hynes of the Northern Peninsula district RCMP. The ship was about 20 kilometres from Port aux Choix, Newfoundland.

No orders have been issued at press time, says Hugh Donnan, director of communications for Service NL. Donnan says Service NL will be looking at “what kind of safety practices are be-

by another worker ran over the lower portion of his body.

Provincial inspector Ed Wade testified that due to a significant curve in the road that would have made it hard for the two flaggers to see each other, Concord Paving was required to have either a third flagperson or a two-way radio for communication between the two flaggers.

“No evidence has been presented by Concord to show that it took any steps to determine visibility, nor that it recognized the issue with respect to the curve in the road and the visibility difficulty which it raised,” Judge Skanes writes.

With regard to the second charge relating to the lack of training, the decision notes the company “required that the employees have the basic certificates pertinent to their jobs, but there was no evidence that anything beyond that was required.”

Furthermore, although a job supervisor appears to have been generally available and within a short distance, there is no evidence that he or anyone else on behalf of Concord supervised the employees.

— By Jason Contant

ing followed, any issues or deficiencies, then determining what might be the next steps to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again for this vessel and for other vessels that are operating in a similar way.”

Statistics from the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador show that fish harvesting comprised 2.4 lost-time injuries per 100 employees in 2011.

Correction Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have not adopted the exclusive use of Type II hard hats. Incorrect information ap-

peared in the article, “A Safety HeadsUp”, in the April/May, 2012 issue of OHS Canada. We regret the error.

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

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DISPATCHES

Make-believe gets safety boost with release of guide

By Greg Burchell

F

ilm production safety in Nova Scotia was given a boost following the release of a guide in May that promises better protection for entertainment workers who spend their days performing stunts and plummeting from buildings.

The first edition of the Health and Safety Guidelines for the Nova Scotia Screen Based Production Industry was released by Film Nova Scotia. Linda Wood, director of business and legal affairs at the Halifax-based Film Nova Scotia, says the crown corporation looked at “best practices across the country in terms of techniques and practices, but always with a mind to make sure we were in line with Nova Scotia legislation.”

The guide was developed in co-operation with the Department of Labour and Advanced Education and representatives from various film organizations across the East Coast.

“There are so many different components and players in the industry, it’s really difficult to get everyone around the table, to come together and devote the time and the resources and bring in the expertise to update the documents,” Wood says.

The 97-page document encompasses a broad scope, containing information that includes carpentry, rigging, ladders and scaffolding, camera cranes and mobile elevated work platforms, electrical safety, hazardous products like paints, glues and solvents, trailers and temporary wardrobe units, camera cars, firearms and explosives, animal handling, skydiving, helicopters, aircraft and underwater work.

Some specific examples include wigs which, when used near fire, should be coated in a fire-retardant gel and can be quickly removed. Air bags that catch actors who leap from great heights should be tested at the same height as the proposed scene and at an equal or greater weight than the person falling onto it.

“It’s a very, very safe industry. Thankfully, there haven’t been any major issues with safety on sets and having these guidelines will ensure that continues to be the case,” Wood says.

Although the guide has been made available to the public, she notes the committee considers it a “living document” capable of responding to any legislative or regulative changes that develop.

The guidelines’ release coincides with the province’s filming season, which runs from spring to October, Wood notes.

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“As Nova Scotia producers, we are extremely happy to have updated guidelines that reflect the latest protocols in safety practices,” David MacLeod, executive producer at Big Motion Pictures in Chester, Nova Scotia, says in a statement.

Greg Burchell is assistant editor of health and safety news.

canadian occupational

Smart phone application rats on distracted drivers

By Jean Lian

M

obile phones have long been associated with distracted driving. But a new smart phone application can now help promote safer driving by alerting a third party if a driver texts or speeds while behind the wheel.

The App4Drivers program documents texts or phone calls sent or answered while driving and notifies a designated party — be that a car owner or a fleet manager some distance away — if that happens while the app is active. The $4.99 app, which is available for Android and iPhone, can help truck and automobile fleet managers ensure employee safety while they are on the road. It also serves as a monitoring device for insurance companies seeking to reduce costs associated with driver non-compliance and inattention, says Chester Karella, a certified safety professional with Dangerous Decisions LLC in Anchorage, Alaska.

“It started with an idea of being able to provide a tool that parents and teen drivers can use to improve driving behaviors using global positioning system and black box technology,” says Karella, who created the program. “Unfortunately, the correct platform did not present itself until the improvements in smart phone technology.”

The application uses a machineto-machine tracking locator technology to monitor a driver’s actions behind the wheel. Apart from tracking texting-while-driving, it can monitor excessive speeds, quick accelerations or sudden braking. It also includes an alert function that will notify a parent or a small business owner by email when the vehicle experiences a severe impact, and delivers a detailed map showing the driver location at the time of collision.

The smart phone application can be password-protected to limit access and prevent data from being deleted, as well as send visual and audio alarms when a driver comes within 95 per cent of any set point speed.

Distracted driving is a real concern, especially for employees whose jobs require them to be constantly on the road.

Motor vehicle-related incidents are consistently the leading cause of work-related fatalities in the United States, notes information from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C. Each year between 2003 and 2009, 1,308 workers died from crashes on public highways and 316 workers perished in collisions that occurred off highways or on industrial premises.

In British Columbia, distracted driving was a contributing factor in 104 collision fatalities in 2010. Statistics from the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) also indicate that drivers who text and drive are 23 times more likely to be in a crash or near-crash event.

Distractions associated with cell phone use, however, accounts for only a mere 1.5 per cent of the top eight distractions identified by the CAA. Environmental distractions, such as collision sites, scenery and street noise (like sirens or horns) top the list of distractions at a whopping 30 per cent.

To mitigate the risk of being distracted, the CAA recommends the following measures prior to driving: • Review all maps and directions; • Preset climate control and radio; • Put all reading materials in the trunk; and, • Prepare children with everything they need.

Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

Near-miss incident prompts alert on welding

By Greg Burchell

A

close call has prompted the BC Forest Safety Council to issue a safety alert reminding workers of the dangers of welding and other ignition sources around flammable fuel sources.

A young welder was getting ready to add steel reinforcements to a feller buncher while another more experienced worker inspected the equipment. The veteran worker, who has worked with the company for 20 years, noticed grease build-up in the area to be welded. Anticipating that brake cleaner would be used to remove the grime, he intercepted a mechanic coming to clean the area off, thereby averting a potential explosion resulting from the welding torch igniting the freshly-sprayed brake cleaner.

The alert advises companies to ensure experienced welders are called upon to handle dangerous situations, act as mentors for young workers and help identify and manage hazardous situations at new worksites. “Involve experienced workers in the creation of safe work procedures, inspections and have them contribute during safety tailgate meetings so others can benefit from their experience,” the alert says.

Welders and those around them are often working near a volatile mixture: ignition sources such as hot engines; sparks from equipment striking rocks; blasting; electrical shorts and the welding torch itself, alongside fuel sources like diesel, gasoline, hydraulic oil, solvents (like brake cleaner) and logs or slash. “Welders are often faced with challenging work condi-

tions. In addition to flammable environments, they may also encounter confined spaces,” the alert adds.

As a result of these dangers, a hazard and risk assessment should be done prior to starting any new job and steps taken to prevent incidents. Workers should always check fire extinguishers and internal fire extinguisher systems on equipment, as vehicle and equipment fires often lead to forest wildfires, the alert recommends.

Unions see red over changes to foreign worker program

By Jason Contant

C

hanges that will see applications for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program fast-tracked and allow employers to pay 15 per cent less wages have raised the ire of unions and labour groups across the country.

Under the federal government’s Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) initiative, effective immediately, employers in all provinces except Quebec hiring temporary foreign workers in higher skilled positions — such as management, professional and technical occupations — will have the flexibility to base wages on what is being paid to Canadian and permanent resident employees. The changes were included in Bill C-38 as part of an omnibus budget bill passed by Parliament in mid-June.

To be deemed eligible for the initiative, employers must research and understand wage guidelines posted on the Working in Canada website for the occupation for which they are requesting an ALMO, says a fact sheet from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) in Ottawa.

A salary of up to 15 per cent less than the posted wage will be accepted if it is the same as that being paid to a Canadian or permanent resident employee in the same occupation. The HRSDC will, however, issue a negative ALMO and subject employers to a compliance review if the salary offered is lower than the 15 per cent cap, the fact sheet notes.

Employers must also meet the following requirements: • have been issued at least one positive labour market opinion in the last two years; • have a clean record of compliance with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program within the last two years; • not have been the subject of an investigation, infraction or a serious complaint; and, • not have any unresolved violations or contraventions under provincial laws on employment and recruitment.

“This new ALMO Initiative introduces efficiency measures by reducing the amount of paper-burden on employers in the application process, and by introducing attestations for

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specific assessment criteria that can be reviewed through a subsequent compliance review,” a HRSDC statement notes.

The initiative does not currently apply to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, and occupations in the film and entertainment sectors.

Hassan Yussuff, secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress in Ottawa, says the congress is urging the federal government to rethink its position. “You can’t treat foreign nationals differently than you treat Canadians,” he argues, suggesting the proposed changes will exacerbate the problem for temporary foreign workers.

“Rather than further skewing Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program to unfairly serve employers’ interests, what is needed are stronger compliance, monitoring and enforcement measures to protect migrant workers’ rights,” Toronto-based Naveen Mehta, general counsel and director of human rights, equity and diversity with the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, says in a statement.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour in Edmonton, calls it an “exploitative guest-worker program.” Prior to the changes, McGowan suggests the program has become a first choice rather than a tool of last resort for many employers.

“With fast-tracking and even lower wages for temporary foreign workers, the situation is just going to get worse, much worse,” he says.

Jason Contant is managing editor of

ohs canada.

Password to getting a job is giving up your password

By Jean Lian

I

t is often a good practice for work and private life to inhabit separate spheres. Blurring those lines can create legal consequences, as the Calgary Police Service has learned the hard way.

In April, the adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta determined the Calgary Police Service (CPS) contravened the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act by accessing an employee’s personal email account when investigating a workplace complaint.

The CPS started monitoring an employee’s computer activities after receiving complaints about her behaviour at work, including allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct.

While reviewing her work email, the IT security manager came across an email containing the employee’s username and password for her personal email account. The manager accessed the employee’s personal email and discovered photographs of a sexual nature taken at the work premise. The compromising photographs were copied and handed over to the employer, who used them as a basis to fire the employee.

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The adjudicator ruled the access to the employee’s personal email account was “exceptionally invasive and patently unreasonable” in the circumstances, considering the manager had not been authorized to do so and there was no evidence of wrongdoing that would justify such an act. She also determined the collection and use of the photographs could not be justified as necessary for the purpose of the investigation, as they were found as a result of an unauthorized access to the employee’s private email.

While such incidents may be uncommon, there seems to be a rising interest among employers in delving into the private lives of employees — both current and prospective.

Erin Egan, chief privacy officer (policy) with Facebook, posted a message on the social media site in March highlighting the “distressing increase” in reports of employers seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s profiles or private information. “The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidents of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords,” he writes.

A recent survey from staffing company CareerBuilder in the United States indicates that nearly two in five companies use social networking sites to research job candidates. The nationwide survey, covering the period from February 9 to March 2, 2012, interviewed more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries.

“Hiring managers are using social media to evaluate candidates’ character and personality outside the confines of the traditional interview process,” notes the company statement in April. The findings correspond to an earlier survey by the same company in 2009, which indicated that 45 per cent of employers used social media to screen job candidates and conduct online background checks.

“Because social media is a dominant form of communication today, you can certainly learn a lot about a person by viewing their public, online personas,” Rosemary Haefner, vice-president of human resources at CareerBuilder, says in the statement. “However, hiring managers and human resources departments have to make a careful, determined decision as to whether information found online is relevant to the candidates’ qualifications for the job.”

Allowing information gained from accessing employees’ social media sites to influence hiring decisions could cause problems for employers. “If an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (for example, over a certain age), that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don’t hire that person,” Egan cautions.

In Canada, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act governs how private sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal information in the course of a commercial business. Both British Columbia and Alberta have similar provincial laws in place.

Occupational medicine courses available online

By Jason Contant

W

orkers’ compensation boards in the three Maritime provinces have teamed up with Dalhousie University in Halifax to give family physicians access to online occupational medicine courses.

The Maritime Occupational Medicine Continuing Medical Education Alliance will provide courses not only to physicians, but also stakeholders with a vested interest in occupational medicine, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, case managers, workers and employers, says Dr. Douglas Margison, chief medical officer for WorkSafeNB in Saint John. The courses are accredited and offer Continuing Medical Education credits to family physicians in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Dr. Margison, who serves as interim chair of the committee overseeing the educational development of online courses, says the alliance will provide one course each year.

Courses stemming from the first topic, which deals with the pitfalls of prescribing time-off, will be released in fall.

“There will be an increased awareness of occupational medicine, injuries, diseases, exposure assessment and management,” suggests Dr. Margison, adding that an endowed research chair in occupational medicine will be hired to chair the committee.

“With no academic programs in occupational medicine east of Toronto, this alliance, combined with the establishment of a research chair in occupational medicine at Dalhousie University’s medical school in Saint John, will help ensure best practices in disability management and return to work,” says Sharon Tucker, chairperson of WorkSafeNB’s board of directors.

The courses will be funded by WorkSafeNB, the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia and the Workers Compensation Board of PEI.

Ministry probes stage collapse in fair weather

By Greg Burchell

I

n what is becoming an all-too-common occurrence in the summer months, the collapse of an outdoor concert stage in Ontario has left behind a mess of tangled steel and one worker dead.

The middle section of the overhead portion of the stage came crashing down on June 16 at about 4 pm — just hours before English rock band Radiohead was set to take the stage to a sold-out crowd in Toronto’s Downsview Park.

The band’s drum technician, 33-year-old Scott Johnson,

was fine-tuning the sound on stage when the scaffolding and beams gave way, killing him and injuring three other workers, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) in Toronto reports.

Unlike many of the incidents involving stage collapse last year, weather conditions were calm at the time — Environment Canada recorded only a light breeze at nearby Pearson International Airport.

The ministry issued orders not to disturb the scene and be provided with a full set of drawings and engineering signoffs for the project on the day of the incident. Ministry officials returned the following day to issue additional orders to develop safe work procedures when removing the stage’s scaffolding system, MOL spokesperson Matt Blajer reports.

The ministry is sorting out the complex network of roles and responsibilities created from the dozens of various contractors working on the site, including lighting and sound technicians, catering crews and the bands themselves. “Trying to determine who’s the ultimate owner and the responsibility is still something we’re working on,” Blajer says.

Most orders have been issued to Live Nation, the concert promoter. Four other employers have also been asked to provide documentation on training and permits.

Further complicating the investigation is the fact that stages also fall under the responsibility of municipal building and fire codes, governed by two sets of regulations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). Stages under construction are governed by construction projects regulations, but once built, they are covered under industrial regulations. The labour ministry is investigating if the stage was still under construction at the time, Blajer adds.

Considering the complexity of the stage and the dangers it posed, it was not until three days after the collapse that the MOL gave crews the green light to tear down what remained of the structure to allow further investigation.

This is the third major stage collapse in Canada in as many years. Last summer, gusting wind conditions brought down a stage in Ottawa during the city’s Bluesfest; in 2010, a stage toppled in Camrose, Alberta during a storm, killing one and injuring 75.

While the labour ministry has created a handbook on safety guidelines for the live performance industry, the section on construction/industrial work has yet to be completed. Temporary structures, like outdoor stages, are covered under section 25(1)(e) of the OHSA, which states that any temporary or permanent building or structure, or any part of a building or structure, must be able to support any loads that may be applied to it as determined by the Ontario Building Code or in agreement with other prescribed requirements, or in accordance to good engineering practices if the former requirements do not apply.

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combustible dust

image: thinkstock

Dust to Dust 24

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By jean lian For a dust explosion to occur, everything has to be lined up just right. Unlike a fire, which can be started by a trio of elements — fuel, an ignition source and oxygen — a dust explosion can occur only if a pentagon comprising two additional elements, dispersion and confinement, come together.

That destructive constellation did unfortunately occur when two sawmills in British Columbia blew up months apart from each other. On January 20, 2012, an explosion and fire destroyed Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake, killing two workers and seriously injuring more than a dozen. On April 23, an explosion and the resulting fire razed Lakeland Mills in Prince George, claiming two employees and injuring 22.

The similarities between the two explosions are striking — both are sawmills, dust was present in both facilities and both are working with beetle-infested wood. A similarity so uncanny that it prompted a review, an industry-wide directive order and several investigations to find out just what went wrong, and how it could go so wrong.

T

he destruction of the two sawmills has triggered a search for answers that will be close to the heart of many industries that generate fine particles — from mills that process wood, grain and sugar; chemical manufacturing plants and facilities that fabricate rubber and plastic products; to coal-fired power plants.

On April 25, provincial labour minister Margaret MacDiarmid convened an urgent meeting involving representatives from the industry, United Steelworkers and WorkSafeBC to review mill safety and compile a document on industry best practices relating to combustible dust control in sawmills.

The following day, the provincial safety regulator issued a directive order to all sawmill operators to conduct a full hazard identification, risk assessment and safety review with particular focus on combustible dust, dust accumulation and potential ignition sources. “WorkSafeBC officers will be following up on these orders to confirm the ordered actions have been taken and sawmills are in compliance with the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation in regard to combustible dust and potential safety hazards,” a WorkSafeBC statement noted in April.

Until the investigation has concluded, Roberta Ellis, vice-president of corporate services with WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia, says it “cannot speculate, based on the similarities, as to the cause of these events.”

It did, however, reveal in a statement in May the ignition sources in both investigations appear to have been located at the conveyor belt level where electrical and/or mechanical equipment was in operation in areas contained by walls and equipment.

These areas are located at the basement or lower level of both mills.

Officers inspecting all sawmills and associated site facilities under the directive order “will be paying particular, but not exclusive, attention to areas similar to those identified in the Babine Forest Products and Lakeland Mills investigations,” the statement notes.

The Council of Forest Industries in Vancouver has also established a task force comprising representatives and stakeholders from the wood products manufacturing industry to

investigate combustion risks in mills. The task force, which reports to a CEO Action Committee, “is a significant collaborative effort to ensure that British Columbia’s wood products manufacturers are operating to the absolute highest standards,” Hank Ketcham, chief executive officer of West Fraser, says in a statement.

Don Kayne, chief executive officer of Canfor, adds that “we have taken every opportunity to increase our efforts in safety since the serious incidents at Lakeland and Babine, and this joint initiative is a next and very important step.”

Stephen Hunt, director of western Canada (district 3) with the United Steelworkers, went to Babine Forest Products mill with several union representatives following the incident. “Nobody from anywhere could recall a catastrophic explosion in a sawmill that literally blew the mill right off the face of the earth,” he says. When the mill in Burns Lake exploded, “I think it is safe to say that everybody is convinced that it was a one-off; something happened in that mill that was so unique that they could not be replicated,” Hunt continues.

“Then three months later, we blow another one up.”

“““Anytime you are changing a particle size, that is when you have a vulnerability.”

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FACT CHECK The two incidents have raised many questions on why dust particles are hazardous and what makes them combustible.

Combustible dust — also known as dry, deflagarable dust — is a wood particulate with an average diameter of 420 micrometers or smaller and has a moisture content of less than 25 percent, notes information from WorkSafeBC. “The drier the dust, the finer it can become and it is more of a fire explosion hazard,” says John Astad, director of the Combustible Dust Policy Institute in Santa Fe, Texas.

Combustible dusts are often organic or metal dusts that are finely ground into very small particles.

Types of dusts include, but are not limited to metal dust (such as aluminum and magnesium); wood dust; plastic dust; biosolids; organic dust (like sugar, paper, soap and dried blood); and dusts from certain textiles, notes information from EMSL Canada, Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario. The United States-

based firm is one of two companies identified by WorkSafeBC as being able to perform combustible dust testing.

Suspended dust burns more rapidly while confinement allows for pressure to build up. The initial explosion can cause dust that has settled over the years to become airborne, resulting in a secondary explosion that propagates throughout the plant, often with disastrous results.

Apart from primary and secondary explosions, there is also a “multitude of nonconsequential combustible-related fires,” Astad notes. While the majority of combustible dust-related incidents do not result in injuries, fatalities or property loss, “these can be precursors to catastrophic events.”

Weakest link No amount of dust, it seems, is too little to be ignored. Any surface that has more than five per cent of dust accumulation on it has to be cleaned off. In fact, a thickness that exceeds an eighth of an inch is too much, says Craig Kennedy, owner of Kennedy Forest and Safety Consultants in Williams Lake, British Columbia. “That is the thickness of two nickels.”

Potentially explosive particles can accumulate wherever dust is generated, says Dr. Graeme Norval, PhD, associate chair and undergraduate coordinator with the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto. For sawmills, this means places where the blades are located and where lumber gets transported. In sugar mills, vulnerable spaces include those where grinding operations, transportation of materials on conveyor belts and bagging of sugar and flour take place.

In other words, “anytime you are changing a particle size, that is when you have a vulnerability,” Astad notes.

Many new, automated mills are using more efficient, computerized technology to process wood, generating finer dust in greater amounts which, when suspended, presents an ex-

plosion risk, Kennedy explains. “They are pounding wood through really fast,” he adds, citing bandsaws, fast-moving table saws and circular saws as examples.

Hunt agrees. “We are finding that, like in many workplaces, the size and speed of the saw blades have changed; the nature of the dust coming off has changed.” These changes

demands the accompaniment of safety controls, although “it appears that that may have been left behind,” Hunt suggests.

Transfer points like conveyor belts, bucket elevators, mixers and dryers are vulnerable to the risk of dust explosion.

Friction from moving equipment — like a bucket elevator with its metal rubbing against a casing — and industrialpowered equipment, such as forklifts, can also cause fires or explosion when hot surfaces from motors, brakes and engine exhaust system meet suspended dust in sufficient amounts.

“All that is missing is an ignition source,” Astad says, noting that explosion-proof forklifts should be used to ensure safe operation in environments where dust is being generated.

Any activity that involves heat, electricity and an open flame can serve as an ignition source. A worker doing hot work on the other side of a process equipment, Astad cites by way of example, can accumulate sufficient electrostatic

Characterizing Dust Samples

A combustible dust analysis comprises a series of tests to determine whether or not a dust is combustible and potentially explosive. At least one litre of dust must be collected and submitted for analysis, notes information from WorkSafeBC. Combustible dust is typically analyzed in two ways: • Particle characterization determines particle size and moisture content. The most important part of this test is determining the percentage of the dust sample that is both combustible and small enough to pass through a 40-mesh sieve less than 420 micrometer in size.

• Class II test involves a number of parameters that determine how explosive the dust is and if the sampled dust is considered a Class II hazardous material.

In view that the entire Class II test is expensive, costing more than $4,000, the most practical way is to perform an explosive severity test, which is an initial screening to find out if the dust has explosive properties before continuing with the remaining tests. ‘If the dust is not found to be an explosive threat, the analysis can be aborted to avoid unnecessary fees,” WorkSafeBC information notes.

For combustible dust sampling and analysis, the safety regulator recommends following the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ID-201SG sampling method guideline. The OSHA Combustible Dust Emphasis program (CPL 03-00-008) also provides information on sample collection.

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Under Scrutiny On May 2, WorkSafeBC released an investigation update on the explosion at Babine Forest Products that leveled the mill on January 20, 2012. More than 80 witness interviews have been conducted, with as many as 20 WorkSafeBC personnel working on the investigation. The footprint of the incident site required in excess of 3,000 lineal feet fencing, placing it amongst the largest scene investigations in organizational history.

Possible factors contributing to the risk of explosion that continue to be examined include production level records (both recent and historic); type of wood being milled prior to the incident; exhaust and ventilation systems and schedules; effect of cold weather in the days preceding the incident date (-41 degrees Celsius); effect of cold on water pipes and misters; and sawdust accumulations.

There is no evidence to suggest the explosion was caused by arson, lightning strike, hot oil, hydraulic oil, gear oil, oxygen and acetylene.

Natural gas, propane and sawdust continue to be examined as possible fuel sources, while hot surfaces or friction, electric arcs from motors and switches, and several other electrical components are being looked at as possible ignition sources.

charge to potentially ignite dust accumulation in that area.

The possibility of an electric rotor or electrical panel arcing or sparking presents an additional risk.

“A lot of these ignition sources are inherent with the process equipment,” he notes. “It is not just one area we have to look; it is a holistic approach.”

Determining the minimum ignition temperature at which dust clouds can ignite is key to preventing dust explosions.

There are two types of minimum ignition temperature: layered (for undisturbed dust) and suspension temperature (for suspended dust). The American Society for Testing and Materials provides guidelines for performing laboratory tests to evaluate the deflagration parameters of dusts in ASTM E1226: Standard Test Method for Explosibility of Dust Clouds.

These tests provide crucial information that forms the basis for the development of a dust accumulation control program. Once the minimum ignition temperature has been determined, “we can evaluate our facility and see if we have temperatures that are approaching that,” Astad says. From that knowledge springs the need to communicate the hazard to rank and file, implement engineering and administrative controls and evaluate the training required, he adds.

IN SYNC Undertaking a risk assessment to identify high-hazard areas and developing a preventive maintenance program is a good starting point. However, housekeeping can only mitigate the hazard so much if the interaction between the operational environment and engineering controls do not work in sync to keep the dust out.

Kennedy cites a wood processing facility he inspected that has two large openings in one part of the mill. “The wind is blowing through one side and out through the other. It is like a big wind tunnel out there,” he describes. “The dusts that

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were cleaned off were blown back onto the girders and the beam by the wind.”

Seasonal change also needs to be factored into consideration when it comes to designing engineering controls. Water misters, used to dampen down airborne dust, are not suited for use during winter when the temperature drops below freezing. Roof fans, which keep small amounts of fine dust out of a building, introduce hot air into a facility in summer “and in winter, it sucks the cold air in,” Kennedy says.

“Many facilities think housekeeping is just blowing it down with compressed air,” Astad says. On the contrary, that can put dust in suspension and heighten the risk of an ignition, he cautions.

In fact, equipment designed to collect dust can sometimes pose a hazard itself. About 40 per cent of combustible dust explosions reported in the United States and Europe over the last 25 years have involved dust collectors, notes information from Designing Your Dust Collection System to Meet NFPA Standards, published in 2008. Down south, dust collection systems have now become a primary focus of inspection required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s National Emphasis Program on the safe handling of combustible dust since 2007.

One of the key factors in preventing explosions in the dust collection system is to maintain a reasonable conveying air velocity in every part of the duct. Low velocity can cause dust to drop out of the air and build up inside the duct. Too high a velocity, on the other hand, results in energy wastage. The characteristic of the dust is also an influencing factor. Coarse dust can cause erosion to the duct while moist and sticky dust can smear the duct wall, the paper notes.

“The most important thing that should be considered is the efficiency of the collector,” says Bes Blentic, sales manager with Camfil Farr Air Pollution Control in Toronto. Finer dust requires a lower velocity while heavier dust needs air to be churned at a higher speed to prevent them from settling in the duct, Blentic adds.

Personnel who maintain dust collector systems should be provided with training to ensure that they understand the fire and explosion hazards associated with combustible dust, Astad notes. He is, however, quick to point out that training on preventing dust explosion hazards should involve not only workers and stakeholders, but also all relevant regulatory agencies, such as the Fire Commissioner. “This is not solely a WorkSafeBC issue,” Astad says, noting the provincial safety regulator primarily looks at the operational environment of a plant from an occupational safety perspective.

On the other hand, the built environment involves looking at the physical structure of the plant and its fire safety and prevention, which falls under the purview of the Office of the Fire Commissioner. This includes administering the Fire Services Act, enforcing fire safety legislation, inspecting and investigating fire incidents, and responding to major fire emergencies.

“We need to distinguish what is an operational environment and what is a built environment,” Astad notes. “Work-

place fire and explosion hazard is an issue where guidance can be acquired from both local assistants to the Fire Commission and WorkSafeBC fire prevention officers,” he adds.

“Solely relying on one agency and ignoring the other does not comprehensively address the issue.”

ON ALL FRONTS A multi-faceted dust accumulation control program involves conducting regular risk assessments; dust control through containment, engineering systems and housekeeping; ignition control and emergency procedures in the event of a dust explosion, notes information from the Forest Industry Task Force on Mill Safety.

For risk assessments, workspaces to consider include sawing and debarking operations, planers, chipper enclosures and chip screening areas. Particular attention needs to be paid to less conspicuous areas, such as conduit, pipe racks, cable trays and rafters. Areas that produce fugitive dust should be identified and ways to enclose or contain it in that location need to be developed. All dust control systems must be inspected, cleaned and maintained in good working condition, the information adds.

Clean-up should also be scheduled in relation to the extent of possible dust accumulation. Apart from horizontal surfaces, overhead and vertical areas — such as beams and walls — need to be covered.

“You have to be conditioned to notice that there is dust collecting and deal with it,” Dr. Norval says.

One common oversight is dust accumulation at heights, such as on top of girders or overhead pipes. “One day, the pipe shakes and now you have a large accumulation of dust in the air,” Dr. Norval says. “Just because you don’t see dust on the floor doesn’t mean there’s no dust problem. People look at the floor, but they don’t look at on top of things.”

When performing cleanup operations — methods of

One common oversight is dust accumulation at heights.

which include vacuuming, water wash, brooms and compressed air — personal protective equipment and proper safe work procedures should be provided.

A comprehensive combustible dust control program, however, is not complete until that hazard has been identified and communicated to all workers. Until then, “we can talk about engineering and administrative controls all day, but that’s putting the cart before the horse,” Astad suggests.

In the meantime, the search for answers to the two devastating explosions continues. The United Steelworkers is engaged in the investigation conducted by WorkSafeBC, as well as conducting its own investigation, which involves interviewing workers at Lakeland Mills, Hunt says. “The key for us is to ensure the timing is right for the investigation,” he notes. “If you go to people too quickly, there is still quite a bit of anger and frustration.”

The Council of Forest Industries task force is looking at establishing an auditable dust control standard that can be implemented through a third party to serve as a “powerful means of ensuring a consistently high standard across the industry,” says Corinne Stavness, manager of public affairs with the council.

“We are making good progress,” she adds, noting that the two incidents have brought together the forest products industry in British Columbia in an unprecedented fashion. “It is our aim that this will be a positive legacy of these horrible tragedies — that we have really set a new standard in coordination and openness between companies, sharing more information on dust and all other safety hazards and increasing the pace at which we learn from each other and implement safety improvements.”

Since May 28, Lakeland Mills had restarted its planer mill for about six weeks to process inventory that remained following the explosion and fire. A company statement says there is enough lumber to keep the mill running for approximately 30 shifts, or one shift per day for six weeks. No decision has yet been made on the longer-term future of the mill’s operations.

“What we learned from this is don’t take any dust for granted,” Hunt says.

“It can all explode if they have enough quantity.”

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Jean Lian is editor of

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Global harmonization

New Letters, Old System By donalee Moulton A host of new letters is poised to make an appearance — and, it is believed, a difference — on Canada’s occupational health and safety scene.

Soon to join the widely known WHMIS (today, there seems little need to spell out Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) will be a trio of new letters: GHS. This addition to the oh&s alphabet stands for yet another mouthful — the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.

The arrival of GHS to Canada’s health and safety vernacular follows a long, intricate process written on a global scale.

But many believe it was worth the wait.

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Image: Thinkstock

Standard protection “Labelling changes proposed under GHS will bring about a consistent, standardized system which will, hopefully, be an easily understandable, reliable system for workers,” says Wayne Andrus, a certified health and safety representative with the Canadian Auto Workers’ union in Oshawa, Ontario.

That reliability and consistency in defining and classifying hazards promise to help foster safety on the job. Placing such a system of hazard identification “within the workers’ possession will enhance the right to know and lead to a healthier workplace,” Andrus predicts.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safe-

On the Plus Side The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) covers all hazardous chemicals. This new system will affect a broad swath of sectors that range from chemical manufacturers, construction sites, storage facilities, agriculture to emergency responders.

It is also expected to deliver a number of distinct benefits that move beyond the workplace borders. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario notes these advantages include the following: • promoting regulatory efficiency; • facilitating trade; • easing compliance; • reducing costs; • providing improved, consistent hazard information; • encouraging the safe transport, handling and use of chemicals; • promoting better emergency response to chemical incidents; and, • reducing the need for animal testing.

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ty (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario says the new classification is a detailed system that defines and categorizes the hazards of chemical products and communicates oh&s-related information on labels and material safety data sheets. It is developed by an international team of hazard communication experts and seeks to establish uniform rules for hazard classification and the same format and content for labels and safety data sheets for adoption and use around the world.

“The label alerts the user that that product is hazardous and precautions should be taken to work safely with it,” says Cathy Dumschat, senior technical specialist of occupational hygiene for the CCOHS. The federal government has characterized the benefits of GHS as significant, far-reaching and well worth the investment of time, energy and training that will be required to get the system to the shop floor.

“The GHS will help protect human health, facilitate international trade in chemicals and assist countries and international organizations in effectively managing chemicals,” says Gary Scott Holub, a spokesperson for Health Canada in Ottawa. There will be “improved protection for users as all implicated workers will now see the same label warnings and data sheet information for chemicals,” Holub adds.

That consistency is attractive in light of there being no uniform classification and labelling system for chemical products around the world. In fact, more than one system can exist within the same country. That being the case, it is not only an expensive landscape for governments to regulate and enforce; it can also ratchet up costs for companies that must comply with different systems and prove confusing to workers who need to understand chemical hazards in order to safely do their jobs.

“In the United States alone, 650,000 chemicals in the workplace are classified as hazardous, and from their production to their use and transport, they pose a risk to workers and the environment,” notes a statement from Summit Training Source in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Consistent approach The globally harmonized system comprises three major hazard groups — physical, health and environmental — and encompasses all hazardous chemicals. Information from the CCOHS notes that criteria for classifying chemicals have been developed for all three hazard classes: • Health — acute toxicity; skin corrosion/irritation; serious eye damage/eye irritation; respiratory or skin sensitization; germ cell mutagenicity; carcinogenicity; reproduc-

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tive toxicity; specific target organ toxicity (single exposure); specific target organ toxicity (repeated exposure); and aspiration hazard.

• Physical — explosives; flammable gases; flammable aerosols; oxidizing gases; gases under pressure; flammable liquids; flammable solids; self-reactive substances and mixtures; pyrophoric liquids; pyrophoric solids; self-heating substances and mixtures; substances and mixtures which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases; oxidizing liquids; oxidizing solids; organic peroxides; and corrosive metals.

• Environmental — hazardous to aquatic environment (acute and chronic) and hazardous to the ozone layer.

Beyond the breadth of chemicals captured by the system is the reach of products to which GHS applies. These sectors include transport, consumer products, pesticides and pharmaceuticals, among others.

Like others, the GHS picture is worth a thousand words.

The system requires certain information, based on the product’s hazard classification, to appear on a label. The prescribed information includes standardized pictograms — signal words such as “danger” or “warning”, and hazard statements. The system further recommends precautionary statements based on the hazard classification, a suggestion that Europe and the United States plan to make mandatory.

In practical terms, uniformity of messaging will be promoted. “The label for two different products that have the same hazards will use the same pictograms, the same signal words and the exact same hazard statements,” reports Jessie Callaghan, the CCOHS’s senior technical specialist of chemical hazard evaluation. This consistency will be felt on a global scale, leading to improved understanding of chemical hazards and safer workplaces, she adds.

Although there are no Canadian approximations as yet, Callaghan cites estimates in the United States that “implementation of the GHS will prevent 43 fatalities and 521 injuries and illnesses annually in that country alone.”

Come together Being in sync with our neighbours south of the border is important for the inclusion of GHS into the existing WHMIS framework here at home. “As part of the CanadaUnited States Regulatory Cooperation Council Joint Action Plan announced in December, Health Canada is working to align and synchronize the Canadian adoption of the GHS for workplace chemicals with the United States,” Holub reports.

A key part of this work, he says, is Health Canada’s role within the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. The international body has been established to advance a number of objectives: make the GHS available for worldwide use and application; make guidance available on

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GHS application; and promote understanding and use of the system, as well as encourage feedback.

Looking ahead, it is anticipated that members of the United Nations sub-committee of experts will wrap up the current round of commitments — a process that has taken two years already — and release decisions related to updating GHS by year’s end. The committee has a full plate, also dealing with various hazard communications and implementation issues, developing guidance on how best to apply GHS criteria and planning further capacity-building projects.

Just this March, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in Washington, D.C. released its Final Rule for the Hazard Communication Standard for workplace chemicals, which includes a three-year transition period to achieve compliance with new provisions.

Once implemented, currently scheduled for 2016, it is estimated the standard will produce $475 million in enhanced productivity for businesses annually, notes information from the Department of Labor.

“OSHA’s 1983 Hazard Communication Standard gave workers the right to know. As one participant expressed during our rulemaking process, this update will give them the right to understand as well,” Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, notes in a statement from the agency.

Slow, but sure While progress is clearly being made south of the border with respect to GHS’s adoption, the process has not unfolded in rapid-fire fashion, suggests Aaron Trippler, director of government affairs for the American Industrial Hygiene Association in Falls Church, Virginia.

“In many instances, the changes to be made in the U.S. are well behind other major industrialized or trading blocks in the world. In essence, we are just catching up to many other parts of the world where GHS-based hazard communication has been put in place,” Trippler states.

Closer to home, the waiting game is also playing out.

Adoption of GHS demands that federal, provincial and territorial oh&s statutes be amended — but that cannot occur until after the Hazardous Products Act and supporting regulations have been updated.

As well, it is worth noting that GHS will likely affect other laws in Canada when it kicks in. It is expected to be implemented by other regulatory agencies, including Transport

Canada for the Transportation of Dangerous Goods, and by Health Canada for Consumer Chemical Products and Pest Control Products.

While no firm dates have been announced for either the legislative changes or the GHS implementation, information from the CCOHS estimates that new laws are unlikely to be in place before 2013.

In the meantime, Holub says that “Health Canada will continue to consult with provincial or territorial partners and with affected stakeholders with respect to the adoption of the GHS.” Old and new There are a lot of questions to answer — and changes to prepare for. “There will clearly be a time of transition when there will be confusion, and it will require a lot of work by all industrial hygienists to help workers understand the new [hazard communication] methods,” Trippler ventures.

One constant may be the current roles and responsibilities of suppliers, employers and workers. Under WHMIS, these are not expected to transform in any major way because of GHS, Andrus says. “Workers will receive training, employers will provide the training and suppliers will still be responsible to provide accurate, detailed labels and [safety data sheet] information on products they supply,” he says.

Common Language With regard to chemicals and hazardous materials, what is happening here can just as easily be happening there.

That means it is essential that everyone speaks the same language — chemical-wise.

By doing so, the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) — which aligns the U.S. system to the GHS — will reduce confusion in workplaces south of the border, especially for low-wage and low-literacy workers, Hilda Solis, U.S. secretary of labor, has said.

“The new safety data sheets not only greatly improve the quality of material safety data sheets by establishing a harmonized structure and meaningful recommendations of content, but will improve the protection provided to workers, employers and chemical users,” Elizabeth Pullen, president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in Fairfax, Virginia, says in a statement. “Aligning the HCS with the GHS will provide AIHA members better tools to protect workers on a worldwide basis.”

Trade has always been a global venture, although links seem tighter than ever before. As such, a harmonized system for classifying and labelling chemicals serves to make it easier and safer for employees, no matter where they are around the world.

The earlier companies start educating themselves and their staff about GHS and its implementation, the easier the transition will be, Glen Trout, president and CEO of Chicago-based MSDSonline, suggests in a statement from the ASSE. With regard to the government as the regulatory body overseeing system implementation, again, the obligations should not change significantly, Andrus says. “The onus will be on all the parties coming together and making sure that a proactive, orderly process be implemented with the workers’ well-being as the highest priority,” he emphasizes.

With roles and responsibilities well-established, it will be business as usual in many respects. “Suppliers will still be required to classify hazardous products and prepare safety data sheets and labels for their customers. Employers will continue to make sure their products are labelled and that SDSs are available to workers,” Dumschat says.

In other ways, however, significant changes will be required. Callaghan points to the following example: “Currently, suppliers exporting to Canada must comply with WHMIS requirements. After Canada implements GHS into WHMIS, anyone exporting chemical products to Canada will have to comply with the new laws.”

This means that suppliers will have to re-evaluate all their products and make changes to the material safety data sheets and corresponding labels, Trippler adds.

Trained on training One critically important area, however, will be in need of a significant revamp that requires more time, attention and resources: training. This change is expected to place a significant onus on employers.

“As the GHS is implemented, workers will need to understand both current WHMIS and WHMIS after GHS so that their safety is not compromised,” Dumschat says. “It is anticipated that the biggest challenge for employers will be dealing with this training challenge.”

Plenty of work will be required and that demand will be “complicated by changing what workers have been taught for years, and introducing totally new elements, such as picto-

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grams,” Trippler suggests.

One such challenge is posed by the difference in label requirements between the two systems. For example, WHMIS regulations require the use of applicable WHMIS symbols, but the GHS requires the use of pictograms that are not identical to WHMIS symbols. As well, one pictogram under the GHS can represent more than one hazard class.

For instance, the pictogram of a man with a star-like formation across his chest represents carcinogenicity, germ cell mutagenicity, respiratory sensitizer, reproductive toxicity, target organ toxicity and aspiration toxicity.

The use of a specific label border in WHMIS and reference to the material safety data sheet are also not required in GHS, notes information from the CCOHS. Callaghan notes that worker education around label content will include pictograms, new hazard class names, meaning of signal words, hazard and precautionary statements and other things. “Workers should also be oriented to the new safety data sheet format and content,” she adds.

It is expected that there will be a multi-year transition period for implementing the new WHMIS after GHS, Dumschat says. During the transition period, it is likely that workers will encounter labels and data sheets prepared according to both the current WHMIS rules and the new WHMIS obligations. With the two systems in play, that means workers will need to be able to understand both if they are going to work safely, Dumschat advises.

For employers and workers in Canada, courses offered by the CCOHS on WHMIS after GHS will help increase awareness about potential changes. “However, company-wide training is not a good idea until the possible requirements for GHS implementation into WHMIS are published,” CCOHS information notes.

In or out Several items are on Health Canada’s to-do list in preparation for the emerging oh&s landscape. “The key priority of the government at this point remains aligning with the GHS and the U.S. implementation without reducing the level of protection that the current Canadian system provides,” Holub says. “Ensuring this involves substantial technical analysis, the results of which will be made public in the coming months as we move toward Canadian implementation.”

But the scope of the application of the system, he notes, is another significant issue. The range of products and types of chemicals that will ultimately be subject to new GHS/WHMIS obligations is now under consideration. “Certain prod-

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ucts are excluded from the current WHMIS provisions and an analysis is under way to determine whether these exclusions should continue,” Holub adds.

On a practical level, there will, no doubt, be challenges.

“Depending on the size and shape of the containers used, fitting all the information required may become a concern, especially if the label requires dual languages, [although] the use of pictograms and signal words may help alleviate the space limitations,” Andrus suggests.

“Decanted products will also require special considerations on the depth of information, which will be provided on the label and how it will be presented to the worker,” he adds.

However, opting out will not be an option. Like WHMIS, GHS is a legal requirement, so Canadian chemical manufacturers, suppliers and other affected organizations should start preparing now to meet tomorrow’s health and safety requirements.

The best place to start, Dumschat advises, is by getting educated on the GHS system and how to classify products. That can be helped by referencing the so-called Purple Book, the fourth revised edition of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals released last year.

The book offers a comprehensive look at the GHS system and what is required to achieve compliance. But that look keeps changing — meaning suppliers, employees and workers need to keep abreast of developments.

In the latest version, for example, new hazard categories for chemically unstable gases and non-flammable aerosols are included, as is further rationalization for precautionary statements on labels and clarification of some criteria to avoid misinterpretation.

“During the transition from current WHMIS to WHMIS after GHS, employers may have to deal with a flood of new SDSs,” Callaghan says. “Employers should consider implementing an electronic safety data sheet management system now so they will be ready to efficiently manage the increased number of data sheets,” she advises.

WHMIS currently allows for a number of MSDS formats, including a 16-section format used in the GHS system and the nine-heading approach required by Canada’s Controlled Products Regulations.

The GHS will introduce some major changes to Canada’s oh&s system. If the touted safety and financial benefits can be realized, the payback would be well worth the long, complicated process. The devil, it would seem, may be in the details — and a trio of new letters.

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Donalee Moulton is a writer in Halifax.

For over 11 years, OHS CANADA has provided the opportunity for our readers to sample products and receive information from the world’s leading manufacturers of health & safety products and services.

Go to http://www.ohscanada.com/summer-of-safety/2012/ to see this year’s participants and to have a chance to win great prizes from OHS CANADA.

Claims Fraud

illustration: Randy Lyhus

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By Angela Stelmakowich Herding cattle on behalf of his employer in 2005, an Alberta man reported to the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) that he injured both knees while jumping up and down from fences to avoid the cattle.

Despite receiving medical treatment, the worker said his pain persisted and, in fact, grew severe enough that he was unable to stand, walk or climb stairs, notes information from the board’s website. His employer responded, at least initially, by providing modified duties, but laid him off within a few weeks.

The worker then reported he was unable to do any type of work and, as a result of a re-injury, needed crutches just to get around.

Things got moving quickly enough when the employer became suspicious and decided to conduct surveillance. The tape provided to the WCB shows the claimant having few, if any, mobility issues.

About a month following his injury, the worker informed the WCB he was performing light duties for an auto body shop. A board investigation determined he had been doing so since late June, while on benefits. The benefits were promptly terminated.

High toll This Alberta case is a tale of opposites: reporting, non-reporting; mobility, immobility; benefits, costs; starts, stops.

Ultimately, though, the buck stopped when the claimant pleaded guilty to working while receiving benefits, misrepresenting his injury and making false or misleading statements to the WCB, notes information from the board. For those breaches of Alberta’s Workers’ Compensation Act, he received a $500 fine and was ordered to make restitution of about $784 to the WCB. That small amount, however, may belie a larger concern.

The Alberta WCB makes clear the lion’s share of stakeholders and service providers involved in workers’ compensation matters are honest. That said, “past experience has shown that there is a small percentage who are not, and this can add up to big costs.”

In an average year, the board reports, approximately $10 million is protected in the Accident Fund because of the Special Investigations Unit’s (SIU) explorations of suspicious behaviour. The ripple effect of failing to do so “includes lost jobs and profits, lower wages and benefits, and higher costs for goods and services — in part because employers are forced to pay higher premium rates to cover increased claims costs.”

Representatives of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission (WHSCC), based in St. John’s, would likely agree. “Fraudulent activity impacts the organization’s integrity and accountability to its stakeholders and it adds to the difficulty in maintaining equity within the workers’ compensation system,” information from WHSCC notes.

However, pinning down specific numbers for workers’ comp fraud and abuse can be a slippery proposition. With regard to fraud offences over the last year in Manitoba, Warren Preece, director of communications for the WCB, notes there were overpayments ranging from $11,000 to $41,000. “But if we recovered the payments, there hasn’t been a loss, right?

So that question’s hard to answer,” Preece says.

Mike McGovern, associate counsel for WorkSafeNB, characterizes the numbers as soft, almost “guesstimates.” He notes that national and international studies look at 10 to 15 per cent of what is being spent on workers’ compensation could have some element of fraud or abuse in it.

“If you are taking 10 per cent of the dollars out of the system wrongly, that is going to

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have a negative impact on services, but particularly it is also going to have an impact on assessments,” McGovern says. “We want to maintain a particular level of service, but we need to maintain a particular level of funding.“ One positive may be that both fraud — potentially an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada — and abuse numbers have remained relatively flat over the last four or five years. WorkSafeNB only sees a handful of fraud cases annually, and 40 to 50 cases of abuse that require the board to carry out some kind of review, McGovern says.

Manitoba is also seeing things remain fairly steady, notes Preece. “Over the years, it’s been level in terms of the number of investigations we’ve done,” he says, adding that the board conducts about 350 investigations a year.

Maura Murphy, manager of corporate communications and issues management at Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto, reports that overall, the numbers for both fraud — which relates to actions taken willfully or knowingly — and non-compliance referrals “have remained fairly constant from year to year.” Figures from the WSIB indicate there were 133 actual charges for fraudulent actions in 2011, while non-fraud charges numbered 322.

With regard to non-compliance charges, says Murphy, the numbers for employers (including directors), workers and providers or others respectively, are as follow: 24, 109 and 0 in 2011; 48, 51 and 0 in 2010; 22, 44 and 0 in 2009; 83, 60 and 5 in 2008; and 35, 37 and 4 in 2007.

In sheer numbers, McGovern says the bulk of investiga-

On the lookout Work-related injuries will occur, and most times the compensation process will play out as intended. “Unfortunately, there are those individuals who try to beat the system by filing fraudulent workers’ compensation claims,” notes Shadow Investigations Inc. in Vancouver. That being the case, employers would be well-advised to keep an eye out for the following red flags when claims are filed: • Vague or general recollection of details; • Delay in reporting an injury or accident; • Inconsistencies in the story; • No witness, in addition to inconsistencies and other warning signs; • Disgruntled employee; • Financial hardship or home life pressure; • Home phone never answered or the person always needing to return the call; • Missed doctor or therapy sessions; • Employee engaged in activity inconsistent with the injury sustained; and, • Repeat offenders, either year after year or making several claims in a single year.

Hammer Down

tions would involve workers. “Any seasonal kind of employment and the construction sector tend to be where a lot of occurrences happen on the worker side,” he says, adding that fraudulent claims from the construction sector would be “proportionally higher” than other industries.

Workers also represent the majority of related investigation, making up approximately two-thirds of the total, Preece notes. And as it relates to conviction — what Preece likens to “getting right to the point where you end up in court — we get a judgement and there’s a conviction,” nine people were involved in 2011.

Far and wide The spectrum of fraud and non-compliance runs wide, as does the players: workers, employers, service providers, WCB staff and more. “In simplest terms, abuse occurs when an individual is intentionally dishonest in order to obtain money, goods or services to which he or she is not entitled,” the Alberta WCB notes.

Drawing examples from WCBs and commissions, fraud, abuse and non-compliance includes the following: • failing to report an accident; • failing to register a company; • intimidating workers into not reporting a claim; • falsely claiming an injury is work-related; • deliberately understating or falsifying insurable earnings; • exaggerating an injury or delaying return-to-work; • working with pay while receiving workers’ comp benefits; • intentional billing for services not rendered; • agreements between an employer or worker to not report

Call it fraud; call it non-compliance. Whatever the name, every jurisdiction across the country has borne witness to claimants, employers or providers trying to tilt the scale in their favour. Although administrative fixes are most often used to set things right, other times it is off to court for remedies that can go beyond hand-slapping.

A former pharmacist and owner of a pharmacy in Hamilton, Ontario was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to repay $100,000 for inappropriate billing. Barry Goldman pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada, after billing the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan, Express Scripts Inc. and Great West Life Assurance Company for prescription drugs that were not prescribed by health care professionals with prescribing privileges and not dispensed to persons entitled to receive them.

A 42-year old restaurant worker in Saskatoon was sentenced to 15 months probation and 50 hours of community service, as well as ordered to repay $3,382.31 for bilking Saskatchewan’s Workers’ Compensation Board. The worker pleaded guilty to working while still on benefits.

City Jobs Inc. and company director Wafaa Kadhem were fined a total of $120,000 for violations of Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. Following a trial in absentia, the company and Kadhem were each convicted of one count of willfully failing to inform the WSIB within 10 days of a material change, two counts of providing the board with inaccurate statement of total wages and three counts of failing to submit a statement of total wages earned by one of its workers.

Umendra Kumar received a nine-month conditional sentence and was directed to make full restitution of approximately $7,700 on one count of fraud over $5,000, contrary to the Criminal Code. Kumar claimed that a workrelated injury left her disabled and unable to work, but later returned to employment without informing WorkSafeBC.

claims or to waive benefits; • creating fictitious vendors for billing; and, • using board or commission assets, data or intellectual property for personal financial gain.

Powers of detection Looking at the risk of occupational fraud overall, it “is almost certain to rise as economic growth slows and more employees experience financial difficulties,” Rock Lefebvre, vicepresident of research and standards for the Vancouver-based Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGACanada), said in a statement last December. “It’s a genuine threat and companies need to be vigilant. It may be a case of

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Big Hit The numbers are out — and they aren’t pretty.

The Vancouver-based Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada) recently reported that occupational fraud is taking a big bite out of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

That bite — which chewed up at least $3.2 billion in 2010 — is also being felt by employees, who are seeing morale go south. “The financial loss is one thing, but it’s staff morale and management confidence that really take a hit,” said Rock Lefebvre, vice-president of research and standards for CGA-Canada.

Nationally, one-quarter of Canadian SMEs surveyed were victims of fraud — misappropriation of inventory or assets, followed by misappropriation of cash are the most frequent culprits — notes “Does Canada Have a Problem With Occupational Fraud?” That translates to about 290,000 SMEs witnessing one or more instances of workplace fraud in the past year.

Based on 800 interviews involving companies with five to less than 500 employees, CGA-Canada notes that more than 80 per cent of respondents reported losses of as much as $5,000; 61 per cent of companies that had been victimized said fraud negatively affects employee morale; and between one-fifth and one-quarter of responses indicated a company’s business relationships, reputation, value and public and client trust suffered as a result.

pay now, for prevention, detection and response measures, or quite possibly pay later.”

Unfortunately, CGA-Canada reports that almost 60 per cent of small and medium enterprises do not periodically assess the risks of workplace fraud; 74 per cent believe their exposure to occupational fraud is low; and 80 per cent are not prepared to respond should it occur.

The reach of a fraudulent claim goes beyond costs to manpower and morale, all while downgrading confidence in management, notes information from Shadow Investigations Inc. in Vancouver.

As such, it is critically important to catch questionable behaviour early on — before it has a chance of becoming a full-blown claim or scheme. The hope is that front-line systems and staff education will achieve that. “Certainly it is much more economical and easier to prevent those cases from coming into the system than it is to shut them down afterwards,” McGovern suggests.

The Alberta WCB reports that board staff members are the source of more than half of the SIU’s referrals; the rest comes from employers, workers, family members, neighbours and others. What process rolls out — everything from a quick paper review to surveillance, likely by a contracted third-party — depends on the nature of the allegation made

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and the source of the tip.

That is important since, sometimes, instincts can get it wrong. “You should have some factual information to support your suspicions,” notes information from Saskatchewan’s WCB, adding that “a ‘gut feeling’ alone is not sufficient basis to report suspected fraud.”

McGovern says if WorkSafeNB is getting credible information from a witness who has no obvious conflicts, the board will ramp the case up to the witness-gathering stage.

That is not always the case — particularly if the tipster has an axe to grind or has bad information. McGovern says about eighty per cent of the tips received by the board are not accurate. “A very quick review of the injured worker’s file would reveal that the tip is inaccurate,” he adds.

Consider a tip from someone who says he knows his neighbour is on benefits, but is still out mowing the lawn.

“We check the file, just take a quick scan of it and see that he’s been recommended to stay physically active while he’s off work,” McGovern says. “So mowing the lawn is actually good for him and it’s something that his physician said to do. Those kinds of things get weeded out.”

Murphy points out that where allegations of fraud and/or non-compliance are referred to the WSIB, the board conducts a comprehensive case and data review. If an investigation is warranted, evidence is gathered using standard investigative techniques, including obtaining documents and interviewing witnesses. Surveillance, one of many tools that might be used in an investigation, may be called upon if the WCB has reasons to believe that a worker is involved with activities outside the restrictions of the injury, or the employee’s conduct is contrary to the Ethics and Code of Conduct Policy, notes information from Manitoba WCB. In New Brunswick, surveillance for suspected abuse is pursued only occasionally, perhaps fewer than a dozen times a year. “We wouldn’t want to put somebody through surveillance when, in fact, they’re a valid workers’ compensation claim,” McGovern says.

If an investigation supports the allegation, criminal prosecution is a possibility. And that can be serious, indeed. Although criminal prosecution investigations make up less than one per cent of total investigations, more than 90 per cent of them result in conviction, the Alberta WCB notes.

In Ontario, for example, individuals convicted under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act can be subject to a fine of as much as $25,000 and/or six months in jail for each offence, while corporations can be fined up to $100,000 for each offence. Should the fraud exceed $5,000, sentencing can occur under the Criminal Code, including imprisonment for as long as 10 years.

The WSIB notes that certain acts may constitute fraud under the code: • Making or using a false document (like a birth certificate, social insurance number or WSIB clearance certificate);

• Falsifying an employment record; • Knowingly billing the board for services not rendered; and, • Offering or receiving a secret commission.

Murphy reports that with regard to Criminal Code charges in Ontario, there have been none for employers (including directors) and workers from 2007 to 2011. For providers or others, however, there were three in 2007, 10 in 2008, one in 2009, two in 2010 and none last year.

Jail time is unlikely, though still a possibility. Beyond that possibility is the effect of a permanent criminal record, probation, community service, additional fines, restitution orders, loss of employment, administrative penalties and loss of reputation.

Eyes peeled Saskatchewan’s WCB reports that employers, workers and caregivers can do their part by taking

the following steps: • Employers — Always file a work injury report, ensuring details are complete and accurate within the prescribed time frame of being notified of the injury; put in place an effective injury reporting system that all management and staff follow; and educate workers about the need to promptly report work-related injuries and the consequences of a false claim.

• Workers — Tell the employer about any work injury requiring medical attention and file an injury report as soon as possible; contact the WCB if an employer is trying to intimidate or dissuade one from filing; inform the board if the employer is deducting workers’ comp premiums from the paycheque; and keep the case manager informed of medical treatment and work activity.

• Caregivers — Promptly and accurately report the full details of all treatment provided to patients with workrelated injuries; ensure the board case manager is aware of the treatment planned and obtain approval when necessary; contact the board if the injured worker consistently fails to show up for treatment and follow up with the case manager.

“In terms of workers and employers who are hoping to preserve the financial integrity of the system, certainly coming forward with credible information is always helpful,” McGovern says.

It matters as well for WCBs and commissions that may need to deal with increased costs, which could translate into higher premiums and reduced services.

“Increased duration is really where the bulk of things exist,” McGovern suggests. Actual fraud cases — say where documents or statements have been doctored — are few, he notes. “We have far more cases of people who are extending a duration of claim based on misinformation.”

WSIB’s Maura Murphy agrees that fraudulent and non-compliant behaviour by all workplace parties can negatively impact the timely return-to-work of injured workers, as well as the duration of claims.

“What can prevent a lot of this stuff is a robust, positive, joint, collaborative return-to-work process, where the employer is working with the employee and us to find modified return-to-work and get back into the workplace,” Preece says.

“Non-compliance and fraud undermine the workplace insurance system and the people who rely on it,” Murphy says, “so we must and will use the full force of the law when people deliberately fail to comply.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Angela Stelmakowich is former editor of ohs canada.

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ACCIDENT PREVENTION

lightning

Crack in the Sky SUMMER HAZE: With the sweltering summer months upon us, outdoor workers not only have to contend with the heat, ultraviolet rays and the potential for dehydration. They are also exposed to the threat of thunderstorms, which occur most frequently in summer.

IN THE EYE: Thunderstorms develop when warm, humid air near the ground is pushed upward by surface wind and rises rapidly into an unstable atmosphere. Energy drawn from surrounding winds can contribute to the severity of the storm.

Lightning is produced when voltage differences between ground and atmospheric electrical charge are large enough — several hundred million volts — to overcome the insulating effect of the air. Strokes of lightning can occur within the cloud, between clouds, or between clouds and the ground, notes information from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) in Melbourne, Victoria.

While modelling can predict the conditions that might lead to thunderstorms, individual events cannot be accurately forecasted. “To attain 100 per cent lightning safety is not possible. But lightning safety training for outdoor workers and pre-planned defences can assure a best attempt to achieve high levels of safety,” notes information from the National Lightning Safety Institute (NLSI) in Louisville, Colorado.

DANGER ZONE: Construction workers, labourers, machine operators, engineers, roofers and pipefitters are among the workers struck by lightning most often, notes information from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C. An incident in May involving a roofer, who had a close call with lightning, is a case in point. The roofer was working at a residential project in Thunder Bay, Ontario when a tree located approximately seven to 10 metres away was struck by a bolt of lightning, showering bits of wood on the otherwise unharmed worker.

SYSTEM SHOCK: Physical harms caused by lightning strikes include cardiopulmonary injury, coma, internal hemorrhaging, bone fracture, temporary paralysis and deep burns at entry and exit points, notes a 1999 study, Lightning Injuries to Humans in France by Dr. Elisabeth Gourbière.

While a direct strike usually results in cardiac and/or respiratory arrest, a side flash — where the person’s body serves as an alternate or parallel path for the current to reach the ground — can also prove fatal if the energy passes through the head or heart.

LINGERING EFFECTS: While only 10 to 20 per cent of lightning strikes are fatal, survivors often complain of headaches, tinnitus, dizziness, nausea and difficulty sleeping or excessive sleep. A few may develop persistent seizure-like activity that can last months, notes research from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Lightning Injury Research Program.

The nervous system is often the hardest hit if struck by lightning.

If the brain is affected, the victim often has difficulty with short-term memory, multi-tasking, coding new information and accessing old information. It can also cause irritability and trigger a personality change.

These effects may, in turn, lead to difficulty or an inability to carry on a conversation and continue working or performing the same activities prior to being struck, resulting in social withdrawal.

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lightning sightings: If lightning strikes the ground, high voltages can send currents over the surface or through the soil. That can prove deadly more than 40 metres from the initial strike point, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in Boston notes. Strikes can also create indirect, secondary hazards, such as fires and fallen trees.

flight, not fight: When lightning is first spotted, the AMS recommends using the 30-30 rule: count the time between the strike and when the thunder rumbles. If it is less than 30 seconds, run for shelter. Even if lightning is not spotted, just hearing thunder means workers are likely within range of a strike.

If a worker’s hair begins to stand on end, if a buzzing can be heard nearby or if an object begins to glow blue — a phenomenon known as St. Elmo’s fire — workers must move immediately, the ABM advises.

For those working in the water or on a boat without a safe cabin, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Maryland recommends diving as deep and for as long as possible.

UNDER THE ROOF: Mother Nature may be unpredictable, but knowing where to seek shelter when confronted by the elements can make a difference between life and death.

Fully-enclosed, all-metal vehicles or equipment — such as buses, vans, and construction equipment with enclosed mostly-metal cabs — are safe shelters.

Windows need to be rolled up; do not touch radio dials, metal door handles, two-way radio microphones; and avoid all objects that connect the inside to the outside, notes NLSI information.

Unsafe vehicles include those made of fibreglass and other plastics, and small riding machinery or vehicles without enclosed canopies like motorcycles, farm tractors, golf cars and allterrain vehicles.

BEST PRACTICES: After a worker in Oklahoma was struck and killed by lightning while standing in the bed of a dump truck in 2004, NIOSH has put forward three recommendations for employers to help keep their workers safe when a storm threatens: • Develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive written safety and health program, including procedures for inclement weather; • Ensure all workers receive formal, documented training on inclement weather policies and procedures; and, • Ensure a competent person evaluates the site before work begins and re-evaluates it throughout the workday.

F IRST RESPONSE: In the unfortunate event of a worker being struck, the AMS advises that cardiac pulmonary resuscitation and/or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation be administered as quickly as possible, even if the victim appears deceased. They can often be revived and may be safely touched immediately.

Even if a person who has been struck appears unhurt or just stunned, the victim should get a medical examination and be checked for burns, The Maine Farm Safety Program advises.

CAUGHT OUTDOORS: If you ever find yourself in the path of nature’s dazzling but deadly wrath and far from shelter, the ABM recommends the following responses: • Crouch alone, feet together, preferably in a hollow. Remove metal objects from head or body. Do not lie down flat, but avoid being the highest object in the vicinity; • Stay away from metal poles, fences and clothes lines; and, • If driving, slow down or park away from trees and power lines. Stay inside metalbodied vehicles or caravans and do not touch any metal sections.

LAW FILE

prosecution

Not Seeing Eye to Eye

By Greg Burchell

O

rganizations and workers who plead guilty and throw themselves at the mercy of the courts are likely to emerge in a better financial shape than accepting a fine from Ontario’s comparatively heavy-handed workplace safety regulator, so says a recent report by two employment lawyers in Toronto.

These findings are drawn from a paper, 68 Per Cent of Companies Plead Guilty to Occupational Health and Safety Act Charges (and 8 Other Interesting Findings), co-authored

by Adrian Miedema and Christina Hall, both lawyers at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto. The paper examined unpublished data on prosecutions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act from January 2009 to June 2010, obtained from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) through a Freedom of Information request. Prosecutions during the 18-month period covered by the study involved a total of 863 defendants, comprising 592 corporations and 271 individuals.

Bird’s Eye View The study, which focuses on Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act’s (OHSA) charging provisions, is based on data categorized by the type of defendants (corporations or individuals), the result (including whether or not the defendant pleaded guilty or fought the charges through to a trial), the severity of a worker’s injury (if any) and the amount of the fine.

Other key findings include the following: • Corporations were most likely to plead guilty to charges (68 per cent of cases), while individuals most often saw their charges withdrawn (56 per cent of cases); • Two-thirds of companies that take their charges to trial are ultimately found guilty. For individuals, the odds of a guilty verdict are fifty-fifty; • There is an 82 per cent chance that at least one of the parties involved will be convicted if charges are laid; • Eighty-five per cent of charges involved actual or potential worker injuries, with almost 20 per cent of charges laid involving a potential for injury if the safety hazard was not remedied; • About one-third of all defendants charged under the OHSA were in the construction industry, which accounts for only five per cent of the Canadian economy; • Only one in 10 defendants had a prior conviction; and • Fines for contraventions involving serious injuries tend to be higher. Fatalities had the highest fines, followed by major injuries, minor injuries, potential injuries and no injuries.

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This disconnect — court fines were on average 45 per cent less than those from the ministry — could indicate the courts believe the penalties meted out by the MOL are too punitive, and should give the ministry pause as to whether or not the fines they are issuing are fair, Miedema suggests.

“Ontario’s fines have risen rather substantially over the past decade, and this may reflect that some justices of the peace have said this is just too high, they’re not fair numbers for employers — particularly for employers that have good safety programs, that respond properly when there’s an accident and co-operate when there’s an investigation,” he says.

SMALL PICTURE For those facing charges, however, the disparity in the value of fines between those imposed by the courts and the MOL may not be clear at the outset. Only 17 per cent of individuals and nine per cent of corporations that pleaded guilty allowed the court to decide their punishment, resulting in the average court fine being approximately $19,000 less than those issued by the ministry.

These numbers may not reflect the bigger picture, says Jeremy Warning, an oh&s and employment lawyer with Heenan Blaikie in Toronto. He says he suspects that many of the cases where the fine amount was decided by the courts involved minor injuries, or cases “at the lower end of the severity scale.”

Another finding is the negligible difference between fines for companies who fought their charges through a trial and those who negotiated with the ministry. “The MOL tends to give effectively no ‘discount’ to companies for pleading guilty and avoiding a trial; fines imposed by the courts after a corporation has fought all the way through a trial tend to be only four per cent higher than fines negotiated with the Ministry of Labour,” the study notes.

It went so far as to suggest that corporations, supervisors and workers facing workplace safety charges should consider letting the court decide the amount of the fine, “or in appropriate cases, the entire case.”

Miedema notes the mentality for companies is often that a lesser fine will result if companies negotiate a plea bargain with the ministry — although the penalty for those that fought the charges does not include lawyers’ fees. “That’s always got to be part of the consideration in any lawsuit, whether it’s a civil case or a prosecution, what the cost is going to be of going to trial,” Miedema says, also citing the potential outcome as part of the consideration.

A general lack of awareness about the disparity in penalties issued by the court and the labour ministry could explain why only six per cent of all cases are taken to trial. Miedema says when a guilty plea is submitted, the court approves the plea and arranges a fine without having to analyze the case.

“Because so few actually go all the way to trial where the court has to make a decision and analyze it, there are very

few cases that actually get published that are of helpful precedence to employers,” he notes. on the scale While the study’s findings may serve as reference material for defence lawyers when demonstrating to their clients the various possible outcomes associated with an occupational health and safety charge, Warning says the decision on how to respond ultimately rests with the client and involves the consideration of a host of related factors.

“These statistics are interesting to read, but how a case is handled, of course, requires very detailed consideration of all the facts and factors that exist in the case — not only the evidence that the prosecution would have, but the evidence that would be called by the defence,” Warning adds.

Miedema thinks the study helps encourage employers and organizations to weigh their options when faced with a health and safety charge, and challenge the assumption that a guilty plea would likely result in a lesser fine.

The MOL declined to comment on the study, noting that it relates “to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by Crown counsel, as well as sentencing decisions imposed by the courts,” ministry spokesperson Matt Blajer says.

Vernon Edwards, director of occupational health and safety with the Ontario Federation of Labour in Toronto, says that while the data presented in the study was interesting, he was not pleased with the idea of companies performing a cost-benefit analysis on workers’ safety. “But that’s the way

the world works. Companies will do a cost-benefit analysis,” Edwards quips. “It doesn’t surprise me that they have said that in the article.”

That said, Edwards is of the mind that while higher penalties may serve as a greater deterrence against unsafe practices, knowing that a lower fine is possible would not necessarily lead to companies taking more risks or have a direct impact on occupational safety. “The deterrence is in knowing what the ministry is prosecuting and their chances of getting caught,” Edwards suggests.

And the fact that a fine handed down by the courts may be lower than that issued by the ministry does not mean the lower fine is unjust or inappropriate. Warning explains that in cases where the issue of penalty has been argued before a court, there is a neutral arbiter of fact and the penalty imposed is appropriate in the circumstances.

“Because a defendant engages in their right of the adversarial system to advocate for themselves and for a penalty they believe to be reasonable in the circumstances ought not to be taken to [be] a conclusion that this is a strategy designed to minimize fines and dilute the deterrent effect of the fine,” Warning argues. “I don’t think that was the intent of the article, and I don’t think that is the intent of any council practicing in the area.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Greg Burchell is assistant editor of & safety news.

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SAFETY GEAR

Lifting Devices

A Helping Hand

By Jason Contant

W

hen Manitoba health minister Theresa Oswald announced in May that the government would conduct two pilot projects to test the effectiveness of using power-lift stretchers throughout the province, it was met with enthusiasm by the union representing paramedics.

“We are very pleased this is happening and we feel if they can find information and move forward towards reducing injuries for paramedics, it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” says Wayne Chacun, director of the technical professional paramedical component of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union and a rural paramedic in Virden, Manitoba.

Chacun says the pilot projects — one in Winnipeg and another in rural, central Manitoba — will help determine if all ambulances in the province should come equipped with these stretchers com“Adjusting pared to the standard variety. “The thing it eliminates is the up-and-down repetilifting tiveness that you do when lifting stretchers normally,” Chacun says. “It doesn’t equipment eliminate all lifting, but it can reduce the amount of lifting you have to do,” he adds, to suit noting that only a handful of emergency unique medical service stations in the province currently use these stretchers. operator A power-lift stretcher costs approximately $14,000, compared to a regular needs stretcher that ranges between $3,000 and $4,000. “It is more money, substantially is key.” more. However, sometimes a [workers’ compensation board] claim can end up being in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if it is a permanent injury and somebody has to be retrained,” Chacun suggests. “Somebody is always coming up with new and innovative equipment, and we need to make sure we are using that rather than sacrificing the back of a paramedic.”

preventive measure The use of lifting equipment can prevent repetitive stress injuries from delivering a hit to worker health and morale.

Whether it is a power-lift stretcher or a lifting device — such as a tilter, lift table, overhead crane or lift trolley — these products are often designed to reduce strain not only on the back, but also the neck, legs and arms.

Apart from ensuring employee well-being, it can also keep a lid on costs associated with musculoskeletal injuries, says Hans Lofgreen, president of Toronto-based Jenalex Inc., a supplier of lifting devices. “I’ve seen this many times — for every dollar you invest in ergonomics, you’re going to get $4 back in profit. People aren’t going to get injured as much,”

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Lofgreen suggests.

The benefits offered by lifting devices are mutual. For employers, it can hike productivity, reduce compensation costs and increase profitability; for employees, it can bring about enhanced safety and reduce absenteeism.

Bob Stella, president of Starquip Industrial Products Ltd. in Toronto, however, says it is best not to view a lift-assist device as something that will generate profits, but as an injury prevention tool for use in situations where employees are most likely to suffer a strain, resulting in time-loss from work — or worse, a compensation claim. “Ergonomic studies abound to show how repetitive lifting of a 17-pound box will lead to back injuries,” Stella adds.

For most workers, lifting loads exceeding 20 kilograms results in a higher number and severity of back injuries, notes information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario.

While the weight of the load is the most obvious factor, the location of the load is also important. A load that is being lifted far from the body imposes more stress on the back, while carrying a bulky object often puts a worker in an awkward and potentially unbalanced position.

Poor layout of the work area also hikes the risk of injury.

Lack of space and shelving that is too deep, too high or too low increases the need for unnecessary bending, stretching and twisting. Unsuitable dimensions of benches, tables and other furniture also require a worker to perform manual material handling tasks in awkward positions that add further stress to the musculoskeletal system, the CCOHS adds.

Still, millions of workers who are handling heavy loads simply seek assistance from their buddies, Stella observes.

Musculoskeletal injuries have been reported by most workers’ compensation boards (WCB) across the country as the most common type of workplace injury. In Ontario, musculoskeletal injuries account for 42 per cent of all losttime injuries, 40 per cent of new claim costs and 43 per cent of days lost at work in 2010, states a fact sheet from the provincial labour ministry in Toronto. This amounted to 25,630 lost-time injuries, a loss of more than 739,000 working days and more than $92 million in medical and workers’ comp costs from new claims in 2010.

MATTER OF CHOICE Essentially, there are three basic types of lifting devices: a hoist, a pneumatic gripper and a vacuum lifter. A hoist, which lifts a load by means of a chain or wire rope wrapped around a drum or lift wheel, has a lifting capacity between 250 pounds and three tonnes. A pneumatic gripper is an airpowered clamp that grips and lifts objects, while a vacuum lifter uses vacuum tubes and suction cups to grab objects, notes information from Ergonomic Partners Inc., a supplier of material handling applications in St. Louis, Missouri.

Lifting devices, which seek to combine the responsiveness polymer or paper weighing between 20 and 200 pounds, are and flexibility of a human operator with the power of a ma- being lifted repeatedly from a conveyor and placed onto a chine, are manufactured in various capacities, types and sizes shipping skid. “The heavy rolls already have a hoist,” Stella to suit different industrial environments. Familiarizing one- says. “It’s the 40-, 50- and 60-pound ones that are flipped by self with the types of lifting devices available and consulting hand and jiggled onto a floor cart.” an expert to analyze the operational process and its requireSolutions could be as simple as having a scissor lift table ments would provide good guidance when choosing an ap- to place the load at waist height, he says, noting that most are propriate lifting device, the information adds. air-operated with vacuum cups or pneumatic clamp grippers As with the selection of any form of personal protecto suit specific products. tive equipment designed to make a worker’s job safer, Most lift-assist solutions employ lightweight the choice of lifting device will depend on the individual tubular rail cranes or monorails to move from work task. “They are designed to do a specific job, and one point to another, with slewing jibs or articthere are no two specific jobs that are the same,” says ulating arm jibs being good options for less freScott Davenport, president of SWD Enterquent cycles. “Carbon fibre jib arms are almost prises Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario. “I might weightless and eliminate inertial have been in each one of [General Motors’] startup resistance and overtravstamping plants, and each one is a little difel,” which helps keep strains to ferent,” he adds. lower back and shoulders at bay, In the food and pharmaceutical indusStella explains. tries, a simple lift trolley will often get the Articulating arms can be job done. Consider a 30-kilogram lift trolbuilt to solve a material hanley that lifts boxes 40 times a day. “You can dling challenge — such as put up to 70 kilograms on it and wheel reaching under a paint line, into it around,” Lofgreen says, adding that his an assembly machine or under company offers an all-wheel swivel, electric a vehicle. These mechanized motor-powered version that can run up and arms come in a variety of sizes down a platform at the push of a switch. and shapes with custom end efThere are also products that feature a foot fectors for picking, pitching, ropump, but “now you’re asking the employee tating and placing items, states to pump that thing 15 or 20 times,” Lofgreen information from Starquip’s points out. “There is no ergonomic saving website.

Some lifting devices (left) are considered in that unless you are only doing one or two Another popular type is be“intelligent”and require minimal force lifts a day. You need something that is electric low-the-hook lifting equipment, to operate, while lift trolleys (right) help and easy to use,” he argues. typically consisting of an overmove items like rolls and drums. head crane or hoist and another Just right lifting device between the crane In many applications, the primary ergonomic concern is and the item to be lifted. “There has to be a lifting device reaching out with a load in the hands, and stretching too high because you cannot take the hook and hook it up directly (above the shoulders) or too low (below hip level). “A lift as- to the item,” Davenport explains. “There has to be a sling or sist will be designed to keep an operator’s hands between hips something in between,” he adds, citing devices that include and chest, and the control handle will be geometrically de- a spreader bar, a magnet, a vacuum lifter, wire rope, chain, signed to prevent bending of the back to reach the opposite nylon slings and plate clamps. side of a shipping skid,” Stella explains.

Dust- and liquid-resistant lifts for use in damp or wet enConsider an application where products, such as rolls of vironments are also available in the market, Lofgreen adds.

photos: clockwise from lower left - jenalex

LOAD FROM ABOVE Overhead cranes are a great help in moving loads, but they can also pose a potential hazard to workers underneath. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario offers the following advice on what to look out for when handling loads by overhead crane: it or travelling; • Ensure all loose materials, parts, blocking and packing • Ensure that nothing obstructs the movement of the load; have been removed from the load before lifting; • Remove any slack from the sling and hoisting ropes be- • Keep the load under control when lowering a load; • Do not attempt lifts beyond the rated load capacity of a fore lifting the load; crane or slings; • Move crane controls smoothly to avoid abrupt move• Do not raise loads higher than necessary to clear objects; ments; • Follow signals only from one slinger in charge of the lift, • Do not lift a load from the side, but centre the crane directly over the load before hoisting to avoid swinging except a stop signal; the load; and, • Sound a bell, siren or other warning device to ensure • Stay in crane cab during power failure, attract attention everyone is away from the load prior to hoisting; and wait for help.

• Ensure nothing links or catches on the load while raising

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photos: clockwise from lower left - starquip

NEW OFFERINGS room. Another employer required its workers to stand on a Second-generation “intuitive lifters” are also making their step ladder and lift 10-kilogram racks sitting in nitrogen out way into workplaces. Servo motor drives and load-sensitive of freezers. sensors enable such lifting devices to respond to an opera“It’s an absolutely impossible lift for a person to do, but we tor’s intent, Stella says. As well, new vacuum-cup technology made special lifts they can hook on with a simple hook and offers multi-durometer cups to engage dimpled surfaces and just pull them right out,” he adds. conform to dents, bulges and curves, he adds.

Making adjustments to lifting equipment to suit unique Even the old hoist has changed. “Variable speed, an expen- operator needs is key. “You really have to look at the operator sive option five years ago, is now available at only a 20 per so that they will like to use it,” Lofgreen says. “If they can find cent premium,” Stella notes. any excuse to not use it, they will. Involve the employee in the Jenalex offers an “intelligent lifting” hoist-type system process, because they have so many ideas.” called the Quick-Lift System. It features a customized handle Davenport agrees. “You have to sit down with the people with a lightweight arm made of aircraft aluminum that re- who are going to use them, in the area you are going to use quires only 20 grams of force to lift a 300-kilogram load. The them to determine what you actually want them to do.” He device is useful “wherever you would like to put in a robot, adds that an operator may require a lift table to lift a pallet, but you need the eyes of an operator and the hand to guide but may also want to tilt it or put skirting around a scissor lift it,” Lofgreen explains. to prevent possible injury to a worker.

He reports the system has been adopted in a major car comDavenport notes that many lifting devices will either be pany to lift and move 500 transmiscustom-designed, or a standard model sions a week, in a major bakery to will be modified and manufactured to lift bags and in a poultry plant to lift meet a specific application. A fully de29-kilogram plastic totes. tailed engineering description of use “There are sensors above that and requirement specifications must be feel the speed of your movement written up to ensure that all personnel with the hand, so you can move are in agreement. The document may the hand really slowly and that’s the need to be updated as suppliers change speed the lift goes. If you move your and new accessories are being recomhand quicker, it just follows you,” mended.

Lofgreen adds, noting that some However, caution should always be air-driven systems can be jerky. taken when adding attachments to a lifting device, such as a hoist system, A product information sheet from Jenalex notes the Quick-Lift which can cost between $25,000 and System can detect the slightest $30,000. “You can buy the best lifting change in the angle of the lift device in the world and then you put wire, following every moveon an attachment that doesn’t work,” ment and reacting smoothly Lofgreen suggests. “The whole thing is to slow or quick movements totally worthless.” with no overshooting when Drum handling safety check the operator stops. equipment and other lifting devices can While most provincial requirements When the grip on the mahelp reduce stipulate an annual pre-safety review noeuvring handle is released, musculoskeletal before lifting devices are used in workthe load is automatically balinjuries by minimizing places, there are no specific standards anced and the Quick-Lift the need for exertion. from the Canadian Standards AssociaSystem starts functioning as tion for lifting devices in general. There a conventional balancing lift. are, however, standards that apply to Both hands are therefore free to place the load in its correct position. The lifting unit has the design, construction, installation, operation, inspection no push buttons or other manual controls when the grip is and maintenance of all types of equipment used in the manreleased. “The controls will, at all times, take over and ensure ufacturing of different products, Davenport says.

Lofgreen recommends that customers use companies acthat the work load remains in position, which constitutes a credited by the Standards Council of Canada to certify these dead-man’s-grip,” the product sheet states.

Lofgreen reports that a client had initially intended to lifts so that they comply with the Canadian Electrical Code.

A situation that should be avoided is purchasing a lifting only use the system for difficult lifts by bringing loads on a pallet up to waist height manually before using the lift. “They device that creates another ergonomic hazard. Consider an have started using it for all levels and have never gone back to inexpensive lift trolley that is going to lift 50-pound boxes up on a shelf. “Now you’re buying a cheap unit that weighs 1,000 manual lifts,” he adds. pounds,” Lofgreen says, “and you ask the employees to move TO EACH HIS OWN that [trolley] around. You’re solving one ergonomic problem Although standard lifting devices are available, the majority and creating a huge one — they can’t move it.” are customized, Lofgreen says. For example, Jenalex recently Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada designed an “extra short” lift with a counterweight at the bottom for a glass fibre spin rolling application with low head Jason Contant is managing editor of ohs canada.

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WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

Psychological Injury

Sizing up Invisible Hurt

By Jean Lian and Jason Contant

T

he Appeals Commission for Alberta’s Workers’ Compensation has reversed a ruling by a review body that denied a worker’s claim for mental anxiety on the basis that there was not a single traumatic incident or chronic onset stress.

The May 10 decision from the appeals commission reverses a September 14, 2011 ruling from the Dispute Resolution and Decision Review Body, which confirmed the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) Alberta’s denial of the worker’s application. The WCB had cited the lack of a confirmed psychological or psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) diagnosis — a standard classification of mental disorders — as a reason for dismissing the claim. It also stated that “work incidents of interpersonal conflict and performance management are considered to be general or situational workplace pressures and ten“I don’t sions experienced by the average worker.”

The case revolves around an email a think a lot worker received from her manager on July 19, 2010. It included previous emails of us would of a discussion between two managers containing personal and disrespectful reassume marks about the employee. one email Feeling hurt and depressed, she consulted her psychologist on August 30, 2010 and a DSM-IV diagnosis was made. The could result psychologist prescribed her some medicain this kind tion and signed her off work from September 1 to 20, the appeal decision notes.

Prior to receiving the email, the em- of trauma.” ployee had no performance issues at work. Although she has previously suffered from depression for many years, the decision notes that she has been able to function in daily living and had always worked — except for one episode in December of 2009, the time of year associated with the death of her parents.

Tina Giesbrecht, partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Calgary, says workers’ compensation claims related to mental health problems present various difficulties. Unlike physical injuries, of which the cause is often easily determined, “these cases are very tied to the technical aspects of the medical evidence that is being presented, which makes it challenging for WCB to consider some of that evidence in light of their own policy,” Giesbrecht says.

While all jurisdictions in Canada compensate for mental health problems attributable to acute stress, only five jurisdictions compensate for mental health problems attributable to chronic stress: the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Québec, notes a paper on workers’ compensation for work-related mental health prob-

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lems by Katherine Lippel, Canada research chair on occupational health and safety law with the University of Ottawa.

The numbers are telling of the challenges associated with mental health-related compensation claims. In 2009, the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec accepted 48 per cent of claims for mental health problems, compared with 96 per cent of claims for physical health problems related to workplace violence.

“I don’t think a lot of us would assume one email could result in this kind of trauma and that the effect it had on the individual,” Giesbrecht says. “I think it is giving a lot of attention to issues that we may not have considered to be compensable, certainly from a workers’ compensation standpoint.”

GROUND RULES For a mental health claim to be eligible for compensation, there has to be a confirmed psychological or psychiatric diagnosis as described in the DSM, the work-related events or stressors are proven to be the predominant cause and there is objective confirmation of these events.

In particular, chronic onset psychological injury or stress is compensable when it is an emotional reaction to one or both of the following: an accumulation, over time, of a number of work-related traumatic incidents, or a significant work-related stressor that has lasted for a long time and does not fit the definition of a traumatic incident.

In this case, the difficulty lies in proving the mental distress suffered by the employee was caused by a single traumatic incident, defined as the direct personal experience of an event or witnessing an event that is sudden, frightening or shocking, with a specific time and place and involving actual or threatened death or serious injury to oneself or others, or threats to one’s personal integrity.

“In the view of the panel, the experience of the worker is not similar to the examples given,” the decision writes.

However, it determined “the circumstances in this matter do represent an emotional reaction to a significant work-related stressor that has lasted for some time,” citing the content of the email message as the work-related stressor.

As well, the panel did not accept that receiving a written record of a conversation between two managers making personal and disrespectful remarks about the worker as “a normal pressure and tension of the workplace” that an average worker in a similar occupation should expect to experience.

The decision concludes the content of the email constitutes “a workplace hazard.”

Gail Cumming, chief executive officer of Cumming Consulting Inc. in St. Albert, Alberta, says the decision sets a precedence that could open the door to more cases of workrelated mental distress. “This ruling means that employers should understand the workforce is open to compensation and WCB rights if mental and physical health is not being

half

addressed at work,” she suggests. sophisticated measures and scales to assess the veracity and Giesbrecht says the ruling “is a further development of consistency of the claimant’s report. Drawing information things we are seeing in human rights law and in wrongful from several different sources that include clinical interviews, dismissal cases.” test results and background documentation” helps to “piece In this case, the decision views the hospital’s notification the puzzle together,” Dr. Saunders adds. letter dated August 30, 2010 as a diagnosis that establishes In view of the complexity associated with determining a connection between the worker’s psychological injury and that a mental health injury claim arose out of work-related the work. But teasing out the various factors that contribute stressors and the myriad factors that can influence its develto a person’s mental health problem requires an understand- opment, the expert opinion of more than one practitioner ing of the sequence of events or situations that lead to that may be sought in many cases. “But the very first diagnosis is condition, and knowledge of how mental health disorders always going to be really important because it is usually done can develop in response to those particular situational fac- fairly close in time to when the injury arose,” Giesbrecht sugtors, says Dr. Doug Saunders, senior psychologist and princi- gests, “so there is going to be a lot of credence given to that pal at Clear Path Solutions in Toronto. medical evidence.”

“We are not single-mode individuals. We are affected by Cumming is of the mind that employers do need to tread all aspects of our lives and different aspects can all come to- more carefully when handling mental health issues in the gether to create or contribute to mental health problems,” workplace. “Inappropriate talk and emails and unnecessary Dr. Saunders says. The first thing that needs to be done is stress from supervisors should not be tolerated by any emget a detailed document of the patient’s symptomology. “It is ployer,” Cumming stresses. very critical because DSM-IV depends on symptomology as Giesbrecht says she thinks that this case should give emthe main way of determining a diagnosis,” Dr. Saunders adds. ployers pause and highlight the importance of recognizing Administering psychosometric tests, understanding the “the impact that communications can have on individuals in patient’s mental health history and what kinds of family or the workplace, and that this is something they are going to be developmental factors might have contributed to that histo- held responsible for ultimately.”

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada ry, and verifying those reports by speaking with family members and co-workers provide a pretty clear picture of what the Jean Lian is editor of ohs canada; Jason Contant is managing disorder is and its overall development. page EcoLog 2008 7x4.875 with price.pdf 1/23/08 9:25 AMeditor Page of 1ohs canada.

In assessments of this nature, it is also important to use

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compliant with EHS laws

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PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY occupational health and safety

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an advertising feature

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Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News

So, what’s on your mind?

JULY/AUGUST 2012

JUNE 2012

Do you think opioid use prolongs an injured worker’s absence from work?

Yes

78%

No

22%

Total Votes

90

Is corporate terrorism a real threat to workplace health and safety?

Yes

52%

No

48%

Total Votes

105

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

PRIVATE JUSTICE: A convenience store owner in Gatin-

eau, Quebec meted out some old-fashioned corporal punishment when two masked thieves pulled knives on him as he was closing up shop for the night. When the attackers demanded cash, the store owner grabbed a can of bear-repellent and gave the assailants a full dose to the face, the CBC reported in June. The store owner then leapt over the counter, grabbed one of the fleeing robbers, spanked his bottom and held him by the legs until police arrived. His wife also took a piece of the action and kicked the intruder. Both assailants (not the husband-and-wife team) have been charged.

Christmas in May: A man who appeared to be aping

Santa Clause by skulking around on the roof of an apartment in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan got the attention of law enforcers. When police came to check on the rooftop intruder, “Santa” began to lob presents — in the form of bricks — at the officers gathered at the base of the building, the CBC reported in May. Realizing his gifts were not appreciated, he tore another page from Saint Nick’s book and went for a dive down the chimney. Lacking the magic that lets the jolly old elf slip down unscathed, he tumbled four storeys and got stuck at the bottom, requiring rescue efforts from firefighters, an ambulance crew and police. The officers who came to his rescue can expect to be moved up to the nice list next year.

HAND-WICH: A Michigan teen, who had ordered a roast beef sandwich from Arby’s, got more meat than he had bargained for. While the 14-year-old was finishing off the sandwich, he bit into something tough and rubbery. He spat it out and, lo and behold, he was beholding the severed tip of a finger, the Associated Press reported in May. Apparently, an employee at the fast-food restaurant had cut off part of her finger with a meat-slicer and went to seek medical attention without telling anyone about the mishap — and the inch-long, quarter-inch thick chunk of skin sitting in a pile of shaved roast beef that eventually made its way to the drivethru. Bon appetit.

BUCKET-LISTED: A Portland jury has awarded two workers more than $300,000 after they were fired for raising a health and safety complaint. The employees, who were doing mechanical work at an airport, had to approach nearby businesses and even improvise by using a bucket to answer nature’s call, The Oregonian reported in May. After enduring months of frustration, they complained to workplace safety regulators, which cited the company for failing to provide restroom facilities. The two employees were fired later that month. The attorney representing the company argued the dismissal was not an act of retaliation, but for defying management orders not to urinate in the bucket. Nice try.

TOO HOT: A form-fitting sequined black dress with

matching studded boots may not be your idea of regular work wear, but an employee of a lingerie warehouse in New York felt that her attire was appropriate for a business that sells thongs and négligée, Reuters reported in May. The fash-

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ion-conscious employee, whose duties include data entry and coordinating shipping samples, launched a discrimination complaint against her employer after she was dismissed over her provocative work wear. The 29-year-old employee, who was told to wear a bathrobe over her attire and tape down her breasts to make them look smaller, reportedly described her ordeal as “horrifying.” Truly a classic case of being too sexy for the job.

HIGHER WISDOM: In a hark back to ancient times, when kings sought divine guidance to resolve knotty political problems, city councillors in San Francisco have turned to a board game for help on administrative issues. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that, when pressed with having to choose whether or not to support naming a Navy ship after Harvey Milk — one of the first openly-gay politicians in the United States — the board of supervisors turned to a Ouija board and asked Milk himself, who was assassinated in 1978.

Turns out that Milk, and consequently the councillors, are in favour of naming the ship the USS Harvey Milk.

UNUSUAL FIND: It was an extraordinary find on a

regular day in the life of several refinery workers in Indiana when they opened a crate of valves from India and found the remains of two small monkeys. The remains, which had been there for at least a year, were shipped to a warehouse in Louisiana in mid 2011, Reuters reported in June. A company spokesperson said the wildlife likely found its way into the overseas shipment and became trapped in a large shipping container. The animal remains have been removed for safe disposal according to the United States Center for Disease Control guidelines.

CALLING IT QUITS: If an employee quits his job to

watch a soccer tournament, it must be one heck of a soccer game, one awful job or one eccentric employee — or all of the above. This reason was one of more than a dozen baffling push factors cited by employees who threw in the towel, according to a survey by international staffing service OfficeTeam. These responses ranged from the oddly justifiable (one worker quit because her boss lost the dog she had given him), brutally honest (an employee was paid more than he felt he was worth) to questionable life choices (one employee wanted to stay home to feed his dog, while another stays true to his habit of changing jobs every six months).

MELTDOWN: A research agency in Japan has triggered a meltdown of a different kind following a controversial public relations campaign aimed at educating women on nuclear safety. The website of the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency portrays a cartoon of an angry wife waving her fist at a cowering husband. The Geiger counter started beeping when the ad compared the wife’s yell to radiation, her rising agitation similar to radioactivity and — get this — the woman herself was the radioactive material, Reuters reported in June. The ad has since been deleted.

Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

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Lead them to safety - build an enduring Culture of Safety where employees make safe choices on their own. www.honeywellsafety.com/culture © 2012 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved.

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© 2012, 3M. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. 3M is a trademark of 3M. Used under license in Canada. 206-01547-E

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