OHS CANADA October/November 2014 by Annex Business Media

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 OC T O B ER /NOVE MB ER 2014

C A N A D A

Tales from the Safeguarding journalists in conflict zones

ALL TOO HUMAN

A guiding hand on accommodating disabilities

IN THE EYE

Protecting workplaces from Mother Nature’s wrath

IN CONVERSATION

Alberta engages stakeholders in legislation review

SAFE AT HEIGHTS

The lowdown on arresting falls

safespec.dupont.com

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

FEATURES

CO NF L I C T R EP ORTIN G 22

CC A A NNA AD DA A

On the Frontlines

O C TO B E R/ N O V E M BE R 2 0 1 4 Volu m e 3 0 , N u m b e r 7

The kidnapping and murder of two American journalists in Syria underscore the occupational risks that foreign correspondents take to bring us the news of the day. BY CARMELLE WOLFSON

ACCO M M OD ATION 28

The Human Factor

A new guide by the Ontario Human Rights Commission helps employers resolve human-rights issues relating to mental-health and addiction problems. BY DONALEE MOULTON

CRI S I S MAN AGEM EN T

Under Duress

Severe weather events pose safety challenges to workplaces. Being prepared puts employers in a better position to protect their workers, facilities and businesses. BY JEAN LIAN

DEPARTMENTS

S AF E T Y GEAR

Heading for a Fall

Having proper fall-protection equipment and ensuring that they are in good working condition can help prevent those who work at heights from getting hurt. BY JEFF COTTRILL

S PE CI AL R EP ORT

Province Engages Industry

Alberta partners with industry stakeholders to streamline and review the province’s workplace safety legislation, including the introduction of ticketable offences.

BY CARMELLE WOLFSON

IN THIS ISSUE ED ITORIA L

PAN ORAMA

LETTERS

Hola!

OH &S UPD AT E

D ISPATCHES

British Columbia employee to pay damages; fatalities spur inspections in Alberta; farm in Saskatchewan probed over child-labour complaints; New Brunswick launches safety campaign; and more. Diversity a matter of perception; red flag on antibacterial agent; and more. C SSE 2 0 14 N ATION A L S A FET Y C O N G RE S S 2 0 1 4 P R ODUC T S HO W C A S E AD IN D EX

ACCI DE N T P R EV EN TION

Designed for Work

As winter approaches, the type of office layout can influence employees’ susceptibility to cold and flu bugs. Observing good hygiene practices can help reduce those risks. T I M E O UT

Free-rider; Bieber-mania; catty cafe; who let the dogs out?; school-term blues; flight rage; and more.

Working without safety is a dead-end job.

– AUTHOR UNKNOWN

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COVER IMAGES: THINKSTOCK

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

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

Hola! I

EDITOR JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com

am inspired to learn some Spanish every time I go to the southern part of the United States. While the 2014 National Safety Council Congress and Expo from which I just returned was held in San Diego, parts of that city could have passed as Mexico — with its abundance of Mexican restaurants and many locals speaking Spanish. The United States Census Bureau indicates that in 2013, one-third of San Diego County’s population of 3.2 million were of Hispanic or Latino descent. According to California governor Jerry Brown’s budget summary for 2014-2015, the Latino population is projected to hit 39 per cent — surpassing the non-Hispanic white population at 38.8 per cent and becoming the largest ethnic group in the state by March. This will make California the state with the second-largest Latino population after New Mexico, with Texas and Arizona trailing in third and fourth places respectively, the Pew Research Center notes. The growth of the Latino population in the United States and the effect on safety in workplaces are reflected in the census of fatal occupational injuries, released on September 11 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fatal work injuries among Hispanic or Latino workers in the United States rose by seven per cent in 2013. Of the preliminary total of 4,405 fatal work injuries recorded last year, 797 (18 per cent) involved workers of Hispanic or Latino origin — the highest since 2008. The fact is, workplace safety issues involving temporary and migrant workers alike are part of the global growth of precarious employment — defined as nonstandard employment that is poorly paid, insecure, unprotected and unable to support a household. Like the United States, Canada is wrestling with precarious employment. In June, federal employment minister Jason Kenney’s announcement that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be overhauled to discourage abuse and the Ontario Liberal government’s re-introduction of Bill 146 to increase protection for vulnerable workers following its election victory are cases in point. Similarly, Europe has seen a significant increase in intra-European Union (EU) migration as a result of the EU’s unified labour market, notes a literature study of migrant workers, published in 2007 by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in Bilbao, Spain. Britain is Europe’s biggest magnet for migrant workers, while the number of EU workers moving to Germany, which opened its doors to Eastern European member states in May 2011, doubled over the two years prior to 2012, European Commission statistics arm Eurostat reports. And the term “migrant workers” does not refer only to foreigners looking for work in another country. In China, jobseekers from the countryside who flock to thriving Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai highlight the various shades in which this complex phenomenon manifests itself. The global economic forces that have given rise to the dramatic increase in precarious employment in recent decades are not likely to go away anytime soon. Precarious employment and its associated oh&s ills represent a new frontier. History may offer some learning points. The notorious working conditions of factories during the Industrial Revolution, which spread from Great Britain to western Europe and the United States, also led to the birth of trade unions and the passing of a series of Factory Acts to regulate working conditions in the United Kingdom. Today, labour organizations and employment-protection acts have become a standard feature in many developed economies. I certainly hope that highlighting workplace safety issues associated with migrant and temporary workers, who often hold precarious jobs, will bring about enduring changes and effective solutions to address these problems.

Jean Lian OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

C A N A D A

Vol. 30, No. 7 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

ohs canada

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Pipeline Magazine

JASON CONTANT JContant@bizinfogroup.ca

CARMELLE WOLFSON ASSISTANT EDITOR cwolfson@ohscanada.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JEFF COTTRILL jcottrill@ohscanada.com ART DIRECTOR PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER MARKETING SPECIALIST CIRCULATION MANAGER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER PUBLISHER PRESIDENT, BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP

ANNE MIRON PHYLLIS WRIGHT GARY WHITE DIMITRY EPELBAUM BARBARA ADELT badelt@bizinfogroup.ca SHEILA HEMSLEY shemsley@ohscanada.com PETER BOXER pboxer@ohscanada.com BRUCE CREIGHTON

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

DAVID IRETON, Safety Professional, Brampton, Ont. AL JOHNSON, Vice President, Prevention Services WorkSafeBC, Richmond, B.C. JANE LEMKE, Program Manager, OHN Certification Program, Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ont.

DON MITCHELL, Safety Consultant, Mississauga, Ont. MICHELE PARENT, National Manager, Risk Management and Health and Wellness,

Standard Life, Montreal, Que. TERRY RYAN, Workers’ Compensation and Safety Consultant, TRC Group Inc., Mississauga, Ont. DON SAYERS, Principal Consultant, Don Sayers & Associates, Hanwell, N.B. DAVID SHANE, National Director, Health and Safety, Canada Post Corporation, Ottawa, Ont. HENRY SKJERVEN, President, The Skjerven Cattle Company Ltd., Wynyard, Sask. PETER STRAHLENDORF, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Health, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ont. JONATHAN TYSON, Association of Canadian Ergonomists/Association canadienne d’ergonomie, North Bay, Ont.

OHS CANADA is the magazine for people who make decisions about health and safety in the workplace. It is designed to keep workers, managers and safety professionals informed on oh&s issues, up to date on new developments and in touch with current thinking in the oh&s community. WEBSITE: http://www.ohscanada.com INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS contained in this publication have been compiled from sources believed to be reliable and to be representative of the best current opinion on the subject. No warranty, guarantee nor representation is made by 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: January/February, 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 Drive, 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: $6.00; USA: $8.00; foreign $10.00 Bulk subscription rates available on request. Indexed by Canadian Business Periodicals Inc. ISSN 0827-4576 OHS Canada (Print) • ISSN 1923-4279 OHS Canada (Online) Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. From time to time, we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Customer Service: (Tel) 416-510-5189; (Fax) 416-510-5167; (E-mail) asingh@bizinfogroup.ca; (Mail) Privacy Officer, Business Information Group, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Canada. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and may be used for your personal, non-commercial purposes only. All other rights are reserved, and commercial use is prohibited. To make use of any of this material, you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information, please contact the editor. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

POSTAL INFORMATION: Publications mail agreement no. 40069240. Postmaster, please forward forms 29B and 67B to Business Information Group. 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Canada. Date of issue: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

Mu\ti-Gas Detector Check\ist

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•

panorama

$325,000 Fine issued to power-line company Rokstad Power Corp. on September 3, after it pleaded guilty to four oh&s charges. An employee was killed on September 10, 2011, when a transmission pole on which he was working fell on him near Blairmore, Alberta.

Source: Alberta Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour

2 3

4 5

1. In

Bad Faith: The British Columbia Labour Relations Board ruled on July 24 that IKEA Canada had violated the provincial Labour Relations Code when it bypassed the union and negotiated directly with striking employees, who continued to work during the labour dispute in May, by approaching them with an offer. Source: British Columbia Labour Relations Board

2. Partners

in Apprenticeship: Alberta and Nova Scotia have signed an agreement in principle to ensure that apprenticeship training is transferrable between both provinces. The agreement, signed in August, will improve the recognition of in-province training, allow for the recognition of apprenticeship work-experience hours and Source: Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education enhance labour mobility for apprentices in both provinces.

3. Winners Unveiled: On September 4, eight workplaces in Manitoba received awards for their safety efforts during the North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, which was held from May 4 to 10. The winners were Barkman Concrete (Best Overall), Red River College (Most Innovative), Maple Leaf Foods (Best Representation of a Theme), Standard Aero (Best New Entry), Tuxedo Villa (Best Small Employer), Bison Transportation (Industry Leader), Palliser Furniture Upholstery Ltd. (Best Committee Involvement) and Pollard Banknote Ltd. Source: Safe Work Manitoba (Honourable Mention).

Silica Safety: Grand Challenges Canada announced on September 8 that it would fund a project to address silica exposure among agate workers in India. The project, which will also develop a toolkit of technical, social and business approaches to preventing occupational disease, is undertaken by the University of Toronto in partnership with Canadian charity Workplace Health Without Borders and the People’s Training and Research Centre in India. 4.

Source: Workplace Health Without Borders

5. On Short Leash: The government of Nova Scotia will introduce legislation to prohibit high-volume hydraulic fracturing for onshore shale gas. Energy Minister Andrew Younger made the announcement on September 3, after considering studies and comments submitted over 10 months. Source: Canadian Occupational Health and Safety News (COHSN)

360°

BROKEN PROMISES A report, released on September 4 by China Labour Watch and Green America, found that an Apple-parts manufacturer in Suqian, China had serious safety violations — many of which were the same as those found in an investigation last April. Violations included significant amounts of combustible aluminum-magnesium alloy shredding, lack of proper ventilation and locked safety exits. Source: Two Years of Broken Promises: Investigative Report of Catcher Technology Co. Ltd (Suqian)

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

ohs canada

230,000

Number of workers in Quebec exposed to solar radiation. The 10 carcinogenic substances or conditions to which the greatest number of Quebec workers are exposed are solar radiation (6.6%), night work or rotating shifts (6%), diesel exhaust (4.4%), wood dust (2.9%), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (2%), benzene (1.7%), silica (1.5%), lead (1.3%), artificial ultraviolet rays (1.1%) and mineral oils (1.0%). Source: Carcinogenic Substances: Exposure Profile of Quebec Workers, June 2014

$110,000 Penalty issued to High Strength Plates and Profiles Inc. on August 28, after the company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that material did not endanger a worker. The fine related to the death of a new worker last May at its operation centre in Lively, Ontario. Source: Ontario Ministry of Labour

Number of Toronto Transit Commission workers assaulted daily on average. Source: Toronto Transit Commission

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LETTERS

Recent issues of ohs canada and our website, www.ohscanada.com, have provided readers with plenty to chew on. PULLING PUNCHES The union representing Ontario’s correctional officers is urging them to press criminal charges against inmates who commit minor assault against guards. (the canadian press, August 5, 2014) Although not all incidents of violence can be completely alleviated within the prison setting, is this the only option available to have the issues being faced by staff addressed? I agree that violence is not an appropriate behaviour whatsoever, and when it is used for the purpose to harm, the individual must be held accountable. The problem I see with this proposed option is that ultimately, the inmates are not receiving the rehabilitative services they need, but rather are being used as a tool for a cause. We must remember that these are people’s lives as well as their families who may be affected. (Please note that I agree with the concerns of overcrowding). Our prison system is meant to rehabilitate through discipline and not punishment. Additional charges do not make a law-abiding citizen, nor do they help lessen the problem of overcrowding. I work in the prison system and see the chaos daily. I see good and bad behaviour daily. Let’s keep focused on the root problems and try to prevent violence through rehabilitation work and leave the inmates out of the campaigning. There has to be another option to assist in keeping staff and inmates safe. Prevention

RECOGNIZING MENTAL TRAUMA An emergency responder in Winnipeg is fighting for better treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. (the canadian press, July 27, 2014) I am concerned for these individuals 8

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

ohs canada

who go through such issues, but once again, there is no mention of correctional officers having or going through the same issues. I guess it is because it is a case of out of sight, out of mind — no one wants to know anything about jails and what goes on there. Corrections officers need the same assistance as police, fire[fighters] and ambulance [workers]. Mike Laderoute

or actions, many officers are unable to deal with the persistent residual guilt or negative public reactions. The RCMP need to re-think their attitude, training and culture, which encompass “do as I say, or else.” Officers need to learn to use alternative means, including “just backing off ”, walking away and involving family or professionals in mitigating the situation, rather than the macho image and fuelling each other into negative reactions.

KEEPING TABS

Judith Harrower

The RCMP announced that it would start tracking officer suicides in the wake of four suicides among RCMP ranks and retirees. (canadian occupational health and safety news (cohsn), July 28, 2014)

You have made some good points, Judith. However, I would be interested in knowing how long you have been a police officer. If not, don’t judge. Yes, you do need to be a police officer to criticize their actions. Yes, you do need to be there to determine if they made the right decision. I have been a police officer and have been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for over 30 years. I never felt guilty for what I did, except not getting to a crime or accident scene in time to prevent a death or injury… I did, however, deal with the deaths of 18 people in the span of only 24 months… I then had to go to their homes and tell their spouses or parents that their loved ones were dead and had died in very horrible ways. I was then expected to go home as if nothing had happened. The people that form an inquest are not stupid or biased. They deal with the facts in a very thorough and informed way. They do not let police officers get away with anything. After going over the “facts” that are not always covered by the news media and after many months or years, they determine whether or not the police officer — fearing for their or someone else’s life at that moment — made the right decision in just a few minutes or seconds… You give no credit to the thousands and thousands of situations that police officers do deal with that end well, without death or injury. The public never hears about them. I have known police officers that got shot or shot at someone, but every one of them had great remorse — not be-

One of the painful facts family and friends of people who commit suicide have to come to terms with is that there is never a definitive explanation. There is speculation and, hopefully, eventually a story we tell ourselves that we can live with. Sharon

While it is a negative aspect of law enforcement that the number of suicides is that high, there are several contributing factors. The persistent attitude (culture) of the RCMP, resulting in emotional turmoil and leading to depression, is that officers frequently make inappropriate decisions when dealing with what they perceive to be high-stress situations. With mob-like emotions and subsequent extreme actions, civilians are often seriously wounded or killed when possessing a non-threatening weapon. Just in the years from 2010 to 2013, 35 civilians have been killed, with a majority of these deaths being completely avoidable. Officers react out of fear, panic, stress and lack of alternative methods in dealing with individuals in threatening situations. Officers subsequently acknowledge, are aware or realize that they have murdered another individual, and despite the backing of fellow officers, inquests that never find officers responsible for their decisions

cause of what they did, but because they were forced into taking lethal action. A large number of these officers suffering PTSD are not doing so out of guilt at what they have done, but what has been done to them… Do police officers need to be trained to deal with situations that could escalate? Absolutely. Does the RCMP need to change its attitude with regards to PTSD? Absolutely. These people are taking their own lives, not because they feel guilty, but because they can’t sleep, enjoy time with their families, put their marriages back together or just generally live without seeing vividly, in their heads, these many [atrocities]… We should be supporting these officers and getting them help before their world comes apart and the only way they can get peace is to take their own lives. Doug Gordon

CONTROVERSIAL RULING Canadian Pacific Railway says it will ask the Superior Court of Quebec to stay an arbitration decision, which called for the reinstatement of an engineer who had used cocaine. (cohsn, July 28, 2014) Most people deserve second chances, but anyone whose position could seriously affect public safety, like airline pilots, bus drivers, commuter-train operators, air traffic coordinators, et cetera, should not get a second chance. Drug Testing Consultant

If Mr. Hunter Harrison was not willing to accept the outcome of the arbitration, when or if it came against his beliefs, then why did he agree to it as a resolution mechanism in this company? If he does not agree with the law, then he should lobby to change the law and not attack the griever in the public forum. Ghobud

So if we are going to just hand the offenders back their jobs, why bother with drug testing in the first place? This is an outrage. Putting the offender, who blatantly disregarded rules, regulations and the lives of potentially thousands, back in the cab of a locomotive is atrocious. Perhaps in answer to Ghobud’s query,

I would imagine he chose arbitration, because he expected the right decision to be made. I encourage Mr. Harrison to fight this to the end — the precedent it would set scares the hell out of me! Concerned

DO THE RIGHT THING A manager claims that he was kicked off a hydro project for shutting down production over a lightning threat. (cohsn, July 21, 2014) Mr. Lyons should be recognized as a hero for possibly saving lives of workers in the event that lightning did strike the facility. Emergency safety procedures are in place to protect the worker. Well done, Mr. Lyons! The onsite manager of Astaldi reacted by thinking only of the bottom line, rather than of the safety of the workers. I am confident that the workers contribute more value-added service than he does. I would suggest that the next time the lighting-protection system goes into full-alert mode, Astaldi should send this site manager to the highest point on the site waving a golf club and yelling, “Everyone stay on the job.” Mike Bodi

COMMITTEE TACKLES ISSUES An independent committee has issued 32 recommendations to address staff morale and workload issues in a healthcare agency in Ontario. (cohsn, July 21, 2014) My wife just retired a year early from a long-term care facility, partially due to the same circumstances mentioned above. It is a huge misstatement to say that there is a workload issue. There are so many areas of problems within these work locations, a proper investigation would take a year. Between public long-term care and private long-term care, there is such a huge difference in the way the staff are treated and paid that it is almost criminal. In my opinion, there should be a judicial inquiry by the Ministry of Labour into the employers and the so-called unions that represent these people. Michael Laderoute

UNDER THE CARPET A report commissioned by the Workers’ Compensation Board of Manitoba found “significant” issues with claim suppression. (ohs canada, July/August 2014) A very well-written article. I am glad to see information coming forth regarding this issue, as I believe that these practices are happening nationally and perhaps internationally. Companies should not be penalized for being honest and working towards a better safety culture, while those that are dishonest get the jobs. NadineN

A very interesting and very well-researched article. I have heard of Manitoba being brought up before in claim suppression, but I wonder what the incidence rates are for other provinces? As you point out in your opening paragraph, it is highly unlikely it is a problem confined to only one province. ChrisK

CROSSING THE LINE The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the shutting down of a Walmart store in Quebec in 2005, following union certification, was a violation of labour laws. (cohsn, July 8, 2014) Walmart, to me, is like a big bully; they cannot simply come into Canada and do what they do in the United States. They are our guest, and they must respect our rules and regulations. Although they may be selling things less expensively than most stores are, to support my Canadian friends and family businesses, I am not buying from Walmart. If we all take a stand, they will back down and rethink how they should treat people with respect and honour us and not try to take over and walk all over people. Anita Doo

Would you like to share a comment? Send an email to jlian@ohscanada.com. Letters may be edited for style, grammar and length.

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

OH&S UPDATE

VOLUNTARY STANCE QUESTIONED FEDERAL — The Transportation Safety

Board of Canada (TSB) is warning that Transport Canada’s (TC) “voluntary approach” to the former’s recommendation related to unstable runway approaches may not go far enough. On September 2, the TSB released its assessment of TC’s response to its recommendation made following the release of the investigation report into a plane crash in Resolute Bay, Nunavut on August 20, 2011. On that day, the First Air charter flight was approaching a runway, when it struck a hill about one nautical mile east of the runway. The Boeing 737 was destroyed, killing eight passengers and four crew members and seriously injuring three other passengers. The TSB recommended that TC require operators of large commercial aircraft to monitor and reduce the incidence

of unstable approaches that continue to a landing. In response, TC issued a Civil Aviation Safety Alert in which it encouraged Subpart 705 operators to use their safety management systems (SMS) to identify the incidence of unstable approaches and to develop mitigation measures for the risks they posed. The alert, which referenced the voluntary use of flight-data monitoring, was also issued to smaller air carriers. Unstable approaches continue to be a high risk to safe flights in Canada, says TSB chair Kathy Fox. Although she notes that the safety alert was a positive step, “it will be some time before the effectiveness of this voluntary approach can be validated.” The TSB reports that next June, TC will follow up with operators to see what measures have been put in place to mitigate risk and operators who indicate they do not have a problem will be asked to substantiate this conclusion.

The TSB says TC’s approach relied on the existing defence of SMS, which has been in place for several years for large commercial aircraft, yet the incidence of unstable approaches has not been effectively addressed. It adds that without the requirement for a flight-data monitoring program, operators may not have the data to assess the risk posed by unstable approaches in their operation. The TSB plans to follow up with TC and await further information on the effectiveness of the regulator’s planned actions to address the safety deficiency underlying this recommendation.

TWO KILLED IN PLANE CRASH FEDERAL — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is investigating the fatal crash of an Atlantic Charters Piper PA31 plane. The accident occurred on August 16

REPORT MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS FEDERAL — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB)

has recommended that Canadian railways put additional physical defences in place to prevent runaway trains and that Transport Canada (TC) conduct more thorough audits of railways’ safety management systems (SMS). The two recommendations follow the release of the TSB’s investigation report on August 19. It identified 18 factors that had contributed to the derailment of a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) train in Lac-Mégantic in July 2013. “Take any one of them out of the equation, and this accident may not have happened,” TSB chair Wendy Tadros says. The following are among the contributing factors cited: • The train was parked unattended on a descending grade, with the securement of the train reliant on a locomotive that was not in proper operating condition; • Despite indications of mechanical problems with the lead locomotive, the engineer and rail traffic controller agreed that no immediate remedial action was necessary; • The high speed of the train as it negotiated a curve caused the train to derail; • About one-third of the derailed tank-car shells had large breaches that released vast quantities of highly volatile petroleum crude oil, creating large fireballs after it ignited; • Despite its awareness of significant operational changes at MMA, TC did not provide adequate regulatory oversight to ensure that the associated risks were addressed; • The limited number and scope of audits on the safety man-

O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2014 ohs canada

agement system (SMS) conducted by TC’s Quebec region and the absence of a follow-up procedure to ensure that MMA’s corrective action plans had been implemented both contributed to the systemic weaknesses; • MMA did not provide effective training or oversight to ensure that crews understood and complied with rules governing train securement. The company also did not thoroughly identify and manage the risks to ensure safe operations; and • MMA did not have a fully functioning SMS to effectively manage risk. Tadros calls MMA “a short-line runway running its operations at the margins, choosing to lower the track speeds rather than invest more in infrastructure.” She adds that while TC had known about some problems at MMA, the follow-up was not always there. She points out that while the focus was on making sure that railway companies had an SMS, “Transport Canada didn’t audit railways often enough, and thoroughly enough, to know how those companies were really managing — or not managing — risks.” Federal Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt says TC has “moved to enhance inspections, documentation and followup for railway safety and the transport of dangerous goods, including more frequent inspections at sites where petroleum products are transferred from one mode of transport to another — for example, from truck to rail.” — By Jason Contant

on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick. Confirmed dead in the incident were paramedic William Mallock and pilot and Atlantic Charters chief executive officer Klaus Sonnenberg. Two other passengers in the plane — a co-pilot and a nurse — were seriously injured. Michael Cunningham, the TSB’s Atlantic regional manager of air investigations, reports that just before the accident, the plane dropped off a patient in Saint John and departed the city between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. While returning to Grand Manan, the aircraft missed its first approach and tried a second one, which resulted in a collision with a service road adjacent to the airport runway. “It was a hard touchdown; they left three pronounced rubber tire marks,” Cunningham says. “They then bounced and began making additional contact with the ground and then finally [came] to an abrupt stop.” Provincial health minister Hugh Flemming says that a day after the accident, the ministry put a contingency plan in place to step up access to emergency services on the island.

Cunningham notes that the Grand Manan tragedy is typical of the accident types on the TSB’s “watchlist”, which includes plane collisions with land and water. The type of aircraft involved was not required to have a data or voice recorder on board. The TSB will issue immediate public recommendations if it identifies any urgent safety deficiencies in its investigation, Cunningham adds.

OFFICERS INJURED IN BLAZE VANCOUVER — Four officers with the Vancouver Police Department have been released from hospital following a fire at a building in the east side of the city. At about 2 p.m. on August 27, officers witnessed thick smoke emanating from second-floor apartments above shops along the Kingsway, the police department reports. Responding officers tried to fight the blaze with fire extinguishers, crawled along the floor with flashlights and made voice contact with trapped residents, directing them to safety. Four people and two dogs trapped

inside the building were rescued, but the four officers sustained minor injuries, including one who was struck in the head by part of the collapsing ceiling and suffered smoke inhalation.

WORKER HURT IN STEAM BLAST BROOKS — A worker was injured by

steam while working at a beef-processing plant in southeastern Alberta. On August 18, workers at the JBS Food Canada Inc. facility in Brooks, Alberta were using steam and water to move rendered material down a 24-inch pipe when a blockage in the pipe occurred, reports Brookes Merritt, spokesperson for the oh&s division of the Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour in Edmonton. “A pipe cap was removed so that a worker could free the blockage when steam and water was released from the opening, causing severe burns to the worker,” Merritt reports. Misty Barnes, spokesperson for JBS USA — the company’s Greeley, Col-

www.ohscanada.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

orado-based parent company — says company officers responded swiftly to the accident. The 43-year-old employee was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to the burn unit at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. The ministry issued a stop-work order for the rendering plant, which processes animal by-products by separating edible and inedible material. Rendering involves cooking and drying — a process

that uses steam temperatures ranging from 115 to 145 degrees Celsius. “Pipes carrying hot liquids, steam and vapours should be clearly identified,” information from the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand notes. It adds that particular care should be taken when opening inspection hatches and to ensure that vessels and pipes have been cooled and isolated before undertaking any work on these items.

FATALITIES SPUR INSPECTIONS EDMONTON — Less than a month af-

ter two workers were fatally injured in separate gravel-crushing sites in Alberta, the Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour conducted focused inspections of these worksites. Brookes Merritt, spokesperson for the provincial labour ministry, says inspections started in early August and were expected to wrap up in late September. The inspections built on last year’s campaign, in which oh&s officers visited 64 sand- and gravel-crushing worksites in eight weeks. The ministry issued a total of 240 orders to employers during that blitz, including 37 related to inadequate equipment guarding and 23 stop-work/ stop-use orders. Of the 64 sites inspected, only seven did not receive any orders, the inspection report notes. Merritt says the 2014 inspections were a mix of both previously inspected and newly inspected worksites. “It could involve visits to employers who were subject to the inspection campaign last year, and it will also involve new operations — not new per se, but operations that were not inspected in the previous year.” There are about 250 employers working in the industry in Alberta. Merritt adds that the second series of inspections had been planned in advance, but inspection dates were moved up a couple of weeks in recognition of the two fatalities in July. On July 19, 15-year-old construction worker Christopher Lawrence, employed by Arjon Construction Ltd., was killed after he became entangled in a conveyor at a gravel-crushing site near Wintering Heights, between the towns of Drumheller and Bassano. Nine days later, just north of Athabasca, a 51-yearold worker of Contract Crushing Ltd. was fatally injured when he was pulled into a conveyor while performing maintenance on a gravel crusher.

HEART ATTACK KILLS FIREFIGHTER EDMONTON — A volunteer firefighter with Lac Ste. Anne County Fire Services (LSACFS) in Sangudo, Alberta has died of a heart attack while transferring water between tanker trucks. Firefighters with the LSACFS from the nearby communities of Sangudo and Mayerthorpe responded to a vehicle tire O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2014 ohs canada

EMPLOYEE TO PAY EMPLOYER: TRIBUNAL VANCOUVER — The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a medical office assistant to pay $5,000 in costs to her former employer, after finding that she had fabricated a human-rights complaint following her dismissal. In the August 15 ruling, tribunal member Marlene Tyshynski dismissed medical office assistant Kim Ma’s claim that her employer had discriminated against her based on pregnancy, family status and mental disability, contrary to section 13 of the Human Rights Code. Tyshynski found that Ma’s employer, the Cleator Clinic in Vancouver, had a reasonable non-discriminatory reason for terminating her employment: significant work performance errors. Ma had returned to work on February 1, after a 15-month maternity leave, and was fired on March 21. Tyshynski noted that Ma had been issued three disciplinary letters on February 6, 22 and 27, 2012. Besides finding that the letters accurately set out the “clearly serious errors to more mundane repetitive technical errors” and how to improve, Tyshynski found that the office manager had waited until there were “many examples of a particular error” before addressing Ma. The worker’s response was to walk away, mutter comments under her breath or remain silent. Tyshynski noted that the office manager, who was Ma’s

fire on Highway 43 on August 6. Donald Bamber, 58, suffered cardiac arrest while the crew was finishing up. “They were actually doing a water transfer from one tanker to another, upon completion of a tire fire on the highway, and he dropped,” says Carole Peacock, LSACFS’ safety director and administrative assistant for fire services. Peacock adds that the water transfer was lowstress, routine work. The local emergency medical services provided resuscitation to Bamber immediately, but he did not recover and later died in hospital, reports Brookes Merritt, spokesperson for the oh&s division of Alberta’s Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour in Edmonton. Peacock believes that Bamber’s death is Lac Ste. Anne County’s first firefighting fatality. She adds that heart-related fatalities among firefighters tend to be a lot more common in the United States. “If they do labour as part of their job, heart episodes — and especially ones where you don’t know you have got anything wrong with you — can be a common denominator when it comes to a fatality.” Alberta’s Workers’ Compensation Act covers an employee who suffers from a heart attack if there is evidence that it is work-related, says Dayna Therien, spokesperson for the province’s workers’ compensation board.

superior, “was willing to overlook a lot with respect to personality quirks; however, faced with a combination of everything else and Ms. Ma’s inability to perform both her basic and her complicated tasks at an acceptable level, the matter had to be taken seriously.” The office manager told the clinic’s owner, Dr. Iain Cleator, that she could no longer work with Ma — even offering to resign. The final straw occurred in March 2012, when Ma did not return to work following a two-week medical absence and failed to notify her employer. It was at that point that Dr. Cleator decided to terminate her employment. Ma then filed a human-rights complaint, contending that she had been terminated because of her child’s medical issues, continually harassed to return to work immediately after the birth of her baby and subjected to abusive treatment at work, among other claims. Tyshynski dismissed these allegations, citing Ma’s credibility as a significant issue. Ma admitted that she had lied under oath twice, altered her evidence and used the tribunal process to make unfounded and disrespectful comments about Dr. Cleator and the office manager. “I cannot believe anything Ms. Ma said in the hearing,” Tyshynski concluded. — By Jason Contant

“In the case of firefighters, however, there is a presumption that myocardial infarction, heart attack, is work-related if it occurs within a day of the firefighter responding to an emergency.” This coverage includes volunteer firefighters, who are considered workers under the act, she adds.

WORKER IMPALED BY RACK EDMONTON — The occupational health and safety division of Alberta’s Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour is investigating an incident in which a falling rack impaled and killed a steelworker. The ministry notes that the 62-year-old employee of Capital Steel Inc. in Edmonton was loading solid steel rods by hand onto an outdoor rack on August 1, when the rack suddenly fell on him, impaling him in the hip and pinning him. The local emergency medical services transported the worker to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Safety authorities immediately issued a stop-use order to Capital Steel on the company’s outdoor racking. The order will remain in effect “as long as it needs to be, so that we can conduct our investigation and be satisfied that the racks are being used in a safe manner,” ministry oh&s spokesperson Barrie Harrison says.

FARM PROBED OVER COMPLAINTS REGINA — A family farm near Endeav-

our, Saskatchewan has received clearance that allows the owners’ two young daughters to work at its butcher shop, following an investigation by the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. But Cool Springs Ranch & Butchery, operated by Sam and Janeen Covlin, may no longer hire children under the age of 16 from other families to work on the farm, as Saskatchewan law prohibits underage employees to work in meat-processing facilities, the ministry informed the Covlins on August 8. “We were breaking a law that I didn’t really know existed,” farm operator Janeen Covlin says. An inspector from the labour ministry had shown up at Cool Springs in response to two complaints that the farm had been using child labour. The Covlins had been employing three neighbourhood children — aged 11, 13 and 15 — to work in the butcher shop. The Covlins have four children; 10-year-old Kate and eight-year-old Emma are involved in the operations of the farm. The government eventually exempted the Covlins’ children from the rule, after deciding that Cool Springs Ranch’s processing facilities were an extension of

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

the family farm. Covlin says the work that her neighbour employees were doing is not dangerous and that there are “tonnes of supervision” by adults. She adds that she will consider appealing the ruling against employing outside children.

VIOLATIONS PROMPT PENALTIES REGINA — Five individuals and a com-

pany in Regina were fined for violating fall-protection regulations. Steven Wesdyk was fined $3,360 on August 12 after pleading guilty to four counts, including failing to require a worker to use a fall-protection system and failing to ensure that workers complied with oh&s legislation. The charges were laid after Wesdyk was observed working on a roof at a worksite without fall protection on June 12, 2013, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety reports. In another case, Bill Chaika, Seth Johannesen, Justin Lamy and Cody Ledoux — all from Winnipeg — were each

was the first of its kind when the province introduced it in 2007. The recommendations fall within four major areas: • Ensure that all employees receive adequate education programs to complement information available online and that designated officers responsible for managing internal disclosures are adequately trained; • Create a central process to ensure all bodies covered by the PIDA have effective procedures in place to provide them with support when creating procedures and interpreting the Act, and to track and gather data related to internal disclosures among all departments, bodies or organizations, and make this data publicly available; • Clarify and amend procedures related to the Manitoba Ombudsman’s responsibilities under the PIDA; and • Strengthen the protections available to address allegations of reprisal by giving the ombudsman the authority to investigate and take immediate action to address these acts. “We will be reviewing these recommendations and consulting with stake-

fined $300, after pleading guilty on August 14 to failing to use a fall-protection system where a worker could fall three metres or more. The charges stemmed from an inspection at a construction site in Yorkton on February 26, 2013. The third penalty was issued to Roulston Roofing Ltd. of Regina. The company was fined $840 on August 12 for failing to ensure the use of a fallprotection system at another worksite in Regina on June 7, 2013.

BEEF UP PROTECTIONS: REVIEW WINNIPEG — A review of Manitoba’s Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (PIDA) has spurred 10 recommendations, including the strengthening of protections available to address allegations of reprisal. Dianna Scarth, former executive director of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, released her review of the PIDA on August 11, seven years after the act was proclaimed. The review focused on the effectiveness of the legislation, which

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holders to see the best way to update our legislation,” Jennifer Howard, Minister Responsible for the Civil Service Commission, which oversees all hiring in government, says in a statement.

MINISTRY LAYS CHARGES TORONTO — Ontario’s Ministry of La-

bour has laid 22 occupational health and safety charges against two companies and three individuals, following a dramatic helicopter rescue late last year. On December 17, a crane operator was working at a construction project in Kingston, Ontario when he suffered burns from a fire, requiring a military helicopter to rescue him from his stranded position above the flames. Eight months later on August 26, the provincial labour ministry announced that 11 charges relating to fire-safety precautions and 11 for non-cooperation with the investigation had been issued. Labour ministry spokesperson Bruce Skeaff confirms that altogether, the ministry laid 10 charges against Jay Patry En-

terprises Inc., two against Stelmach Property Management Inc. and 10 against Jason Patry, supervisor Nathan Patry and Troy Stelmach. Jay Patry Enterprises faces charges as a constructor, employer and corporation. The charges include the failure to do the following: • Provide an adequate means of egress from a work area so that workers can evacuate during an emergency; • Ensure that a permanent or temporary standpipe is installed within two storeys of the uppermost work level of a project; • Inspect every fire extinguisher for defects or deterioration; and • Take reasonable precautions to protect workers’ health and safety, including ensuring a minimum of two exits on each level of a project and/or ensuring the maximum travel distance to an exit does not exceed 200 feet. Stelmach Property Management is charged with two counts of failing to comply with requirements issued by an inspector. Jason Patry, supervisor Nathan Patry and Troy Stelmach are all charged with providing false informa-

tion to an inspector, while Jason Patry is also charged with obstructing an inspector and failing to furnish all necessary means to facilitate the inspection. Other charges mirror those that have been issued to Jay Patry Enterprises.

MISSING EDITOR’S BODY FOUND BELLEVILLE — Police in eastern Ontario

have found the body of a newspaper editor two days after he failed to show up for work. At about 7:30 a.m. on August 18, Steve Pettibone left his residence in Belleville, Ontario for his job as sports editor of the Brockville Recorder and Times, about 150 kilometres away. He did not arrive, texts to him went unanswered and phone calls went directly to voicemail, the newspaper’s managing editor Derek Gordanier says. “Steve has always been a conscientious and hard-working employee, and we knew on Monday that something was seriously amiss when Steve failed to report to work by mid-morning,” Gor-

INSUFFICIENT TRAINING THREATENS SAFETY: FEDERATION EDMONTON — The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is

charging that a contractor has been hiring temporary foreign workers with insufficient training to work on a construction site for oil corporation Husky Energy Inc., via a fast-track stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). According to a statement the AFL issued on September 1, this practice has been putting workers’ lives at risk because of deficient safety training. The federation says Saipem Canada has taken advantage of the Alberta Pilot for Occupation-Specific Work Permits in order to hire hundreds of TFWs at lower wages instead of fully qualified Canadians. “The only good news in the current situation is that we have not had a major accident and there have been no serious injuries or fatalities,” AFL president Gil McGowan says. “Without the proper training and without proficiency in the languages used on the site, it is just a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed.” The pilot project ran for three years; it ended on July 31 as part of the federal government’s recent TFWP reforms. The AFL learned that the fast-track stream had been placing new TFWs into two categories: some received two-year “open” visas, which allowed them to work for more than one employer, while the rest received “closed” one-year visas, meaning they had to stay with the same employer. The former were assessed to have work qualifications that would be recognized in Canada, whereas the latter were assigned a Canadian-equivalency test. Only 24 per cent of the temporary foreign workers who were hired under the fast-track received open visas, making

the work of the remaining 76 per cent questionable, McGowan argues. “It also has big implications for workplace health and safety. If you are not properly trained, the chances are that you won’t be able to work safely, especially on industrial worksites.” But Saipem denies that it passed over skilled Canadians for jobs with Husky’s Sunrise construction project and that language barriers at the site are causing additional safety risks. “We have 2,180 employees at the Husky Sunrise project site, and roughly 85 per cent of this number is Canadian,” the company notes. “Our hiring practices are in compliance with the law and regulations.” Husky media and issues manager Mel Duvall adds that the company employs rigorous quality-assurance processes at the site. “Work is inspected many times by the contractors and ourselves to verify it is completed to specifications.” About 2,000 workers hired under the fast-track stream are still employed at Alberta worksites, the AFL claims. The hiring practice at the Sunrise project, operating about 60 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, came to the AFL’s attention after site workers approached the media with stories of poor training, safety violations and near-accidents. McGowan says he has written a letter to the federal auditor-general, requesting an investigation into the pilot project. “We are also asking Jason Kenney, the federal minister of employment, to immediately revoke the visas that were granted to temporary foreign workers who don’t have proper qualifications,” he adds. — By Jeff Cottrill

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

danier wrote in an article posted on the newspaper’s website. Pettibone remained the subject of a missing-persons investigation for more than a day. At about 6:15 p.m. on the day after he failed to show up for work, members of the Leeds County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) located the 39-year-old’s abandoned vehicle in a rural area just outside of Brockville, in the Township of Elizabethtown-Kitley. After an extensive search of the area, OPP officers found Pettibone’s body not far from his vehicle on August 20. “While there is no indication of foul play, the investigation is ongoing,” a statement from the Belleville Police Service reports.

UNION CHALLENGES NEW RATIOS OTTAWA — The union representing more than 7,000 Air Canada flight attendants is challenging a decision from the federal government to exempt the airline from maintaining the current ratio of one flight attendant for every 40 passenger seats. The Canadian Union of Public Em-

ployees (CUPE) says it has filed a legal challenge with the Federal Court to have the exemption quashed on the ground that it ignored the criteria set out in the Aeronautics Act for granting such an exemption. In a statement issued on August 8, CUPE says it has asked the Federal Court for a judicial review of Transport Canada’s decision to allow Air Canada to decrease the ratio to one flight attendant for every 50 passenger seats, which the union says could adversely affect worker and public safety. But a notice of proposed amendment from the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council this March found that “a 1:50 passenger seat operating rule that, on some occasions, will provide less than the equivalent level of safety, while on other occasions, a more than equivalent level of safety to the current 1:40 operating rule is acceptable.” Michel Cournoyer, president of CUPE’s Airline Division, says flight attendants are the “first line of defence” when things go wrong on an aircraft. “Fewer flight attendants means more risks for passengers,” he contends.

A CUPE fact sheet says a similar exemption was granted to WestJet last May and to Sunwing last October. Transport Canada is proposing to change the regulation to allow all Canadian airlines to switch to the 1:50 ratio. “Real-life accidents and scientific studies show that flight-attendant staffing ratios of one to 40 passengers or better do improve passenger chances of escaping in the event of an emergency,” the fact sheet concludes.

WORKER BURNED BY EQUIPMENT TORONTO — A Toronto hydro work-

er has sustained injuries after being shocked and burned by electrical equipment while on the job. The station-maintenance employee of Hydro One was working on a transformer on August 23, when he received a severe electrical shock, the Ontario Ministry of Labour reports. The worker was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening burns. Bruce Skeaff, spokesperson for the

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provincial labour ministry, says the ministry issued the company an “incident notification” order, because the labour ministry had learned about the incident from the police rather than from Hydro One. Hydro One spokesperson Nancy Shaddick says the company is cooperating fully with the investigation.

COMPANY FINED FOR FATALITY TORONTO — A heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) company in Thornhill, Ontario was fined $70,000 in connection with a worker fatality. Design Air Ltd. was issued the penalty on August 11, after pleading guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that a worker was protected by a fall-arrest system. On April 16, 2012, a supervisor employed by Design Air and an apprentice were repairing an HVAC unit at a residence in Toronto, the Ministry of Labour reports. The apprentice was sent up to the roof to look at the HVAC system, while the supervisor did other tasks. Shortly thereafter, the apprentice was found lying on the ground at the rear of the residence. An investigation by the labour ministry determined that the apprentice had fallen about nine metres and had not been wearing any type of fall-arrest equipment.

PANEL SUGGESTS IMPROVEMENTS TORONTO — The endoscopy units of

Humber River Hospital (HRH) in Toronto have come under criticism by an independent panel of nursing experts, who authored a report with recommendations to improve patient care and nurse safety. Registered nurses at the hospital had expressed concerns about understaffing, fragmentation of patient care, poor staff support and an incorrect mix of staff skills in the two endoscopy units, the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) says. In its report published on August 8, the Independent Assessment Committee made 32 recommendations in nine areas: staffing, roles and responsibilities; processes; communication; collaborative working relationships; safety; leadership; education; and managing change. Among the specific recommendations are hiring one more full-time registered nurse at each of HRH’s locations, scheduling two registered nurses in the Church Street location’s procedure room when no anaesthetist is running the second room for continuous monitoring and assigning an aide to clean rooms, equipment and stretchers. The panel’s assessment followed attempts by HRH nurses to confront their colleagues and managers about the situation. When that did not work, the reg-

istered nurses exercised their contracts’ “professional responsibility clause,” which involves forming an outside expert panel to assess the situation and come up with solutions. “In my more than 30 years as a nurse, issues like this, we were able to deal with at the frontline,” ONA first vice president Vicki McKenna says. “Now, what we believe is happening is, there are budget constraints that are preventing, in some cases, organizations from appropriately assessing the level of care that patients require and the staffing requirements.” While the recommendations were specific to HRH, the problems were not unique to the hospital. “I am not going to say every hospital in Ontario has a crisis situation happening, but some of our hospitals are not dealing with these issues in an appropriate manner,” she notes.

STUDY PROBES MENTAL HEALTH OTTAWA — About one in six members of

the Canadian Forces have experienced symptoms of mental-health or alcohol disorders over several months last year, a new Statistics Canada survey reveals. The Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey 2013, released on August 11, found that 16.5 per cent of regular, fulltime members had experienced symptoms consistent with at least of one of six

ROBBERY SPURS CALLS FOR CHANGES MONTREAL — Two masked men have escaped with an unconfirmed amount of money after robbing an armoured truck in Brossard, a southern suburb of Montreal. The robbery took place on August 21 at a Royal Bank of Canada branch, where two armed guards employed by security company Garda were stationed with the truck, the Longueuil Police report. The two robbers, wearing Halloween masks, attacked the guards with pepper spray before disarming them. The guards were sent to the hospital, but released shortly afterwards. Police spokesperson Captain Nancy Colagiacomo says the guards’ firearms are still missing. Police later found and seized an abandoned grey Dodge Caravan, with its back doors left open. The minivan had been reported stolen in April, although police have yet to determine whether this vehicle was involved in the robbery. Colagiacomo says police are collecting evidence around the area and going through merchants to see if there is any security video that can come in useful. “I don’t know if they are going to turn out some images or not, but we do know that there are merchants in that area that do have cameras.” The day after the robbery, national union Unifor issued

a statement demanding improvement to safety standards for armoured-car guards, especially regarding the required number of guards per vehicle. The organization claims that over the last decade, 70 per cent of robbed armoured cars employed only two guards. Leaders with Unifor met with Mark Potter, federal director general of policing policy, in June to discuss safety issues in the sector. “They have to look at the safety aspect of two-man crews. That is the biggest hurdle,” Unifor national representative Mike Armstrong says. “The bad guys know they have a twoman crew. They are targeted. A third guy in the truck would have driven away with that truck.” He notes that armoured-vehicle robberies have increased in recent years, due to significant deficiencies in safety standards for the security profession. “We have really got to look at defensive training, health and safety, and a whole range of things should be done to this industry.” Many attempted armoured-car robberies in Canada go unreported, he adds. Colagiacomo says the last armoured-vehicle robbery to which the Longueuil Police responded took place as recently as February. — By Jeff Cottrill

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

selected disorders: major depressive episode, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. Developed by Statistics Canada in collaboration with the Department of National Defence, the survey involved about 6,700 full-time members regardless of deployment history and 1,500 reservists who were deployed in Afghanistan. The members were interviewed from April to August 2013. Major depressive episode was the most common disorder, with eight per cent of members meeting the criteria in the year prior to the survey. Episodes were defined as periods of two weeks or more with persistent depressed mood or loss of interest in normal activities. The study notes that 5.3 per cent of members reported symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder in the year prior to the 2013 survey, while 4.7 per cent reported symptoms consistent with generalized anxiety disorder and 3.4 per cent had symptoms consistent with panic disorder. As well, 4.5 per cent of regular, full-time members met the cri-

O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2014 ohs canada

teria for alcohol abuse or dependence, with 2.5 per cent reporting systems that were consistent with alcohol abuse and two per cent with alcohol dependence. The survey’s findings come on the heels of the RCMP’s announcement in July that it had begun tracking officer suicides, in the wake of four suicides among officers and retirees this year.

SAFETY CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED SAINT JOHN — WorkSafeNB has introduced the Safety Excellence NB campaign to help employers comply with new requirements in the Occupational Health & Safety Act. Workplace inspections by oh&s officers on some of the new requirements — such as those relating to orientation and training of new employees, incident/ accident reporting and safety policies — will begin in September. “Through Safety Excellence NB, we are providing employers with a series of resources and checklists to help them comply with the OHS Act,” says Richard

Blais, WorkSafeNB’s director of compliance and regulatory review in Saint John. “These resources include sample safety policies for workplaces and guides for the development of health and safety programs and orientation programs for new employees.” Employers are encouraged to use the resources and checklists to prepare for the inspections. Summarized information and analysis of inspection results will be published online as the campaign proceeds, but individual employer results will not be published, WorkSafeNB adds.

RACE A FACTOR IN FIRING HALIFAX — An independent human-rights

board of inquiry has determined that a worker was wrongfully dismissed because of her race. Rachel Brothers, a former employee of the Black Educators Association, was fired after almost one year on the job, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission says in a statement issued on August 5. Board chair Donald Murray says

ince’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. Lead police investigator and RNC Constable Barry Osmond testified in a St. John’s court on September 2 that there had been little indication of people working on the road just before the accident. “There was nothing there warning people that they should look for workers on the road or that they should reduce their speed,” says Constable Osmond, who testified that the only warning to oncoming traffic at the worksite was a small amber light on the roof of one department vehicle. “It was my opinion when I was investigating that that was a significant factor that led into the event itself.” Only three of the nine workers were wearing highvisibility gear at the time, including one of the struck workers, he adds. On July 5, 2011, a group of workers from the city, the transportation department and Irving Oil Commercial GP were inspecting the pavement for premature erosion on part of the Trans-Canada Highway. An eastbound SUV, moving behind several cars that decelerated suddenly, swerved into another lane to

Brothers was undermined by association staff whose “colourist thinking” and behaviour created a toxic work environment at their head office in Halifax and the Annapolis Valley regional office in Kentville, where Brothers was employed as a regional educator. “It is suggested by colourist thinking that the closer one’s skin tone is to that of a pure white, the better access one will have to the jobs and accommodation and opportunities available to actual ‘white’ people,” Murray writes. The Black Educators Association has been ordered to pay Brothers $11,000 in general damages and lost income.

LACK OF SIGNS CITED IN DEATH ST. JOHN’S — A lack of warning signs on a St. John’s highway caused a car to hit several road workers three years ago, killing one of them, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) stated in court. The City of St. John’s and the Department of Transportation and Works are each facing charges under the prov-

avoid a rear-end collision and slammed into three road workers. A department worker in his 50s was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two — a city employee and an Irving Oil worker — sustained serious injuries. On July 4, 2013, following a separate investigation by oh&s authorities, Service NL announced that the department and the city were facing seven charges each of violations of the Act, while Irving Oil was facing six counts. The SUV driver is not facing any charges. Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada Many of the preceding items are based on stories from our sister publication, canadian

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DISPATCHES

Report on police handling of the mentally ill praised By Jeff Cottrill

new report on the Toronto Police Service’s (TPS) use of lethal force in situations involving people with mental-health or emotional issues has been lauded by TPS chief Bill Blair. The report, Police Encounters with People in Crisis, was released on July 24 by its author, government and public-policy lawyer Frank Iacobucci, a former Supreme Court of Canada judge. Blair requested that Iacobucci conduct an independent review of the TPS’ use of force with people in emotional crises on August 28, 2013, following the shooting of 18-yearold Sammy Yatim on an empty Toronto streetcar. Mark Pugash, spokesperson for the TPS, calls it an “extremely comprehensive” report with “excellent recommendations.” Pugash adds that Blair praised the report for its thoroughness, knowledge and compassion. “The specific focus of the report is on reducing lethal encounters,” says David Outerbridge, partner with Toronto law firm Torys LLP. Outerbridge, who was Iacobucci’s lead counsel during the review, says the report takes a holistic look at how the system puts troubled people in confrontation with police officers and examines Ontario’s mental-health system and the roles of all government branches. Iacobucci made 84 recommendations to the TPS, all of which Blair plans to implement as quickly as possible. Among the recommendations are the following: • Police should be required to notify mobile crisis-intervention teams during situations involving people in crisis; • Police recruits should complete mental-health first-aid classes; • The TPS should review its useof-force model, focusing on de-escalation and making lethal force a last resort; • There should be a mentalhealth oversight committee composed of police officers, mental-health professionals and emergency personnel; and • The TPS should be equipped with body-worn cameras and consider expanding the use of Tasers for frontline officers. Pugash stresses that the police are only one part of the system that pits people in crisis against officers. “Not enough people are asking, ‘How was it that person, in that state of crisis, got into that interaction with police? Did they get the care that they needed earlier on?’” 20

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The TPS is already considering equipping officers with body-worn cameras. The force plans to initiate a pilot project for both expanded Taser and camera use, likely early next year. Jeff Cottrill is editorial assistant of

ohs canada.

Warding against infections at work the healthy way By Jean Lian

or healthcare workers, observing hand-hygiene practices can protect them against infections. But attention should also be paid to the cleaning agents used. A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco found that antibacterial soap exposes hospital workers to significant and potentially unsafe levels of triclosan, a synthetic antibacterial agent. Triclosan is found in thousands of consumer products, including soaps, cosmetics, acne creams and some toothpastes. The United States Food and Drug Administration is reviewing its safety, based on a growing body of research showing that triclosan can interfere with the action of hormones, potentially causing developmental problems in fetuses and newborns, among other health concerns. “Antimicrobial soaps can carry unknown risks, and triclosan is of particular concern,” co-investigator Paul Blanc, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, says. “Our study shows that people absorb this chemical at work and at home, depending on the products that they use.” The study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, analyzed urine samples from two groups of 38 doctors and nurses, of which three-quarters were women, at two hospitals. The first hospital used an antibacterial soap containing 0.3 per cent triclosan, while the other group used plain soap and water. Results show that employees at the first hospital had significantly higher levels of triclosan in their urine. Study participants who indicated that they used a popular toothpaste containing triclosan also had higher levels of the chemical in their bodies. Recent studies also found that triclosan interferes with the body’s thyroid hormone metabolism and is a potential endocrine disruptor. “If you don’t know for certain that something is unsafe, it is better to err on the side of caution,” says Dr. Blanc, who recommends plain soap and water. Other ways to avoid the antibacterial compound include reducing the use of disinfectants containing triclosan and

avoiding products that contain triclosan as an active ingredient, notes a fact sheet from the non-profit organization Women’s Voices of the Earth in Missoula, Montana. Jean Lian is editor of

ohs canada.

By Jason Contant

Race can influence workers’ perception of diversity By Carmelle Wolfson

s Canada’s urban centres become more diverse, workplaces are increasingly adopting an inclusive approach in managing human resources. But just as beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, so can diversity. The study, Diverse According to Whom? Racial Group Membership and Concerns about Discrimination Shape Diversity Judgments, published online in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin on August 8, found the level of diversity in a team or organization can look quite different to employees, depending on their backgrounds and racial identity. A team of six that includes four whites and two Asians will seem more diverse to whites and Asians than to blacks, the study notes. “Our research shows that a lack of diversity may simultaneously trouble some people, but not be apparent to others. We believe many leaders of organizations may under-appreciate how much of a concern diversity is for their employees,” says study co-author Christopher Bauman, assistant professor of organization and management at the University of California Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. Hamlin Grange, president and principal consultant of consultancy firm DiversiPro Inc. in Toronto, says such findings are indicative of the Canadian experience. In individual and organizational cultural-competence assessments conducted by the firm a few years ago, Grange found that individuals who identified as members of minority groups invariably perceived their organizations as less inclusive than did others who identified as members of the dominant culture. “We also found that individuals who have a lower degree of education would perceive their organization as less inclusive than individuals with higher education,” Grange says, adding that this perception gap applies to disability and, to some extent, gender groups. Grange says it is important for organizations to have a diverse and inclusive plan that takes into account not just hiring people, but also leadership, products and services, human capital, marketing, environment and stakeholder connections. “People must be willing to have candid conversations about specific types of representation, rather than use ‘diversity’ as a catch-all phrase,” Bauman adds. Carmelle Wolfson is assistant editor of

Laser-strike incidents spur pilot-safety concerns

rom reading product codes on retail items to repairing retinal tears, laser beams have wide commercial and industrial applications. But these radiation beams, when misused, can have disastrous consequences. A 16-year-old who shone a laser pointer at a police helicopter in Ontario on August 1 has been criminally charged after a pilot was allegedly struck by several beams from a laser pointer, the York Regional Police reports. Two similar pranks took place in Regina in the same month. On August 17, an aircraft was landing at the Regina International Airport, when police officers spotted the light source and located five youths — one of whom was carrying a laser pointer — on a building roof. However, no charges were laid. The second, unrelated incident occurred a couple of hours later, when a laser from the north was pointed at a plane over the south area of the city. Police investigated, but canine units could not locate any suspects. These incidents are the latest in a rising trend. In 2008, only 80 “laser strikes” on aircraft were reported to Transport Canada, compared to 461 last year. In June, a coalition of 14 pilot associations and airlines, representing nearly 9,000 pilots who fly commercial aircraft in Canada, wrote a letter to federal Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt and Minister of Justice Peter MacKay, requesting that they enact legislation to make the act of knowingly pointing a laser at an aircraft in flight a criminal offence. The coalition also requested that the federal government limit possession of handheld laser pointers to those of five milliwatts or less, unless used for a specific purpose for which a permit is required, and mount a campaign to warn against illegal laser use. “Currently, there are no Canadian laws prohibiting possession of a laser whose output is greater than five milliwatts,” the letter notes. “The effects of these occurrences to flight crews have ranged from startle to glare and, in some instances, flash blindness, after-image or even temporary eye injury.” A Transport Canada spokesperson says aiming a directed bright light source into the cockpit of an aircraft is already a federal offence. A convicted offender could face a maximum of $100,000 under the Aeronautics Act, imprisonment of up to five years or both.

Jason Contant is editor of

pipeline.

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CONFLICT REPORTING

ON THE

BY CARMELLE WOLFSON

Back in journalismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heyday, it was common for newspapers and television and radio stations to have foreign bureaus and correspondents stationed around the world. Slashed budgets and an increasingly competitive media landscape have led to many news outlets shuttering those IMAGE: ANTONIS LIOKOURAS; THINKSTOCK

offices and relying on contract staff, stringers, freelancers and, in some cases, even citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; eyewitness reports. As the news industry continues to struggle, the safety of frontline reporters may be at risk.

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uring a botched attempt at dismantling an Israeli missile in the Gaza Strip in August, Simone Camilli became one of five people to die in the explosion. Camilli was not part of the bomb squad; the Italian videojournalist was on assignment for the Associated Press when he was killed in the blast, along with his Palestinian translator. It has been a trying year for the news agency. In April, a police officer shot two staff members in the lead-up to the elections in Afghanistan, killing German photographer Anja Niedringhaus and injuring Canadian reporter Kathy Gannon, a former Afghanistan bureau chief who had been reporting from the region for years. At the time, Niedringhaus was the 32nd on-the-job fatality for the Associated Press since 1846, according to chief executive officer Gary Pruitt. The recent brutal slaying of American journalist James Foley and American-Israeli reporter Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group further serves as a chilling warning of the risks that journalists in conflict zones face. Protecting frontline journalists who report from conflict zones involves assessing potential risks and planning contingency plans, notes Jonathan Whitten, executive director of newsgathering for CBC News in Toronto. Unfortunately, in situations such as Israel’s attack on Gaza, which killed more than 2,000 people, not all scenarios can be avoided. “We can never guarantee safety, and reporters have to and do understand that that there is risk involved,” Whitten says. “We are not talking about eliminating risk; we are talking about assessing [risk].” Following the kidnapping of CBC reporter Melissa Fung in Afghanistan in 2008, the CBC hired former military officer Harris Silver as the manager of high-risk deployment to formalize health and safety procedures and practices for journalists in the field. Before sending correspondents to the conflict in Gaza, Silver says a risk assessment would look at major threats, access to medical assistance, evacuation and how to maintain communication between the desk and the correspondent. Although Gaza may be a dangerous place for reporters, it may be less dangerous than more remote locations are, since a journalist would have better access to a quality medical facility nearby, Whitten suggests. Judith Matloff, professor with Columbia Journalism School in New York, says the nature of risks and the corresponding measures to mitigate them vary from country to country. “There is such a wide gamut of violence and specific types of violence,” says Matloff, who has also worked as a safety trainer for various organizations. “If you work in Mexico, the biggest thing you are probably going to be wor24

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ried about is your information and your movements being tracked, so you really need cyber-security. In a place like Afghanistan, cyber-security is not important; what is more [important] is how you navigate a road to avoid kidnapping.” Silver has worked with the CBC to develop a hostile-environment assignment process and oversee safety training, which includes a one-hour online travel-awareness course, a full-day domestic-operations course (for situations such as mass protests, natural disasters, train derailments and chemical spills) and a more intensive four-to-five-day course on surviving hostile regions. Whitten says the CBC is constantly conducting simulations. Reporters returning from overseas assignments also have access to counselling services and a critical-incident response team if needed. Whitten notes that it is rare for the public broadcaster to deploy freelancers to hostile regions, but when they do, they rely on those individuals to have the local knowledge to keep them safe. “It is just that when we use people, they are generally already inside the situation, so the onus would be less on us in those cases,” he claims.

News agencies began buying Mustafa’s photos, but did nothing to ensure his safety. TIGHTENING THE BELT Over the last decade, the traditional economic model for journalism has been crumbling, with organizations relying more heavily on freelancers rather than on staff correspondents. These freelancers are often young, fresh out of school and trying to launch their careers by making names for themselves from abroad, since they cannot find work in news organizations back home. Tom Henheffer, executive director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression in Toronto, says the changing landscape in which the media industry operates has a ripple effect on the safety of journalists operating in foreign lands. The cutback on investment in foreign bureaus by news organizations is one example. “When you have got a bureau, you have got an established presence, which is much more safe as opposed to working out of a hotel room,” Henheffer notes. He points out that “parachute journalism” — the practice of dropping a reporter into a country for a relatively short period of time to file a story and leave — puts the journalist in great peril. “When you are in a country that you know and are familiar with, that helps relieve some of the danger,” Henheffer says. But when a reporter who does not speak the native language, is not familiar with the culture or lacks local contacts goes into a conflict zone, it is a lot more dangerous. “What happens is that the responsibility for safety gets downloaded onto the freelancer, who is the least capable of

dealing with it,” says Cliff Lonsdale, president of Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma (CJFVT) in London, Ontario. Lonsdale adds that he does not know of any freelancer who owns a car and knows of only a few who own bulletproof vests and helmets. Ali Mustafa was 29 years old when he was killed in a barrel-bomb attack in Aleppo, Syria, earlier this year. The freelance photojournalist and writer had been covering the social movements that had erupted during the Arab Spring and the ensuing repression across the region. Syria was the deadliest country for journalists in 2014, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based non-profit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. During the year starting from September 2013, 12 journalists were killed there, five of whom were freelancers. Mustafa was getting amazing shots, but nobody wanted his work until he got into the most dangerous places, claims Datejie Green, Toronto-based labour organizer with the Canadian Media Guild’s freelance branch. At that point, news agencies began buying Mustafa’s photos, but did nothing to ensure his safety, adds Green, who knew Mustafa. “The institution or the company, by virtue of hiring or contracting those people as freelancers gig-to-gig or story-tostory, has no legal obligation to them whatsoever and doesn’t want to have any,” Green says. Freelance journalist Jesse Rosenfeld, who had met Mustafa in Egypt, wrote in April that Mustafa had “felt that reporting from Syria was the best way to make a more stable income and bolster his career. The choice of taking extreme risks for a paycheck is often a necessity of working as a freelancer in conflict zones.” The article commemorating Mustafa was published in the independent Canadian magazine The Dominion. ON YOUR OWN When local journalists and freelancers are hired to report from conflict zones, they usually do not have institutional backing, which includes full-risk insurance that would cover medical, life, property and ransom insurance, proper safety training and protective equipment (such as satellite phones,

safety boots, flapjackets and helmets). Sometimes, they do not even have access to translators and fixers (locals hired by correspondents to make arrangements for stories). Without a well-placed, institutionally-supported exit plan, Green says journalists may not enjoy the type of consular access and political support that they might need, in terms of press freedom and support from security forces. And if someone reporting in a conflict zone is not seen as a legitimate reporter, “people don’t trust why you are there, and you could be assumed to be a participant in the conflict,” she cautions. While Canadian media outlets have clear legal responsibilities to adhere to occupational health and safety standards for staff reporters operating abroad, their obligations to freelance and contract workers are murkier. Henheffer notes that when freelance reporters get arrested, they often do not have legal representation from their media organizations’ lawyers. “A lot of organizations — certainly not all — they don’t feel that they need to support them when they get into trouble.” This situation has led to some international news outlets instituting policies barring reports from freelancers in hot spots, such as Syria. Green thinks that such a position is irresponsible, as the world has an obligation to report on international events in which people are dying en masse. “I understand that they want to keep their freelancers safe,” Green concedes. But if a single newspaper makes that call independently without communicating with the International Federation of Journalists, journalist associations in the Middle East or the people who are largely accountable for the profession, “then they really are just taking their marbles and going home.” The CJFVT is trying to fill this safety gap with financial support from news organizations and individual donors. Since 2011, the Forum has been offering safety-training bursaries to freelance journalists working for Canadian media outlets. This year, eight out of 16 applicants were awarded funding — the highest number ever. THEN AND NOW But is it not the responsibility of news organizations to protect and train the journalists they hire?

Safeguarding Cyber-Communications It is getting more dangerous for reporters to do their jobs, says Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma president Cliff Lonsdale from London, Ontario. “It used to be that journalists got killed in war zones accidentally. Now, it is deliberate.” The advent of the Internet is a contributing factor. “The correspondent in the field now has to be really conscious of cyber-security,” Lonsdale advises. “You can get people killed really easily by not encrypting the material on your laptop.” He cautions that authorities who take away journalists’ laptops at customs can be downloading all their contacts, including anonymous sources. While New York-based Columbia Journalism School pro-

fessor Judith Matloff believes that the profession is not any more dangerous now than it was 30 years ago, she agrees that cyber-security is an added threat. “I think mobile technology and the Internet have created a new form of danger with social media, which is digital surveillance.” There are numerous ways in which media employees can secure their communications, depending on who may be targeting them and what that person or institution wants to get from them. Encryption, password protection, avoiding Internet cafes or simply not using the Internet at all are all options, Matloff says. But in some countries like Pakistan, encryption cannot be used, as it is outlawed. “You have to adapt it to where you are and what your actual risk [is].”

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“I think it is unrealistic,” Lonsdale says. “They may use somebody twice in a year. Do you want them to spend $5,000 on a training course for them?” Instead, he suggests that media organizations contribute to a fund that provides support to the freelancers who need it most. Lonsdale, now a journalism professor at Western University in London, Ontario, has more than 40 years of experience working as a producer and reporter in news stations, such as the CBC’s radio and television divisions and the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation in what is now Zimbabwe. At the age of 16, he landed his first gig covering the war as a freelancer in what was then the Republic of the Congo in the early 1960s. “In those days, I was really stupid. I hitchhiked into it. I had no training. I am blundering around. I had no accreditation. I had no protective gear, but nobody did in those days except the soldiers.” Lonsdale recounts. “But if you held up your hands and said, ‘Hey, I’m a journalist,’ the chances were that whoever was pointing a gun at you would say, ‘Oh, come here. Let me tell you my story, tell our side of the story,’” he observes. “They don’t do that anymore. They are already telling it their way on social media, and they see you as a threat.” As a CBC News producer in the London Bureau in the ’80s, Lonsdale became close to reporters covering conflicts across the Middle East. He witnessed those friends returning from assignments in terrible condition, going on three-day benders at the bar. “That sort of thing stays with you.”

combat veterans,” which hovers around 20 per cent, Dr. Feinstein reports. ON HOME GROUND Jesse Freeston, a Montreal-based freelance videojournalist and documentary filmmaker known for exposing fraud in the 2009 Honduran election, has covered confrontations between police and protesters across El Salvador, Honduras and North America. In one instance, a police officer in Honduras threatened Freeston with his gun when the filmmaker approached to interview a land owner who was being evicted. “That was a very calm situation,” he recounts. “I was just asking for an interview, and he came over and pointed his gun at me and said, ‘There is no interview here.’” Freeston walked away from that encounter unscathed, but the most tense situation he encountered occurred when he was in his home country, covering the protests against the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010. A man whose hearing was impaired was passing the street protests when he was arrested by police, as he could not hear their orders to move off the sidewalk. Freeston was attempting to film the entanglement, when the cops forcefully threw him onto a line of police bicycles, and one officer punched Freeston twice square in the face. When Freeston attempted to ask why he had been assaulted, police began ramming their bicycles into his groin and an officer grabbed his microphone. “I think it is pretty much the only time I have had my equipment taken from me like that while I was working,” Freeston says. He caught the incident on camera and broadcast it online on The Real News Network. Despite being put in harm’s way on multiple occasions while doing his job, Freeston has not given much consideration to safety training, although he acknowledges that it might be helpful to attend a course. He does, however, worry about protecting his local sources after anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera — an interview subject whom Freeston was close to — disappeared in El Salvador and was found dead two weeks later in a well with his fingernails ripped out — a typical marker of torture. Indeed, locals are most at risk in reporting scenarios. Of the 61 journalists and support staff reported killed in the first half of the year, most were working in their home countries, reports the London, United Kingdom-based International News Safety Institute, a charity-funded coalition of news organizations, journalist support groups and individuals committed to creating a global safety network for media personnel working in dangerous environments. “It has become dangerous to be a journalist that way, because in many of these countries, there is a climate of impunity,” Lonsdale says. “It is very, very rare that anybody gets prosecuted for killing a journalist. So it is a cheap form of censorship,” he suggests.

“Now, you could raise the issue of safety at an editorial meeting and not be laughed out of the room.” Such memories motivated Lonsdale to advocate for better safety protection for the next generation of frontline journalists. As recently as two decades ago, a macho attitude surrounded the profession, but Lonsdale suggests that has since changed. “I think in most newsrooms now, you could raise the issue of safety at an editorial meeting and not be laughed out of the room.” Witnessing violence and taking in the deaths of those around one takes a toll on even the most seasoned war correspondents. Dr. Anthony Feinstein, professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry, notes that the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is cumulative and the rate of this disorder is quite high among those who have been covering conflicts for more than 10 years. “The group that I studied about 10 years back, they have been doing it for an average of about 15 years and they had a rate of PTSD that was very close to what you would see in 26

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RING OF RISK Daniel Otis had been working as a freelance writer in Cam-

bodia and Burma for two years without any formal training before receiving a CJFVT bursary in 2013. At the time, his portfolio boasted shadowing a landmine-clearance team along the Cambodian-Thai frontier for The Globe and Mail, sneaking into Burma’s beleaguered Rakhine state to report on the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims for the Toronto Star and spending a week on patrol with a team of armed forest rangers in southwestern Cambodia for the Southeast Asia Globe. One of Otis’ scariest encounters happened while covering a demonstration in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in September 2013. The police opened fire on unarmed protesters with automatic rifles. As protesters responded with rocks and the police retreated, Otis found himself snapping photos while sandwiched between the protesters and the cops. Otis, who did not have any reporting experience, says he moved to Southeast Asia to cut his teeth. “I guess my thinking there was, Canadian media has no presence in that part

Insuring Safety

While the best way for freelance journalists in conflict zones to shield themselves from harm is to be well-prepared, safety measures like protective equipment, security training or health and life insurance can be cost-prohibitive. In North America, attending a five-day course on surviving hostile regions with United Kingdom-based security service firm AKE costs a hefty $4,200. That said, resources that can assist reporters do exist. Each year, the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma offers the Forum Freelance Fund. Freelancers working for Canadian news outlets can apply for bursaries of up to $2,500 to attend training courses on hazardous environments. In the United Kingdom, the Rory Peck Training Fund also provides similar bursaries to freelancers working overseas. Securing health and disability insurance is another challenge faced by many journalists, notes the Journalist Security Guide from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based non-profit organization. “A surprising number of journalists, from community radio reporters working in less-developed nations to war photojournalists working for major Western media, routinely work with little or no health insurance,” the guide states. The CPJ recommends that staff journalists thoroughly review policies, contract journalists negotiate for coverage and freelance journalists research plans that fit their needs. For journalists working internationally, Reporters Without Borders — a Paris-based international, non-profit organization that defends freedom of information and the press — in collaboration with Quebec-based insurer World Escapade Travel Insurance, offers insurance plans at competitive rates, according to the CPJ. The Canadian Media Guild is also working on providing freelancers with training and insurance.

of the world. So instead of doing a lowly unpaid internship, I figured I would just head out there and see if I could make it.” Upon returning to Toronto, Otis landed a year-long paid internship with the Toronto Star and hopes to continue conflict reporting in the future. He says he was motivated to do the safety training not so much to protect himself, but to protect others. “The reality is that when you are operating in dangerous places, you are also endangering other people — whether it be the photographers you use, the drivers you are working with, the fixers, the interpreters, the interview subjects. So safety isn’t just about personal safety.” He illustrates by citing an example of himself writing a politically controversial story in Burma. “If I get apprehended, they will deport me. But my fixers, my drivers, my interpreters, they will disappear.” In Britain, Otis attended a course administered by security service company AKE. In the course, he received firstaid training on how to stabilize someone who has sustained physical trauma, underwent general safety training on weapon identification and learned how to respond to attacks and hostage situations. He thinks that training is important because it teaches journalists how to take care of the people who help them do their work. Staying safe when reporting in a foreign land is one thing; coming back mentally unscathed is another. To address the psychological trauma that journalists returning from war zones may face, Dr. Feinstein has developed a cost-free website that offers surveys for journalists to fill out and assess their general levels of mental health. “I think education is very important. So if a journalist knows what the risks are and what the symptoms are, they might be better able to recognize it,” he says. Since Feinstein conducted a study 14 years ago on the emotional toll of reporting from war zones, newsrooms have improved in this regard. He believes that CNN and the BBC are two networks that are doing a good job by educating news managers and journalists about potential risks, providing access to confidential counselling services once journalists return from assignments and bringing in professionals to discuss warning signs indicative of mental-health issues and the appropriate courses of action that can be taken. There will always be journalists who want to report from dangerous regions, Feinstein says. “Thankfully, that is the case, because they keep us informed and it is very important work,” he notes. “But I think for journalists to do it well, they have to be healthy. And healthy journalist doesn’t just mean physical health; it also means psychological health.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Carmelle Wolfson is assistant editor of www.ohscanada.com

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ACCOMMODATION

the

human

factor BY DONALEE MOULTON

In June, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released a new policy that provides guidelines on how to define, assess, handle and resolve human-rights issues related to mental-health problems and addiction disabilities. Guidance is certainly needed, as employers in Ontario have legal obligations to accommodate employees with mental-health issues and addictions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; both of which are protected grounds under the Human Rights Code.

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IMAGE: ILLUSTRATIONSOURCE; ROB COLVIN

“

he Ontario Human Rights Code basically says you can’t discriminate on the basis of disability in the workplace, period. It doesn’t say a whole lot [more],” says Barbara Hall, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), based in Toronto. “So what does that mean for the individual and the employer?” Chris Hornberger, management consultant with Halifax Global Inc. in Nova Scotia, notes that employers are looking for information about how they can help employees and how they are expected to help employees. “Such information can be hard to come by and hard to decipher,” says Hornberger, who also sits on the board of directors with the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Network in Halifax. The Policy on Preventing Discrimination based on Mental Health Disabilities and Addictions is intended to answer that question. Camille Quenneville, chief executive officer with the Ontario division of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Toronto, says the policy will “help to advance human rights and inclusion for people living with mental-health disabilities in Ontario and will also provide employers and other service providers with greater understanding about their roles and responsibilities.” Hornberger adds that “policies like this enhance understanding, and greater understanding means that organizations are more likely to implement necessary changes.” The fact is, mental illness indirectly touches many Canadians at some points in their lives, through family members, friends or colleagues. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 20 per cent of Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetimes and approximately eight per cent of adults will suffer from a major depression. Anxiety disorders affect five per cent of households; bipolar disorder and schizophrenia each affects one per cent of Canadians. Workplaces are not spared either: mental-health problems and illnesses, which account for approximately 30 per cent of short- and long-term disability claims, are rated as one of the top three drivers of such claims by more than 80 per cent of Canadian employers. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Under section 5 of the Human Rights Code, every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to employment without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, record of offences, marital status or disability. The Code was amended in 2012 to extend protection to transgender people. As such, the 109-page document is not

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written solely for employers, but intended for use by practitioners across all social areas covered by the humanrights legislation. Celia Chandler, lawyer with Iler Campbell LLP in Toronto, notes that as the majority of human-rights applications filed with the Human Rights Tribunal are in the workplace context, the new policy frequently cites examples from employment situations. She also suggests that while the policy does not carry the weight of law, it is not without influence in the legal arena. “These policies often inform the decisions of the Human Rights Tribunal, the adjudicative arm of the human-rights framework in Ontario,” Chandler says. Changes to Ontario’s human-rights law in 2008 include section 45.5, which requires the tribunal to consider commission policies if one of the parties or an intervenor requests this. Furthermore, if the commission itself is an intervenor and believes that the tribunal’s decision is inconsistent with one of its policies, it can request that the case be referred to the Divisional Court to address the inconsistency. “There is [a] greater likelihood now that [policies] will be even more persuasive in terms of litigation,” says Catherine Peters, partner with Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP in Toronto. The policy addresses five key areas: different forms of discrimination; rights at work, in rental housing and when receiving services; organizations’ responsibilities to prevent and eliminate discrimination; creating environments that are inclusive and free from discrimination; and applying the duty to accommodate people with mental-health or addiction disabilities. The document is the outcome of work the OHRC did in mental health and addictions from 2009 to 2011, during which the organization consulted more than 1,500 individuals and groups to develop a mental-health strategy. The findings from those consultations are recorded in Minds that Matter: Report on the Consultation on Human Rights, Mental Health and Addictions, released in September 2012. The OHRC relied extensively on this input and additional consultations last year when developing the new policy. “We got the largest response to any issue we have ever gotten,” Hall says. “People were fearful. They did not know their rights.”

FEAR FACTOR Often, there is a stigma attached to mental-health issues that prevents individuals from speaking up for fear of reprisal. Colleagues and employers may also hesitate to ask or offer help, so as not to come across as being intrusive. “Everybody has had a member of the family with mental illness, and they have learned not to talk about it,” says John Starzynski, president of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada in Guelph, Ontario. “When you bring this into the open, people will react. They will be uncomfortable, even if they don’t know why they are uncomfortable,” adds Starzynski, who is also the volunteer executive director with the Ontario Lawyers’ Assistance Program in Kitchener, Ontario. Hornberger acknowledges that fear and discomfort surrounding mental-health issues have a significant effect on supervisors, workers and their colleagues. “Individuals are reluctant to disclose that they have a mental-health issue, and that makes it difficult for employers to accommodate their needs,” he suggests. Indeed, during the human-rights commission’s consultations, the OHRC heard from individuals who had quit their jobs rather than ask for an accommodation. “The fear of the stigma was greater than the loss of their job,” Hall notes. The new policy is designed to give individuals a clear understanding of their rights and perhaps help them to be more confident in asserting those rights. Accommodation is a key area. Section 17(2) of the Ontario Human Rights Code requires employers to accommodate disability to the point of undue hardship, considering cost, outside sources of funding and health and safety requirements. The duty to accommodate is guided by the following principles: respect for dignity (which includes considering how accommodation is provided and the person’s own participation in the process); individualization (addressing an individual’s needs when responding to an accommodation request); integration; and full participation (accommodations should be developed and implemented with a view to maximizing a person’s integration and full participation). “A person seeking accommodation is generally required to disclose to the employer that they have disability-related needs,” Quenneville advises. “The employer must take requests for accommodation in good faith, and requests for information should be limited to information that is related to the nature of the work-related limitation or restriction, for the purpose of needs assessment and providing accommodation,” she adds. As well, the OHRC makes it clear that organizations should not ask for unnecessary, confidential medical information and that they are not to second-guess or diagnose the

conditions themselves, Quenneville notes. But this position is a departure from the OHRC’s previous statements regarding the scope of an employer’s obligation to provide accommodation. In the past, the commission has taken a hard line on exceptions to the accommodations requirement by insisting that demonstrating undue hardship would be very difficult. Some courts and legal decision-makers have rejected this position. Now, Peters says the commission is “starting to acknowledge there are other arguments a company can make. They are starting to open up a bit.” DUTY TO ACCOMMODATE Employers may not be aware of the lengths to which they are expected to go when accommodating an employee suffering from a mental-health issue. The consequences of an employer that is found to have breached its obligations to accommodate mental-health disabilities as required under the Code can be significant. In June 2010, the OHRC delivered a decision involving a Toronto police constable, who had developed post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from an on-the-job incident. The condition interfered with his ability to perform his duties as a police officer and resulted in his overreaction to what he perceived as a threatening situation, when faced with an intoxicated patron at a fast-food restaurant. While his supervisors believed that he might be suffering from PTSD, the incident at the fast-food chain was investigated as simply a case of professional misconduct. They did not offer appropriate accommodation and, instead, suspended him as unfit for duty. “The police services board was

While the policy does not carry the weight of law, it is not without influence in the legal arena. ordered to reinstate him and pay him $35,000 for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect,” Chandler reports. “If an employer perceives that an individual has a mental-health disability or addiction, then the employer has a responsibility to inquire about accommodation-related needs,” Quenneville stresses. BEST PRACTICES The OHRC highlights some of the best practices for employers who want to ensure that they have discharged their obligations towards employees’ accommodation-related needs. Instead of waiting for employees to speak up, Starzynski www.ohscanada.com

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recommends that employers recognize the real factors — discrimination, reprisal and isolation — that inhibit employees with a mental illness or an addiction problem from stepping forward. Adopting a proactive approach also helps: employers should ask what accommodations can be made to help with the employee’s job. “Have a list of accommodations ready. Show what you are able to offer,” Starzynski advises. “Employers want to do this because employees are valuable. It is pretty darn expensive to replace someone.” Hornberger recommends putting flexible policies in place. “Mental-health issues are often episodic. Individuals may be fine for several weeks, months or years. But when an issue arises, support needs to be in place and this support needs to be backed by policy that gives employees the time, space and resources they need.” In its policy, the OHRC encourages organizations to develop strategies to prevent discrimination based on all grounds identified in the provincial Human Rights Code, with specific consideration given to people with psychosocial disabilities. A complete strategy to prevent and address human-rights issues should include the following: a barrier prevention, review and removal plan; anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies; an education and training pro-

gram; an internal complaints procedure; and an accommodation policy and procedure. Training can also help employers understand their obligations and the opportunities they have to help valued employees. This will not only create a culture that embraces all workers, but also send an important message about the company’s commitment to diversity and respect in the workplace. Beyond training, Chandler advises that employers review employment policies and practices to ensure that all hiring, management and termination fall within the parameters delineated in the Code. “Observing and promoting the employer’s human-rights obligations not only ensures that the workplace reflects the diversity of the broader community, which is good for business and creates a more robust organization, but it is the law,” Chandler says. Distinguishing fact from fiction may be part of this support. For example, many people associate mental illness with an increased propensity for violence. “People with mentalhealth-related disabilities are no more likely to be violent than members of the general population,” Quenneville says. “In fact, people with mental-health disabilities are more likely than the general population to be victims of violence.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Donalee Moulton is a writer in Halifax.

The Legal Test Ontario’s Human Rights Code seeks to eradicate discrimination in employment, housing and the provision of services. As such, the new Policy on Preventing Discrimination based on Mental Health Disabilities and Addictions, released in June by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, was developed to guide society at large in respecting the rights of people with mental-health or addiction disabilities. For employers who face human-rights complaints within their organizations, the policy cites the following factors that will be considered when assessing if an organization has met its duty when responding to a human-rights claim: • Procedures in place at the time to deal with discrimination and harassment; • The promptness of the organization in responding to the complaint; • How seriously the complaint was treated; • Resources made available to deal with the complaint; • Whether the organization has provided a healthy environment for the person who complained; and

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

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• H ow well the action taken was communicated to the person who lodged the complaint. The new policy, however, does not speak to substance testing, which is addressed in another document prepared by the commission. Nevertheless, the two policies work together as guides for, among others, employers who want to ensure that they have fulfilled their obligations under the province’s Human Rights Code, says Celia Chandler, a lawyer with Iler Campbell LLP in Toronto. As drug or alcohol dependency can fall within the protected ground of disability, health and safety is certainly one of the considerations when determining whether an employer has accommodated an addiction problem to the point of undue hardship. “The human-rights commission states in its Policy on Drug and Alcohol Testing that substance testing is prima facie discriminatory. However, it lays out a test to meet and a process to be followed in the case of testing for safetysensitive positions,” Chandler says.

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CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Under DURESS

BY JEAN LIAN

As trees turn brown and shed their leaves this fall, memories of the last ice storm that left hundreds of thousands of households in Ontario without power for days remain fresh in the minds of many people. Some studies on climate change suggest that severe weather events will occur with increasing frequency around the world. What will it mean for workplaces and safetysensitive industries should the perfect storm strike?

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e see more of these events along the way,” William Piispanen, senior director of corporate environment, health and safety with URS Corporation in Boise, Idaho, said at a presentation on assessing and managing workplace risks of natural disasters in June at the Safety 2014 conference in Orlando. “It is pretty unnerving when you start reading some of their projections.” Piispanen cited Hurricane Sandy, which occurs every seven years, as a severe weather event that has now been adjusted to take place every five years. Canada’s chemical industry is talking a lot more about ice- and heat-related events, according to Bob Masterson, vice-president of responsible care with the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada in Ottawa. “Those are two that come up quite a bit in our industry, which seems to be seeing more ice than it has in the past.” New research from Florida State University, released in August, links the strength and frequency of tornadoes hitting the United States to climate change. The findings of the study, published in the journal Climate Dynamics, indicate that tornadoes are taking fewer days to form per year, but at a greater density and strength than ever before. “We may be less threatened by tornadoes on a day-today basis, but when they do come, they come like there is no tomorrow,” says study author James Elsner, Ph.D., professor with the department of geography at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Dr. Elsner says in the past, many researchers dismissed the effect of climate change on tornadoes, as there was no distinct pattern in the number of tornado days per year. There were 187 tornado days in 1971, compared to only 79 in 2013. But a deeper examination of the data showed greater severity in the types of storms and that more were happening on a given day than in previous years. According to a report released in December 2011 by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions in Arlington, Virginia, Munich Re — the world’s largest reinsurance company that has compiled data on global disaster from 1980 to 2010 — found that 2010 had the secondlargest number (after 2007) of recorded natural disasters and the fifth-greatest economic losses. More than 90 per cent of all disasters and 65 per cent of associated economic damages were weather- and climate-related, such as high winds, flooding, heavy snowfall, heat waves, droughts and wildfires. In all, 874 weather- and climate-related disasters resulted in 68,000 deaths and $99 billion in damages worldwide in 2010, notes the study, Extreme Weather and Climate Change: Understanding the Link and Managing the Risk. While organizations do not have a crystal ball to divine the types of crises that can beset them, they do have the ability to prepare for these incidents. “A crisis is when events occur that daunt people’s ability to cope in a planned way,” says Gordon Mack, man-

aging partner of consulting firm Strategic Improvement Company in Oakville, Ontario. Conducting an operational audit to determine a company’s stress points is the first thing that needs to be done. “Unless we know those things, we don’t really know what needs to be in our incident-management plan.” The definition of crisis is broad and can encompass anything from an explosion, a chemical spill, a ladder falling on a worker, a workplace dispute or harassment to

“Weather events that happen halfway across the world can interrupt business in Canada.” a natural calamity, says Allan Bonner, president of Allan Bonner Communications Management Inc. in Toronto. “What is it that makes you vulnerable?” Bonner asks. Given the myriad ways in which a workplace emergency can manifest itself, Masterson advises organizations to take a broader approach towards workplace health and safety management. “All industries are much more connected than they were in the past. Supply chains are very long and very complex,” he says. “Weather events that happen halfway across the world can interrupt business in Canada just as much as an event that takes place right at your own doorstep.” Bonner adds that companies preparing a crisis-response plan should be guided by the need to build redundancies into their systems. An incident-management plan must consider all possible emergencies that can occur in a workplace, the consequences, required actions, written procedures and the resources available. It should also contain a list of personnel contact numbers, their duties and responsibilities, including floor plans and large-scale maps showing evacuation routes and service conduits, notes the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario. As with any crisis or emergency situation, “there is going to be some element that is unanticipated, unexpected or not planned or budgeted for,” says Tricia Wachtendorf, Ph.D., associate director of the Disaster Research Centre at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. Instead of wondering whether severe weather events are indeed increasing due to climate change, attention should focus on the steps that need to be taken. “One of the behaviours that is expected is a good deal of improvisation that is going to occur, and necessary for that organization to contend with very uncertain, unfolding, everchanging events,” Dr. Wachtendorf notes. WEAKEST LINKS Having a plan in place is one thing, but what should a company be prepared to deal with in the event of a crisis? “The first thing you need to understand is, who might reasonably show up? Who is going to be interested in conducting some sort of investigation? Each and every www.ohscanada.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

one of these people comes with a different agenda,” says Steven Pereira, principal of Professional Safety Associates, LLP in Denham Springs, Los Angeles. Pereira, who also delivered a presentation at Safety 2014, cited regulators, safety inspectors, personal-injury lawyers, law enforcers (if the prospect of criminal prosecution is present) and insurance-company representatives among the litany of people who could show up following a disaster. “People always come first,” Pereira stresses. “You have got to provide support for any injured workers and their

training an incident-management team that can be called into action when a crisis occurs is also key. The team leader, a high-level individual who represents the face of a company, must be familiar with the company and its facility operations, since he or she will be responsible for a host of incident-related activities that include liaising with various parties involved in the investigation, briefing company executives, approving the release of documents and reviewing the investigation process. The larger and more complex an organization, the more people will need to be drawn upon, Bonner says. He stresses the importance of training technical experts proficient in regulatory standards and safety codes like the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System and Transportation of Dangerous Goods regulations, since their expertise will likely be tapped on during an investigation, particularly regarding issues surrounding liability and negligence. Pereira notes that technical experts or engineers will typically be called upon to assume the role of investigation-team members in the incident-management team, which can also include union representatives, safety and environment personnel, supervisors and employees knowledgeable in a particular process or work task. These people are responsible for interfacing with responding agencies, verifying that the site is safe for entry and identifying or collecting evidence in the event of a crisis. Other members needed in an incident-management team include the following: • A documents coordinator in charge of processing requests for documents associated with an incident; • An evidence custodian who stores and ensures the security of all evidence collected; • A purchasing agent who can promptly secure services and equipment requested by the incident-management team leader; • A financial officer who maintains accurate records of all costs associated with the event and releases necessary funds to support the process; • A human-resources representative who schedules employee interviews, coordinates employee-assistance program activities and works with personnel and family members; • A logistics representative to handle requests for office space or equipment needed during the investigation and recovery process, coordinate contractor services and arrange for food and lodgings as necessary; and • A legal representative to offer counsel. But will these essential personnel show up for work when disaster strikes? Dr. Wachtendorf says research that has looked at this question over the past century found that by and large, people do show up if they are deemed essential personnel — provided they have assurance that their family members are safe. “Research has suggested that what organizations in-

“You have to do a business continuity plan that is distinct for your operations.” family members, and you got to work with local people, including the press.” He observes that people posting comments online from the scene are increasingly seen in crisis situations. “You need to have some sort of social-media presence, and you need to activate that, so that if false or misleading information is getting out, you get the opportunity to correct it, or at least, manage it to some degree.” Information management aside, the type of industry and its unique operational requirements need to be considered when drawing up such a plan. “You have to do a business continuity plan that is distinct for your operations,” Masterson says. For example, an ice storm can knock out electricity, which may not be restored anytime soon. “What are the steps I really need to do to keep the plant, the workers, the environment and the local community safe? That is going to be very different than the service industry.” There is also the possibility that employees may be stuck at their workplaces following an incident. Dr. Wachtendorf cites the ice storm in Arkansas earlier this year, when people at work or in school could not travel home because of icy conditions. As well, vulnerabilities stemming from disruption to external supply chains and vendors can arise. Dr. Wachtendorf refers to a study that examined the ability of care facilities to clear snow and provide bus transportation for residents in the event of an emergency. “Every facility we talked to said they have contracts and mutual-aid agreements with their organizations, their routine vendors and that they were a priority,” she reports. But not everyone can be a priority in a crisis. “Are you recognizing that those vendors that you routinely rely upon might be pulled in a host of different directions and suddenly, all that planning you have done has a vulnerability in place?” THE INNER CIRCLE A plan is only that — a document — if other people are not aware of it. Pereira points out that assembling and 36

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volved in emergency management need to do is make sure that people can have those assurances that their families are okay, that they are able to communicate with them,” Dr. Wachtendorf says. As such, she recommends that companies educate staff on how to put together a family emergency-management plan and make that part of the day-to-day operations or expectations. IN CONVERSATION Mack from Strategic Improvement Company has spent the better part of his career as an investigator in various capacities — both workplace and criminal. He says nothing sets off the alarm bells for him like someone trying to control the flow of information or restrict access to witnesses. One common mistake that companies make when managing a crisis is to hold the communication too closely among senior management who are not involved with the situation. “I see it happening from time to time,” Mack says. “My immediate concern is understanding what occurred. And

Man versus Nature It is a sign of the times. With climate change, the insurance industry is adjusting its loss projections for more frequent severe weather events. When planning to respond to crises presented by natural calamities, companies should consider their coping strategies based on pre-, during- and post-event operations. “Know your risk, learn what you need to, prevent where possible and what you can’t prevent, you prepare for,” William Piispanen, senior director of corporate environment, health and safety with URS Corporation in Boise, Idaho, said at Safety 2014 held in June in Orlando. He recommends the following steps when managing natural hazards: • When conducting a general exposure assessment on the likelihood of natural hazards that a facility may be exposed to, refer to historical data and consider whether the weather event is likely to be sudden and unexpected or slow-occurring, such as drought and sea-level rise. • Evaluate the facility and operations to determine the adequacy of existing protective systems. Use current building codes as a starting point for evaluating structural resistance, inspecting facilities regularly, stocking and maintaining critical supplies, prioritizing critical operations and developing mitigation procedures. • Establish a strategy to prepare the facility in responding to natural disasters. Prevent the damage and injury forces of the weather event from reaching the facility or operations, limit the interaction of these forces with the facility and personnel and plan for the recovery and continuity of operations.

I think that if you do those kinds of things in order to maintain control of the situation, you are closing the barn door after the horse is gone.” Bonner agrees, adding that “it is the facts of the matter that matter.” While employees are often nervous about talking to regulators, employers should prepare them by letting them know what their rights are — not telling them what to say. “We want your employee to be truthful, but we also tell them don’t speculate,” Pereira advises. As an agent of the company, a manager’s knowledge or apparent indifference to a hazard will be attributed to the company for the purpose of classifying the violation. “From a legal standpoint, what managers have to say during a regulatory interview will almost always be imputed to and bind the company,” Pereira explains. As such, he advises companies to have legal representation under such circumstances. He also cautions against managers signing any statements. “What we want our managers to do is listen to the questions. Don’t volunteer additional information and don’t agree with negative connotations.” Companies should establish an internal employeecommunications program to inform workers of these issues and train them accordingly. “There is actually case law in the United States that if you have a due-diligence program — even if it was not effective — it would lessen liability and damages,” Bonner suggests. The best strategy is to play it safe. “No one ever went out of business because they work safely,” Mack offers. When faced with a chaotic situation that presents competing demands, Mack sets out the priorities as follows: immediate welfare of employees and customers; business continuity; regulatory and investigative compliance; and learning from the incident. For Masterson, all companies and facilities need to incorporate severe weather events and other external incidents into the scenario-planning exercise. As with any crisis or emergency, employees will be stressed and overwhelmed. While being professional and cooperative with investigating authorities will go a long way in facilitating the process, Pereira advises companies to protect their rights and not to be afraid to push back when faced with unreasonable requests. He also cautions against turning over electronic documents to any requesting parties. “Every piece of information you turn over, you want to stamp ‘company confidential’ on it, because when it gets into litigation, you don’t want a lot of your business practices out there on the street.” Following the chain of command and looking at the big picture will help guide companies in the right direction amidst the chaos of a crisis, Pereira says. “What you do in those opening days can have implications for years to come when the litigation starts to come into play.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jean Lian is editor of

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

SAFETY GEAR

FALL PROTECTION

Heading for a Fall By Jeff Cottrill

or people who work at heights, falls are a common cause of both injuries and fatalities — not only in the construction industry, but also in industrial workplaces, transportation and many other sectors. According to 2011 statistics from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, more than 42,000 work injuries from falls occur across the country every year. This number accounts for about 17 per cent of time-loss injuries accepted by Canadian workers’ compensation boards; more than a third of those are falls from heights. Certainly, laws are in place to penalize unsafe practices that could lead to falls, and fall-protection equipment is mandatory in most provinces for those who work at heights of three metres or more. As numerous safety companies offer fall-protection equipment, there is a wide variety of products in the field, notes John Fuke, technical services manager for Canada at Capital Safety’s office in Malton, Ontario. “It is quite a breadth,” he says, adding that fall-protection products are “The price commonly classified under four basic categories of A, B, C and D — the first for proper three of which together comprise a system designed for maximum protection: A: Anchorage connectors, which an- fall-protection chor workers to surfaces at heights equipment is by connecting them to tie-off points, such as scaffold beams; non-existent B: Body wear or body-support devices, which consist of personal protective compared to equipment that workers wear on or around their bodies, particularly what the lawfull-body harnesses; C: Connecting devices, such as shocksuits are.” absorbing lanyards and self-retracting lifelines, which link B to A; and D: Descent-and-rescue products, including automatic and manual descenders, rope-access products and industrialgrade descenders. Rob Sawchuk — sales and marketing manager with Northern Platforms Ltd., a firm in Leduc, Alberta that designs, supplies and installs fall-protection products for workers who climb onto rail cars and trucks — offers an alternative way of categorizing fall-protection equipment. “In my opinion, there are two types of fall protection: there is a proactive approach and a reactive approach.” An example of reactive equipment is a fall-arrest system in which a worker wears a harness anchored at a single point with a self-retracting lifeline. “When you fall, the system reacts. The self-retracting lifeline locks up, the harness holds you in place,” Sawchuk explains. 38

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Northern Platforms’ equipment, on the other hand, offers a more proactive approach to arresting falls. “We provide basically an enclosure. We use a gangway and a safety cage,” Sawchuk says. When a worker inside a safety cage loses his balance, there is no fall distance associated with the plunge. “The worst thing you are going to get is a bruised knee or a bruised ego.” PRO’S CHOICE Given the array of fall-protection equipment available on the market, Fuke advises a company to narrow down its choices by focusing more on the type of equipment it needs and less on the brand name or manufacturing company. “Some of our competitors also produce products that are of a similar nature,” Fuke notes. As such, what really matters is the type of work that is involved, which “will generally tell you what kind of product you can use, with respect to both anchorage and body support.” Chuck Roberts, business development supervisor for fall protection in the personal-safety division of 3M Canada in London, Ontario, says it is the employer’s responsibility to understand what their employees are working with. “They have got to understand what their fall-arrest concerns are.” For example, it is important to consider what Roberts calls the “danger zone”, or the working room that the employee has from the working surface to the ground. The company offers a fall-protection product specifically designed for people who work alone. Its Personal Rescue Device, which can lower a person about 65 feet within half a minute, is a lightweight harness attached to a nylon backpack; the worker wears the backpack while the harness is attached to a secure surface or beam. What makes it different is the release cord that a fallen worker can pull to lower himself down to the ground or floor, slowly and safely, without assistance. This way, the worker does not have to be suspended in mid-air, waiting for a rescue team. Tom Dillon, market development manager with Miller Fall Protection (a subsidiary of Honeywell Safety Products) in Smithfield, Rhode Island, recommends that prospective buyers measure the value of a system according to what is required. “Every employer needs to work with a fall-protection manufacturer, work with the users of the equipment themselves, work with their safety professionals,” he advises. Some of the criteria to consider include the work itself, how critical it is to finish the task and the length of time it takes to do so. “If you say, ‘Well, we do this job once a year for 15 minutes, and then we put all this stuff away and we never use it again for another year,’ you probably don’t need to buy the most expensive harness for that individual,” Dillon cites by way of example. It is also important to assess whether the job involves unique, additional hazards apart from height, says Marc

PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): MSA SAFETY; 3M CANADA; MILLER FALL PROTECTION

Harkins, product group manager of fall protection with MSA Safety in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. “If I am doing something in general industry or basic construction, at that point, I can go with a product that is probably made of nylon or polyester,” Harkins says. But for employees who work up in a bucket truck or on utility lines, an ASTM-rated product will be required. In other words, a job that carries the risk of arc flashes requires fall-arrest gear that is fire-retardant. Similarly, a welding job at a height may require fall-protection gear made of Kevlar or Nomex material to protect workers — and the gear itself — from weld splatter. MSA’s fall-protection line has separate categories tailored to suit different jobs and hazard levels. Its “workman” or economy line offers basic, no-frills fall protection, while its mid-grade inventory incorporates several features like comfort padding or buckles to the basic functions. The company’s highest-end line includes products designed for workers who need fall protection on a full-time basis. These products blend compliance with comfort, featuring non-binding shoulder pads, squared-off leg straps, varying buckle options and material offering protection from flashes or weld splatter. Harkins cites other factors that need to be considered when choosing fall-protection products. They include assessing whether the worker is alone or in a group, if the worker is moving vertically or horizontally, how far he or she is from the anchorage point, if the anchorage point is a ceiling far above and whether drilling or welding is involved. “Those are all the different kind of things that we all enquire about,” he says. SAFE, NOT SORRY The costs of such protective equipment vary widely. Prices can range anywhere from $20 for a simple harness up to $5,000 for a more elaborate rescue system, Roberts says. But price should not be the sole deciding factor. “When you look at fines and court appeals and lawsuits that happen when employers don’t properly protect their workers, the price for a rescue system, the price for proper fall-protection equipment, is non-existent compared to what the lawsuits are,” Roberts cautions, adding that most employers do not haggle over cost if they can get effective, simple solutions in place. But there are other ways that prospective buyers may choose a product for the wrong reasons, such as when an employer does not ask enough questions or the right ones. “It can be overwhelming if you are not really in tune with the latest standards or the latest updates,” Harkins notes. “If I am buying a nylon harness when I am welding, there is a good chance that if I am not inspecting it as regularly as I should,

that it could put worker safety at risk.” It can also lead to a situation in which one replaces a harness more often than one would with a more expensive type of harness, which could end up costing even more. “Not every worker on that site may need the same product; maybe they are different,” Harkins adds. Even after the employer gets the product-selection part right, attention should be paid to its use. Certain environmental factors can affect the strength and reliability of a harness or lifeline, especially if the equipment is exposed to the elements when used outdoors. Dillon notes that water can reduce the effectiveness of some products, particularly saltwater. “Sun can be a factor, wind can be a factor,” he says. “All those things can come into play.” Work with chemicals, paints or solvents can affect one’s equipment as well. “It just depends on what those chemicals are and what you might need,” he adds. Sawchuk agrees that climate is a common factor in determining the longevity of a fall-arrest system. “For us, definitely, we have got winter up to 10 months of the year in Alberta.” In fact, weather, location and other worksite conditions should not be ignored when selecting the Fall protection comes type of fall-protection equipment in various forms: MSA’s needed. For example, whether a bypass system for two system is to be installed indoors workers (top left), 3M’s or outdoors is a question that Personal Rescue Device employers should consider, since for lone workers (top that can affect how easy it will be right) and Miller’s oil to maintain the system and, suband gas harness for sequently, how costly that may be. harsh environments (left).

TENDER LOVING CARE Fuke recommends reading the instructions that come with protective gear in order to learn how to extend its lifespan. “We put out user manuals for a reason,” he says. “We are trying not just to teach you how to use the gear, but we are also trying to teach you how to store and maintain the gear, because those things are very, very important.” He advises that fall-protection equipment should be kept dry and stored in a cool, clean place out of the sun. Fuke explains that storing the webbing (the body of the belt, harness or lanyard) wet and in the sun allows ultraviolet rays to penetrate the web and weaken it. “If you store them grimy and dirty, the dirt and the grime will start working on the fibres and the web and start breaking it down.” As that happens, the gear becomes fuzzy, making it unusable. He cites some of Capital Safety’s clients who have kept their harnesses in perfect working condition for more than 10 or 15 years due to proper maintenance and storage. Regular inspections of fall-protection equipment are a must, according to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, Ontario. Before use, a worker should inspect the entire surface of the webbing for possible www.ohscanada.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

AGAINST FALLS AND MORE Although gravity is what fall-protection equipment tries to protect workers against, some companies are now designing products with the possibilities of worker exhaustion and dehydration in mind. In any industry in which a worker engages in physical activity, a certain percentage of almost every accident can be attributed to either a combination of fatigue and dehydration or one of those two, says Tom Dillon, market development manager with Miller Fall Protection in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Dillon cites emergency services like police work, firefighting and construction, as examples of sectors in which physical exhaustion can sometimes breed falls. “Because of that, we are trying to develop products that are not just safer, but can help with eliminating the fatigue and dehydration, making them lighter, more breathable, things of that nature.” A variance of just a few ounces in lifting and carrying all day can make a big difference in the fatigue factor, he adds. Another recent development in fall protection comes from MSA Safety, which has released what it calls a “bypass system” for horizontal lifelines. It is designed for situations

damage. The best way to do that is to bend the webbing into an upside-down “U”, hold the body about 15 to 20 centimetres from one’s face and look for frayed edges, broken fibres, pulled stitches, chemical spills or any other damage. Buckles should also be inspected in case of loose, distorted or broken grommets, including sharp edges or loose, pitted or cracked rivets, information from the centre’s website notes. Roberts recommends that employers inspect their equipment on both a per-use and an annual basis. “Every time you put on your fall-protection equipment, you should be doing a visual inspection,” he says. “What the regulations state is that on an annual basis, you should have all your fall-protection equipment inspected by a competent and trained person.” The annual check would take factors like extreme temperatures, dust, debris and regular wear and tear into account. In addition, employers must be mindful of substances that will likely come into contact with the gear. “Water affects some aspects of fall protection, moisture as well, but you start getting into chemicals and oil and stuff like that, they can have a potentially deadly effect on how the equipment properly works,” Roberts adds. The Personal Rescue Device from 3M is a product that requires inspection before each use, and in the event of deployment during a fall, the employer must send it back to the Canada Safety Centre in Brockville, Ontario, where it will be replaced or recertified. TAKE NO CHANCES As with any other equipment or tools on a worksite, fallprotection equipment can succumb to ordinary wear and tear. “People ask us all the time, ‘How long should my harness last?’” Dillon reports. “It all depends on who is using it exactly in what application, what else could have affected it in the process.” And that is why constant inspection is vital. Dillon illustrates with a scenario in which a worker inspects a system in the morning before use, but takes it off and tosses it on the 40

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in which two workers are on a system, both attached to the lifeline. Traditionally, if the workers have had to switch positions or one had to pass the other, they would disconnect from the system for a few seconds and reconnect after changing positions. “And that is an opportunity for a fall event,” says Marc Harkins, MSA’s product group manager for fall protection in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. “So what we did was, we took the typical O-ring or the basic attachment point, and we developed new shuttles that actually allow workers to pass by each other without having to disconnect. They slide right through each other.” Harkins adds that CSA Group and the American National Standards Institute update their standards for fall protection every five years or so. He points out that one of the reasons why the standards are updated so frequently is technology, which changes over time. “As more people in the field learn more information, do further testing, new materials are developed, new energyabsorbing webbing and tapes and things become available,” Harkins suggests.

floor just before lunch. Should he re-inspect it before putting the equipment back on after lunch? Absolutely, Dillon says. “Because something could have happened to it in that 30 minutes or whatever, an hour, since you have laid it down there. A truck could have run over it, didn’t see it. Somebody could have dropped a welding torch on it and then picked it up and walked away. If you are not looking at it every single time, all those environmental factors could affect what would be the outcome of an accident.” Sawchuk points out that certain types of equipment, particularly those with a self-retracting lifeline, may expire after one fall. “If somebody falls on one of our systems, the first thing that happens is that system is quarantined,” he explains. An engineer or other type of certified professional has to inspect the system and confirm whether the buckles, cables or lifelines are good for reuse or whether the employer needs to replace the equipment. Other gear, such as Northern Platforms’ gangways and safety cages, has a low cost of ownership and a long lifespan if the company keeps up the maintenance. Despite some notable technological improvements added to certain brands, Roberts says the types of fall-protection equipment currently available have hardly changed over the last two decades. “They might be a different colour, they might be a little lighter,” he notes. “But the technology behind that has not changed.” From harnesses, lanyards, self-retracting lifelines and anchors to pre-engineered horizontal lifeline systems, confined-space products and rescue equipment, the product range is certainly very broad. “Not everybody is a so-called expert when it comes to how to properly use the equipment,” Roberts suggests. “There are multiple applications out there, and it is trying to fit the right product with the right application, while keeping everything simple and easy to use.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jeff Cottrill is editorial assistant of

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Product Highlights The following are some of the safety products and systems showcased at the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) 2014 Professional Development Conference, held in Calgary from September 14 to 17. Hand Protection: Rig Lizard Arctic® 2033 glove, Arctic Mitt 4050 and Rig Lizard Arctic® 2026 glove from HexArmor® When temperatures drop, our hands are exposed to an additional risk of injury. These cold-weather gloves and mitts will be available on the market this October. The HexArmor® 4050 Arctic Mitt has 150 grams of Thinsulate™, a fullimpact exoskeleton with smash guards and a durable oil-resistant palm.

Slip-Resistant Foot Protection: ErgoMate™ Ice-R from Impacto® Impacto®’s slip-resistant ErgoMate™ Ice-R ice cleat is designed for workers who walk or stand on snow or ice. It uses Ergos EVA anti-fatigue foam and employs a retractable cleat design. Its patented strapping system makes it easy to put on and take off, while offering a comfortable fit.

Safety Eyewear: Brazeau Designer series from Edge Eyewear The Brazeau Designer series, which offers polarized and non-polarized safety eyewear, now come in Canadian-specific designs. All of Edge Eyewear’s eyeglasses meet CSA Z94.3-07 and Military Ballistic MCEPS GL-PD 10-12 safety standards.

Noise Protection: Custom-fit hearing protectors from dB Blocker These hearing protectors are custom-fit to users and protect them from harmful frequencies. Models include the Non-Vented Grip designed for easy insertion and removal for larger hands, Communicate Ear, which allows in-ear two-way reception, and Metal Detectable for use in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Injury Protection: Professional cabinet saw from SawStop The SawStop professional cabinet saw has a patented safety system that stops the blade upon contact with skin to prevent hand injuries. Its diagnostic system ensures that an aluminum brake stops the blade’s momentum when it comes into contact with human skin, which is conductive. Blade guards and dust-collection guards are available with this product.

Vibration-Exposure Testing: SV 103 hand-arm vibration dosimeter from Svantek The Svantek SV 103 hand-arm vibration dosimeter is the world’s first hand-arm vibration dosimeter that accurately measures the vibration dose received by the operator. The instrument attaches to the user’s arm and the micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer straps to the hand.

Eyewash: Diphoterine® eye-decontaminant solution from Prevor Diphoterine® solution is a Health-Canadaapproved Class 2 eye decontaminant designed to treat corrosive splashes to the skin and eyes by absorbing and neutralizing acids, bases and irritants. Available in Canada through Levitt-Safety, Diphoterine® solution protects eye and skin-tissue cells by creating a reverse absorption effect.

MSDS Management: SafeStation from Hazmat Systems Inc. Hazmat Systems Inc. offers the SafeStation digital database and an online material safety data sheet (MSDS) management system that updates MSDSs and any health information pertinent to each organization. It also issues warnings when MSDSs are about to expire and indexes MSDSs for quick searching.

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

SPECIAL REPORT

LEGISLATION

Province Engages Industry By Carmelle Wolfson

lberta is working with industry partners and the western provinces to reduce red tape, simplify processes and review and remove outdated and irrelevant pieces of legislation. That is the message delivered by Fazal Hussein, senior workplace safety engineer and team lead of oh&s policy and legislation with the Government of Alberta, at the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) 2014 Professional Development Conference, held in Calgary from September 14 to 17. “Our Code has some parts that are coming from many, many years [ago] that sometimes don’t make sense. So we are focused on what is relevant with technology and with workers today,” says Hussein, who spoke at the session, entitled “Alberta OHS Legislation — New Trends”. One major change to the province’s workplace health and safety legislation over the last year was the introduction of workplace safety tickets in January. “What is ticketing? It is just like a traffic ticket,” Hussein illustrates. Just as a traffic-enforcement officer stops a driver for speeding, workplace safety officers who are currently being trained to operate as “peace officers” can now issue on-the-spot fines to workers or employers who do not comply with any of the 67 ticketable occupational health and safety provisions in Alberta. For instance, if a worker is found not wearing a hard hat or protective boots, the employee and, potentially, the employer could be fined. Penalties issued to workers hover between $100 and $200, while those meted out to employers range from $300 to $500. Workers and employers can choose to pay the fines or challenge the penalties in court. If a person does not pay and fails to appear in court, the oh&s officer will have the discretion to issue a warrant for arrest. Hussein reports that as of September 15, 31 tickets had been issued. The provincial government has an obligation to ensure the health and safety of workers, Hussein says, adding that he has received a lot of criticism from the public. In July, two workers — one of whom was a 15-year-old — were killed at separate gravel-crushing sites in Alberta. It is also the only province in Canada where farm workers are not covered under workplace safety legislation. This has prompted labour leaders to call out the province for lax labour and safety laws. When asked what the government is doing to protect young workers, Hussein responds that the enforcement branch is investigating the fatality involving the teen worker. “We have a lot of programs in place, and we are also actively working with the sand and gravel industry for the code review as well. So we are coming up with new requirements for those.” Every three days, an Albertan dies from injury or illness sustained while earning a living. That statistic includes retired workers who have fallen ill or have suffered injuries as a result of their work. More than 70 Albertans miss work due to job 42

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related injuries every day. In 2013, the province recorded 188 occupational fatalities and 27,134 lost-time claims. “All these statistics provide a small snapshot of the need, the responsibility of the government, to create some legislation that ensures the health and safety of workers,” he notes. FACE TO FACE A new trend in Alberta’s legislation review is engaging stakeholders. Instead of just consulting stakeholders who are not involved in the decision-making process, Hussein says regulators are now working closely with industry players throughout the entire code-review process. Under this new approach, regulators will meet with industry stakeholders, explain the regulator’s objectives and requirements and listen to their recommendations. The benefit of incorporating stakeholders as part of the decision-making process is clear to the safety engineer. “It turns opposition into support,” suggests Hussein, who believes that company THREE MAKE ONE There are three pieces of workplace safety legislation in Alberta: the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act, the OH&S Regulation and the OH&S Code, notes Fazal Hussein, senior workplace safety engineer and team lead of oh&s policy and legislation with the Government of Alberta. Hussein says the purpose of this legislation is to ensure “that every worker comes home to the family safe and healthy every day.” While employers are generally aware that they must comply with health and safety requirements, the difference between the Act, Regulation and Code may be confusing to some. He explains that the Act is the highest level of legislation, which broadly defines the applications, powers, duties and penalties. “[The] Act, we don’t usually review very often, because that is very high-level [legislation],” Hussein says. The Act sets standards to protect and promote the health and safety of Alberta’s workers, defines the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, establishes the authority and powers of safety officers, establishes broad rules of procedure in cases of workplace incidents and creates the authority of the Regulation and Code. “So the Regulation and Code are under the authority of this Act.” The Regulation addresses the requirements reflecting broad government policies and administrative matters, while the OH&S Code details specific, technical requirements. “The regulations we review every 10 years, because those are mostly administrative,” Hussein notes. Alberta has recently extended the timeline for the code-review process from three to five years to allow more time for industry to comply with the new rules.

top brass do not want injuries to affect production and bottom lines or lead to workplace investigations. Three projects have been undertaken recently to engage stakeholders in this way: a quad review of the oil and gas sector in western Canadian jurisdictions; coordination with Natural Resources Canada and the fireworks, pyrotechnics and explosives industry; and inspections and review of the sand and gravel industry. The quad-review process was initiated by Saskatchewan to compare oil and gas safety requirements applicable in the four western provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and recommend the best approach to legislation taken from all these regulators. Since each jurisdiction has different requirements relating to oil and gas safety, this poses a challenge to companies transporting oil and gas across provinces, since first-aid and certification requirements change as they cross jurisdictions. After reviewing the various requirements with a consultant, Saskatchewan recommended to western regulators the best parts of those requirements for inclusion in the new legislation. The Alberta government is meeting with members of the oil and gas industry to solicit feedback on changes to part 37 of the OH&S Code. “It was a big step in the beginning,” he says, “because we usually prefer performance-based requirements in Alberta historically.” The province has also been in discussion with the fireworks, pyrotechnics, special-effects and explosives industry and Natural Resources Canada. While the transportation and

storage of explosives require a federal permit and must adhere to federal requirements, matters relating to explosives used in the workplace fall under the jurisdiction of Alberta. As such, the regulator has created a document proposing changes to reduce confusion arising from this jurisdictional issue. Another example of efforts the regulator is taking to “reduce red tape” and “identify A new trend areas for consistency” across jurisdictions making changes to the certificain Alberta’s involves tion needed for blasters, since requirements vary from province to province. legislation In terms of reviewing the oh&s legislation in the sand and gravel industry, review is “there are still a lot of issues with that,” he notes. “Sand and gravel operations are engaging under the auspice of the mining [legislastakeholders. tion], and industry is not willing to call it a mining operation, so there are different requirements.” Currently, inspections are being conducted in the sand and gravel industry. Hussein encourages stakeholders, including individuals and industry groups, to take part in the code-review process, which takes place from October 1 to December 15. “If you don’t participate now, you may have to live with it — whether you like it or not — for the next five years.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Carmelle Wolfson is assistant editor of

ohs canada.

Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals 2014 Volunteer of the Year Announcement Carmen Mager is a health and safety professional at the Toronto Transit Commission specializing in transit safety. Carmen is responsible for developing and facilitating health and safety training, serves as the Management Co-Chair on her local Joint Health and Safety Committee and has led serious incident investigation teams. Carmen holds a BA degree in Canadian Studies from York University, a Masters Certificate in Adult Training and Development from Schulich School of Business and certificates in Occupational Health and Safety, Business Administration and Public Relations from Ryerson University. A CRSP since 2003, she is serving as Chair of the Item Writing Committee and recently worked on the Competency Review Project. Carmen enjoys the opportunity to advance the health and safety profession along with other dedicated and knowledgeable CRSPs. As Carmen believes that the learning never stops, she is continuing her studies in the field of health and safety, as well as volunteering her time in other areas. She finds volunteering to be very rewarding and encourages everyone to get involved. The Board’s Volunteer of the Year program was initiated in 2001 in conjunction with its 25th anniversary and the United Nation’s “Year of the Volunteer”. The Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP) is a public interest, ISO 17024 (Personnel Certification Body) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) accredited, self-regulating, self-governing organization established in 1976 under The Canada Corporations Act for the purpose of certifying Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (CRSP)®/ Professionnel en sécurité agréé du Canada (PSAC)®. Board of Canadian Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals/Conseil canadien des Registered professionnels en sécurité agréés Safety Professionals 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4, info@bcrsp.ca, www.bcrsp.ca

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

Safety Rules Revised By Jean Lian

everal key changes to the record-keeping rule were the focus of the occupational keynote delivered by a panel at the 2014 National Safety Council Congress and Expo in San Diego on September 16. Starting on January 1, 2015, employers in the United States will be required to notify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of work-related fatalities within eight hours and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of eyes within 24 hours. Previously, an employer had to report only work-related fatalities and inpatient hospitalizations involving three or more employees. “We felt that really didn’t get us the information we needed and didn’t get us into contact with employers and workers who are being hurt. So we have changed that,” Dr. David Michaels, OSHA’s assistant secretary of labour and health, says alongside Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and William Yoh, chairman of staffing-services firm Yoh. Another change is the updated list of industries exempt from keeping injury and illness records due to relatively low occupational injury and illness rates. The previous list of exempt industries was based on the old Standard Industrial Classification system, while the new rule uses the North American TOP 10 UNVEILED For the second year in a row, fall-protection violations top the list of the 10 most frequently cited workplace-safety violations in the United States. “This data is a poignant reminder that there is still much room for improvement in making our workplaces safer,” National Safety Council president and chief executive officer Deborah Hersman says. The top 10 violations for 2014 are as follows: fall protection (6,143); hazard communication (5,161); scaffolding (4,029); respiratory protection (3,223); lockout/tagout (2,704); powered industrial trucks (2,662); electrical — wiring methods (2,490); ladders (2,448); machine guarding (2,200); and electrical — general requirements (2,056). Fall-protection citations relate to unprotected sides and edges, incorrect anchoring points and the failure to ensure that fall protection conforms to standards, reports Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s directorate of enforcement programs. Roofing and framing contractors and new singlefamily housing constructors are the most frequently cited.

Industry Classification System, which draws on updated injury and illness data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The new rule maintains the exemption for employers with 10 or fewer employees, regardless of their industry classifications. For the first time, OSHA will also have discussions with employers when workers are injured. “We think that is a teachable moment,” says Dr. Michaels, who reiterates employers’ responsibilities to provide safe workplaces to all workers — permanent and temporary alike. “There are more than three million temporary workers right now in the United States,” Dr. Michaels adds. “We think just the focus on personal responsibility (A) isn’t useful and (B) isn’t the law.” Dr. Howard cites statistics showing that temporary agency workers in the United States have higher claim rates for all injury types, a higher median time loss of 40 days versus 27 days and injury rates that are four to five times higher than in some industries. One key challenge facing temporary workers is the dualemployer situation. The staffing agency is the primary employer, while the client or host employer at the worksite is the secondary employer. “We struggled with how to assign responsibilities to the primary employer and the secondary employer. It is still an issue,” Dr. Howard notes. “From OSHA’s point of view, we look at this as a joint employment,” Dr. Michaels says. “They have a shared responsibility to make sure that worker is safe.” Dr. Michaels thinks that host employers often do not demonstrate the same commitment to temporary workers as they do to permanent employees. “By using a temporary agency, you separate out the risk,” he suggests. “That separation is one of the reasons, I think, that we are not seeing the same sort of investment that we need to see.” To address this problem, OSHA conducted outreach programs, met with group employers and signed an alliance agreement with the American Staffing Association in May to provide association members and others with information and access to training resources to help them protect temporary workers. Safety inspectors are also instructed to ask about the presence of temporary workers and the hazards to which they are exposed. As well, OSHA and NIOSH have developed recommended practices relating to temporary-worker safety. “And [when] we see situations where temporary workers are put at risk or exposed to violations, we will cite whichever or both employers, as appropriate.” Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

Jean Lian is editor of

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

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Product Highlights Below is a snapshot of some of the new and recently launched safety products showcased at the 2014 National Safety Council Congress and Expo, held at San Diego Convention Centre from September 15 to 17. Barricades: Roll-Up-Fence Portable Barrier from Omega Industrial Products, Inc. This new, first-of-its-kind pedestrian safety barrier cordons off dangerous worksites and protects pedestrian traffic. This crowd-control barrier offers an alternative to caution tape and both bike-rack-style and sawhorse-type barriers, which are easy to duck under. Compact, lightweight and quick and easy to install, this non-corrosive aluminum barrier takes a minute or less to set up.

Head Protection: North Force Hard Hat from North by Honeywell To prevent head trauma resulting from falls on slick surfaces, the North Force Hard Hat was developed in partnership with oil and gas industry leaders. This first Type-1 hard hat features a shell design that provides 24 per cent more back-of-head protection and a patented sixpoint, customizable suspension for a comfortable, secure fit.

Facility Security: Barracuda Intruder Defense System from Bilco Company

Fall Protection: DBI-SALA Rope-Safe Rope Grab from Capital Safety

Launched in July, this free-standing door-security device protects occupants against trespassers by locking down commercial doors in an emergency situation. The product is suited for use by both inward- and outward-swinging doors through a metal plate that slides under the door (for inward-swinging doors) and a bar that rests on the door jamb on either side of a closed door, as well as a built-in hook placed over the door handle (for outwardswinging doors). This steel construction requires no installation costs and is adjustable to accommodate varying door widths.

Coming soon is the Rope-Safe Rope Grab — the first rope grab of its kind certified to multiple world standards to provide advanced protection to workers at heights. The 7/16th-to-half-inch kernmantle rope grab provides the versatility of easily switching between an automatic and towable manual rope grab. The patented inertia cam offers an anti-panic grip function that engages the device and arrests a fall even if the user grasps the rope grab in a way that interferes with the primary braking mechanism. The product has been tested for loads of up to 440 pounds.

Gas Detection: Altair 2X Gas Detector from MSA

Fire-Resistant Apparel: TECGEN® FR Garments for Women from Invista

This sensing device was launched in April and won the 2015 OH&S Product of the Year award. The ALTAIR 2X Gas Detector features a stand-alone bump test, which eliminates the need for bottled gas. Based on patented sensor capabilities, the product incorporates proven XCell® sensor technology, demonstrates rugged durability and enhances worker safety, compliance and traceability.

The new TECGEN® FR garments, tailored specifically for a woman’s build, are designed with safety and comfort in mind. The new uniform shirt and coverall feature a contoured, feminine cut, a right-over-left placket, darts, adjustable cuffs, buttonless spread collars and built-in collar stays. The coveralls have an elastic waist and snapping pockets.

Respiratory Protection: PARAT® NG

Air-Source Products: Point-of-Attachment Cooling System from Allegro Industries

Escape Hood by Draeger Safety, Inc. Comprising three models, this line of escape hoods is completely user-friendly and can be easily donned, shielding users from industrial and firerelated gases, vapours and particles during an emergency exit from a dangerous area. The PARAT 4900 carries approval from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for protection against 12 gases.

Allegro introduces the portable point-of-attachment cooling system, which delivers cooler Grade D breathing air for up to two users. Workers experience more comfort, less fatigue and greater productivity while on the job. The vortex cooler is made from a non-toxic engineering plastic with an adjustable brass valve, allowing greater temperature control. This system is capable of cooling breathable air by up to 20ºF.

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

ACCIDENT PREVENTION

OFFICE LAYOUT

Designed for Work OPEN OFFICE: Many white-collar workers these days are either seated in cubicles — desks closely spaced together with partial wall separators — or assigned workspaces in “open concept” layouts, in which desks are clustered in the same room with no partitions. Compared to construction or farming, sedentary office work in an air-conditioned, carpeted environment may seem innocuous. But recent research reveals that modern office layouts can increase the risks of certain illnesses. In particular, open-concept layouts hike employees’ risk of exposure to infectious diseases if certain workers come to the office while sick or have poor hygiene habits.

BIG PICTURE: A study by Stockholm University, published in January, looks at the effect of an office environment on sick-leave rates by studying 1,852 employees in seven different types of offices. Results of the study, Office Design’s Impact on Sick-Leave Rates, indicate that open-concept offices have higher frequencies of short sick-leave periods, especially among women, while men have more sick-leaves in “flex” offices or open-concept layouts with no individual workspaces, but with some meeting rooms. Lower personal control in open-plan offices lacking visual and acoustic privacy, combined with job-related characteristics such as lack of autonomy and freedom, were cited as possible explanations. Another study from Denmark, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health in 2011, found that the sick-leave rate for shared-office occupants is 62 per cent higher, while the number of sick days is proportional to the number of people in a space. Other research indicates that open-concept layouts increase stress levels and high blood pressure in employees, due to the lack of privacy, disruptions and an inability to focus on work.

BACK TO THE PAST: Before the introduction of cubicles in the 1960s, open-concept offices typically consisted of long rows of desks out in the open, without walls or other barriers separating them. Things changed slightly in the 1950s, when Germany brought about the “office landscape” movement. It was believed that making offices more egalitarian and comfortable with conventional furniture and potted plants would improve communication and collaboration among employees. For the past four decades or so, cubicles have been a popular style of office environment, while some firms have offices with a mix of cubicles, private offices and open workstations for both individuals and groups. Office designs vary depending on the types of employees, how often they are required to interact with one another and how much privacy they need.

GERM HAVEN: Barrier-free offices can make employees more susceptible to germ infections in a world where one-quarter of the population reports for work while sick, according to a survey released in February by healthstandard developer NSF International in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Sickness presenteeism”, which refers to working while sick, arises when employees’ loyalty or dedication to their work exceeds their health concerns. Some may feel compelled to show up out of concern that their employers will frown upon their absence from work. Germs can circulate in an office through several means: the air; shared tactile objects, such as tables or desk surfaces, doorknobs and papers; and ventilation systems like heating or air conditioning. Poor indoor air quality can also influence sick rates at a workplace. 46

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BEST PRACTICES: While employees may have little control over the types of layout their offices adopt, observing good hand hygiene to reduce the chances of falling sick is certainly well within their control. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton, Ontario recommends the following practices to slow the spread of infections: washing hands frequently; staying home when sick; coughing or sneezing into a tissue; and avoiding touching one’s orifices (eyes, nose or mouth) to prevent transferring viruses from the hands into the body. The CCOHS also advises that employers do their part to mitigate sick rates by taking the following measures: • Have an infection-control plan in place; • Provide clean hand-washing facilities; • Offer waterless alcohol-based hand sanitizers; • Consider cleaning workstations or other areas frequented by a person who has or is suspected of having influenza; and • Ensure that ventilation systems are working properly.

OPEN OR CLOSED: What affects the body can affect the mind. Physical ailments aside, office layout can also influence productivity. Although many believe that open-concept offices benefit companies by increasing employee productivity and interaction, research over the past two decades suggests the opposite. A 1997 study by the University of Calgary found that workers transferred from a traditional office environment to an open-concept one complained of reduced focus, interruptions, poor output and low creativity. Motivation and morale fell among the employees, who claimed that they felt distant and resentful towards their colleagues rather than closer to them. A drawback common to both cubicles and openconcept layouts is that workers are not shielded from noise. Chatting co-workers, keyboard clacking, phone rings and other distractions can affect one’s ability to concentrate or even remember information. This is particularly true in jobs involving constant multitasking, which reduces a worker’s ability to block out these distractions, making it hard to regain momentum after a work disruption.

TWO SIDES OF A COIN: The truth is, no one layout is better than the next; both partitioned and open workspaces have pros and cons. While cubicles offer more private space than open workstations do, some employees may dislike cubicles and even private rooms because of claustrophobic feelings or a general sense of isolation. The same applies to open-concept offices, which have been known to result in lower job satisfaction and higher staff turnover. This is often due to the lack of privacy, absence of shielding from noise, visual and aural distractions and a higher likelihood of conflict with colleagues. For introverts, such problems can lead to physical manifestations that include higher stress and poor concentration. That said, some employees in open workspaces find it easier to collaborate with supervisors and colleagues and keep pulse on what is happening in the office, which could potentially lower stress and other negative feelings. As such, personality and work habits that befit the type of work being done also play a part in determining the suitability of one layout over another.

OUTSIDE THE FRAY: If workers are worried about how open-office layouts are affecting their health or job performances, employers can provide options. If the job allows for it, employees can work remotely on a part-time or occasional basis from home offices or other private locations. This is a particularly good idea for tasks that require creativity, focused thought or other kinds of intense concentration, as some work is best done in a room of one’s own. University of Tennessee professor Virginia W. Kupritz, Ph.D., who has authored several studies on privacy management in the workplace since 2000, has found that a measure of privacy at work increases job satisfaction and performance, while lack of control over a worker’s physical environment heightens stress, which can weaken the immune system. Even breaks in an empty conference room or lone walks outside may help. www.ohscanada.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

PRODUCT SHOWCASE an advertising feature

LONE WORKERS HAVE JUST BECOME SAFER Concerned about lone worker safety? Grace Industries’ wireless emergency signaling and personal safety monitoring systems locate distressed workers. Grace Industries offers CSA approved systems which are rugged and intrinsically safe for use in hazardous environments. Our lone worker solutions are affordable and easy to use with no monthly fees. Grace Industries www.graceindustries.com twitter.com/Graceind1974 724-962-9231 sales@graceindustries.com

WORKRITE EXPANDS DICKIES FR CLOTHING LINE Workrite Uniform Company expanded its popular Dickies® FR clothing line. The line now includes a classic coverall, five shirt styles—including work, knit and snap front — two popular jean styles, three colors of relaxed straight-fit pants, two insulated hooded jackets, and an insulated bib.

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

TAKING ESCAPE AND RESCUE TO NEW HEIGHTS - 3M™ AND DEUS™ CONTROLLED DESCENT DEVICE When things go wrong 500 feet in the air, you want a quick, simple way to get yourself or another person down safely. 3M offers real solutions for escape and rescue, built around descent technology that is innovative and designed for ease of use. Each of the 3M™ and DEUS™ 3000 Series devices provides simple, hands-free operation, quadruple-redundant brakes to guard against free fall, “carry-it-with-you-always” portability, and rugged construction. When lives are on the line, trust 3M and DEUS for personal escape and rescue.

Visit 3M.ca/Safety for more information.

ONLINE WHMIS TRAINING When it comes to workplace safety, there are important issues for individuals, contractors and employers, namely, compliance, risk management and improved productivity. For nearly two decades, we have offered affordable online WHMIS training and assessment modules based on current Federal OH&S legislation and designed to meet the unique needs of both employees and employers. WHMIS. NET’s user-friendly, online training allows you to easily and effectively provide, track and document your WHMIS education.

visit www.whmis.net

THE HATSCAN HANDI-GUIDE SERIES The leading source of expertise on occupational health and safety law in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada. Each title in this series provides quick, reliable access to the law plus the expert insight that helps you interpret the law. Powerful safety tools for you and your employees! Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business Order your copies today! www.carswell.com Toll free 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto 416-609-3800

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Handi- Guide to Alberta’s OH&S Act, Regulation and Code - $35.95 Handi- Guide to British Columbia’s OH&S Regulation - $45.95 Handi-Guide to Saskatchewan’s OH&S Act and Regulations - $36.95 Handi-Guide to Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulations - $44.95 Handi-Guide to Atlantic Canada’s Workplace Health and Safety Legislation - $89.95 Handi-Guide to Federal Workplace Health and Safety Legislation - $54.95

www.ohscanada.com

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

www.ohscanada. com

C A N A D A

3M www.3M.ca/safety For ad see page 52

BCRSP www.bcrsp.ca For ad see page 43

BW Technologies by Honeywell www.gasmonitors.com For ad see page 5 www.carswell.com For ad see page 16

E-Zee Lockout

www.dentecsafety.com For ad see page 14

www.e-zeelockouts.com For ad see page 19

Draeger

Grace Industries

www.draeger.com For ad see page 51

www.graceindustries.com For ad see page 11

DuPont www.personalprotection.dupont.ca For ad see page 2

Nasco www.nascoinc.com For ad see page 12

Electolab

ADVERTISING DIRECTORY

Carswell

Dentec

www.electrolab.ca For ad see page 18

DuPont Personal Protection many safety hazards – one solution provider

How do you select protective clothing and gloves? Search with the most powerful tool from DuPont 1-800-387-9326 www.SafeSpec.com Copyright © 2012 DuPont. All rights reserved. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™ and all products denoted with ® or ™ are registered trademarks or trademarks of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company or its affiliates.

So, what’s on your mind? OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014 Should workers’ comp boards increase the use of surveillance to weed out fraud? Yes 43% No 54% Undecided 3% Total Votes

276

SEPTEMBER 2014 Should fighting in professional hockey be banned? Yes 47% No 52% Undecided 1% Total Votes

108

Go on — have your say. Check out www.ohscanada.com to vote in our latest poll.

www.ohscanada.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

TIME OUT

TAILWIND PASSENGER: Bus drivers may want to

start doing walk-arounds before hitting the gas pedal, after a man hitched a free ride by hopping onto the back bumper of a Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) vehicle. But the adrenaline-spiked act took a dark turn when the 32-year-old man fell onto the pavement and was sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, CBC News reported on September 1. The driver was unaware that the man had hopped onto the back of the bus. It may be time for the TTC to consider reducing public-transit fares when riders resort to performing death-defying stunts to save a bit of cash.

SUPERSTAR POWER: For those who aspire to make a living from photographing celebrities, think again. Chasing down larger-than-life stars can be a dangerous job. On the Friday of the Labour Day weekend, Canadian musician Justin Bieber’s all-terrain vehicle collided with a minivan allegedly driven by a paparazzo in the pop star’s hometown of Stratford, Ontario. Bieber was charged with dangerous driving and assault following an altercation with the minivan driver, CTV News reports. Bieber’s legal team issued a statement on September 2, citing the “unwelcome presence of paparazzi”, which disturbed Bieber’s and Selena Gomez’ peaceful weekend retreat. No surprise there: the megawatt power of two superstars in rural Ontario is simply too bright to be missed. FURRY FRIENDS: For feline lovers who do not mind having their coffees topped with cat hair, this place is a purrfect hangout. Not to play with alliteration, but a cat café that opened in Montreal on August 31 may just be the next big thing in town. Appropriately named Café des Chats, this café and restaurant houses eight feline friends adopted from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and offers scratching posts, plush toys and a multi-level window perch, the Associated Press reports. For employees of this café where humans and felines are on equal footing, occupational hazards may include cat scratches, flea bites and coughing up the occasional hair ball. IN THE DOGHOUSE: Watch what you do behind closed doors, because nothing is private with video cameras positioned in just about every corner of public space. The chief executive officer of American catering company Centerplate learned that lesson the hard way, when he was forced to resign after being caught on tape kicking a small dog and jerking it around by its leash in an elevator in a Vancouver hotel, CBC News reported on September 2. The company ordered him to donate $100,000 to set up a foundation that supports the protection and safety of animals and perform 1,000 hours of community service. It is unclear whether he will comply, now that he has been given the sack. SOLAR FLOP: With energy resources running low and

global warming taking hold, alternative-energy companies are researching new ways to generate power. This was what the solar blimp — an airship that looks like a large tent atop a traditional airplane body with solar-panelled wings to cap-

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

ohs canada

ture energy — tried to do. But its valiant attempt failed, when two men were seriously injured after the experimental solar blimp they were riding in crashed at a Brantford airport in southern Ontario on August 29, QMI Agency reports. The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

BITE YOUR TONGUE: When the new school term started in September, some teachers were less than thrilled to return to the classroom. At least that was what a high-school teacher in Newark, New Jersey might have felt, after she was propelled into the spotlight for posting contentious messages about her students on Twitter this past spring. The teacher wrote on the social-media site that she wanted to pour coffee on her students and stab them; some students even made her “trigger finger feel itchy”, Inside Bay Area News reported on August 27. Not everyone appreciated her dark sense of humour: the district school board has reprimanded the teacher, and the police are investigating the threats. KNEE-JERK REACTION: Two tiny pieces of plastic are

whipping up big storms in the sky. A six-foot-four-inch-tall American businessman created the “Knee Defender” to solve the problem of passengers in front of him ramming their seats into his legs during flights. The gadget, which comes replete with a “courtesy card” to be handed to the passenger in front, attaches to the tray table to prevent the seat from reclining. But the contraption may be creating more trouble than solutions: at least two flights were diverted in August after the Knee Defender triggered fights between passengers, British newspaper The Telegraph reports. On one American Airlines flight, a passenger grabbed the arm of a flight attendant trying to resolve the conflict. Some airlines even deemed it necessary to ban the contraption. Sales for the Knee Defender have skyrocketed.

FORBIDDEN GROUND: An elementary school in Lon-

don, United Kingdom has parents up in arms over its policy of forbidding parents from saying goodbye to their kids on school grounds. The school advised parents to bid farewell to their children at the gate, citing health and safety concerns during extensive building works inside and outside the building. The school authority says the new routine is a “smoother way” to start the day in the new term, British tabloid The Daily Mirror reported on September 5. Ensuring the safety of students is a good thing, but the same cannot be said when the nannying is extended to include parents.

ZUM WOHL!: Beer in Germany is apparently so good

that even a bovine nearing the end of its life made a dash for it. A cow escaped from a slaughterhouse and headed straight for the grounds of Oktoberfest in Munich, triggering a highspeed police chase. The cow took off when a worker left a gate open and went to the field where workers were setting up tents for the beer festival, NBC News reports. As the cow could not be subdued, police had to shoot it down. Officials at the slaughterhouse confirmed that the meat from the runaway cow would not land on the grills of the Oktoberfest. Prost! Follow us on Twitter @OHSCanada

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It is the most pervasive environmental pollutant on the planet. Virtually everything we do makes noise, and the more we do it, the faster we do it, and the more of us there are â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the more noise is made. Noise does not have to be uncomfortably loud, or even painful, to be damaging. Health and safety professionals are dedicated to protecting their workers and 3M safety solutions support health and safety professionals with innovative ideas to make a lasting impact on workplace safety. 3M Personal Safety wants to help provide the right safety solution and our experts are available for on-site consultation, training, and helping you with customized options. Connecting the dots is a highly regarded practice at 3M that helps us develop the 3M safety solutions you need and the power to help them protect their world.

Find out more at: 3M.ca/Safety

The power to protect your world.