The Canary - Fall 2012

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.

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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.

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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

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CUPE national health and safety committee members Debera Willis (left) and Minerva Porelle (right) have contributed at the local and national level.

Continued from page 1 They signifi­can­tly reduced the number of back injuries sustained by workers at the hospital.

“How did we do that? Just by constantly, you know, not badgering them, but showing our colleagues that there’s an easier way to do this. Let’s work toge­ther and do this,” said Willis.

It’s that type of activism that CUPE is hoping to inspire with a new nine-hour course on health and safety.

More advanced than the threehour health and safety block in the Steward Learning Series, this new course is designed to empower new activists and experienced activists new to health and safety.

The course covers the duties of health and safety representatives; explains how to identify hazards in the workplace and the process for dealing with them; and provides an overview of basic health and safety rights.

Minerva Porelle, member of CUPE 3392 and long-time health

and safety activist, was on the advisory committee that helped shape the course.

“I felt like I was right back to 21 years ago. I thought, okay, this is why I got involved,” Porelle said about developing the backto-basics approach the new course offers.

“Some long-time activists are in a place now that, we’re so involved, we’re active all the time and we kind of forget what it was to be a new union member— that you don’t always understand certain things or you don’t even know what a collective agreement is. It’s really good to visit our roots again and remind ourselves why we got involved.”

The new course will pilot in November 2012, and is expected to be offered to CUPE locals beginning in 2013.

■ Wes Payne Contact your CUPE staff representative for more information, and visit cupe.ca/union-education

The Canary, CUPE’s health and safety newsletter, is published four times a year. Canaries were once used in mines to warn mineworkers about changes in air quality. Since then, the canary has become a symbol of workplace safety, and an important reminder of dangerous working conditions. For more information on the importance of the symbol, check out cupe.ca/canary.

Continued from page 1 CUPE National President Paul Moist expressed his sadness and condolences to the family.

“On behalf of CUPE members across the country, I offer our deepest condolence s to Sylvain’s family and friends, and his fellow members at local 1983,” said Moist.

“This is a difficult time. No worker should have to die to earn a living. Our thoughts are with all of those touched by this tragedy.”

CUPE National SecretaryTreasurer Charles Fleury also offered condolences.

“I spoke with Local President Denis Vaillancourt when I heard the news. I offered him our condolences, and the full support of our union,” said Fleury. “We stand behind the local 100 per cent during this tragic period.

As CUPE members, we must all stand together and support our fellow members grieving the loss of their colleague and friend.”

Ferland’s wife and sister are also transit drivers with the STM. Police have recommended that the driver of the other vehicle be charged with impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm. CUPE will be following the investigation closely.

■ Wes Payne Subscribe to the email edition at cupe.ca/subscribe Disponible en français

Editors: Wes Payne and Troy Winters Please email Troy Winters at health_safety@cupe.ca with corrections, questions or suggestions.

Find past issues online at cupe.ca/canary

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cope 491

The end of Canada’s asbestos industry Harper-Conservatives backtrack on deadly policy

ONLINE

cupe.ca/health-andsafety/asbestos-industry

Workplace tools Mental health

New online tool helps prevent mental health injuries A new online package of resources on the prevention of violence and harassment, psychological issues, and stress issues in the workplace by the Mental Injuries Tools group (MIT) launched this October.

The web-based tool helps workers identify the hazards that may lead to mental injuries, and provide advice on how to change the workplace before those injuries happen. It is available on the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers’ (OHCOW) website, OHCOW.on.ca.

“This is an excellent resource,” says Andréane Chénier, CUPE national representative specializ­ing in health and safety in Ontario.

“It has the potential to shed light on mental injuries in a vast number of workplaces CUPE members are working in. Though many of the legislative sections focus on Ontario, much of it will have universal application across Canada.”

The MIT group that developed the resource is made up of unions,

New logo for OHCOW’s web-based mental injury tool.

labour activists, and OHCOW. Formed in 2009, the group was tasked with a project that had three primary goals: • Ensure that psychosocial hazards are recognized in the same way as other health and safety hazards, that they are prevented in the workplace, and that the health problems they cause are compensated by WSIB. • Generate worker action to identify and prevent workplace psychosocial hazards from negatively affecting workers’ health.

• Move the health and safety and compensation systems towards recognizing, preventing, and compensating for psychosocial hazards.

“The team assembled for this project was dedicated in gathering the newest and best resources for workers,” said Chénier.

The group hosted a workshop to launch the online tool on October 10 in Sudbury, ON. Locations were also set up around the province so interested members could participate and ask questions through online chat.

■ Troy Winters For more information or to find the tool online visit ohcow.on.ca.

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safe@work

health and safety facts from cupe

Health and safety for workers with disabilities Disabilities vary widely. Many disabilities are not readily apparent. For instance, people with occupational asthma may be completely free of symptoms as long as they work in an area with no irritants.

Regardless of the disability, all employers have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace to all workers. For workers with a disability, employers may be required to take extra steps to ensure their health and safety. Therefore, planning and implementing a health and safety program that includes workers with disabilities will result in a greater level of safety for all workers. If your disability could affect the health and safety of you or others at work, some jurisdictions require by law that you disclose this to your employer.

There is help It may be hard to talk about a disability with your employer. Many people fear losing their job or suffering harassment, but your union’s local health and safety representative should be able to provide some assistance. Once you have informed your supervisor, your health and safety committee should work with you and your employer to perform a hazard assessment. The assessment will determine where and how the workplace ought to be altered to make it safer for you.

Hazard assessment steps A hazard assessment team is made up of management and workers (usually in conjunction with the health and safety committee). There are five things

a hazard assessment team should do in a hazard assessment: 1. Find out what could hurt people by identifying the hazards.

2. Determine how workers could be hurt by the hazards that have been identified.

3. Determine what steps must be taken to make the work healthy and safe.

4. Make changes to make work safer.

5. Follow-up on the changes.

Communication: the key to success The best way to ensure the successful inclusion and integration of a worker with a disability is communication. Management should be clearly informed as to the needs of the worker, but they should not press to know more information than they require. Other workers whose jobs will be affected should also be brought into the discussion. However the privacy rights of workers with a disability must be protected at all times.

Good communication between the worker, union representatives and management will help ensure that required changes are implemented smoothly and effectively.

Making a workplace safer for a worker with a disability makes it safer for all workers.

For more information check out the full fact sheet at cupe.ca/health-andsafety/disabilities

check out Our website! cupe.ca/health-and-safety • more information on workplace health and safety issues • fact sheets and guidelines on a wide range of topics • the latest health and safety news and more

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