canary
CUPE’s Health and Safety newsletter
the
FALL 2012
Activism Education
Hit the refresh button: New training goes back to basics
D
ebera Willis hasn’t been in the health and safety game as long as some CUPE activists, but she’s got a pretty good handle on what it takes to make a difference. “I got involved because members were taking a lot of risks, feeling that they had to take risks in order to hold their employment,” said Willis, a member of the Hospital Employees’ Union, working as a licensed practical nurse at the hospital in 100 Mile House, B.C. A ten-year nursing veteran, Willis was recently appointed to
her first term on CUPE’s national health and safety committee. She’s got a keen sense of what it takes to inspire members in the workplace. After watching too many workers end up on LTD with back problems from moving patients without a lift, Willis and a few allies decided to take initiative and push their colleagues to use lifts to move patients. “It’s about workload, and it’s about people thinking they don’t have time, and thinking that it won’t happen to them, and so it became about education for me,” said Willis. Continues on page 2
transit Workplace death
Tragedy in Montreal: CUPE member killed on the job in bus crash A CUPE member tragically lost his life at work when the bus he was driving collided with another vehicle in Dorval. A passenger in the other vehicle was also killed, and 12 people were injured in the accident. Sylvain Ferland, a 23-year employee of the Montreal transit corporation (STM) and member of CUPE 1983, was driving STM route 196 when the incident occurred at the corner of 55th Avenue and Lindsay Avenue, near the Montreal airport. The bus was flipped onto its side, and Ferland was pinned underneath. Continues on page 2
Inside 3
asbestos Harper Conservatives backtrack on deadly policy
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Mental health Online tool on mental health injury prevention ready for rollout
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SAFE@WORK Health and safety for workers with disabilities
the canary fall 2012
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