KickAss Careers founder, Jamie McMillan, shares with us the importance of mental health in the Skilled Trades industry, and its impact on safer work.
Physical health and mental health are equally important to an individual’s health and wellbeing. In your opinion, how can workplaces better incorporate mental health supports and services into their workplace safety strategy?
As a contract construction worker, I've encountered numerous challenges regarding mental health and wellbeing within the industry. It's important to emphasize that these issues aren't exclusive to construction; they're universal human concerns. The fast-paced nature of construction work, combined with its high demands, can exacerbate mental, emotional, and physical struggles among workers. While the industry has a reputation for toughness, advancements in health sciences and our understanding of mental health have paved the way for improved programs aimed at educating employers and employees alike. Through life skills and sensitivity training initiatives, we're creating safer working environments and nurturing healthier workplace cultures. However, despite ongoing progress, accountability remains a pressing issue. Employers must prioritize identifying and addressing toxic behavior rather than shielding perpetrators. By focusing efforts on fostering positive workplace dynamics and weeding out harmful individuals, we can truly enhance both physical safety and mental wellbeing in the construction industry.
Have you seen a change in the way people in the skilled trades approach the topic of mental health in the workplace?
There's definitely been a noticeable shift towards acknowledging and supporting mental health in workplaces lately. Working within a union has provided me with invaluable benefits, particularly in terms of therapy coverage for those facing personal challenges. In today's world, where escapism seems almost commonplace, people are contending with an array of unique hurdles—from soaring living costs to inflation—that impact their ability to provide. It's heartening to see a growing awareness and advocacy for change across all work environments. As we collectively push for safer, more nurturing workplace cultures, humanity is gradually recognizing the immense value of fostering happy, healthy work environments. It's inspiring to witness individuals stepping up to play their part in driving this crucial change forward.
Q&A WITH Seamus O'Regan
Mediaplanet asked the Honourable Seamus O'Regan, Minister of Labour, about Canada’s efforts on keeping workers physically and mentally safe with the right to disconnect and other government initiatives.
What is the biggest threat to workplace safety in Canada in recent years?
One of the biggest threats is badly-fitted personal protective equipment. It’s a threat to their health and safety. Proper PPE can be the difference between having the precision to adjust your harness when scaling a building or having to keep working with improper equipment, all because your gloves didn’t fit right. Proper PPE is really important if we’re going to include more women in the trades. I met with Ministers of Labour from across Canada in early April, and we agreed we need to end this dangerous risk to Canadian workers. Physical health and mental health are equally important to an individual’s overall health and wellbeing. How is the government of Canada supporting the psychological health and safety in the workplace?
We’re creating a right to disconnect for all federally regulated workers. It’s in the 2024 federal budget. We’re so used to answering work texts at all hours, but workers shouldn’t have to worry about their job if they don’t reply right away. If you’re sick and overworked, you’re not at your best. You’re not productive. Just as we did when we gave federally regulated workers 10 days of paid sick leave, we want workers to take the rest and time they earn every day on the job.
Why is the National Day of Mourning important for Canadians to observe?
This is a day for Canadians to honour workers who were killed or injured on the job. We remember the workers we’ve failed in the past, and the responsibility we all have - governments, unions, industry - to make sure every worker is safe, healthy, and respected on the job. No worker should have to risk their life or safety for a paycheque. Not in this country. Not anywhere.
How Canada's National Day of Mourning Came About
Since 1963, the Canadian Union of Public
April 28 is a day that commemorates workers who have been killed or injured on the job. However, many Canadians may not be aware of the day’s origins and the role of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in bringing it about. In 1983, then CUPE health and safety director Colin Lambert, a former steel worker and miner from Sudbury, proposed the idea of having a day to remember workers who were killed or injured on the job.
CUPE members, and soon after the Canadian Labour Congress, were quick to endorse it and, in 1991, the House of Commons passed a private member’s bill naming April 28 as the Day of Mourning for Persons Killed or Injured in the Workplace.
Preventing workplace fatalities and injuries
The National Day of Mourning is significant for many reasons. “Often these workers just get spoken about as a statistic or a number, but it’s important to remember that these people had families, friends, and people who loved them,” says Troy Winters, Senior Officer of Health and Safety at CUPE. “The day is
also a call to action to try to improve both the workplace and the overall systems that influence the health and safety culture.”
Roughly 1,000 people are killed on the job each year in Canada, “but we believe that statistics around workplace injuries and fatalities are greatly underreported,” says Winters. “The reporting tends to take into account only the occupational diseases, injuries, and illnesses that have actually been recorded and accepted by the compensation system and these vary across the provinces.”
Education programs for workers, resources for employers
To help prevent workplace fatalities and injuries, CUPE offers a variety of resources to both workers and employers. “Our dedicated staff and specialists support members with a range of programs and services on health and safety training, including education on workers’ rights to refuse unsafe work,” says Winters. “On the employer side, we help educate them on their responsibilities in providing safe workplaces.”
CUPE also lobbies for better health and safety laws and more worker involvement in formulating them. “We sit on technical
and advisory committees to encourage government and sector groups to improve their practices and partake in the development of standards to ensure more meaningful participation from workers into the development of these policies and practices,” says Winters.
The importance of mental and psychological health
CUPE started incorporating mental health into its programs in 2011 and recently produced a Mental Health Toolkit — a welcome evolution, according to Jared Matsunaga-Turnbull, Executive Director of the Alberta Workers’ Health Centre, a non-profit workplace health and safety education organization. Matsunaga-Turnbull is also a CUPE member and Co-Chair of the CUPE National Health and Safety Committee.
“Mental health is becoming one of the top concerns among workers, and I feel this helps lift the stigma around talking about it,” he says. “Many frontline workers, especially in the health and education sectors, face increased threats of violence and burnout, and are getting mental health injuries as a result, so my hope is that they’ll take advantage of these educational tools.”
Your Four Health and Safety Rights
As trade unionists, it is our responsibility to continue the fight to protect workers. All workers need to know about the four workers’ rights enshrined in every health and safety law in the country:
1. 2. 3. 4.
THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Workers have the right to know what health and safety hazards are related to their work. It is an employer’s legal obligation to tell workers of any hazards they may encounter, the likelihood of being exposed, and the severity of harm if they are exposed. Additionally, employers must ensure that workers know how to keep themselves safe when they deal with hazards that cannot be avoided.
THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE
Workers have the right to participate in the decision making that impacts their health and safety. This is done by workers selecting a union health and safety representative to discuss health and safety issues with the employer, or by having worker committee members on the Health and Safety Committee. The right to participate also means that workers must report hazards they become aware of to their supervisor, health and safety representative, or committee member.
For more information on health and safety, visit cupe.ca/health-and-safety
THE RIGHT TO REFUSE
Workers have the right to refuse to perform work that they believe is unsafe either for themselves or for their co-workers. While procedures and circumstances around the right to refuse may be different between provinces and jurisdictions, just about all workers have the legal right to say no to dangerous work.
The RSIC strives to Reinforce a
Our partners and members across Canada advocate for safer workplaces and honor those impacted by work-related incidents.
Learn more about the RSIC and our initiatives at rebar.org
THE RIGHT TO NO REPRISAL
All jurisdictions have language in their laws that makes it illegal for employers to punish workers when they are following the occupational health and safety laws in good faith. This includes reporting hazards, participating on a committee, and exercising the right to refuse dangerous work. This is an important right because a worker who fears punishment for protecting their health and safety will be less likely to participate in the employer’s system.
Your ACSA: Building a Safer Construction Industry by Protecting First-year Workers
Addressing the challenges of high-risk environments and the vital role of the community in keeping
As a high-risk industry, construction companies are always grappling with how to keep workers safe on the job. And data shows that first-year workers are at the highest risk of getting hurt. Over the last five years, more than half of the construction industry's claims submitted to the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) in Alberta involved workers in their first year. Each year, the National Day of Mourning highlights that regardless of how experienced the worker is, the results of a workplace injury can be devastating to the worker and their family, the company's morale and reputation, and our economy. This is why the A lberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA) is taking a holistic approach with its injury prevention campaign — reaching out to first- year workers' entire sphere of influence. That means construction owners, leaders, supervisors, health and safety
representatives, and experienced workers to build awareness of new worker risks and for everyone to actively participate and look out for the first-year workers.
Equipping the industry with tools to improve safety
The construction industry faces real challenges in Alberta and across the country. The housing crunch is causing high demand for new builds, and labour shortages mean crews are doing more work with fewer skilled people. That, coupled with mental health and substance abuse issues, increases the risks in what is already a high-risk industry.
The ACSA is a member-centric, industry-funded not-for-profit organization established to support the Alberta construction industry in improving workplace health and safety. "It's important for less-experienced workers to know about the hazards they may face and what controls are in place to mitigate them," says
We need everyone on our construction sites to watch out for each other, and especially our first-year workers, to make sure they go home safe after every shift.
Mark Hoosein, ACSA's CEO. In addition, they must actively participate in their company's safety training program and know they have the right to refuse unsafe work. Tenured workers must recognize they have a wealth of knowledge to share with first-year workers and hold influence over the work environment. Mark notes, "We need everyone on our construction sites to watch out for each other, and especially our first-year workers, to make sure they go home safe after every shift."
Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals
Conseil Canadien Des Professionnels En Sécurité Agréés
The Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP) is a public interest, notfor-profit certification body.
BCRSP sets certification standards for the OHS profession and administers the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP®) and Canadian Registered Safety Technician (CRST®) certifications.
BCRSP certifications are accredited to ISO/IEC 17024: Bodies Performing the Certification of Persons and certified to ISO 9001: Quality Management Systems.
