OHS Canada April/May 2012 by Annex Business Media

C A N A D Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 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 A PR I L / MAY 2012

C A N A D A

Hard-fought advances in the battle on chromium

fear factor

Taking down corporate terrorism

well-CONSTRUCTED

Building a firm foundation for safety

tablet gambit Heavy talk over lightweight devices

labs vs. reports Is it better to show or tell?

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H e x avalent c h romium

CC AA NN A AD DA A

Features

Full Metal Racket

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Efforts to guard against chromium exposures are making inroads in some sectors, but not in others. Substitution, controls and process changes all demand review. By William M. Glenn

Co r p o rate Te rrorism

On Alert

Corporate terrorism is a real threat — and not just for high-profile organizations. Physical attacks on firms can also produce emotional wreckage among employees. By Jean Lian

b u i l d i ng S afety

Constructing Culture The din of construction activity has become a feature of the changing landscape across the country. Is construction safety culture changing in step? By Angela Stelmakowich

departments 42

A cc i d e nt Pr evention

Super Safe Some antibiotic-resistant bugs have achieved “super” status. As these bugs grow more prevalent, work controls, vigilance and care become even more important.

H e a lth Watc h

Diagnosis: Wellness A new study south of the border pits lab-based wellness programs against the diagnostic potential of self-reporting. Which is a better early detector of disease? By Jean Lian

A Safety Heads-Up Protecting the head from hazards high and low requires looking at temperature changes, attachment systems, gear compatibility and wearer comfort.

in this issue E ditoria l

Fortune Teller

letters

O H &S UPDATE

Speed a factor in derailment; skidder death prompts British Columbia alert; Alberta workers fatally crushed; fine for Saskatchewan electrocution; horrific collision in Ontario claims 11; Nova Scotia urges vigilance; door crushes worker off the coast of Newfoundland; and more. Dispatches

Growth of concerns in grow-ops; company slams brakes on cardiac arrests; nurse with superbug awarded benefits; and more. Profess i o n a l d i r e c t ory product sh owc a s e Ad I ndex

S af e t y Gear

By Jason Contant

E rg o n omics

iPain in the Neck The tablet is being embraced as the next big thing, but use of this lightweight device can still lead to bad posture, strained necks and fatigued muscles. By Ann Ruppenstein

O cc u pational Hygiene

Avoiding Invisible Waves What roles do exposure limits, minimizing duration and maximizing distance from source play in protecting workers exposed to radiation on the job? By Greg Burchell

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T i m e O ut

Ratted out; meals on wheels; snowed-in; porn in session; and more.

Safety is not a gadget, but a state of mind.

– Eleanor everet

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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

EDITORIAL

C A N A D A

Vol. 28, No. 3 APRIL/MAY 2012

Fortune Teller I

t seems supporters of Canada’s asbestos industry need a helping hand — perhaps akin to the helping hand required by those whose bodies are now wracked by disease, pain and other cruel reminders of absent protections long ago. Supporters have voiced concern over the World Health Organization’s (WHO) estimate of annual asbestos-related deaths and suggest it would be helpful if the Canadian government requested that the agency provide some scientific proof. The estimate is decidedly bad for Canada’s asbestos business, one that was essentially shut down late last year with the closing of the last two mines in Quebec. It seems Canada’s asbestos industry wants a little relief — say, in the form of a cool $25 million from investors — perhaps akin to the relief sought by loved ones trying to move on after the passage of harrowing days, months and years. The Quebec government is said to have already promised a $58-million bankloan guarantee, although that is contingent on also getting those investors on board. The money would be used to reopen one mine, hopefully revving up the asbestos export engine, but bad press is making the restart a hard sell. Asbestos-related diseases include mesothelioma, lung cancer, fibrosis, asbestosis, benign pleural effusion, larynx or pharynx cancer and gastro-intestinal cancer, reports WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia. Between 1986 and 2010, the board accepted 679 claims for cancer (asbestos) and 16,413 for asbestosis. The story may not be so very different on Canada’s opposite coast, where one need only look to the Rock to see what legacy asbestos can have. A recently released study of shipyard workers identified exposure to the fractious fibre as the main source of excess risk for mesothelioma, lung cancer and laryngeal cancer. “In many cases, the risk is higher amongst those who were working in shipyards before 1980 when industrial hygiene practices were less stringent,” researchers write. Still, stories of the past continue to be told in the present. Despite asbestos having extraordinary tensile strength, poor heat conduction and relative resistance to chemical attack, the WHO pegs the cost — the human cost — of work-related exposure at more than 107,000 lives annually. “One in every three deaths from occupational cancer is estimated to be caused by asbestos.” Canada’s support and sale of asbestos is decidedly at odds with the views of many health organizations and countries worldwide. They maintain the refusal to support an asbestos ban (and, indeed, to prop up the industry) is hypocritical: while asbestos requirements, protections and prohibitions exist at home, the material is still sent to developing nations, thereby exporting the potential for harm. Representatives for the Chrysotile Institute in Montreal have steadfastly argued that chrysotile may be used in a controlled and responsible fashion if encased in another substance, such as cement, asphalt or certain resins. Acknowledging that most public opinion in industrialized countries leans toward a global ban, the institute reports those countries can afford more expensive substitute products. “We should be careful not to impose our choices on [developing countries] in the name of a morality geared to our reality rather than theirs.” Whether the number of deaths attributable to work-related asbestos exposure is 110,000 or 110 annually is not the point. The price already paid is too high, the harm inflicted too great, the scars too fresh. With the growing disdain for all things asbestos, coupled with the apparent difficulty in attracting investors for Quebec, it may well be that the buck stops here. That, at least, may be a faint silver lining to what has been a very dark cloud.

Well, everyone, this serves as my final thoughts on behalf of ohs canada. After almost a decade as editor, I’m moving on to another magazine. It’s been a great ride, but now it’s time to follow a new fork in the road. Stay healthy and safe.

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ohs canada

EDITOR ANGELA STELMAKOWIch astelmakowich@ohscanada.com Associate EDITOR JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com editorial assistant greg burchell gburchell@ohscanada.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Hazardous substances WILLIAM M. GLENN Safety gear jason contant 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. ADDRESS: OHS CANADA MAGAZINE, 80 Valleybrook, Toronto, ON, M3B 2S9. TELEPHONE: Customer Service: 1-866-543-7888; Editorial: 416/510-6893; Sales: 416/510-5102; Fax: 416-510-5171. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Canada: $110.50/year; USA: $132.50/Year; foreign: $137.50. (Prices include postage and shipping; applicable taxes are extra.) Single copies: Canada: $13.50; USA: $16.50; foreign $17.00 Bulk subscription rates available on request. Indexed by Canadian Business Periodicals Inc. ISSN 0827-4576 OHS Canada (Print) • ISSN 1923-4279 OHS Canada (Online) Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: (Tel) 1-866-543-7888; (Fax) 416-510-5171; (E-mail) apotel@bizinfogroup.ca; (Mail) Privacy Officer, Business Information Group, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9 Canada. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and may be used for your personal, non-commercial purposes only. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is prohibited. To make use of any of this material, you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information, please contact the editor. “We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.”

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: APRIL/MAY 2012

LETTERS

Recent issues of ohs canada and our website, ohscanada.com, have provided readers with plenty to chew on: health and safety hazards at licensed grow-ops; a deadly tire explosion; and migrant worker transport. Below are some reader comments about these and other articles:

Grow one, grow all The website carried an article, originally appearing in our sister publication, canadian occupational health & safety news (cohsn), about Alberta safety code violations at federally licensed medical marijuana grow-ops. Hazards found included those relating to mould, chemicals, explosion and electrical.

here is nothing health and safety-wise T that makes a cannabis plant more unsafe than any other plant. Instead of singling out cannabis, the government should make a law that sets out what is required for a safe grow-op of any kind, such as tomato plants. Patients often grow their own cannabis because they cannot afford to buy it. If the government takes away the right to grow, current patient grow-ops will likely be used for other plants. How does changing what plant is allowed in the grow-op make the operation safe? I understand that firefighters [who respond to grow-op emergencies] have legitimate concerns, but why is there no middle ground? Why is the answer to take away the right to grow from patients who can’t afford it otherwise? Why isn’t the answer that grow operations (of any kind) must meet a safety standard before being approved? David Shea (Online)

They are using this smear campaign on a few isolated incidents as an excuse to get rid of the patient’s right to grow. People grow indoors all over this country, far and wide, and a great many vegetables are grown this way. Home-grown indoor organic is a big thing these days, so why is it that only cannabis grown indoors is apparently

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some issue to be worried about all of a sudden? What is next? Perhaps the goon squad is going to come kicking in your door for growing cucumbers and tomatoes? They must be, since indoor growing is so bad for our community! Give me a break. Mack MacDude (Online)

Inviting the fire inspector inside is a good idea. A non-disclosure agreement should be signed, and the inspectors should arrive in plainclothes — no fire trucks, no police cars — thereby protecting the good guys who are following the rules from exposure dangers. If there are code violations (within reason), a grace period should be issued. Let’s get real, and make a difference. We are all in this together. Dave K. (Online)

lack of sense

The program would include, but would not be limited to, the following elements: a designated drivers’ policy; a driver training program (among other things, critical skills, skid school and defensive driving); a driver abstract (proof of incident-free driving/proper licence); and vehicle operation procedures (covering issues such as driving while tired, parking, fuelling, driving in both winter and hazardous conditions and maintenance checks). An effective MVIP that includes defensive driving training may have prevented this terrible tragedy. Doug Brown, CRSP (Online)

Mandatory need The website included a cohsn article from February about the death of a worker on board a fishing vessel off the coast of Newfoundland. He sustained fatal injuries when a metal door came down on him.

The website contained a story by The Canadian Press in February about the death of one worker and the serious injury of another during a welding-related tire explosion at a body shop in Alberta.

Hydraulic safety awareness training should be mandatory in Canada!

There are no new accidents. Just the same stupid mistakes made again and again. Tragically, some worker has lost his life because of a lack of training or knowledge.

buck stops here

G.D. Hodge (Online)

ill-prepared This issue of the magazine and the website both offer articles about a collision between a flatbed truck and a 15-passenger van transporting workers from an Ontario poultry vaccination plant that ended with 11 dead. There was an opportunity here for the employer to be proactive and to have a Motor Vehicle Incident Program (MVIP) in place.

Casey Ruttan (Online)

The website offered an article from The Canadian Press in March about the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s observation that the rail system has been slow to adopt automated systems. Transport Canada cannot impose rules that will cost the railways money. Everything must be approved by the Treasury Board. So in reality, the Treasury Board has the final say on what can be done to improve safety. Cantsay (Online) Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Send comments to astelmakowich@ ohscanada.com. Letters may be edited for style, grammar and length.

EYE/FACEWASH

OH&S UPDATE

Ontario derailment proves deadly FEDERAL — Three crew members died and 45 passengers were taken to hospital after a VIA Rail train came off the tracks in Ontario, close to the spot where a freight train derailed four years earlier. On Sunday, February 26, a one-locomotive, five-car train carrying 72 passengers and five crew members was travelling from Niagara Falls to Toronto. At about 3:30 pm, the train derailed, flipping the locomotive and first passenger car onto their sides as they went careening into the side of a nearby building. VIA Rail employees Ken Simmonds, 56, Peter Snarr, 52, and Patrick Robinson, 40, died in the crash. Simmonds and Snarr had worked more than 30 years as locomotive engineers; Robinson was a new employee on board as part of VIA Rail’s familiarization program. The day after the deadly crash, investigators with the Ottawa-area Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) recovered the train’s black box, which stores information, including that related to the train’s speed. The train entered the crossover from one track to the other at about 108 kilometres per hour, more than four times the maximum authorized speed of 24 km/h at that crossover, the board reports. “When three of our colleagues lose their lives in the call of duty like this, it’s a very shocking thing,” Malcolm Andrews, VIA Rail’s senior manager of community relations, said after the crash. “Our passengers who were involved in this, whether injured or not, they lived through a very traumatizing experience yesterday, so we’re continuing to reach out to them and offer them whatever assistance we can.” Three passengers had to be airlifted to hospital, one with

weather reports need review FEDERAL — Failure to adequately review

weather conditions for an intended flight route and incomplete navigation charts contributed to the deaths of two helicopter pilots two years ago, federal investigators say. On July 23, 2010, a helicopter operated by Essential Helicopters crashed into a radio telecommunications tower, notes a January 31 report from the TSB. The helicopter departed North Bay for a flight to Kapuskasing, northwest of Timmins, Ontario, when it encountered poor weather conditions. The helicopter hit a 24-metre-high steel tower near Elk Lake before crashing to the ground and fatally injuring the pilot and lone passenger, another pilot who was employed by Essential Helicopters.

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a broken back, one with a broken leg and one because the person had a heart attack. All but nine passengers taken to hospital were released by midnight the same day. The derailment happened at the 33.3-mile mark of the Canadian National-owned tracks in the Oakville subdivision, the TSB reports. Close to the same area in February of 2008, a three-locomotive, 139-car freight train derailed when a wheel broke and a car left the tracks as the train was negotiating a curve. There were no injuries. Andrews says VIA Rail will wait for the TSB to finish its investigation and is not going to “jump to any conclusions” regarding possible changes to safety policies. As part of its investigation, the board will examine rail traffic control communications, design and function of the switch, signal system functioning, crashworthiness of the cab and if any of these factors influenced crew performance. Transport Canada notes in a statement that it planned to launch an investigation under the Canada Labour Code. Although the black box was recovered, the lack of onboard voice or video recordings makes the investigation challenging, notes a statement from the TSB. “In Canada, we have voice recorders aboard aircraft and ships, but not yet on trains,” says TSB chair Wendy Tadros. “As early as 2003, the board made a recommendation calling for voice recorders on locomotives. In light of this latest incident, I urge Transport Canada and the railway industry to take immediate action on this important safety issue.” In late February, a preliminary, $10-million class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the train’s passengers. — By Greg Burchell

Although the pilot requested current and forecasted routine weather reports for the northern Ontario communities of North Bay, Timmins and Kapuskasing, he did not do so for additional airports near the flight route. “Had the pilot received all of the available weather information, it might have affected his decision to depart,” the TSB points out, adding that there was light rain and an overcast ceiling forecast for Earlton, near the collision site, around the time of the crash. “Due to the deteriorating weather conditions, the pilot flew the helicopter at a low altitude. Reduced visibility likely obscured the tower and reduced the available reaction time the pilot had to avoid the tower,” the report states. It adds that global positioning system (GPS) data did not indicate any sudden manoeuvring. “The velocity and course

appeared constant, implying the pilot did not see the tower with enough time to react prior to impact, likely because the tower was obscured by the weather, or blended into the overcast conditions.” Beyond weather conditions, the greycoloured forest fire detection tower — owned by Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and leased to a logging company — was on top of a hill, but “did not meet the height requirements to be lighted or marked, or meet the [91-metre] mark to be deemed a significant hazard.” (The Canadian Aviation Regulations recommend that any obstruction greater than 300 feet [90 metres] or one that is assessed as a likely hazard to aviation safety be marked and/or lighted.) The tower has not been shown on any visual navigation charts (VNC) used, dating back to 1985. Furthermore, the database from NAV CANADA in Ot-

tawa has no data to indicate the tower or any other obstacle at that location. Because the tower was not depicted on the VNC or GPS, the report adds the pilot likely did not know it existed. As well, the GPS database was not updated, meaning there was a risk that even known obstructions were not displayed. TSB investigators conclude the pilot deviated from the intended flight path and reduced the helicopter’s speed, likely because of the higher terrain and weather conditions. He was likely navigating using VNCs or GPS, they add.

skidder death spurs alert NANAIMO — The BC Forest Safety Coun-

cil (BCFSC) in Nanaimo, British Columbia released an equipment operation safety alert in early February, just two weeks after a worker was fatally injured by a grapple skidder. On January 16, the operator of the skidder — a heavy vehicle with a hydraulic bucket used in logging operations to drag cut trees out of the forest — died

after sustaining injuries. Preliminary findings indicate the operator was run over by his own skidder while he was outside of the machine. The alert notes it is a best practice to follow manufacturer’s suggestions for ensuring the equipment is safely secured or locked out before performing maintenance, clearing debris or working outside the machine. “Lockout, shutdown or stopping/parking procedures should be specific to the machine being operated and should prevent inadvertent movement” caused by mechanical, gravity, hydraulic, electrical or pneumatic energy sources. The BCFSC also recommends these precautions during maintenance work: • wherever possible, stop the machine in an area that is flat, open and out of the way from other traffic or hazards; • get a second opinion or ask for assistance when a situation arises that is out of the normal routine; and, • when locking out a machine or piece of equipment, ensure it is in a zeroenergy state before beginning work. WorkSafeBC released its own recommendations after the death of a supervisor

who was run over by a parked skidder that unexpectedly rolled down a slope. The resulting hazard alert called on employers to establish written safe work procedures for skidder operation in adverse conditions; park and position skidders so that any unexpected movements do not create hazards for workers, especially those working on the downhill side of a slope; and before leaving a parked machine, ensure its transmission is out of gear, the parking brake is on and the blade is lowered firmly to the ground.

scanning more protections VANCOUVER — The Health Sciences Association of British Columbia (HSABC) and WorkSafeBC are working to address musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) among hospital ultrasound technologists. In February, the organizations jointly released a series of best practice guidelines for diagnostic medical sonographers, summarizing recommended ergonomic practices on illustrated resource sheets. The topics range from minimizing

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penalty tally reaches $4.8 million RICHMOND — Richmond, British Columbia-based WorkSafeBC imposed almost $5 million in administrative penalties last year for breaches of provincial oh&s requirements. The penalties increased by more than 50 per cent from $3.1 million in 2010 to $4.8 million last year. In all, 352 penalties were issued to 289 employers, with individual amounts ranging from $700 to $250,000. This compares with 256 penalties imposed in 2010, notes the board’s 2011 enforcement report, released February 28. “We are focusing our enforcement resources where they’re needed most — on the industries and employers generating the most serious injuries and fatalities. This is part of our high-risk strategy,” says Donna Freeman, WorkSafeBC’s director of media relations, citing sectors such as construction, forestry, health care and transportation. The $250,000 penalty against Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. follows an incident in Powell River, British Columbia in which a worker was fatally struck by a rock more than 1.5 metres in diameter. Despite unstable material being identified as part of risk assessments, the company allowed work to proceed without first clearing loose material and failed to adequately train workers. Other large penalties issued include the following: • Approximately $147,000 to Encana Corporation for an incident in which three workers were injured, one fatally, during an explosion inside a pressurized tank being cleaned at a natural gas well site in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The firm failed to ensure all ignition sources were eliminated or controlled, did not provide an effective means of verifying lockout and failed to properly analyze risks and implement safe work procedures. • About $140,000 to Penfolds Roofing Inc. for the failure to ensure workers used the required fall protection and to provide the necessary instruction, training and supervision to ensure worker safety. The penalty amount reflects that the firm received a penalty for similar violations less than three years before the recent violations.

MSI risk to understanding carotid, obstetrical and deep vein thrombosis scans, reducing transducer grip, choosing a good scanning table and adjusting work stations and equipment. Besides scanning fetuses during pregnancy, ultrasounds are used to help diagnose cancer, cardiovascular disease and other soft-tissue medical conditions. The HSABC cites a 2002 survey of sonographers in the province that found 91 per cent had suffered work-related MSIs at some point during their careers. “Medical literature still says 80 per cent of sonographers seek medical treatment for musculoskeletal injuries, 17 per cent miss work due to the symptoms of their injuries, and 15 per cent reduce their duties to recover,” the association reports. WorkSafeBC communications officer

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• $97,500 to the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) following incidents of violence involving psychiatric patients at three workplaces between August, 2009 and March, 2010. These were high-risk violations and, in some cases, repeated violations, indicating a failure of the employer to ensure the health and safety of workers. With regard to the VIHA penalty, the first of three incidents occurred at a mental health facility where a patient assaulted one worker, notes information from WorkSafeBC. Several months later, the same patient was discharged to a residential care facility — despite criteria disallowing patients with histories of recent violence — where he attacked another worker. The third incident involved a patient firing a pellet gun at three workers in a hospital’s psychiatric unit. The WorkSafeBC report cites the failure to ”develop effective policies, procedures and work arrangements to eliminate or minimize the risk of violence at the workplace, particularly in the areas of identifying patients for risk of violence, weapons searches and the application of restraints.” Health authority spokesperson Shannon Marshall says from Victoria that “the safety of our staff is our key priority and VIHA has done extensive work on violence prevention since these incidents occurred.” VIHA is leading the province in adopting a new Provincial Violence Prevention Curriculum, which is being tested at three pilot sites — Gorge Road Hospital, West Coast General Hospital and Campbell River Home Support — and will be rolled out VIHA-wide later this year. In addition, a new position has been created to oversee how violence prevention work is integrated across VIHA; a new risk assessment process has been formed; risk of violence assessments have been done for each patient in VIHA mental health facilities; and more than 80 per cent of staff in medium- and high-risk areas for violence have completed violence prevention training. — By Jean Lian & Angela Stelmakowich

Alexandra Skinner-Reynolds notes that from 2007 to 2011, the board accepted 61 disability and fatality claims, resulting in 6,500 days lost from work. Fifty-one were related to reaching, bending, walking, twisting, overexertion and slips and other loss-of-balance events with no fall. With British Columbia hospitals experiencing a shortage of diagnostic imaging staff, employees are working more overtime hours, HSABC president Reid Johnson reports. “This kind of workload overload can also contribute to workplace injuries for sonographers, further aggravating the staff shortage.” The most common MSIs are “distributed from the neck throughout the upper and lower back, and in the entire limb (shoulder to fingers),” Johnson says. The resource sheets note the numerous

MSI risk factors during scanning tasks include forceful sustained gripping, awkward wrist bending and twisting, severe twisting of the trunk and neck, sustained and repetitive use of controls on scanners, old or unadjustable equipment and insufficient space in scanning rooms. To minimize risk of injury, the guideline offers these recommendations: • have the patient move to the edge of the table, get as close as possible to the patient and support the shoulder and arm with a rolled-up towel; • have the patient roll onto the right side to help reduce the need to reach across the patient’s body; and, • grip the transducer as lightly as possible, consider using a cable brace, frequently change grip and alternate the hand used for scanning.

worker crushed by chassis GRAND PRAIRIE — A worker at Harry’s Auto Wrecking in Grand Prairie, Alberta suffered fatal crushing injuries when the chassis of a truck fell on him. On February 17, the auto wrecking shop worker was disassembling a steel deck from the chassis of a 1.5-tonne truck, says Barrie Harrison, a spokesperson for Alberta Human Services (AHS) in Edmonton. When the worker, 29, removed the last bolt from the chassis, which was attached to the steel deck, it dropped and crushed him. The worker succumbed to his injuries later that afternoon.

worker suffered an electrical shock while trying to remove foreign material located below a power line.

Forum to challenge needed REGINA — Labour unions in Saskatch-

ewan have won a victory with a decision by the Court of the Queen’s Bench to strike down legislation that hampered

the ability of public workers to strike. In a 131-page ruling released February 6, Justice Dennis Ball concludes the Public Services Essential Services Act (PSESA) infringes on workers’ freedom of association rights, set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Larry Hubich, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour in Regina, which launched the challenge, argues an important message has been

worker caught by dozer, tree SPUTINOW — An Alberta company was

handed penalties totalling $250,000 more than five years after a worker was crushed between a vehicle and a tree. Settlement Transportation Services Inc. was fined on January 26 after pleading guilty to failing to take every reasonable precaution for the protection of a worker, contrary to Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. On July 15, 2006 at the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement, a Caterpillar dozer operator was helping another driver attach two fallen trees to the rear ripper shank of the first vehicle, notes information from AHS. The worker was crushed between the ripper framework and the tree root ball as the dozer backed up. Of the creative sentence, $249,000 is pegged for establishing an oh&s management system for the settlement.

$42,000 fine in Electrocution REGINA — A Halifax-based company

was fined $42,000 on January 25 for its role in the injury of a worker in Saskatchewan three years ago. Bunge Canada Holdings I ULC received the fine after pleading guilty to failing to ensure a worker did not work within 4.6 metres of an exposed energized conductor, notes a statement from Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety in Regina. The charge follows an incident on August 13, 2009 at a Bunge Canada site in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. During a rail car inspection, the ministry reports that a

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sent to legislatures that the Charter rights of working peoples are more important than any government’s ideology. “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the highest law in Canada, and we must always be vigilant when governments propose to limit people’s basic rights as Canadian citizens,” Hubich says. Passed into law four years ago, the PSESA prohibits public service employees from striking and requires them to work through labour disputes if their employers deem their jobs to be essential services. At issue, Justice Ball writes, is that employees do not have an appropriate avenue to challenge the designation of essential service. “It is enough to say that no other essential services legislation in Canada comes close to prohibiting the right to strike so broadly, and as significantly,” he notes. “None have such significantly deleterious effects on protected rights under s. 2(d) of the Charter.” Justice Ball points out that the objective to ensure continuation of essential services during strikes could be alleviated by the following measures: • providing an impartial and effective

dispute resolution process so unions can challenge any “essential service” designations; • allowing unions to have input into determining who will work during a strike; and, • requiring public employers to consider the availability of other qualified workers to provide essential services during a strike. Decisions on how to rectify Charter infringements should be left to the legislature, Justice Ball adds. The impact of the ruling has been suspended for 12 months to give the government time to respond. The same day the decision was released, Saskatchewan labour minister Don Morgan noted that the provincial government “remains committed to essential services legislation to ensure the health and safety of citizens is protected during a workplace dispute.” The government later announced it will appeal the ruling, arguing the finding that the Charter offers protection for the right to strike “breaks new ground” and deserves the consideration of Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal.

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Jail conditions “abnormal” WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg-based Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) presented its wish list for addressing the overcrowding plaguing provincial correctional facilities. On February 7, MGEU president Lois Wales submitted recommendations before the Adult Corrections Capacity Review Committee, arguing that the province’s seven correctional facilities exceed their maximum rated capacity by more than 900 inmates. This overcapacity is creating an “abnormal working environment, a hypervigilant working environment, and certainly an unsafe working environment,” Wales says in a union statement. She highlights the increasing challenge of separating and segregating officers from the more than 50 gangs in jails; the difficulty of addressing inmate mental health issues; guards’ challenges to provide programs like literacy and addictions treatment; and officers’ inability to perform case management functions.

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eleven perish in collision STRATFORD — One of Ontario’s deadliest road accidents has turned the spotlight on how farm workers are transported to and from their jobs. Shortly before 5 pm on February 6, a 15-seat passenger van carrying 13 migrant agricultural workers collided with a flatbed truck about 20 kilometres north-

east of Stratford, notes a statement from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). Ten workers and the truck driver were fatally injured in the crash, while three survivors were taken to hospital. Photos from the scene show the truck flipped upside down, well off the road, while the van came to rest against a house. Police reported at a news conference on February 8 that the van ran a stop sign and the driver, 45-year-old David

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Blancas, was not licensed to drive a highoccupancy vehicle. “The tragic fact of this investigation is that it was entirely preventable. This crash should cause all Ontarians to pause and seriously consider their own driving habits and immediately change them for the better,” said chief superintendent John Cain, commander for the OPP’s western region. The driver of the flatbed truck had worked for Speedy Transport Group, Inc. in Brampton, Ontario, confirms company CEO Jared Martin. The workers in the van, ranging in age from 26 to 53, had just left a shift at a nearby poultry vaccination plant. The workers were employed by Marc Poultry & Vaccination Services, notes William Lin, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) in Toronto. Stan Raper, national co-ordinator of the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA), says Blancas was a Canadian resident and the other workers were from Peru. A statement from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Toronto notes a special team has been set up to handle the incident, and the affected workers and their families will “receive the support and assistance they need.” This could include funeral and burial expenses, financial support for surviving spouses and support for health care and recovery for the injured workers. “Out of respect for the victims, and for all the men and women working in the agriculture sector, we will work to ensure that every factor in this accident is investigated,” assures Wayne Hanley, national president of United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW) in Toronto. For Raper, this means that if a provincial coroner’s inquest is held, the use of 15-seat vans — which he argues should be eliminated — and the work conditions of migrant farm workers must be part of the conversation. “When you’re a chicken catcher and inoculating 17,000 birds in a huge barn, by the time you come out of there, if you’re not physically spent, you weren’t doing your job,” Raper contends. “When you’re fatigued, you make errors. And a critical error was made and it cost 11 people their lives.” Less than two weeks after the deadly crash, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) in Edmonton called for regulatory changes to prevent similar incidents in its home province.

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An exemption to the Use of Highway and Rules of the Road Regulation under Alberta’s Traffic Safety Act allows agricultural, horticultural or livestock-raising workers to ride on regular seats in the boxes of pick-up trucks and vehicles up to the size of a gravel truck, says AFL president Gil McGowan. Beyond ending the exemption, federation officials also want the use of 15-passenger vans banned. “These vehicles aren’t good enough for our children and they aren’t good enough for our workers,” McGowan argues. “It’s time to take them off the road.”

Truck too close to conductor KINGSTON — There were no injuries but plenty of orders issued to a constructor following a crane-related near miss in Kingston, Ontario on February 22. MOL investigators were called in after a tower crane came apart and its boom broke, says ministry spokesperson Matt Blajer. Part of the hydraulic cylinder and bracket from the crane’s second boom section was removed for examination.

On the day of the incident, the ministry issued eight compliance orders to 1652453 Ontario Limited, operating as J. Fern Inc., including to stop work on the project until a professional engineer provides a safe work procedure for dismantling and removing the crane and the unit is reinspected by an MOL inspector. Among the other orders, ministry information notes the constructor has been directed to provide copies of various documents, including the notice of project, a list of workers who are employed by the constructor, the constructor’s health and safety policy and program, the crane operator’s authorization documents for operating mobile/tower cranes, the crane’s inspection, maintenance and repair documentation (as well as the maintenance and repair documents from the previous crane owner), and the design drawing for the concrete foundation of the crane; and to provide an inspector with a written report, signed and sealed by a professional engineer, related to non-destructive testing on the crane’s critical parts and extended portions. Two days after the incident, J. Fern

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was issued a ninth order to ensure that no person or workers enter or be permitted to have access or perform work at the project until MOL inspectors have withdrawn the directive. The near miss occurred a day before another crane incident in Whitby, Ontario, this time one that proved deadly. On February 23, “a portion of the lattice boom fell on the worker during disassembly of a mobile conventional crane,” Blajer reports. Galcon Marine Limited was ordered not to disturb the scene and to provide various documents to the MOL. The project constructor, Clipper Construction Ltd., must also provide documentation.

board charged in blast OTTAWA — Charges have been laid following an explosion that claimed the life of an 18-year-old student at Mother Teresa High School in Ottawa. On May 26, 2011, Eric Leighton was welding or grinding a 250-litre drum in a shop class when vapours inside the con-

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tainer ignited, causing an explosion. Emergency personnel managed to resuscitate the teen and transport him to hospital, but he died approximately 10 hours later. Four other students and a 33-year-old teacher were also taken to hospital for possible concussive injuries. MOL spokesperson Matt Blajer reports that the drum contained peppermint oil. Considered a Class B-3 substance under the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, the oil is flammable and combustible. Ottawa Catholic District School Board faces three charges, as an employer, under Ontario’s OH&S Act. The charges cite the following alleged failures: provide information on safe work practices and recognition of hazards linked to hot work, including grinding on drums or containers; take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that where a drum or container is altered, it is drained and cleaned or otherwise rendered free from any explosive or flammable substance; and ensure a worker and his supervisor are acquainted with the hazards of performing hot work on drums or containers.

Focus on stand jack safety SAINT JOHN — WorkSafeNB has released a hazard alert on the importance of blocking stand jacks in the wake of an incident in which a garage attendant was crushed under a vehicle. Released February 21, the alert notes a worker was removing tires from a vehicle when the deadly incident occurred. With a bottle jack positioned under the axle frame at each end near the spring, the worker needed to raise the jacks to align the bolts and reinstall the tires. The worker crawled under the car to raise the jack, but it slipped, allowing the truck to shift and come down on him. The alert recommends various preventive actions, including those below: • all projects that require a vehicle or powered mobile equipment to be raised with jacks must use two forms of support at all times; • centre the load on the saddle of the jack stand or wooden blocking; • always use jack stands or wooden blocking in pairs; • avoid using log ends or rounds of wood as blocking or supports; and, • do not use wheel rims, concrete blocks, metal pipe or any other metal item not manufactured to provide support.

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woman nabbed in cab thefts MONCTON — A 20-year-old woman faces two charges of robbery and two charges of failing to comply with a probation order in connection with the alleged robbery of two taxi drivers. Angel Deroche was arrested without incident at about 6:30 pm on March 12 by the Codiac Regional RCMP, notes a statement from police. At about 3:30 am on March 12, officers were dispatched to a convenience store in Moncton after receiving reports that a taxi driver has been the victim of an armed robbery. About half an hour later, police received a second report of an armed robbery, the statement adds. Neither driver sustained injuries. “In both cases, the young woman was armed with a knife and demanded the drivers give her their money. After receiving undisclosed amounts, she left on foot,” the RCMP reports.

death toll higher than usual HALIFAX — Nova Scotia workers and em-

ployers are being reminded to take notice and be careful in the wake of a terrible health and safety start to the year. The province witnessed seven workrelated fatalities just a month and a half into 2012, prompting the Ministry of Labour and Advanced Education in Halifax to step in. On February 13, the ministry issued a press release asking employees to “think twice about the risks they face in the work they do.” From 2005 to 2011, the province of slightly more than 900,000 has had an average of 25 fatalities annually. At the current pace, the number is poised to be eclipsed in June. “This is a tragic start to 2012 and all of us must take immediate action to avoid further injuries, illnesses and deaths in our workplaces,” provincial labour minister Marilyn More says in the statement. Jim LeBlanc, executive director of Nova Scotia’s OH&S Division, says the reminder is meant to raise awareness of workplace risks. “These fatalities are occurring in a number of different locations, a number of different sectors and it’s unusual to have this high a number in such a short period of time,” LeBlanc says. Two truckers died in separate incidents, two fishers died while checking lobster traps during low tide, a farm

worker was killed by a felled tree and a worker was crushed under equipment he was cleaning with a sandblaster. In addition, a worker suffered a heart attack and died on site at a shipyard. The provincial statement points out that in years past, almost half of work-related fatalities were the result of chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease. “We target our inspections now based on accident experience and the severity of claims and complaints, so there is a system that is currently in place that tries to get us to the places when we think we can make the biggest difference,” says LeBlanc. But because there has been no discernible pattern to the recent deaths, it is believed more inspections in any one area would not change things, he adds. Rick Clarke, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour in Halifax, says it is encouraging to see the message addressing all stakeholders coming directly from government. When the message comes from the top, Clarke says, the hope is that changes will get done a little easier. “Now we have to start getting it into the boardrooms as well.”

ALERT ON HOT WORK RELEASED CHARLOTTETOWN — An incident last September in which a small business operator was severely burned after his clothing caught fire while operating a gas cutting torch has prompted the release of a new hazard alert on hot work. Prince Edward Island’s Workers Compensation Board (WCB) in Charlottetown issued the alert in February. The lone worker was cutting the metal bars of a conveyor chain when the torch hose ruptured and caught fire, resulting in third-degree burns to 70 per cent of the worker’s body, notes the alert. The WCB probe determined that factors, such as that fire-retardant clothing was not being worn and the propane tank did not have an excess flow valve, contributed to the injury. The hazard alert offers recommendations: anyone involved with welding or cutting processes work must wear fire-retardant clothing; all welding and cutting burners must be equipped with reverse flow check valves installed as close as possible to the regulators; hose hangers should be used to suspend fuel lines above work whenever possible; and appropriate footwear should be worn for welding applications.

Worker killed by closing door ST. JOHN’S — A 25-year-old worker on a fishing boat died off the coast of Newfoundland, while the vessel was returning to port following more than two weeks at sea. On February 10, factory foreman Aaron Cull was inspecting a cleaning job performed by another crew member on board the Katsheshuk II shrimp boat when, at about 8 pm, he was struck and killed by a hydraulically operated steel door. The galvanized steel door, measuring more than a centimetre thick, separated the holding tank from the processing factory, reports Constable John Hedges of the Newfoundland RCMP’s general investigation unit. When the hydraulic arms opened the door, operating at 1,050 pounds per square inch (psi), the shrimp would fall onto a belt that carries them through the ship’s processing factory, Hedges explains. The RCMP reports that the 60-metre-long boat, owned by Katsheshuk Fisheries, was about 90 kilometres from the island of Twillingate, Newfoundland when the incident occurred. Corporal Kent Coish, a spokesperson for the Harbour Grace detachment of the Trinity Conception RCMP, says that waters were relatively smooth when the incident occurred, with only one- to two-metre-high swells. The boat returned to sea after a number of provincial safe-

Mining rules get make-over ST. JOHN’S — Newfoundland and Lab-

rador’s new mining safety regulations came into force on March 20. “The mining regulations were outdated and in need of a thorough review to make them more user-friendly and relevant to the mining industry in this province,” Service NL minister Paul Davis notes in a statement. Noting that the changes were developed in co-operation with industry stakeholders, the minister adds “these enhancements are in areas such as ventilation, mine design and emergency procedures for mine rescue.” The regulations will be incorporated as sections under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.

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ty concerns had been addressed, Hedges reports. Hugh Donnan, communications director for Service NL in St. John’s, says he cannot provide specifics about the incident because the investigation is ongoing, but adds that oh&s division officials are now considering if any part of the incident should lead to industry-wide changes. “Our condolences go out to the family of our employee tonight,” Martin Sullivan, president of Katsheshuk Fisheries, said in a statement released the day of the fatality. “The company will co-operate fully with officials in an investigation of the accident,” Sullivan added in another statement. The investigation is being conducted by the RCMP, Service NL, Transport Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador’s medical examiner’s office. The TSB has reported that “the number of accidents involving loss of life on fishing vessels remains too high.” Between 2006 and 2010, there was an annual average of 45 accidents and four fatalities involving fishing vessels in the Newfoundland and Labrador region. Accidents on board vessels accounted for approximately half of all related fatalities in Canada during the aforementioned time period. — By Greg Burchell

metres from a platform that was being used to access spill chains — devices that help to slow the speed of ore as it flows from a crusher to an ore car. The charges relate generally to the alleged failure to ensure adequate fall protection was in place; lockout procedures were used; equipment was capable of safely performing the functions for which it was intended; workers and supervisors were made aware of hazards likely to occur; and appropriate training, supervision and facilities were provided. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Many of the preceding items are based on stories from our sister publication, canadian occupational health & safety news, a weekly newsletter that provides readers with detailed coverage of oh&s and workers’ compensation issues from across the country. For additional information, please call (416) 442-2122 or toll-free (800) 668-2374.

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So, what’s on your mind? Ever wonder what other oh&s types are thinking about? Find out by making our website poll at www.ohscanada.com a regular stop.

LABRADOR CITY — The Iron Ore Compa-

ny of Canada faces five charges under Newfoundland and Labrador’s occupational health and safety regulations following the death of a worker and the serious injury of another in March, 2010. Charges were laid February 23 following the completion of an investigation into a deadly incident on the company’s Labrador City site, Service NL reports. Two workers fell approximately seven

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DISPATCHES

Grow-ops offer smoke, fire and chemicals, too By Jason Contant

or the second time in less than a month, officers with the City of Calgary identified numerous safety code violations at a Health Canada-licensed medical marijuana grow operation. On February 15, safety code officers executed a search warrant to enter and inspect the grow-op. Inside, they found electrical and water bypasses (indicating theft of power), evidence of a previous fire, illegal electrical wiring, serious mould growth, a spider mite infestation on the plants, and various toxins and chemicals, reports Wayne Brown, co-ordinator of the city’s Coordinated Safety Response Team (CSRT). Brown points out that Alberta Health Services conducted its own inspection and, in response, issued an executive officer’s order deeming the building to be unsafe. “They found enough mould in that building to post it as uninhabitable.” The CSRT issued an order under the Municipal Government Act directing the property owner to begin the process of remediating or demolishing the building within 60 days. The property owner has since vacated the building and the CSRT has erected fences and placards to secure the site, which remains shut down, Brown says. The discovery follows a similar city inspection at another Health Canada-licensed location on January 18. That review also identified multiple safety infractions, including a compromised air intake system, toxins, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and potential contamination of drinking water. Features of concern identified in both cases are similar to those common in illegal grow-ops, including complex wiring systems and timers, tanks containing chemical fertilizer blends and furnace bypass systems, notes information from the City of Calgary. Beyond the mould and chemicals is the possibility of explosions from solvents and oxygen being used, as well as electrocution and booby trap hazards. “There is a stronger likelihood you would have a fire in a grow-op than a regular home” because of how power is being used, Brown reports. Health Canada spokesperson Gary Holub notes that the federal government has completed public consultations into regulatory revisions to the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations. Feedback is slated to be published later this year.

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“The medical marijuana access program and its regulations apply to individuals, not to spaces or institutions at this stage,” Holub explains. “One of the key reform agendas is, in fact, moving away from licensing individuals to licensing commercial enterprises for the production of medicinal marijuana for precisely this reason.” Jason Contant is editor of safety news.

canadian occupational health

Union, Mexican states ink pacts to bolster TFW safety By Ann Ruppenstein

fatal collision that claimed 10 migrant farm workers travelling in a van in southwestern Ontario in February has cast a dark cloud over the occupational health and safety of temporary foreign workers (TFW) in Canada. “I’ve heard many comments that this was a freak accident,” says Evelyn Encalada Grez, a contract faculty member at the Department of Human Rights and Equity Studies at York University in Toronto. “But we see time and time again that the most vulnerable workers… are susceptible to these types of so-called freak accidents,” Grez says. The hope is that two agreements signed in January — between United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada and two Mexican states, Oaxaca and Guerrero — will do their part to help prevent unsafe incidents involving TFWs in Canada. (Similar pacts were previously inked with Mexican governments in Michoacán and Distrito Federal.) Andrea Gálvez, UFCW liaison for Mexico, says the idea is to enhance working conditions already established by the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), which sees approximately 17,000 Mexican migrant workers come to this country every year. Among the planned initiatives will be to provide Mexican workers in Canada access to workshops, legal assistance and services from 10 Agriculture Workers Alliance support centres run by Spanish-speaking staff. The centres will offer free, anonymous support for TFWs with questions about oh&s, labour, human rights and English and French as second languages, while UFCW Canada will establish a toll-free number accessible in both Canada and Mexico for the workers and their families. Gálvez says the agreements — which do not have employers as signatories — are not binding from an oh&s perspective. Rather, their “focus is prevention before workers leave their home country, support while the workers are in Canada and follow-up mechanisms when they go back,” she adds.

“Part of the trouble is that there are the three levels of government involved in different issues, so there [is] no uniform labour or health standards across Canada,” argues Gerardo Otero, a professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Grez suggests that many migrant farm workers feel they do not have the right to object to unfavourable working conditions, such as exposure to chemicals, long hours and repetitive and arduous tasks. Some also refrain from reporting safety issues over fear of losing their jobs or jeopardizing future employment opportunities, she adds. Donna Freeman, director of media relations for WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia, says that employers are legally responsible to ensure the health and safety of workers, regardless of their home country. “Migrant workers in British Columbia have the same rights and responsibilities in the workplace as any other worker,” Freeman says. “They are eligible for workers’ compensation if injured in the course of employment — there are no distinctions.” Matt Blajer, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Labour in Toronto, echoes that sentiment. The same laws — say, employment standards and workplace insurance — that protect Canadian workers also extend to TFWs, Blajer says. Grez acknowledges that legislation exists, but emphasizes more protections are needed. “If the legislation doesn’t have teeth,” she says, “workers are not going to come forward.”

MOVER

Ann Ruppenstein is a writer in Toronto.

Moving company putting some heart into heart safety By Greg Burchell

y adding automatic external defibrillators to its fleet, an Ontario moving company has turned its workers into emergency first responders and its trucks into portable life-saving stations for any location they visit. “They certainly don’t have the sophisticated training to be able to help someone at the same level that a paramedic would, but with sudden cardiac arrest, the first three minutes are absolutely critical,” says Dan Hopkins, CEO of Two Men and a Truck, the Canadian franchise based in southern Ontario. All movers and company staff have, however, been trained in emergency first aid and CPR, and defibrillators were recently installed on all 63 of the company’s moving trucks in partnership with The Mikey Network, established by the parent company of Two Men and a Truck, which is working to get the devices introduced into high-risk areas. Automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, are portable, battery-operated devices about the size of a lunchbox. When

attached to the body, a defibrillator can identify off-kilter electrical patterns indicative of cardiac arrest — caused by a heart attack, electrical contact or asphyxiation — and deliver a series of corrective shocks to zap a quivering, or fibrillating, ticker back into rhythm and get blood flowing again. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada reports the chances of survival for a cardiac arrest victim drops by seven to 10 per cent every minute the heart is fibrillating. Less than five per cent of these victims outside of hospitals survive — which means response within the first few minutes can make all the difference. “If you can have someone that’s trained in emergency first aid and knows with confidence how to use a defibrillator in connection with CPR, they can give that person a 75 per cent chance at surviving,” Hopkins says, adding that since AEDs were added to the fleet, the company has been contacted by an independent tow truck firm looking to do the same. While crucial to resuscitation efforts, CPR alone is not going to bring somebody back if their heart is fibrillating, explains Tony Connelly, the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canada’s director of operations, resuscitation programs. CPR only pumps blood around the brain to buy time for the heart to get a boost, “and the thing that restarts the heart is the AED.” Using an AED will never make things worse — if the machine detects a normal heartbeat, it simply will not shock, Connelly says. “The days when you see the paramedics with two paddles in their hands, rubbing them together and then putting them on someone’s chest, they’re gone.” Despite the high physical demands that moving puts on the body, Hopkins says the defibrillators are just as much for the public as they are for the movers, if not more. AEDs, which can be purchased in stores, cost as little as $1,000 and can be reused multiple times; only the two pads that attach to the body need to be replaced after every use. Work Safe Alberta supports the use of AEDs on the job, provided they are a part of a first aid and emergency response plan. Ontario is taking steps to make AED access mandatory in public spaces, though not specifically in workplaces: the Defibrillator Access Act passed second reading in May, 2010. Connelly says his view is that these little life-saving boxes should be as common as fire extinguishers at any workplace, no matter the industry. (A 1993 study exploring out-of-hospital cardiac arrest found that one incident of cardiac arrest can be expected every five years in any location with 1,000 adults over 35 present during normal business hours.) “It’s so important for employers to say, ‘We’re going to look after our work force and our customers who come visit our workplace,’” by buying an AED, training workers and informing EMS staff that an AED is on hand, Connelly says. Greg Burchell is editorial assistant of

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A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 2

Virtual ties prove beneficial in uncertain economic times By Angela Stelmakowich

here is both an economic and a health benefit to forming virtual teams made up of employees representing different business functions and hailing from different company locations, a review from Houston-based Chronos Consulting concludes. More companies are employing virtual teams in today’s volatile economic and political environment, note findings from a survey of companies in the United States and Canada that represent sectors such as oil and gas, telecom, cable, call centres, consulting and transportation. Responses identifying the top reasons for implementing virtual teams — members of which may include remote, mobile and independent workers, outsourced services and anyone who does not work in a single location — include enhancing productivity, attracting a wider talent pool, improving morale and reducing turnover. The survey focused on the human resources (HR) function in light of the complexity of dealing with virtual teams that may operate around the globe and with cross-cultural members. “We recommend implementing virtual teams in a scalable way, as every organization is different and has unique needs when it comes to HR restructuring,” says Imaad Mahfooz, managing principal of Chronos Consulting. Using a virtual team model “should be done as part of a holistic talent optimization strategy after careful review of each organization’s unique circumstances, desired business goals and HR capabilities,” the Chronos report recommends. As such, some things must be considered: agreement on project goals, plan and scope; review of team structure and team member work styles; team cohesion; management of virtual, cross-functional and multicultural communication issues; definition of acceptable team behaviour; and senior management support.

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Bill eyes greater protection for pregnant workers By Jason Contant & Angela Stelmakowich

he fate of a private member’s bill that seeks to better protect and compensate federally regulated pregnant or nursing women who must leave their jobs for health and safety reasons cleared another hurdle in December. Bill C-307 was tabled in the House of Commons by New Democratic Party MP Alexandre Boulerice last October. The bill proposes amending the Canada Labour Code by adding

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Section 132.1, which states an employee may “avail herself of the legislation of the province where she works that relates to the applicable measures, including preventive withdrawal, transfer to another position and financial compensation to which she would be entitled under that legislation.” At present, the code “does not include the true right to preventive withdrawal for pregnant or nursing women. This bill seeks to correct this injustice and give all female workers across the country access to the compensation provided for in the provincial legislation,” Boulerice told members of the house last October. If the bill passes, employees in federal sectors such as air and rail transportation, banking, communications, ports and armoured car services would have access to provincial legislation governing preventive withdrawal when it is more beneficial. The private member’s bill — these rarely become law — received second reading in December. Section 132 of the Canada Labour Code currently allows “protective reassignment,” meaning affected employees receive Employment Insurance benefits equivalent to 55 per cent of their pay. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) reports in a statement, however, that for every week of benefits, maternity leave is reduced by a week. In light of the financial ramifications, CUPE contends many women must remain on the job despite the risk to themselves or their fetuses. In Quebec, any pregnant or nursing women working in occupations covered by the province’s labour code are eligible for “preventive withdrawal” benefits equivalent to as much as 90 per cent of their pay from the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, says spokesperson Jacques Nadeau. “It’s the same thing as any work accident or professional illness,” Annick Desjardins, a lawyer in the human rights branch of CUPE’s Quebec arm, said last fall. Bill C-307 received some support (and some opposition) in December. “We believe preventive withdrawal legislation should apply to all working women in all provinces,” NDP MP Isabelle Morin told the House of Commons. But Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner noted that passing the bill would “constitutionally impinge on the jurisdiction of the provincial governments,” and further complicate matters where provincial and federal labour laws and codes overlap. Kellie Leitch, parliamentary secretary to the federal labour minister, pointed out that “employees could try to take advantage of either their federal or provincial rights or remedies, choosing whichever system seemed to be the most advantageous under the circumstances,” adding that the Tories oppose the bill. Existing provisions of the labour code note that “if there is a risk to the health of the employee, her fetus or her child, the employee can get a modification of her duties to be reassigned to another job without any loss of salary or benefits,” Leitch added.

Keeping on the straight and narrow with road safety By Greg Burchell

ritish Columbia’s health and safety regulator released a new online initiative in mid-February aimed at better informing employers and employees how to avoid incidents when work takes them on the road. WorkSafeBC and the British Columbia Automobile Association’s Road Safety Foundation have joined forces to launch RoadSafetyAtWork.ca. The website’s main thrust is to provide the means to develop or improve existing road safety policies through the following five-step system: • get management to commit to improvements; • review the status of occupational road safety measures; • identify risks and hazards; • develop strategies; and, • create an action plan. “It’s our goal to help employers and employees implement safe driving practices and reduce the number of workers injured or killed as a result of work-related motor vehicle incidents,” says Allan Lamb, president and chief operating officer of the Road Safety Foundation. Each of the five steps offers instructions, sample forms and/or best practices that can be employed to reduce and eliminate motor vehicle incidents, regardless of a company’s size or industry. In addition, workplace parties have the opportunity to complete a safety audit that measures 10 policies and systems essential for road safety — such as a risk assessment, management engagement and policies and procedures around drivers, vehicles, journeys and incidents — and compare their organization to others. “The first desired result is companies are made aware of where they currently stack up in terms of their safety planning for their employees to go to work everyday,” says Dale Walker, director of industry and labour services for WorkSafeBC, based in Richmond, British Columbia. The second “would be to implement change so that they are in accordance with increasingly more best practices.” WorkSafeBC receives about 110 motor vehicle incident claims every month. “The immeasurable, but true impact is when people’s behaviours change,” Walker reports. “Employers need to remember promoting workplace safety means ensuring a safety strategy is in place no matter where the work is taking place,” Margaret MacDiarmid, provincial labour minister in British Columbia, notes in a statement. In light of consultations with employers, partners plan to add resources to the website, such as an employer outreach program and advisory service, employer-targeted training workshops and tools for people who use their own vehicles for business. This so-called grey fleet includes workers who “may have never thought of them-

selves as actually being in a work vehicle,” Walker says. Brian Best, director of warehousing and distribution at London Drugs, served on the technical advisory committee for the project. Best reports being surprised by the significant risks in the grey fleet areas of companies, adding that that revelation has prompted planned changes at London Drugs, which has both commercial and grey fleets.

Nurse with MRSA wins battle for benefits By Myron Love

t took two attempts, but a Manitoba nurse who contracted a so-called superbug while on the job has been awarded workers’ compensation benefits. It is a decision that union representatives are calling a first. Sandi Mowat, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union in Winnipeg, characterizes last November’s ruling by the review office of Manitoba’s Workers Compensation Board (WCB) as precedent-setting for the province and, perhaps, for Canada. “In this case, the nurse was off work for a lengthy period of time. She shouldn’t have to lose income because of an illness she contracted at work,” Mowat contends. Winnipeg lawyer Israel Ludwig, who specializes in workers’ comp cases, agrees that the ruling is an important one. “In previous cases, there had to be clear cut evidence the illness was workplace-related. “In this case, the review office based its judgement on a balance of probability,” Ludwig says, suggesting the decision broadens eligibility for compensation. In October of 2010, a rural nurse contracted methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that left her with impetigo, a highly contagious skin condition that prevented her from working for nine months. The nurse filed for compensation benefits, but was turned down by the WCB. She then appealed to the board’s review office, which in early November ordered that benefits be paid. WCB spokesperson Warren Preece says the board has dealt with a few other similar cases over the past decade, but would not go so far as to call the latest ruling precedent-setting. The decision “was overturned because new information was brought forward. The WCB is not planning any changes in policy. But, where occupational diseases are concerned, we are constantly learning as we go along. We are constantly expanding our frontiers,” says Preece. MRSA is one of a number of superbugs that have become resistant to most antibiotics. Although it is rare for a health care worker to contract a superbug, Mowat says that when treating patients with one of these illnesses, it is advisable that workers wear gloves and gowns and wash hands frequently. Myron Love is a writer in Winnipeg. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

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A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 2

hexavalent Chromium

Full Metal Racket

By William M. Glenn

here is always more than one way to defang a workrelated hazard. That may be the thinking behind what is happening with chromium. A naturally occurring metal, chromium is utilized commercially, for the most part, in its trivalent Cr(III) or more dangerous hexavalent Cr(VI) forms. It is the latter that raises the most red flags. A strong oxidizer, Cr(VI) reacts readily with other compounds, which is why it is used in paints, primers and surface finishes to produce a hard durable coating. It is also the reason why Cr(VI) attacks organic tissues so vigorously â&#x20AC;&#x201D; disrupting DNA, burning unprotected skin and eroding the linings of the nose and throat. The entirely useful, but ultimately dangerous, material has been linked to health effects that range from irritating to disfiguring to deadly. Specifically, these include asthma, dermatitis and contact allergies, damage to the nose, throat and lungs, skin ulcers and various cancers. Based on extensive studies of elevated lung cancer among exposed workers, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France has classified Cr(VI) as a confirmed Group 1 human carcinogen. A number of epidemiological studies have also linked occupational exposures to cancers of the nasal cavity and sinuses, notes a chemical pro-

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file from CAREX Canada, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the School of Environmental Health within the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Top five “Hexavalent chromium is a major occupational carcinogen and one of our highest priorities,” says Cheryl Peters, occupational exposure scientist with CAREX Canada. Researchers there have been charged with developing detailed statistical profiles for approximately 170 substances identified as carcinogenic risks to Canadian workers and the communities where they live. And Cr(VI) currently sits among CAREX’s “top five.” Although tighter exposure standards have “probably helped drive chromium exposures down in recent years,” Peters says, CAREX-compiled statistics show that more than 83,000 workers in the country are still potentially exposed. Despite extensive knowledge of the harm that Cr(VI) can do, it remains an exposure hazard in many work-related settings, notes information from Environment Canada in Gatineau, Quebec: • Various Cr(VI) compounds are employed during metal finishing and electroplating, leather tanning and the production of stainless and heat-resistant steel products. • It is incorporated into certain paints and coatings, printing pigments, wood preservatives and pesticides. • Hexavalent chromium is an unintentional contaminant in cement, bricks and mortars. • Cr(VI) can be released into the environment during the combustion of coal and other fossil fuels, as well as during smelting and refining of nonferrous base metals. CAREX reports, however, that the largest occupational group at risk — 9,100 men and 750 women — are welders who may be exposed to Cr(VI) fumes while cutting and welding stainless steel. Men may make up the lion’s share of these workers, accounting for some 91 per cent, but women represent the majority in printing and press operations. Workers who mix or spray chromium-based paints and coatings, those who handle wet concrete, those employed in the electroplating sector and those who cut or handle chromium-treated wood, are also at elevated risk.

More than 83,000 workers in the country are still potentially exposed.

Necessary change CAREX is currently refining its exposure profile for Cr(VI), based largely on workplace exposure data compiled in Ontario and British Columbia. “We want to show which groups of workers are occupationally exposed to the highest levels of hexavalent chromium,” Peters says. That information will help identify any “low-hanging fruit” where cancer prevention efforts can have the greatest effect, she explains.

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Consider CAREX’s estimates of occupational exposures to Cr(VI), published last June:

Industry Sector Printing & support activities

Total 14,000

Architectural/structure metal manufacturing

8,900

Agricultural, construction, mining machinery manufacturing

3,600

Specialty trade contractors

3,100

Boiler, tank, container manufacturing

2,900

Industrial machinery repair

2,800

Auto repair

2,800

Metalworking machinery manufacturing

2,600

Steel product manufacturing

2,400

Aluminum production

2,400

Metal ore mining

2,000

Coating, engraving, heat treating

1,900

Other

34,000

Total

83,400

Until that low-hanging fruit is addressed, employers will continue to be required to maintain exposures below regulated standards, which in most provinces and territories are currently based on the threshold limit values (TLVs) recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) in Cincinnati: • Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and the Maritime provinces all reference the time-weighted average (TWA) for water-soluble Cr(VI) compounds of 0.05 milligrams per cubic metre (mg/m3) and a more stringent limit of 0.01 mg/m3 for insoluble Cr(VI). • British Columbia’s occupational exposure limit (OEL) for soluble Cr(VI) is a little lower at 0.025 mg/m3, with a ceiling of 0.1 mg/m3. • Quebec has a 0.05 mg/m3 limit for both soluble and insoluble Cr(VI) compounds. • Saskatchewan has added 15-minute, short-term exposure limits (STELs) of 0.15 mg/m3 for soluble Cr(VI) and 0.03 mg/m3 for insoluble Cr(VI) compounds. In February of 2006, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) 29 CFR 1910.1026 standard was published and, following three years of legal squabbling and court challenges, took full effect in early 2009. On the basis that Cr(VI) is carcinogenic and that workers face “significant risk to material impairment of their health,” OSHA cut its permissible exposure limit tenfold to 5 μg/m3 (0.005 mg/m3), as an eight-hour TWA (with a few exceptions), while the action level for medical surveillance and other requirements is triggered at 2.5 μg/m3. Standards in the United States are far more prescriptive than those promulgated federally or provincially north of the border; the final Cr(VI) rule occupies 287 copy-heavy pages in the Federal Register and requires a detailed worker exposure assessment to be completed as a first step. It

also sets forth the preferred exposure control methods and requirements for respiratory protection, protective clothing and equipment, occupational hygiene practices, medical surveillance and record-keeping. Despite the current commitment to ACGIH limits here in Canada, some suggest it may be more prudent to follow OSHA’s lead and make workplace limits even lower to minimize the risk of occupational cancer. For example, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, headquartered in Washington, D.C., recommends 0.2 μg/m3. A study in the January, 2012 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine shows that despite widespread compliance with the current Italian standards for Cr(VI), which are based on ACGIH recommendations, lung cancer remains an ongoing problem in the country’s electroplating sector. Using data from the Italian Occupational Cancer Monitoring Information System, researchers tracked cancer rates among former and current employees of 473 electroplating companies in the Lombardy region. Eighteen cases of lung cancer in men and four in women were identified between 2001 and 2008 among those who had worked at one or more of the companies — translating to an elevated relative risk of lung cancer for both men and women. The database also listed three cases of perforated nasal septum among electroplaters, all diagnosed in 2008, while the national trade union identified two more. Since perforation usually develops shortly after exposure begins, all these cases could be attributed to recent chromium exposures experienced well after tougher Cr(VI) standards took effect. Researchers write that not every cancer could be attributed definitively to Cr(VI); exposure to nickel, acid fumes and organic solvents could also have played a role. As such, “all these considerations lead to the conclusion that metal plating is a continuing source of excess cancer risk,” they note. Here at home, a Montreal study examined the link between lung cancer and work exposures to Cr(VI), nickel and cadmium at levels lower than those measured in many of the other historical cohorts tracked to date. As reported in the May, 2010 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, this community-based study compiled detailed job histories for the members of two large cohorts of Montreal-area cancer victims and their controls to evaluate the lifetime occupational exposures for a number of carcinogenic agents. While traditional epidemiological studies look at the risks faced by workers exposed to relatively high contaminant levels, the population-based, case-control study can tease out the more subtle effects of lower-level exposures. The team from the Université de Montréal and the INRS-Institute ArmandFrappier at the Université du Québec found that “for all three metals, a significant association between exposure and lung cancer was observed in small subgroups of non-smokers and subjects that had quit more than 20 years before.” That means employers should do everything practical to reduce worker exposures not only below the applicable provincial standard, but as low as feasible: implementing chemical substitution when possible, and adopting a mix of best practices and engineering controls when not. Respirators and other personal protective equipment (PPE) may also be mandated when appropriate — such as

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during maintenance operations, emergency situations and when other controls cannot reduce exposures to safe levels. Replacement parts Of course, the most effective way to eliminate exposure to a toxic agent is to find a less dangerous alternative. In the decorative finishing business, a number of firms have replaced Cr(VI) with the less toxic Cr(III) solutions, while the U.S. Navy has developed a trivalent chromium coating and application process for both zinc and aluminum products that meets or exceeds military specifications. “Because of their excellent colour properties and cost effectiveness, Cr(VI) compounds have been widely used as colour pigments,” says Gary LeRoux, president of the Canadian Paint and Coatings Association (CPCA) in Ottawa. But a number of organic pigments, hybrid organics and inorganic blends have replaced Cr(VI) pigments in many uses over the last 30 years. As a result, LeRoux says, “there has been a huge decrease in the volumes of CR(VI) compounds used in the paint industry.” Today, Cr(VI) compounds are still used for their anticorrosive properties in some heavy-duty industrial coatings, as primers for aircraft, shipbuilding and railway locomotives, and on aerospace equipment, military hardware or specific mining equipment. “Replacement materials are not necessarily as inexpensive as the CR(VI) pigments and paint manufacturers may have to use several replacement materials in concert to achieve the same level of anti-corrosion protection as a single chromate (VI) pigment and to obtain the desired colour combinations,” LeRoux says. Where substitution has not been practicable, process changes are helping to reduce worker exposures. To eliminate the inhalation of airborne pigment powder during mixing, the paint sector is using a pre-dispersed form where the dry pigments are already blended into the carrier liquid. “Although the pre-mixed dispersions are very helpful in reducing worker exposure at paint manufacturing plants, some occupational concerns may arise later with industrial processes involving grinding, cutting, welding or abrasive blasting of painted surfaces,” LeRoux cautions.

It may be more prudent to follow OSHA’s lead and make workplace limits even lower.

Hard results While chromium is still an intentional ingredient in some paints and coatings, it is a naturally occurring and unavoidable contaminant in other products. For example, various levels of chromium can be found in the raw materials used to make cement, as well as being unintentionally added during the manufacturing process. In such instances, an exposure control strategy is based on identifying and eliminating the

T w o B ir d s , O ne Sto ne sources of Cr(VI) during production. The soluble Cr(VI) in cement — usually present in only trace amounts — can dissolve in water during mixing and penetrate unprotected skin. In addition to its carcinogenic potential, some workers who handle wet cement and concrete products may develop chromium-related allergic contact dermatitis, notes “Hexavalent Chromium in Cement Manufacturing: Literature Review,” published in 2007. While Canadian standards have not been set on chromium content, the European Union currently restricts Cr(VI) levels in cement to below two parts per million (ppm). Canadian cement makers have worked hard to reduce the Cr(VI) levels over the last 15 years. “The primary focus has been to absolutely eliminate any man-made sources of chromium in the manufacturing process,” says Martin Vroegh, environment manager for St. Marys Cement in Toronto. “We have replaced the magnesia-chrome refractory brick that was used to line the walls of cement kilns and eliminated the chromium alloys in the steel grinding media that were used in the finishing mills,” Vroegh reports. Any residual chromium can be attributed to the raw materials used to make cement. It is fortunate the geological limestone used in Canada is naturally low in chromium, he says, but adds that cement makers would be “very picky” about the chromium levels in any of the recycled additives. These include foundry silicates, flue-gas gypsum and blast furnace slag used in the process. “We are also able to monitor and modify operating conditions through the use of sensitive probes and controls to minimize the reformation of Cr(VI) during the process,” Vroegh explains. As a result, most Canadian cement makers have not had to rely on adding a chemical-reducing agent, such as ferrous sulphate, to lower Cr(VI) content to safe levels. Work remains Other sectors have not realized such fortunate advances — virtual elimination of chromium exposures — and must rely on a mix of engineering controls and PPE, when necessary, as a means of controlling on-the-job exposures. With Cr(VI) being an indispensable ingredient in stainless steel and other steel alloys, the welders and fabricators who work with these materials continue to be exposed to chromium fumes. Welders are “a very diverse fraternity,” working in small shops, complex assembly lines, construction sites and remote locations in the field, says Kelvin Longden, a product developer with the Canadian Welding Bureau in Milton, Ontario. While the bureau offers a general health and safety training module for welders, it relies on the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) W117.2 standard, “Safety in Welding, Cutting and Allied Processes,” to flesh out the details needed to craft an effective Cr(VI) protection strategy. The standard “looks at the various workplace conditions and exposure situations, whether the work is being done in a confined space or so on, to describe the appropriate ventilation equipment, fume extraction systems and/or masks recommended for different conditions,” Longden says. Always mindful of the threat posed by metal fumes, David Hisey, chair of the CSA safety committee for welding, cutting and allied processes, says the standard is now being updated

Chromium continues to be widely used in surface finishing. Electroplaters immerse metal or plastic parts and tools in a chromic acid solution to coat them with a thin layer of chromium that protects against corrosion and wear, or imparts a shiny durable surface. The number of workers potentially exposed is significant since, as of 2005, there were about 220 Canadian firms active in functional chromium electroplating or in decorative chromium plating and anodizing. Because of the wide variety of operations and products, “there is no single answer for reducing exposures in the surface-finishing sector,” says Ken Lemke, president of Canadian Finishing Systems Ltd. in Burlington, Ontario. Material substitution, process changes and engineering controls can all be effective options. While primarily aimed at controlling environmental releases — rather than protecting worker health — the federal Chromium Electroplating, Chromium Anodizing and Reverse Etching Regulations were designed to reduce Cr(VI) emissions by an estimated 98 per cent, notes information in the Canada Gazette from June, 2009. Electroplating facilities must choose one of three Cr(VI) control measures: installing equipment for controlling point source releases; maintaining the surface tension in plating tanks that contain chromic acid solution; or enclosing the open surface area of the tank. Facilities were given until December of 2011 to comply, although maintenance, testing and reporting provisions took effect in June of 2009. (Small-scale operations and shops that use less than 50 kilograms of chromium trioxide per calendar year are exempt.) The environmental regulations “really kill two birds with one stone,” Lemke suggests, both reducing worker exposures and protecting the environment.

and amended. “We have made several changes to the appropriate sections of the standard to help both the employer and the worker reduce exposures to welding fumes,” Hisey says. A new edition is expected to be published by this fall. “Special consideration must be given to [capturing and] removing Cr(VI) from the workplace environment when the ventilation system is designed,” Hisey says. Even though systems can reduce levels of manganese and other metal fumes to well within permissible limits, chromium concentrations can still exceed the recommended TLVs for Cr(VI). “Welders can still enjoy a safe working environment in a shop with a properly designed ventilation system,” Hisey says. Whether making cement, spray painting cars, electroplating electronics or welding piping, controlling Cr(VI) exposures comes down to fundamental control options: substitution, process controls, ventilation, local exhaust and PPE. Of course, add to that mix good training and proper management oversight, says Ken Lemke, president of Canadian Finishing Systems Ltd. in Burlington, Ontario. “It’s just common sense that your workers read the [material safety data sheets] for all the chemicals used in the shop and that they use recommended PPE,” Lemke emphasizes. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

William M. Glenn is associate editor of hazardous substances.

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IMAGE: Jeff Faerber

corporate terrorism

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On Alert

By jean lian When a workplace is hit by corporate terrorism â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in the form of vandalism, bomb threats or other acts of sabotage â&#x20AC;&#x201D; fear is sure to reverberate through the ranks, delivering a severe blow to both the bottom line and the overall sense of security. While the employer is the most immediately obvious victim, corporate terrorism also raises questions that may influence worker well-being. Was the employer duly diligent? Could the incident, which some liken to a form of workplace violence, have been foreseen? With that foresight, could steps have been taken to avoid the incident altogether?

Fright night For Shawn Hamilton, it was a Halloween season he will not soon forget. The treat of the usually busy, fun and lucrative time for the costume store owner in Toronto’s west end was transformed into a malicious trick. Faux horror turned to real terror as bomb packages — seven in all — were found in and around Amazing Party and Costume over the last few days of October, 2011. The explosive packages kicked off a decidedly more somber gathering, one attended by police officers, bomb squad members in bomb suits and sniffer dogs prowling in and around the area where the store is located. There bombs assumed different masks, belying any clear intent: one came in a black vinyl purse; one took the form of a water bottle containing a propellant, with a timer and battery; several others were packaged in brown paper bags. “It looked like a bomb, it smelled like a bomb,” Hamilton recounts. Fortunately, none of the devices detonated. “I don’t think they were meant to go off,” Hamilton says. “Their purpose was to actually have the bomb squads come in and so forth and actually close me down during those very critical days of sales,” he speculates about the perpetrator or perpetrators. Toronto police continue to investigate; Hamilton says he is hoping to provide some extra incentive with a $10,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest. “It’s a scary situation that any business can be subject to,” he says, characterizing the attack as a nasty bit of corporate terrorism. What it is Just what exactly is corporate terrorism? If it is, indeed, an emerging trend, what can employers do to prevent it from derailing health and safety? “It’s a fairly elastic term right now,” says Robert Chandler, Ph.D., director and professor of communications in the Nicholson School of Communications at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Where the term does appear in research, Dr. Chandler reports that it has been frequently used to refer to malevolent acts committed against a particular corporate entity, in many cases, multi-national corporations (MNCs). Think a targeted, Black Bloc approach. Often deemed as high-value targets because of their widespread presence around the globe, terror acts against MNCs can have a ripple effect that, in turn, garners wide media attention. “The larger your profile is, the larger your shadow is for casting this net,” says Dr. Chandler, noting that large corporations typically have a bigger potential audience eyeing them to further a cause. Government agencies and MNCs are the most frequent targets, but that does not mean small and medium-sized businesses should consider themselves off the radar for violence or mischief. That matters since, as Industry Canada reported in 2010, small businesses make up 95 per cent of all registered employer businesses across the country.

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South of the border in Marquette, Michigan, a number of retailers were evacuated last November after bomb threats were called in. The searches, fortunately, came up empty, but the events were sufficient to cause significant disruption to Black Friday shopping. Here at home, a Nova Scotia hospital was evacuated last May after a bomb threat came through the switchboard. Local police cleared the building after carrying out a search and a 14-year-old from Pictou County was eventually charged in connection with the incident. “I think it certainly does highlight the fact that small businesses are just as vulnerable to these types of things as any other businesses,” Satinder Chera, vice-president of the Ontario arm of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), says from Toronto. To Christopher Menary, president of Menary Group, a security consulting firm in Toronto, corporate terrorism is any violence — whether physical, online or a hoax — intended to shut down a business. A 2010 paper, “Terrorism and the Stock Market,” found that 75 attacks against 43 publicly traded companies around the world between 1995 and 2003 resulted in a negative stock price reaction of -0.83 per cent on the day of the attack. That percentage corresponds to an average loss of $401 million for each firm per attack, the paper notes. Economic impact aside, business terrorism also carries a human cost, regardless of whether a company is targeted or merely gets caught in the crossfire: oil executives kidnapped in Niger, an Italian tanker hijacked off the pirate-infested coast of Somalia, or the kidnapping and slaying of four engineers from a British telecom company in Chechnya. “You have the potential for serious injury that can take place when this sort of criminal activity is transpiring. It all takes a toll on employees,” says Chera. That toll may reveal itself as a burden imposed on worker mental health and productivity. “Terrorism is designed to create fear,” Dr. Chandler argues. “It changes people’s attitude, it makes people stay out of your place of business, it makes your workers not want to come to work.” Hamilton can commiserate. Two of his employees have quit since the bomb scares last Halloween. Duty of care Under occupational health and safety legislation, employers must practise due diligence by, among other things, conducting workplace hazard assessments and implementing effec-

False Alarm Canada may not spring to mind when terrorism is mentioned, but the world’s second largest country is by no means immune. Consider the following media reports of bomb threats at various businesses and institutions: • February 24, 2012 — A bomb scare was snuffed out after a suspicious package was found outside of a Scotiabank location in Saint John. A crowd watched as the RCMP bomb squad’s robot fired two water cannons at the package in an attempt to destroy it, but it contained no explosive materials. • December 9, 2011 — No explosive device was discovered, but approximately 1,000 workers were evacuated from Bombardier Inc.’s plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario after the security department received a bomb threat and contacted police. • December 3, 2011 — A WestJet flight heading to Toronto was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Thunder Bay after a passenger made a bomb threat. Members of the Ontario Provincial Police’s bomb squad were called in to search the vacated aircraft. • October 27, 2011 — Everest College in downtown Sudbury, Ontario was evacuated after a student received a text about a bomb being in the building. A search by the canine unit was completed before police gave the all-clear to reopen the building. • March 16, 2011 — A small wooden box in the shape of a house left behind at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton sparked a bomb scare. Handed out by protestors the previous year, a janitor took a box that had been discarded, but inadvertently left it in front of an office, prompting the scare.

tive control measures to remedy any identified hazards. Employers have a legal responsibility to protect employees from a gamut of dangers, but does that onus extend to terror attacks on the job? “The fact that an incident occurring in the workplace is also a criminal incident would not prevent occupational health and safety from investigating,” says Sorcha Thomas, a spokesperson with Alberta Human Services in Edmonton. Police would investigate if there are any criminal code violations, while oh&s officers would determine if there is noncompliance with health and safety legislation. “This could include looking at what policies and procedures are in place regarding potential workplace violence, and appropriate responses,” Thomas says. “Employers are expected to assess hazards that are reasonably foreseeable.” Foreseeability, defined as whether or not a reasonable person could have foreseen that something could happen, is one of three factors that make up the due diligence defence. The remaining two are preventability (was there an opportunity to prevent the injury or incident) and control (who was the responsible person present who could have prevented the incident), notes a bulletin from Work Safe Alberta. In response to each of these defences, the bulletin adds the Crown prosecutor would compare an employer’s practices

against relevant provincial, national and international standards; current industry best practices and specifications; and the company’s written programs, procedures and policies. Competition, politics, a firm’s bid to monopolize a product and a company’s presence or operation in parts of the world where it is not welcomed are factors that can put a firm at risk, Menary says. “If we are in a marketplace where we are dealing with a higher risk product and I deem that as a threat, I have to take all those steps to reassure your safety coming in and [going] out of work everyday,” he adds. From a workers’ comp perspective, a worker injured when, say, opening a bomb package mailed to a business, is eligible for coverage. “The injury would likely be considered to have been caused by an ‘accident’, which our legislation defines as including a willful and intentional act, not being the act of the worker,” says Donna Freeman, director of media relations for WorkSafeBC in Richmond, British Columbia. Freeman says that “each claim is adjudicated on a caseby-case basis,” although the presumption in favour of coverage could be rebutted if the worker’s employment was not of causative significance in the occurrence of the injury or death. As long as an injury or illness arose out of and during the course of a worker’s employment, a claim related to an act of terror directed at a place of employment “would be adjudicated using the same process as other workplace injuries,” adds Marcela Matthew, communications director for the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) of Alberta in Edmonton. Terror as violence Bomb threats tend to figure prominently when it comes to corporate terrorism. The RCMP’s Canadian Bomb Data Centre (CBDC) reports that of the 206 bomb-related incidents reported in 2010, a quarter of them are hoaxes. In all, there were two fatalities and three injuries from the 21 bombings. Commercial explosives used in industry, such as mining operations, make up a big chunk of explosives used in these incidents, says Steve McDonagh, staff sergeant and non-commissioned officer-in-charge at CBDC in Ottawa. Approximately 35 per cent of the 206 incidents in 2010 fell under that category; in 2009, about 35 per cent of the 170 reported incidents involved recoveries of commercial explosives. In cases of intentional malice, “IEDs are placed everywhere from somebody’s front porch to somebody sitting in a wheelchair, and for businesses as well,” McDonagh says. However, there is no indication from the statistics or incidents “that says categorically we’re getting a lot more business threats.” Chera says he does not get a lot of calls from CFIB members expressing concern over being targeted, “but that doesn’t mean that it does not happen.” For its part, he says the federation has certainly been working on helping companies crimeproof their businesses. Potential terror threats can originate with business rivals, disgruntled customers, employees and even disenfranchised shareholders. For a health and safety manager whose job it is to help ensure work-related safety, understanding how corporate terrorism may operate differently from workplace violence may provide some much-needed assistance. Workplace violence manifests itself in numerous ways, including physical assault, sexual harassment, verbal or written

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APRI L / MAY 2 0 1 2

abuse, intimidation, psychological trauma and sabotage. The places in which that abuse can occur also vary widely from the workplace itself to clients’ premises and even away from work, say a threatening phone call or text message from a colleague, notes information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario. For Dr. Chandler, workplace violence or corporate terrorism is mainly an issue of definition. “If I’m in my office and someone comes in and throws acid on me or releases a gas,” he says, “I don’t think I really care whether you call that workplace violence or terrorism.” Any intentional act of violence is “pretty much indistinguishable at the ground level,” he contends. Menary, too, regards corporate terrorism and workplace violence as two sides of the same coin. Pointing to Ontario’s Bill 168 — which addresses workplace violence issues — provisions contained therein reinforce the obligation for employers to assess the workplace’s risk for violence, develop policies and implement preventive measures. “From a corporate level, we are starting to catch up that terrorism just doesn’t happen to world leaders, it just doesn’t happen to countries. It happens to businesses,” he points out. And while terror attacks can happen anywhere, the nature of some businesses may put them at a higher risk. These include couriers operations, public transit systems, hospitals, financial institution services, computer software firms and insurance companies, Menary reports. Consider the disgruntled claimant who held eight employees of Alberta’s WCB hostage in the Edmonton office three years ago. Further back was the 1982 bombing of Litton Systems of Canada, a plant in Toronto that manufactured cruise missile guidance systems for the United States. The attack, involving 250 kilograms of dynamite, resulted in the injury of numerous Litton employees and an estimated $3.9 million in damages, including the company’s loss of the contract, notes an opinion piece by Bob Bergen, Ph.D., writing as a research fellow with the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute in Calgary. Visual cue A building is not just picked at random, Menary says, explaining that visuals account for 90 per cent of security work. A building equipped with steel doors, surveillance cameras and uniformed security personnel convey a hard target and a deterrent to potential saboteurs. On the other end of the spectrum is what Menary calls “the house with broken windows,” which presents itself as a soft target. Access points are often the weakest links. Examples include the front reception area, the back of an office where packages arrive through courier services and single-point vulnerabilities in systems and infrastructure like loading docks, drive-throughs, dumpsters and a single electrical main service entrance, notes “Building Terrorism Mitigation: Vulnerability Assessment,” a manual penned by Continuing Education and Development Inc. in Stony Point, New York.

APRI L / MAY 2 0 1 2

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The manual recommends identifying and examining various aspects associated with a building when conducting a vulnerability assessment, including the following: major structures surrounding the building; whether or not the building’s architectural design incorporates security measures from a crime prevention perspective; the building’s structural robustness; and the security of systems ranging from utility, plumbing and gas, electrical and ventilation to chemical, biological and radiation. But access is not just about the buildings themselves. Consider the bus stop outside a business where workers alight or board vehicles; the road that leads directly to the building (tempered glass and landscaping often being the only barriers to oncoming traffic); and even traffic lights where motoring employees need to stop before turning into or driving out of their office. That possibility was tragically borne out two decades ago in Langley, Virginia. On January 25, 1993, a man walked into slow-moving traffic during rush hour and began to randomly fire at drivers who were waiting to turn into the main entrance of the CIA’s headquarters. Two employees were killed and another three injured. Dr. Chandler emphasizes the need to look at places where people congregate — both inside and outside of a workplace. “You can be 1,000 per cent secure in your business, but if they really want to attack and you haven’t looked at the fact that at 5 o’clock, you’ve got 300 employees lined up at the bus station to take the bus home, that’s where they are going to be,” he says, citing the CIA incident. The first step to beefing up workplace security is to assess a company’s risks and vulnerabilities by looking to the past for the organization’s history, and to the present for existing business operations, competitors and security measures. “The methodology goes right down to how people enter that building on a daily basis, how do they move around, what protection do we have around the building, within the building and from outside the building,” Menary says. Once vulnerabilities have been identified, measures need to be taken to mitigate risks. This would include identifying locations of trash cans, increasing the number of surveillance cameras, establishing screening tools and erecting barriers for vehicles entering the facility, decreasing clutter around the facility, improving sightlines by removing bushes from entrances and updating building procedures. “Our job as security risk assessment managers is to take away that risk, take

You’ve Got Mail Everyone can snicker about snail mail, but receiving correspondence, packages and whatnot through the mail system continues to be a critical means of communication and marketing for many businesses. Unfortunately, this system can also serve as a conduit for receipt of hazardous devices right at a workplace’s door. The Ottawa-based Canadian Bomb Data Centre, part of the RCMP, points to a number of features that should raise some eyebrows about incoming mail: • excessive weight or thickness for the size of an envelope or a package; • a feeling of springiness, metallic components or stiffeners inside, small holes or protruding wires, string or metal foil; • unusual odours or oily/greasy stains on packaging; • rigid or lopsided letters or packages; and, • excessive weight or securing material, such as masking tape or string. Beyond weight and configuration, however, telltale signs can also be detected in the postage and addresses themselves: excessive postage; an unusual or unexpected point of origin, indecipherable or no return address; restrictive markings such as Confidential, Personal, Rush or Do Not Delay Delivery; a hand-written or poorly typed address; and inaccuracies in addresses, titles or titles without names or misspelling of common words. Mailroom employees who receive suspicious mail should isolate the package in question, inform the supervisor and contact police. If workers suspect a harmful chemical or biological substance may be involved, cover the package or envelope with a plastic sheet or raincoat (if none is available, leave the package as is), evacuate the room, close all doors and windows, isolate the area where the package is located, and retreat to an area that is equipped with phone access to await emergency responders.

away that opportunity,” Menary says. That will demand not only training, but properly equipping employees. For example, the receptionist — often an organization’s first line of defence — is critically important when it comes to incidents such as bomb threats or any intimidation directed at businesses and delivered over the telephone. Receptionists and other frontline staff who man the phone should have a list and be trained on how to respond should they receive a bomb threat. If a threat is received, the CBDC recommends that operators remain calm, ask for specific information about the threat and listen for identifying characteristics, like accent, pattern of speech and diction, that may help police investigate and decipher the credibility of the threat. It may also be possible to initiate a trace of the caller’s number which can provide vital information about his or her whereabouts. A pre-arranged signal to alert the supervisor or co-workers sitting nearby should also be established, the CBDC advises. Routine is a spot of bother when it comes to becoming a target. “Potentially, people are always looking at your pattern, looking at what time are you leaving the office, what time are you coming in, are you transferring money at a certain hour?” says the CFIB’s Satinder Chera. He recommends changing the routine and having employees work in at least pairs as precautionary measures that can be taken. All in “Private companies should have a plan in their business that engages all employees so everybody knows what their role is” should a threat occur, McDonagh advises. In addition, it would be prudent for organizations to establish a command structure that kick starts a response that could involve such actions as alerting the police, assessing the threat and evaluating whether or not if employees should be

informed and immediately evacuated. If the latter, McDonagh says it would also be helpful if employees are on the lookout for anything that may be out of place. If so, they should not touch or move the suspicious package or object, but report it to management or police. A comprehensive risk management plan addresses not only the preventive aspects of corporate security, but includes planning for business continuity, reviewing communication plans with employees and putting in place disaster recovery measures in the event of an incident, says Dr. Chandler. Unfortunately, “what we typically do is prepare for the last terrorist attack and not the next one,” Dr. Chandler observes. “That’s a tough thing to overcome because that’s what we know, that’s what just happened.” Just how much of the planning gets done may come down to availability of resources. “Some directors of security will sit in one part of Canada with 22 other offices across Canada. So it’s hard to co-ordinate all [this] stuff,” Menary suggests. Another hurdle revolves around perception — the thought that terrorism is a remote possibility. Even so, Menary says he is encouraged by the apparent increase in the number of businesses, from small outfits to MNCs, that are conducting on-the-job risk assessments. Following the Halloween scare, Hamilton is not taking any chances. He has spent about $50,000 beefing up security at his store by installing 32 cameras, erecting gates, instituting a bag check-in system for customers, training employees to be security-aware and having a bomb dog patrol the premises on a regular basis. His employees remain cautious, Hamilton says, but otherwise comfortable working at his store. “We just hope that this ugly thing that happened to us is over.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jean Lian is associate editor of ohs canada.

www.ohscanada.com

APRI L / MAY 2 0 1 2

building safety

constructing culture By angela stelmakowich Several workers on the roof reported hearing a “loud thud.” They found “roofer 1” lying directly below the skylight on the floor of the foyer entrance. He was unresponsive. The general contractor immediately called 911. On message Those findings are part of an investigation report into a deadly fall at a residential construction project in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia on July 4, 2011. That day, workers were working on a flat section of the roof. The homeowner had contracted Weather Tight Supplies Ltd. to remove the existing roof system, re-roof the main house and install roofs on the newly constructed studio and boat house, notes a WorkSafeBC report released in March. The roofer fell backward into a sheet of polyethylene that had been nailed into place over a 1.2-metre-squared skylight opening. The covering gave way and he crashed through the opening, plummeting six metres to the tile floor below. Although he was wearing a fall protection harness, it was not tied off to an anchor point. He died in hospital the next day. There were no witnesses, but WorkSafeBC reports the most likely scenario is that the roofer stepped backward to discard a piece of recovery board into a garbage bin beside the skylight opening. As he did so, his heel or heels struck the wooden frame around the opening and he lost his balance. The fatal incident may differ in specifics, but perhaps not generalities, with regard to challenges in construction. Inadequate communication — oftentimes the result of the absence of information needed to fuel awareness — lies at the heart of so many incidents that could and should not have been. In fact, having everyone on the same page may be even more important on construction projects, the ultimate layer-upon-layer of trades and tasks. Once subcontractors began to work on the project, the site became a multi-employer workplace, notes WorkSafeBC. This must have a prime contractor who is responsible for ensuring that the health and safety activities of employers and workers are co-ordinated and a system or process to ensure compliance is established. If there is no written agreement between an owner and another party designating that other party as the prime contractor, the owner is the prime contractor.

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Absent solid communication, the potential exists for a deficiency at any level to allow things to fall through the cracks. Communication is at the root of culture, where knowledge is transformed into habit and habit transformed into automatic behaviour. “You put on your seat belt when you get in the car; you don’t think about it,” says Ontario labour minister Linda Jeffrey. “We need people to be thinking about safety first before they get to the work site. Do I have my hard hat? Do I have my safety shoes? What do I need to make my workplace safe?” Jeffrey said following the launch of a Ministry of Labour (MOL) enforcement blitz for high-risk construction trades. “This is about driving change into the work site, no matter where you work,” Jeffrey says. “You need people to be thinking about safety because one wrong step and you have something you have to deal with — perhaps for the rest of your life — or you have lost somebody that you love.” Common concerns Regardless of the size of the project or the jurisdiction in which work is being done, construction sites are home to many potentially injurious or deadly hazards. Among others, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work offers this list: struck by falling objects; struck or crushed by a workplace vehicle; inhalation of dust; exposure to dangerous substances; work near, in or over water; loud noise; vibration from tools or machinery; and slips and trips. Consider these recent construction-related incidents: • a Manitoba worker suffered fatal injuries when he lost his footing and fell from a structure; • a constructor in Ontario was issued nine orders after part of a tower crane came apart and the boom broke; • a Quebec worker was killed when the walls of an excavation gave way and he and a co-worker were buried; • a British Columbia man was sentenced to seven days in jail after striking a flagger, causing fatal injuries; and,

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• charges have been laid against a Nova Scotia property owner and two individuals after a 12-year-old boy was killed by a reversing construction vehicle. Not only are hazards varied, but injury and fatality tolls are high. Consider these statistics: the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail in Quebec recorded 213 work-related deaths in 2010, 53 of these involving construction workers; WorkSafeBC accepted approximately 1,200 claims last year for construction-related injuries and fatalities caused by falls from heights; Ontario’s MOL reports that 97 construction workers died, accounting for almost 40 per cent of all workrelated fatalities between 2005 and 2009; and in the United States, 35 per cent of construction fatalities in 2010 were the result of falls, notes a statement from the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) in Des Plaines, Illinois. Carey Ursey, implementation manager for Predictive Solutions, an Industrial Scientific Company, says there are some challenges to improving construction safety. “Assumptions are made that either the trade contractor or the union or both are properly training each individual worker brought onto a construction work site, yet contradicting evidence is that many workers are not receiving the necessary training,” Ursey notes. “Proper co-ordination of training at the individual level would be ideal, which can be difficult due to the transient nature of workers in construction.” Another sticking point may be the need for better trend analysis of both leading and lagging indications. “Having the ability to quickly and easily locate trend analysis for contractors and contractor types would be a tremendous boon at a pre-construction meeting,” Ursey suggests. Fall down Getting to the point where construction incidents are avoided in the first place demands a little TLC. One area in urgent need of some of that care is fall protection, a common hazard capable of quickly producing injurious or deadly results. That may have been the thinking behind the recent Ontario blitz, which targeted construction sites where high-rise form work, low-rise form work, masonry, siding and built-up roofing tasks are being performed. The lost-time injury rate per 100 workers for the five trades ranges from almost double to four times that of construction in general, notes an MOL backgrounder. In 2010, falls in these trades claimed the lives of six workers; almost

half of the 159 injuries involved young workers. “Having these blitzes is very, very important — just reminding people how important it is to observe safety protocol, because it’s always about that one little thing that you didn’t do and then everything goes wrong,” says Dipika Damerla, a Liberal MPP and parliamentary assistant to Ontario’s infrastructure minister. “Everybody knows that over time we start to take shortcuts. So blitzes are a reminder not to do it,” Damerla says. After the Halfmoon Bay incident, all workers on the roof stated that they were aware of the requirement to use fall protection, but they did not feel a need for it on the flat portion of the roof, notes the WorkSafeBC report. The roofers stated they were not given any site-specific instructions regarding the roofing project. There was no discussion regarding hazards, nor was any direction provided as to the necessary steps to take to minimize or eliminate any hazards. Ontario is not alone in promoting practices and behaviour meant to help workers stay put and avoid the fall. In late March, Richmond, British Columbia-based WorkSafeBC and several construction partners hosted a conference meant to drive home that very point. “Workers have a right to a safe, healthy workplace, and too many lives have been tragically affected by falling incidents that could have been prevented,” says Don Schouten, industry and labour services manager at WorkSafeBC. Attendees to the “Stay on Top” steep slope roofing event heard about occupational health and safety responsibilities and fall protection planning and procedures, saw a demonstration of a WorkSafeBC site inspection, had an opportunity to get their hands on fall protection equipment and left with an information package containing a host of oh&s resources, a voucher for a free Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia fall protection course and a discount on fall protection equipment. Ursey emphasizes that enforcement blitzes can be used to raise awareness of a particular issue “as well as use the observational data derived from blitzes to ascertain how widespread an issue truly is.” That said, “if the blitz stops at the collection of data and a company fails to develop strategic interventions following a poor trend, then the process will have little meaningful impact.”

Firm foundation Building culture is not a one-off; it both gives and takes. A firm foundation for culture gives by fostering the view that the safe way of doing things is equivalent to the normal way of doing things; it takes by requiring ongoing buy-in for established systems and for any changes that become necessary. George Gritziotis, as Ontario’s first chief prevention officer, is tasked with developing a provincial oh&s strategy, coordinating and aligning the oh&s prevention system and providing advice on preventing work-related injury and disease. Strengthening relationships and partnerships — what Gritziotis calls building capacity — is critically important. It is also essential to leverage “what we’re already doing. There are lots of good things happening out there,” he said following the launch of the enforcement blitz. Buying into an idea not because it is being imposed, “but because they believe in it,” is an attribute of leaders, Gritziotis emphasizes. Building leadership at all levels within organizations — whether the president, the vice-president, the manager, the journeyperson or the apprentice — will help to achieve the ultimate goal of preventing work-related incidents, he argues.

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“When people champion something and they believe in it, it’s not a bother, it’s not a cost and it’s not onerous. You do it because it’s the right thing to do.” That message is certainly not without support elsewhere. In fact, the Mechanical Contractors Association of Chicago (MCA Chicago) is part of a team trying to encourage and foster these very traits and attributes. A new study led by researchers at Colorado State University seeks to promote key leadership characteristics among construction workers. Drawing on contractor and union expertise across the United States, Project LeAd — Leaning, Assessment and Development — is expected to result in a leadership training program that will include role playing, on-the-job practice, goal setting, personal assessment and feedback, notes a statement from MCA Chicago, one of the research partners. The final training is expected to be made available to construction unions and companies across the country. “Anything we can do to help meaningfully change safety practices in the workplace is a worthwhile endeavour,” Stephen Lamb, executive vice-president of MCA Chicago, says in a statement.

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looking ahead Construction is an established part of the economic landscape. That said, the sector is subject to ebbs and flows that can contribute to what working conditions prevail and, in turn, what level of safety is available. Strictly by the numbers, it has traditionally been assumed an increase in activity will be matched by an increase in incidents. But scant activity may produce its own safety challenges, with bottom-line focus becoming too keen. The Construction Sector Council — an industry-led organization committed to the development of a highly skilled work force to support future needs — has recently provided a peek at its forecasts. Below are some salient points regarding labour supply for a selection of provinces: • British Columbia — The trend is toward near-record levels of construction employment. The mining, pipeline, industrial and utility projects in the north will dominate for the next few years, while commercial, civil and institutional work is weaker in the south. Managing needs will depend on work force mobility and flexibility, and skilled worker training. Over the next decade, more than 44,000 workers will need to be recruited. • Manitoba — New residential home and electrical utility construction is expected to reach record-high employment levels over the next decade, with industrial, commercial

and institutional (ICI) construction also witnessing steady gains. Industry may face challenges meeting expanding demand over the next several years, meaning active recruitment and training of new workers will be necessary to keep pace. For non-residential construction, activity continues to exhibit steady growth. • New Brunswick — Coming off historic high levels, construction activity is slowing. The industry should be able to draw on its own work force to meet labour requirements for most of the next decade, but will still need to plan carefully to sustain support systems for the work force, including retention, career promotion and training. Mining and other resource-related projects will be the main source of new jobs, but there will also be moderate increases in employment in ICI sectors. • Prince Edward Island — PEI can expect construction employment to grow beyond record levels with the continued investment in utilities and ICI projects over the next decade or so. Job gains in the non-residential sector will help offset weaker new housing, road, highway and bridge construction. Industry will need to recruit 1,500 workers over the next decade to meet demand, making investment in apprenticeship, career promotion and recruiting that targets youth, immigrants, women and other industries key.

WorkSafeBC reports underlying factors contributing to the incident were the failures of Weather Tight Supplies to establish consistent safe work procedures for covering or guarding skylights and other roof openings, and to ensure there was adequate supervision on site. With regard to the homeowner, as he was not aware that he was the prime contractor under the law, he did not have in place a system to ensure the various trades on site complied with requirements.

opportunity to begin talking about occupational health and safety. What supports can we put in place? How can we work together? What can I share? Some employers look at it as a cost, we look at it as an investment.” Ursey says there is some positives for changing culture, but also some continuing issues. “Many companies employ culture-building programs and adopt policies and procedures aimed at the psychosocial aspects of safety. The difficulty in doing so, however, is sustainability. Programs like this require a commitment from management, not only when things are going well, but maintaining it during difficult times as well.” Damerla says there is only so much that government can do in terms of checking on people and reminding them. “In the end, we have to take responsibility for our own safety — whether you’re on top of that high-rise, whether you’re cooking or whether you’re driving. It’s really important to understand that safety is not because the inspector’s here; safety is so that you can go home to your family in one piece.” Ontario labour minister Linda Jeffrey agrees. “We need workers to look out for themselves, we need them to look out for their colleagues. So this is a bottom-up, top-down approach,” the minister notes. “Things change, the industry changes and we need young people coming into the construction trades being careful, learning best practices and making sure everyone around them uses those practices.”

Size matters How education is carried out may vary depending on size. “Inspectors, whether it’s food safety, whether it’s construction, whether it’s a restaurant — it’s a partnership. It’s about educating, not just enforcement,” Damerla says. In some larger companies, Gritziotis says that there may already be more structures and resources in place. “We have to be cognizant of the fact that a small business owner needs to be approached and addressed in a way that’s commensurate with what his organization looks like,” he points out. Gritziotis says owners must not feel that inspectors are simply checking up on them. That runs the risk of having direction and information provided forgotten in short order. “If I can get one small business owner to buy in, then I get two, and then you get the word out. So it’s about developing a culture and it’s about having a small business owner understand that this is the way of doing good business,” he adds. Gritziotis suggests that there is much to transfer between small and large employers. “If that relationship is there, it’s an

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ACCIDENT PREVENTION

Antibiotic resistance

Super Safe Bugged and bothered: Some conditions — think the common cold or influenza A, B or C — are colloquially known as bugs; others have been catapulted to “super” status, having achieved a level of resistance that goes beyond the norm.

Standard stuff: In late 2011, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in Mississauga, Ontario released the country’s first-ever standard for planning, design and construction of new health care facilities. Canadian provinces spend billions of dollars every year on the 220,000 people who acquire infections while visiting health care facilities, “including patients who remain in hospital longer, increasing the financial strain on the system and dependence on costly antibiotics,” notes a CSA statement.

Mixed bag: Some types of multidrug-resistant superbugs are more common than others, but these little bits of nasty include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and Clostridium difficile. If so-called staph gets into the body, “it can cause a minor infection such as boils or pimples,” notes information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario. But the effects of MRSA can prove far more serious, including urinary tract infections, pneumonia, toxic shock syndrome and even death, the centre adds. A 2008 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association points out that an estimated 1.7 million individuals in the United States acquire an infection while hospitalized every year, resulting in 100,000 deaths. Many of these infections are caused by antimicrobial-resistant organisms, and MRSA ranks among the most prevalent pathogens in hospitals worldwide, the editorial adds. “At any given time, between 20 and 30 per cent of the general population carry staph bacteria on their hands or in their noses, but are not ill,” notes information from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in Ottawa.

Risk averse: Some people are more likely targets of superbugs than others: the sick, the elderly, intravenous drug users and frequent users of antibiotics, as well as those who are immunosuppressed, have long-term illnesses or are recovering from wounds, surgery or burns. The CCOHS points out that MRSA can develop in an open wound such as a bedsore, or where a tube such as a urinary catheter enters the body. Worldwide, there has been a steady increase in the number of MRSA cases and the severity of infections, notes the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA). The authority cites misuse of antibiotics in both hospital and community settings as one reason why MRSA has become more difficult to contain and treat. While the superbug “is no more likely to cause infection than any other bacteria,” VIHA adds, “it is harder to kill.” Settling in: Superbugs have grown increasingly prevalent — staking claim in many work environments where large groups of people are in close proximity, such as correctional facilities, military, dorm-style work camps and residential care — but hospitals seem to be the favourite haunt. Although healthy workers are not usually affected, that is not always the case. A Manitoba nurse recently was awarded workers’ compensation benefits after MRSA-related impetigo contracted on the job caused her to miss several months of work (see page 23). Beyond getting sick themselves, otherwise healthy workers can be the bearers of potential harm, passing along the bacteria that dwells in the nose, on the skin and in moist areas of the body.

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ohs canada

unhealthy spread: By their very nature, sterilization is an everyday and necessary occurrence in hospitals throughout the land, but the practice can prove unhealthy. By wiping the slate clean over and over again — bacteria cannot grow on top of one another — that clears the way for superbugs to take hold. To ensure that MRSA stays put, VIHA reports there are a number of precautions that can be adopted within hospitals: place a sign on the patient’s door so health care workers and visitors are reminded to exercise caution and implement controls; use a gown and gloves if a worker needs to provide the patient close care; and regularly clean and disinfect the room and equipment therein. A 2005 study by Minnesota-based Ecolab Inc. found that detectable levels of two strains of VRE deposited on samples of bed linen, plastic computer keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails were still present 11 weeks later. (Other researchers found similar results related to MRSA). “The results of both of these studies underscore the continued need for effective hand washing, good hygienic measures and keeping surfaces clean in hospitals and other settings to keep harmful bacteria under control,” Ecolab reports in a statement. In a study of nursing homes in Canada and the United States, researchers found that increasing both the levels of registered nurses in these facilities and the use of antimicrobial soap protected residents against the acquisition of MRSA. In addition, having more hand-washing sinks per 100 residents was protective against infection with trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. gear up: Some controls, gear and work processes can serve both super and not-so-super bugs equally well: • Well in hand — In a C. difficile alert, PHAC advises that people should wash their hands often with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing is especially important before and after eating and drinking, after using the washroom and after blowing one’s nose, coughing or sneezing. For health care workers, VIHA would add to that list whenever entering or leaving a patient’s room, after touching a dressing or wound and after applying personal care products. • Common ground — The vast majority of common infections are spread by hand-to-hand contact, meaning touching a contaminated surface or person, followed by one’s own eyes, nose or mouth may put that individual in for a world of hurt. Getting a handle on hand hygiene is a must in the battle against infection and spread since there are so many items that can be shared by one and all: doorknobs, elevator buttons, washroom taps, computer keyboards and phone handsets represent just a few. • In, out, away — Isolation, in some cases, is one way in which to ensure health care workers remain safe. “If the MRSA is judged by the hospital’s infection control program to be of special clinical significance, the patient is placed in a private room,” notes the CCOHS. • Missed manners — Practising a little etiquette is never a bad thing. To prevent communicable diseases and avoid the wrath of superbugs, keep hands clean. Need to cough? Use a tissue or cough/sneeze into a sleeve.

laundry day: The potential for transferring microorganisms goes beyond touching human beings or hard surfaces, though. When handling, transporting and processing used linens that are soiled with blood or body fluids, the CCOHS recommends that this be done in a way that prevents skin exposure.

HEALTH WATCH

risk assessments

Diagnosis: Wellness By Jean Lian

new study out of the United States that explores the use of laboratory-based wellness programs suggests health care access alone does not guarantee detection of high risk for common chronic conditions. Researchers at Madison, New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics conducted health risk assessments (HRAs) using one of the company’s testing services that focused on hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease. The assessments included completing a health and lifestyle questionnaire, biometric data and laboratory tests. The review found that lab-based wellness programs pinpointed a newly identified chronic condition in one in three insured participants, notes a company statement. While some healthy skepticism may be warranted — the study involves one of the company’s own diagnostic testing products — the findings, nonetheless, raise some interesting questions: When it comes to the early detection of medical conditions, are lab-based Is this health assessments more reliable than selfreporting? Is this approach more effective in approach promoting worker health than wellness programs that traditionally have focused on fitmore ness, health education and immunizations?

effective in

Early bird Allan Smofsky, a workplace health strategist promoting and founder of Toronto consultancy firm worker Smofsky Strategic Planning, says “there is a body of research that suggests self-reporthealth? ed data is fairly accurate.” That said, “early identification can certainly assist employees from an awareness and prevention perspective, and by extension, that helps employers,” Smofsky adds. Carlo Ammendolia, DC, Ph.D., is an associate scientist with the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto. Dr. Ammendolia says he sees the value in employing laboratory tests to help identify high-risk individuals, but cautions that identification is but one part of a scheme of elements that must be in place to encourage individuals to take action. “There’s a great leap between identification and actually changing outcomes,” he says, citing the importance of implementing a program that focuses on changing behaviour. “Identification by itself, I don’t think, is the silver bullet.” Employers are required to provide a healthy and safe workplace, but employees also play an important role, suggests Tory Winters, a senior health and safety officer for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in Ottawa. Using hypertension caused by lifestyle as an example, Winters says “it’s not my employer’s responsibility to follow me home to make sure that I am not eating hamburgers.”

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ohs canada

baby steps Still in their infancy in Canada, HRAs employ an integrated approach that goes beyond blood pressure and cholesterol screening. “The genesis of health risk assessments is certainly an American concept slowly creeping into the Canadian marketplace,” suggests Glenn Carmen, executive vice-president of corporate and business development at High Point Wellness Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. South of the border, there tends to be more robust programs in place since disability and health care costs are often borne by employers. In Canada, coverage is provided by provincial or territorial health care systems, workers’ compensation and corporate and/or personal insurance. Says Carmen, “CFOs in this country believe they are paying vast amounts of money to these various agencies, and to bring another supplemental program into play is becoming a really tough sell, particularly in this economy.” Dr. Ammendolia further suggests that free access to universal health care means Canadians are more likely to become aware of any underlying conditions without having to undergo workplace-related HRAs. But some say lab-based analysis and self-reporting need not be mutually exclusive. Smofsky is of the mind that selfreporting and laboratory testing can work in concert, with HRAs becoming an objective means to verify and complement self-reported data or symptoms. Still, it must be acknowledged that the reliability of selfreported data can be influenced by several factors, including memory and perception of threat — which may rear its head when asked about stigmatized behaviour. “Driven by social desirability, respondents might provide the researchers with inaccurate data on some occasions, but it does not happen all the time,” Chong-ho Yu, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Azusa Pacific University in California, writes in the paper, “Reliability of Self-Report Data,” last updated in 2010. Here at home, as many as two-thirds of respondents who had been arrested for drunk driving and 80 to 90 per cent of drug users did not deny their actions, David Northrup, now associate director of the Institute for Social Research at Toronto’s York University, notes in his paper, “The Problem of the Self-Report in Survey Research,” which was published in the institute’s newsletter in 1996. Some literature has painted a pretty picture of the benefits of workplace wellness programs: increased productivity, less absenteeism, improved satisfaction, lower short- and longterm disability costs and fewer workers’ comp claims. Less rosy is the image of workplace wellness in Canada depicted by the 2011 Buffett National Wellness Survey. Results indicate that Canadian employers understand the importance of workplace wellness, but are struggling to create comprehensive related infrastructure necessary to invigorate

both employee health and the bottom line. Of the 677 polled organizations — ranging in size from less than 100 employees to more than 2,500 — 72 per cent offer some sort of wellness initiative, but only one-third of those indicate a strategic approach has been adopted. Financial measurement and return-on-investment (ROI) are identified as being important, yet 64 per cent of responding organizations with wellness initiatives in place do not evaluate results and 69 per cent do not calculate ROI. In the same survey, 56 per cent of employers polled identified work-related stress as the top health risk facing their employees, while smoking, mental health issues and high blood pressure were each cited by 35 per cent of respondents. “We’re pleased that the majority of employers surveyed recognize that their employees’ health affects productivity and performance,” Lori Casselman, assistant vice-president of health and wellness, group benefits at Sun Life Financial in Waterloo, Ontario, said following the release of survey results. However, Casselman added that “most aren’t creating a strategic plan to improve employee well-being and ensure sustainable outcomes.” While there are some difficulties quantifying ROI on wellness programs, cost-benefit ratios have been estimated at $1.50 to $6.15 for each dollar invested. Returns seem most robust when a comprehensive healthy workplace approach is used, and when cost-benefit is measured several years after interventions begin, notes “The Business Case for a Healthy Workplace,” a paper from Ontario’s Industrial Accident Prevention Association, now part of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services. “The greatest gains are those that occur when health promotion programs are implemented in a workplace that is already an open, trusting and supportive work environment,” the paper adds. Employee engagement is a key determinant of a wellness program’s ultimate success, says Mike Ashar, president of Irving Oil in Saint John, which clinched the 2011 Canadian Workplace Wellness Pioneer award for wellness initiatives that include HRAs, an on-site gym and fitness classes. “Unless you work on the social structure, most people will not use it,” Ashar argues. “When we started this, there was a baseline measurement,” he reports, noting that 60 per cent of employees were considered healthy. A review conducted a year later showed that a higher percentage of employees were exhibiting improved health outcomes. While HRAs may not be the norm in Canadian workplaces, some wellness programs offer comparable health checks as a preventive measure to promote early detection. Manulife Financial Group, for example, provides employers a suite of employee personal health assessments, ranging from work site health screening programs to executive medicals. Participants in the latter undergo comprehensive physical and mental health evaluations, lab testing and lifestyle, fitness, nutrition and stress assessments. They also complete a questionnaire that covers 12 health risks and receive a report that includes a customized health improvement plan. small as big “Individuals who have three or more health risk factors actually contribute to 50 per cent more absences and 66 per cent more of the health claim cost,” says Chris MacDonald, assistant vice-president of health management services at Manulife in Kitchener, Ontario. By focusing on prevention,

employers “are going to see downstream the impact of reduced absenteeism and health claim costs,” MacDonald adds. High Point’s Glenn Carmen also cites the benefits of onsite clinics, where health care practitioners can develop a more intimate understanding of workplace conditions that could influence employee health. The centre provides corporate on-site clinic services at client workplaces where the information provided to the clinical team is aggregated to give the employer an overall picture of its work force’s health and wellness. This offers insight and can change corporate culture, Carmen contends, “advising the employer where the hot buttons are and bringing solutions that are pertinent to that particular client.” Carrots, no sticks But is laboratory-based testing more economically viable than traditional wellness programs for employees across the board? Or is the approach better suited for targeted populations? Would either yield improved outcomes? “I wouldn’t see a benefit for Canadian employers in the same way the American employers would,” Winters says, citing the two countries’ vastly different health care systems. “How are While acknowledging that lab-based testing could drive some employees to we going change lifestyle behaviour, employers should tread carefully. “Proactive screento use this ing and testing is fantastic, but not if a information person is forced to do it by their employer. And not if the employer ever has a chance to see those records,” he says. to improve “If you only have 200 people workoutcomes? ing and I come in and ask your weight, height, race and age, I can pretty much And will figure out who filled out the form,” he cautions. “I don’t think they are Machiait improve vellian or anything like that, but once that data is collected, it has huge potential to outcomes?” be abused,” Winters argues. Concerns over confidentiality may influence participation in health screenings at work and raise concerns that detection of a medical condition could adversely affect employability. “Early identification would help the employer and the employee. But at what risks?” Dr. Ammendolia asks, suggesting that plenty of questions remain outstanding. “We’ve just got to be cautious not to get on the bandwagon at this time. We still need to think it through in terms of confidentiality,” Dr. Ammendolia says. “How are we going to use this information to improve outcomes? And will it improve outcomes?” Incentivizing and making engagement in wellness activities convenient and easy may be essential to achieving positive outcomes. Ashar cites Irving Oil’s practice of awarding employees $100 for completing a free health assessment. But instead of providing the prize in cold hard cash, Ashar says employees are given $100 to buy sneakers that they can use to walk or use in the gym. “It’s a small example of designing a good system so that it’s easy for people to say, ‘Yes’.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jean Lian is associate editor of

ohs canada.

www.ohscanada.com

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SAFETY GEAR

Hard hats

A Safety Heads-Up By Jason Contant

afety professionals are used to contemplating worstcase scenarios, but it was a worker who had a frontrow seat to the real thing at a southern Ontario construction site in early 2011. Fortunately, worst turned to best. A 3.5-metre-long aluminum beam weighing approximately 30 kilograms fell over a fence at the construction site, plummeting eight storeys and striking the worker on the head and right shoulder. The worker was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition. The responding police officers credited the worker’s headwear with saving his life. Katie Twist-Rowlinson, product manager for welding helmets and hard hats at Honeywell Safety Products in Smithfield, Rhode Island, says a hard hat’s suspension and shell work together to Officers absorb an impact and dissipate the associated energy so that very little is transcredited the ferred to the wearer. Honeywell’s product line includes worker’s hard hats that feature a smooth crown headwear design and a suspension system with eight load-bearing points to stabilize and with saving balance the gear during everyday wear, notes a product information sheet. his life. “The more suspension points a hard hat has, the greater opportunity for the impact to spread over the widest area, resulting in the smallest amount of energy transferred to the wearer’s head,” TwistRowlinson explains. “The higher number of suspension points equals greater balance, stability and overall weight distribution and comfort level.” Changeable comfort As always, comfort is critically important to prevent workers from removing gear that can only protect as intended when worn. But maximizing comfort — and safety — sometimes requires some adjustment. To secure and adjust a hard hat, Twist-Rowlinson says a wearer will use a suspension adjustment mechanism — the two most common being pin lock and ratchet systems. The former employs a “snap and lock” system that fits more loosely, but requires removal of the hard hat to make any adjustments; the latter does not, with adjustments made by simply turning a knob. John Greer, president of Dynamic Safety International in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, estimates that two decades ago, 80 per cent of hard hats on the market used pin lock systems and 20 per cent ratchet systems. Today, Greer says he expects that has reversed, with ratchet suspension systems account-

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ohs canada

ing for 95 per cent and pin lock for five per cent. At his company, Greer says the geometry of the hard hat shell and the ratchet suspension system were both designed to come lower on the head, thereby enhancing user comfort. The choice of suspension system, among many other considerations, will be dictated by the results of a risk assessment, which is recommended as part of the Canadian Standard Association’s (CSA) Z94.1 “Industrial Protective Headwear” standard, last updated in 2005. Numerous factors must be taken into account, including the following: • if a user requires impact and penetration protection to only the crown of the head or to the sides as well; • whether or not a cap-style or full-brim hard hat is needed; • what hard hat material is best suited for the particular work and environment; • which accessories the hat will need to accommodate; • if availability of various colour choices (including highvisibility) is preferred; and, • whether or not job demands require the use of a reverseorientation hard hat. Type cast There are two types of CSA-approved hard hats: Type 1 offers impact and penetration protection to the crown only; Type 2 provides crown and lateral (side) impact and penetration protection. “Type 1 helmets should only be used in situations where it can be determined that no lateral hazards exist, or the local authority allows its usage,” says Sean Donovan, senior product line manager for industrial products at Mine Safety Appliances Company (MSA) in Toronto. Type 1 may suffice for a mechanic or forklift operator, but “typically, highly dynamic workplaces such as construction, demolition and those where there are moving objects, such as medium to large manufacturing operations, are more likely to be considered Type 2 workplaces,” Donovan advises. Some provincial jurisdictions — Newfoundland and Labrador is one example — have work-related requirements that specify the use of CSA-approved headwear. In fact, Greer points out, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island all moved exclusively to Type 2 hard hats years ago. For the rest of the country, he suggests “it’s been a bit voluntary on whether they did a job assessment or hazard assessment, whether their workers wear Type 1 or Type 2.” As per CSA Z94.1, each of the main types of hard hats are broken down into three separate classes related to dielectric protection: E, G and C. Class E provides the highest protection (against as much as 20,000 volts of electric current), while Class G has a 2,200-volt electric current rating and Class C offers no dielectric protection. If working in an environment where “any contact with an

photos: Top

- honeywell safety products; bottom - dentec safety specialists

electrical current may occur, [workers] will need to be aware of their hat’s class rating, and make sure it’s at the appropriate level for that hazard,” Twist-Rowlinson says. Claudio Dente, president of Dentec Safety Specialists Inc. in Newmarket, Ontario, reports that “most people in all applications use an E,” and the majority of hard hats on the market are certified as such. Absent a hazard assessment being done, Donovan notes that “the worker should default to the highest protection level possible, which is a Type 2, Class E protective helmet.” Sunny days Of course, electricity is not the only on-thejob hazard to be considered. With summer almost here, those working outdoors will certainly need protection from the sun. Traditionally used in mining and the oil and gas sector, more utilities and construction companies are warming to full-brim hard hats that offer workers some protection against ultraviolet rays around the ears, neck and face, Greer reports. Consider a paving crew toiling away for hours on end in the dead of summer. There will be heat stress when working on “thousand-degree [Fahrenheit] asphalt in 100F sun,” Greer says. Full-brim hats will offer some relief, he adds. Dente notes that a hard hat can become softer in hot environments, while it can grow brittle in cold temperatures. “That’s part of your hazard analysis, whether temperature is a concern,” he says. Twist-Rowlinson suggests, however, that hard hats are fairly durable, reporting that CSA testing requires protective headgear to be preconditioned prior to impact and penetration testing at 50 degrees Celsius +/- 2 C and -30 C +/- 2 C. Dave Shanahan, oh&s standards project manager at the CSA, says that members of the protective headwear technical committee even reviewed the possibility of adding arc flash

protection to the Z94.1 standard, but decided against it. “Given the nature of the hazard, any properly designed flash protector would have to cover the entire head and neck area, including the face,” Shanahan says. It was felt that “arc flash protection for the head would be better addressed in our Z94.3 eye and face protection standard.” While the CSA states a hard hat on its own should not be specified as an arc flash protector, Shanahan reports, members of the Z94.1 technical committee determined that head protectors meeting the standard do not pose any additional hazard to the user in an arc flash event. That said, greater heat protection is sometimes needed, especially for those who work in steel plants, forges, foundries, fabrication shops and chemical plants, as well as workers at some construction sites or in heavy industry settings. Hard hats provide Twist-Rowlinson reports that one head protection in of her company product lines offers outdoor (above) and indoor (below) work two hard hats designed for extremehigh-heat environments, featuring environments. materials that can withstand radiant temperatures of approximately 190 to 260 C. A new fibreglass hard hat “takes advantage of new material formulations to provide high-heat resistance up to [190 C], lighter-weight protection and added durability,” she says. Made of a proprietary injection-moulded fibreglass compound, the hard hat “handles hard knocks in the toughest places without developing nicks and cracks commonly seen in other fibreglass caps,” notes a product sheet from Honeywell. Material matters Temperature is among the factors that will steer workers toward the best choice of hard hat material. Donovan reports the most common material used for the safety gear is highdensity polyethylene (HDPE), a good fit in light of its costeffectiveness and versatility. But the material is not without competitors. “Other thermoplastics such as polycarbonate or synthetic polymers such

Ahead of Risks High-Density Polyethylene

Polycarbonate

Glass-Reinforced Nylon

Phenolic

Heat Resistant

Low

Medium

High

Very High

Flame Resistant

Low

Medium

High (Self-Extinguishing)

Chemical Resistant

High

Low

Medium

High

Purchase Price

Low

Medium

High

Construction Utilities General Purpose Chemical Handling Forestry

Utilities Oil & Gas Mining General Purpose Welding Foundry/Furnace

Welding Foundry/Furnace Chemical Handling General Purpose Utilities

Foundry/Furnace Construction Welding Chemical Handling General Purpose

Common Applications

Source: Mine Safety Appliances Company

www.ohscanada.com

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was enough of a concern to Highlands, Texas-based Glove Guard, LP that the company came up with its own product CSA International and the Safety Equipment Institute in solution last fall. “The design was created to solve a problem,” the United States are the only authorities certified by the namely how to keep your hard hat where it needs to be — on Standards Council of Canada to conduct testing activities your head,” says Bryan Vermillion, vice-president of product related to the Canadian Standard Association’s Z94.1 development for Glove Guard. standard, says Claudio Dente, president of Dentec Safety The product’s rubber buckle, which features unique texSpecialists Inc. in Newmarket, Ontario. turing, can grip a worker’s head but is soft enough that the John Greer, president of Dynamic Safety International material will not hurt the user, Vermillion reports. The unit in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, says that CSA representatives buckles around the existing suspension system and allows actually visit the company’s factory three or four times a a hard hat to be adjusted more loosely for greater comfort, year to conduct an audit. For every 500 hats manufachelping to reduce neck strain, headaches and discomfort. tured, Greer reports that one is tested and related results “We believe that by making devices that keep PPE close at are retained in a database. hand and easy to use, we will help reduce workplace injuries,” The CSA also carries out random checks in the marketVermillion says. place to ensure the gear meets standard, he adds. Feeling comfortable? Not too warm? Able to see? Great, but a worker may also need protection from noise. Earmuffs are another common addition to hard hats, many as glass-reinforced nylon offer higher heat or cold resistance, of which incorporate slots on the sides where cap-mounted but generally cost more,” says Donovan. muffs can be attached, says Twist-Rowlinson. Dente agrees, pointing out that a typical Type 2 hat made Donovan notes that using headwear, such as bandannas or of HDPE costs approximately $35, while a fibreglass version skull caps, should not affect the impact properties of a hard may carry a price tag of upwards of $80 to $100 or more. hat as long as the accessories are worn smoothly on top of It all comes down to job demands. Welders are an example the head. Nevertheless, he adds, “caution should be taken to of an occupation that needs to consider both heat avoid bunching of the material, which protection and a reverse orientation. can cause pressure points and affect the “Look for the official reverse donning logo to helmet’s ability to protect.” determine if your helmet may be worn backwards Items like gloves, cigarettes and earwithout voiding approvals,” Donovan advises, plugs should never be stored between the pointing out that the CSA Z94.1 standard outhat’s suspension and shell since space is lines a voluntary test. needed between the two to help absorb “Be sure that the suspension has been reversed energy from an impact, Donovan says. so that the nape strap is in the rear,” he adds. “Such objects in this space can transmit Of course, there are other tasks significant forces to the head and neck, where safety is advanced by gowhich can result in serious ining backwards. Dente points to jury or death,” he points out. ladder climbing, confined spacMany equipment manes or jobs that require lookufacturers recommend a ing up or into tunnels. hard hat’s suspension be replaced every 12 months As a team Hard hats can be and the shell every five used with accessories Workers often need to wear a years. Wear or damage nosuch as safety glasses number of pieces of personal ticed during a regular inspec(above) and for various protective equipment (PPE) totion may necessitate an earlier reapplications, including welding placement, and a hat that has had an gether. Twist-Rowlinson notes that faceshields and welding helmets are common (left). A hard hat’s suspension impact or penetration should always be accessories to hard hats and may be attached serves to dissipate energy from replaced, Donovan says. with hinges, snaps or other types of attachment an impact (right). Although most hard hat materials systems. When selecting a mounting system, she have not changed much over the past recommends considering frequency of use, ease of use, du- three decades, he says that in recent years, vents and the abilrability, flexibility and compatibility with different products. ity to accommodate or incorporate PPE have been added to “For high-frequency situations, look for attachment sys- hat designs. tems that are fully adjustable to fit any style of hard hat and With the publicity surrounding Sidney Crosby and other have a brim tab design that fits securely onto the hard hat,” athletes who have suffered concussions, combined with the she suggests. “For long-term secure situations, look for at- burgeoning medical knowledge in this area, Greer says it is tachment components that are pre-installed and permanent- time to look at the technology used in bicycle and hockey helly fixed onto the hard hat for ease of use.” mets, and see what can be borrowed and incorporated into Remember that the attachment system must be non-con- hard hat design. ductive to maintain a hard hat’s dielectric rating and to preFollow us on Twitter @OHSCanada vent a shock hazard, Twist-Rowlinson adds. Staying put is also important when it comes to worker Jason Contant is editor of canadian occupational health & safety. The possibility of hard hats falling off workers’ heads safety news.

photos: top

- mine safety appliances; bottom - honeywell safety products

Standard Bearers

A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 2

ohs canada

Tonight he'll celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seen jobsite accidents over the years. So heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glad MSA offers V-Gard Accessory face protection products.

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Assembly shown above: V-Gard Frame for Slotted Caps with debris control, V-Gard PC Visor, MSA left/RIGHT Earmuffs and V-Gard Helmet.

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ERGONOMICS

Tablets

iPain in the Neck By Ann Ruppenstein

oronto-based dentist Lorne Levy works by the maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words: before his patients at Scarlett Road Dentistry undergo procedures for crowns, dentures or the dreaded root canal, he uses an iPad to show them, step by step, what will be done. “Essentially, it is used as an educational device to share and teach patients about the treatments they may receive,” Dr. Levy says. “It has a lot of pictures in it where we can take each procedure and break it down into its individual steps.” Dr. Levy’s practice is among a growing number of workplaces across the country — and around the world — to adopt tablets and mobile computing devices for use on the job. By 2013, 80 per cent of businesses will support a work force with tablets, forecasts Gartner Inc., an information technology research and advisory firm in Stamford, Connecticut. Bad posture, A 2010 survey by the New York Citybased market research firm, Harris Instrained teractive, found that one in five polled adults will own or plan to purchase a tabnecks and let by 2014. More than a third of respondents said they expected to use the device fatigued for business purposes such as correspondence, online meetings, web conferences, muscles are marketing and training. just a few All of this progress may be seductive, but ergonomist Carmel Murphy cautions ergonomic against developing tunnel vision that focuses only on the work benefits of tablets issues. and overlooks the associated impact on worker health. “They’re probably looking at what that device can provide them in terms of the customer service or their ability to get information to people in a really timely manner, so they may not be thinking of those ergonomic issues at all,” says Murphy, owner of FORME Ergonomics and Workplace Health Inc., located in Vancouver. Bad posture, strained necks and fatigued muscles are just a few ergonomic issues linked to tablet use. So common, Murphy says, that the new catchphrase “iPad neck” has been coined and is finding its way into everyday use. “They used to have BlackBerry thumb; now we’ve got iPad neck,” Murphy reports. “I think you are going to see some new areas of the body that might be more at risk because of that constant and static staying posture that people are in.”

FEELING STATIC Maintaining a static posture for certain periods of time can contribute to creating muscle strain “because you’re not really getting the blood into the muscles, you’re getting a buildup, a static head clustering that could lead to discomfort be-

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yond that,” Murphy explains. Ergonomist Dan Robinson, president of Robinson Ergonomics Inc. in Coquitlam, British Columbia, agrees people commonly overlook ergonomics when using seemingly innocuous lightweight and portable devices such as tablets. Although those who sit at desktop computers also adopt improper postures, the line of sight and hand position for data input on the tablets — on the touchscreen or its virtual keyboard — are very close together. “That typically means we take care of putting the iPad into a position that is easy to reach, but requires awkward neck positions to look at the screen,” Robinson says. Although he has yet to see specific research linking tablet use and circulatory problems, any posture involving contact pressure on parts of the body or sustained joint angles that generate muscle fatigue are likely to restrict blood flow. Consider that typing on a desktop computer involves using most, if not all, fingers. Compare that to a tablet touchscreen which “lacks the tactile feedback that tells us we have our fingers on the keys and that the key has been adequately depressed,” Robinson says, forcing users to lift their fingers off and away from the screen to prevent activating the key. As such, the individual often ends up employing either an index finger or a two-finger typing method that requires watching the keys while the fingers not being used are folded into the palm in a flexed position or held out of the way in an extended pose — neither of which is ideal. TWIST AND TURN It is also common for tablet users to hold the device in one hand and navigate with the other, requiring a static grip in the holding hand that can contribute to muscle fatigue, explains Robinson. People need to make a conscious effort to balance the stress by alternating hands. Nancy Black, associate professor of industrial engineering at the University of Moncton in New Brunswick and past president of the Atlantic chapter of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists, cites research indicating that users have a tendency to employ greater force when typing on keyboards without tactile feedback, again contributing to strain. Users who adjust their posture to better see the tablet screen are also more susceptible to strains. “The user adapts their posture to compensate for glare, potentially resulting in a non-neutral and extended duration posture at greater [musculoskeletal] risk than a neutral one,” Black adds. A study on the ergonomic impact of tablet use, carried out by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, explores how user conﬁgurations and tilt produced by tablet cases affect head and neck ﬂexion angles. Based on observations of 15 experienced media tablet users, the findings show that head and neck posture could be improved by placing tablets higher to avoid low gaze angles.

Tablet cases and stands can also be employed to provide optimal and neutral viewing angles, the study adds. However, Robinson says he believes that optimal positioning depends largely on the task at hand. Supporting the tablet in an elevated position can help improve neck posture while reading, but “this is less likely to be of benefit if there is lots of hand interaction with the iPad,” he suggests. In that case, using a separate keyboard may be a user’s best bet. As a rule, users should target a neutral posture, vary postures, take breaks and be alert for physical red flags like fatigue or discomfort. “Don’t get rid of your desktop if your job involves document production or long emails. Use the tablet as a tool that has an appropriate use and recognize when there may be more appropriate tools,” Robinson advises. It is key for employers to consider how staff will be using the devices, he says. If the work task is data-input intensive, keyboards or voice input would prove better and more effective than touchscreens. Black notes that changing position is crucial since there is no ideal posture to cover off all human elements, including eyes, neck, shoulders and wrists. “When raising the iPad, shoulder strain is likely to occur; when lowering it, neck and low back strain would be more problematic,” she says. Unlike a home where people have more opportunities to change positions, employees in work stations have a limited range of possibilities. Effort should be made to “remind employees regularly of the need to limit their use of the iPad and

complement it with other work stations,” Black recommends. Barbara Roberts, an ergonomics consultant with the University of Calgary, observes that most clients she has seen do not use tablets as a primary computing device. “It’s an aid they take to meetings for notes or to check It is key for email when away from their office.” Although portable and lighter than employers most laptops, Robinson says tablet mobility makes it more likely that accessories like to consider stands and keyboards that facilitate easier use will not be taken when travelling. how staff “There is a tendency for some companies to downplay the dangers associated will be with computing in general, relative to more manually intensive jobs,” Robinson suggests. using the “The evidence says that people who use computers are at significant risk of injury devices. and that work station configuration and working patterns can make a difference.” A key factor to avoiding these ergonomic pitfalls, Murphy advises, is educating staff. “People are always able to make better choices whenever they’ve been given some information on the best way to use something, or given some education on what is a good posture to use.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Ann Ruppenstein is a writer in Toronto.

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OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE

radiation

Avoiding Invisible Waves By Greg Burchell

adiation — the actual thing and even the idea of it — can be intimidating. Evoking images of mushroom clouds and barrels of wafting green poison, even the yellow and black symbol, a roundel of exclamation marks, has become synonymous with danger, sickness or death. Citizens around the globe are exposed to miniscule amounts of radiation in the environment every day, from cosmic radiation emitted from space to the fallout from nuclear weapons testing as late as the 1980s, and even the food we eat. “If the background levels of radiation are harmful to the body, we would be extinct Alpha as a human race,” says Krzyszof Starosta, an associate professor in the chemistry departparticles ment at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia. are by far

Average Effective Dose (All Monitoring Results — mSv)

Measured response the most There are three primary types of ionizing radiation that can pose a health hazard: damaging. alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays — and all carry their own risks. For example, while alpha particles are by far the most damaging — the Toronto-based Radiation Safety Institute of Canada (RSIC) reports that one absorbed dose of alpha radiation produces about 20 times more damage than the same amount of absorbed dose from beta or gamma radiation — it is also the least likely to be absorbed. Unlike beta and gamma, alpha radiation must be inhaled and cannot penetrate the first dead layer of skin. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) in Toronto reports that the sources of radiation exposure in Canada are as follows: radon, 37.9 per cent; medical, 22.9 per

cent; internal, 13.5 per cent; terrestrial, 13.5 per cent; cosmic, 11.5 per cent; and other, 0.8 per cent. Almost all nuclear substances and radiation devices in the country are regulated and their use licensed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in Ottawa. There are more than 3,000 such licences in effect, the CNSC adds. Doses from all workers who are regularly exposed to radiation are recorded by Health Canada’s National Dose Registry, with 150,000-plus workers being monitored at least quarterly for work-related exposure (see graph below). Those in the health care sector account for half of monitored workers; nuclear power or nuclear fuel industries for 19 per cent work; research for 11 per cent; and students for 10 per cent. The dose absorbed by the body, expressed in millisieverts (mSv), can be measured externally with dosimeters, or internally, for airborne radiation, through urinalysis. Dosimeters are mandatory for all employees who could reasonably be expected to receive a dose of 5 mSv or more in a year. Starosta reports that SFU has about 50 labs classified for radiation use and anyone working in them must wear dosimeters, which are checked monthly. Receiving a dose exceeding 1,000 mSv within 24 hours can lead to radiation sickness, the CNSC notes. It would take more than 5,000 mSv in a single acute dose to kill a person (see Limits on Health), the commission adds. “It’s important to note that this transfer of energy is done immediately, as the radiation reaches the tissue. Just like a physical punch, the energy is transferred only when there is contact between the more energetic object (the radiation, or the fist) and the tissue,” notes information from the RSIC. Instances of workers receiving massive doses of radiation in a short period of time and developing radiation sickness is virtually unheard of in Canada, says Mike Haynes, RSIC’s vice-president of scientific affairs, who adds he cannot recall

2007 Canadian Occupational Dose by Facility Type

1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

Nuclear Power Plants

A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 2

Uranium Mines and Mills

ohs canada

Uranium Refineries

Fuel Research Tritium Fabrication and Light Facilities Radioisotope Source Production Production Facilities Facilities

Industry and Research

Particle Medicine (may include Accelerators X-ray exposure)

Limits ON Health

Dose (mSv) Effect or Source 5,000 dose that may lead to death when received all at once dose that may cause symptoms of radiation sickness if received within 24 hours 1,000 100 lowest acute dose known to cause cancer 30 -100 radiation dose from a full-body CT scan 50 annual radiation dose limit for nuclear energy workers average annual Canadian background dose 1.8 1.0 annual public radiation dose limit dose from a lung X-ray 0.1 - 0.12 0.01 dose from a dental X-ray 0.01 average annual dose due to air travel

ource: Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, reflecting recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection S

it happening in his 35 years in the nuclear power industry. “This is almost in the realm of science fiction,” Haynes says. The last time workers anywhere received such traumatic doses of radiation was the Chornobyl disaster a quartercentury ago, when 28 nuclear power plant employees died from acute radiation sickness after an explosion and fire at a nuclear reactor in the Ukraine. “That type of thing has never happened since,” Haynes reports. Even Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi meltdown a year ago did not, as of September of 2011, have any recorded deaths or serious injuries from direct radiation exposure. Individuals react to radiation differently. As an example, a dose of 25 mSv would cause a reduction of red blood cells, but levels would be back to normal within a couple of days to a couple of months, Haynes says. The general consensus is that any single dose below about 250 mSv will not produce acute effects like nausea or illness, he adds. Long-term effects are less definite, although no less dangerous. As exposure increases, so do the odds of developing cancers. But like smoking cigarettes, there is no certainty that someone will get cancer because of the doses received. The International Commission on Radiological Protection, an independent body that publishes standards and guidelines, estimates the risk of developing a fatal cancer rises by four per cent for every 1,000 mSv of radiation exposure. “We know from the atomic bomb survivors and the other populations that certain types of cancer are related to radiation exposure. And that’s from doses that are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of times higher than people typically receive in workplaces,” Haynes explains. Because radiation changes materials at the atomic level, there is also the fear of genetic effects developing or being passed to one’s offspring. “There is some evidence that radiation produces genetic effects from animal experiments where they’ve been exposed to high levels of radiation, much, much higher than would ever occur occupationally,” Haynes says, but adds that 70 years spent studying survivors of the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has never shown statistical evidence of an increase in humans exposed. “We don’t assume that there is an absolutely safe level, that if you’re below X, there’s no chance of developing a cancer. What we know is that if it’s higher, then the risk increases.” Within limits The CNSC sets the annual dose limit for the public at 1 mSv and, for nuclear energy workers, at 50 mSv with no more than 100 mSv in a five-year period. If a worker exceeds the

dose limits, the licensee is required to do the following: • immediately notify the person and the CNSC; • require the person to leave any work likely to add to dose; • conduct an investigation to determine the magnitude of the dose and to establish the causes of the exposure; • identify and take any action required to prevent similar incidents from occurring; and, • report to the CNSC the results of the investigation or the progress that has been made within 21 days after becoming aware that the dose limit was exceeded. As a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Canada ascribes to the ALARA principle, meaning radiation doses should be kept “as low as reasonably achievable.” There are ALARA is “based on the assumption that any radiation exposure increases the three key risk of long-term effects. That’s a bit controversial because some people believe strategies that’s not true. They believe that below certain levels, there’s no risk at all,” Haynes to reduce says. “However, for radiation protection radiation purposes, it is generally the policy, virtually worldwide, that we will assume, to be safe, dosage. that any exposure could increase the risk.” Starosta says there are three key strategies to reduce radiation dosage: minimize exposure duration; maximize distance from the source; and erect barriers between the radiation source and individual. Determining the safe distance depends on radiation type and source size. “Skin can stop alpha particles and low-energy beta particles, while a thin aluminum sheet will stop all beta particles. Higher energy radiation — including neutrons, gamma rays and X-rays — can penetrate the human body if it is not properly shielded,” notes the NWMO. The general rule for shielding against gamma rays is the denser the material, the better protection that it will offer, Haynes says: the more material the rays have to pass through, the less intense they will be. In 2007, Health Canada reported only three monitored workers had received radiation doses of 50-plus mSv, with an average dose of 0.33 mSv. “The dose limits are set assuming that a person works for 50 years and receives the annual limit every year. In reality that doesn’t happen to anyone,” Haynes assures. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Greg Burchell is editorial assistant of

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Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News

So, what’s on your mind? APRIL/MAY 2012

MARCH 2012

Is an open-concept layout better for productivity than an office with cubicles?

Should sex workers be covered under occupational health and safety legislation?

Yes

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44%

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195

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178

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TIME OUT

Say cheese: To the victor goes a monthly transit pass called it quits, saying they do not want to bring embarfor New York City; unfortunately, the victory demands first producing a picture of the nastiest rodent, frequent, nonpaying commuters on NYC’s transit system. The city’s transit union is encouraging users to snap photos of the most repulsive vermin (the four-legged variety) they can find in the subway system and upload them to ratfreesubways.com. Visitors to the site will have the final say, voting on the most offensive combatants. The contest is part of the union’s effort to convince the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to clean stations more regularly, repair damage and put more trash cans on platforms. “Who the hell wants to work around hundreds of freaking rats,” a union spokesperson was recently quoted as saying.

Nix the nosh: It was just a quick bite, but it was one that might bite back. A bus driver spied snacking on a chocolate bar behind the wheel looks to be on wrong side of Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) policy, the Toronto Star reported in January. Whether a tasty treat or a healthy alternative, eating is verboten when a transit vehicle is in motion. No word on a suspension, if any, but a TTC investigation has been launched into the food fracas. Dire hire: Confident that your employee is qualified?

All-too-common deception may serve to shake that confidence, however, with more than half of the 161 human resources professionals surveyed by J. J. Keller & Associates in the United States reporting that they have discovered outright lies on resumés and applications while conducting pre-employment background or reference checks. Beyond revealing outright fictions, background checks are recommended since they can help match the applicant to the job and protect an organization from negligent hiring.

Lunch break: Edmonton police seem to have cracked an unusual crime ring: a string of lunchroom thefts of cash, wallets and purses from businesses in the city’s west end. The lunchroom bandit was collared by office staff, the Edmonton Police Service reported on February 6. Witnesses say the man tried to escape, but was caught in the parking lot and held until police arrived. At least a dozen workplaces in the city’s industrial parks have been targeted since January 3, with the bandit preferring manufacturing, construction and automotive operations. In one case, the suspected thief sat down and had a cup of coffee with an employee of one business. A 49-year-old man has been charged. Public display: Everyone needs to unwind every now and then, but some places are decidedly more inappropriate to do so than others. The state parliament building definitely would fit that bill, as three Indian politicians learned in February. The members of India’s morally conservative party were caught viewing porn on a mobile phone — while parliament was in session, Reuters reported at the time. The phone owner and the two viewing politicians, who included the minister for women and child development, have since 58

A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 2

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rassment to their party. That said, the affected politicians have asked the Speaker of the House to conduct an inquiry, maintaining they were not deliberately viewing porn.

In charge: Thoughts of an unexploded avalanche

bomb now snowed under in the Yukon may be unnerving, but take heart, it is (probably) not dangerous. Used during avalanche control practices, the bomb was dropped from a helicopter on January 11, CBC News reported, and now sits dormant in the snow somewhere along the South Klondike Highway. The device will unlikely be unearthed until the snow clears — if ever. Still, Yukon Highways officials have provided assurances that there is no threat to the public.

Creative expenses: It seems the expenses universe is

expanding, sometimes to otherworldly dimensions. About 1,600 chief financial officers in the United States and Canada recently took part in a survey penned by Robert Half Management Resources, producing a host of head-shaking “work-related” expenses. Consider the following: a $12,000 family trip; cigarettes; a speeding ticket; a hotel charge for adult movies; a spa day; hot tub supplies; and, of course, cosmetic surgery. “This issue can be quite serious and affect an organization’s bottom line,” says David King, Canadian president of Robert Half Management Resources. Perhaps, just try asking if something is covered before submitting.

Waiting game: Feeling productive? It is a safe bet

then that much of the morning, afternoon or evening was not spent waiting for the cable guy to show up. A recent survey pegs the cost of waiting for deliveries, as well as cable guys and their ilk, at about $37 billion a year, CNNMoney reports. An Ohio-based company claims its software product can make much of the time and money wasted during these four- to six-hour waits go the way of the wind. Similar to package-tracking systems, the software uses GPS coordinates to monitor field worker movements and log when tasks are done so that companies can better predict arrival times. That may mean irritated customers left to wait can confidently and comfortably do something else — work, for example — while deliveries are running behind schedule.

CAsh grab: A 50-year-old cab driver has been charged with robbery after an allegation was made that he forcibly obtained money from a reluctant fare. Police in Windsor, Ontario laid the charge in early February, QMI Agency reported. Officers were called to the scene at about midnight after a woman reported she had been assaulted and robbed. The report goes that the passenger and taxi driver got into a dispute, prompting the cabbie to ask the woman to leave the vehicle. She flatly refused and, when it came time to pay for the trip, she refused to provide her debit card and left the vehicle. The cabbie gave chase and the woman barricaded herself in her apartment building lobby. Hearing the woman’s screams, a neighbour then called police. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

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