Federal Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women Dr. K. Kellie Leitch has appointed Andrea Nalyzyty to the Council of Governors of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, as the governor representing employers. Nalyzyty is the vice president of employee relations, policy, governance and human-resources operations with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and the former vice president and associate general counsel of CIBC’s legal department. She has 14 years of experience in legal and human-resources management at an executive level, with leadership experience in labour relations, employment equity, change management, human-resources policy and industry matters. Nalyzyty was called to the bar in 1990, after earning her Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Toronto. “Her leadership skills and professional experience in the field of human-resources law will make her an excellent addition to the Centre,” Dr. Leitch said about Nalyzyty in a press release on Feb. 24.
All posts by Jeff Cottrill
Man faces charges for several B.C. bank robberies
RIDGE MEADOWS, B.C. – A 36-year-old man, who was arrested for robbing a Bank of Montreal branch in Maple Ridge on March 4, has now been charged with six previous robberies in the province’s Lower Mainland as well, according to a press release from the Lower Mainland District RCMP. Identified as Thomas Dennis Prosser, the suspect also robbed three banks in Surrey and two in Langley, in a series of incidents that began on Jan. 26; he also attempted to rob the Westminster Savings Credit Union in Langley on Feb. 17, but did not succeed in obtaining any money from the bank. The Ridge Meadows RCMP’s Street Enforcement Unit investigators had already viewed photographs of a suspect in the series of robberies before Prosser’s arrest. “It was only a matter of time before the Lower Mainland collective policing community would catch this man,” said Supt. Murray Power, Officer in Charge of the Langley RCMP, as quoted in the release, dated March 13. “I am pleased that charges have been laid and the suspect is in custody.” Prosser remains in custody, with a pending court appearance.
Recycling company fined $225,000 for worker’s death
WOODSTOCK, Ont. – A Burlington-based recycling company has been ordered to pay a $225,000 fine, plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, for its involvement in the death of a worker on May 1, 2013. That day, a temporary worker from an employment agency was picking up recyclable materials with a side-loading waste-collection truck in rural Oxford County, for Halton Recycling Ltd., which operates as Emterra Environmental. The employee was driving the truck with controls on the right side while standing, when he lost control of the vehicle while rounding a curve; he fell from the truck and received head injuries upon striking the pavement, succumbing to the injuries later in the day. Although Halton Recycling has a safety policy stating that trucks cannot be driven at speeds higher than 30 kilometres per hour when an operator drives from the right-side, stand-up position, other employees said they were unaware of the rule. The company pleaded guilty to failing to take all reasonable precautions to protect a worker and was fined by Judge Michael A. Cuthbertson on March 13.
Unifor branch’s safety inspectors approve new deal with CP
CALGARY, Alta. – Safety inspectors with Canadian Pacific (CP) have voted in favour of a new contract between the railway and Unifor Local 101R, which represents 1,625 CP workers who conduct inspections, repairs and maintenance on rail cars and locomotives. According to a March 9 press release from 101R, 79 per cent of members approved the deal, which the Local had reached with CP only minutes before their deadline on Feb. 14. The new package gives union members wage increases over the next four years, enhanced benefits, better apprenticeship ratios and an advocate program for women. In addition, skilled trade members with the union may now assist in repair work for nonprofit community agencies, while CP will commit to maintaining operations at its Winnipeg Weston location. “With this new agreement, we hope that we will improve our working relationship with CP, so that our members are treated fairly and with respect on the job,” said Unifor Local 101R President Tom Murphy, as quoted in the release. Based in Calgary, Unifor Local 101R represents CP workers across the country.
Report: maximum-security prison poses safety risks
A new report from the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, has charged that Nunavut’s only maximum-security facility houses poor conditions that pose major safety risks to both staff and inmates.
In Corrections in Nunavut – Department of Justice, published on March 10, Ferguson accused the federal Department of Justice of having failed to address serious issues with the Baffin Correctional Centre (BCC) in Iqaluit, problems that “have been known for decades,” the report read. Established in 1986, the BCC holds male inmates of varying levels of security, from maximum to minimum.
Among the concerns highlighted by Ferguson:
- The BCC held an average of 82 prisoners at a time during the 2013-14 fiscal year, despite having a capacity for only 68;
- Inmates of different security levels often haven’t been separated from each other;
- Inmates have been housed in the gym;
- The building itself is substandard, with holes in walls, mould and poor air quality;
- Cells, toilets and showers are not cleaned or disinfected sufficiently;
- Basic security requirements for more dangerous inmates are insufficient; and
- The prison fails to comply with the National Fire Code.
“The Department of Justice has been aware of critical deficiencies at its core correctional facility, the Baffin Correctional Centre, for many years,” Ferguson wrote. “Despite this, the Department invested funds to construct the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility and Makigiarvik [two additional prisons in Nunavut], which will provide some relief of overcrowding, but which does not address the territory’s most critical facility needs… We were not provided with a documented rationale supporting the approach the Department took.”
Ferguson also claimed that inmates of both the BCC and the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility had had limited access to rehabilitative programs, reintegration plans and mental-health services.
“The Department did not replace the Baffin Correctional Centre, as set out in its 2006–07 fiscal-year capital-planning document,” the report read. “The proposal for a $300,000 study to look at modernizing, expanding and possibly replacing the Baffin Correctional Centre was removed from the Department’s 2010-11 fiscal-year capital estimates by the Legislative Assembly.”
Ferguson’s report isn’t the first one to criticize the prison’s conditions. Most notably, in 2013, the Office of the Correctional Investigator authored a report that cited similar problems at the BCC, as well as lack of heat, insufficient running water and dust-obstructed air vents.
“The facility has been grossly overcrowded for many years, and it is now well past its life expectancy,” the earlier report stated. “The current state of disrepair and crowding are nothing short of appalling and negatively impacts on both inmates and staff.”
The Auditor General presented the new report to Nunavut’s Legislative Assembly on the day of its release. The report did not deal solely with the BCC, but also examined other facilities in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Kugluktuk, as well as outpost camps throughout the territory.
“The Department of Justice has not met its key responsibilities for inmates within the correctional system,” Ferguson concluded in the report. “The Department of Justice did not adequately plan for and operate facilities to house inmates and did not adequately manage inmates in compliance with key rehabilitation and reintegration requirements.”
Corrections in Nunavut is available to read online at http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/nun_201503_e_40255.html.
Transport Canada responds to multiple CN derailments
Following the derailment of a Canadian National (CN) freight train near Gogoma, Ont. on March 7 – the second CN derailment in the region, and the third in Northern Ontario, in less than a month – Transport Canada (TC) has spoken out about its controversial safety standards, both on Parliament Hill and to the media.
The train, which consisted of 94 tank cars carrying crude oil eastbound from Alberta, was roughly halfway between Sudbury and Timmins when 30 cars derailed. There were no reported injuries or fatalities in the disaster, but some of the cars caught on fire and some of the oil fell into the Mattagami River System.
A media contact with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) confirmed to COHSN that as of March 10, the fire had been extinguished and a TSB crew had taken over the site to investigate. No other specific information was available at the time, she added.
During Question Period at the House of Commons on March 9, federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt defended TC’s recent efforts in safety regarding the transportation of dangerous goods by rail. “We are working with the United States on what a new system will be in terms of a new tank-car standard,” she reportedly said.
In a statement sent to COHSN, TC said that the new standard would call for tank cars more robust than the typical CPC-1232 cars to carry flammable liquids. Adoption of the new car, DOT-117 (TC-140), has been in consultations since July 18, TC added.
“The new proposed tank car would include thicker steel,” TC explained, “and require the tank cars to be manufactured as a jacketed, thermally insulated tank car with a full head shield, top-fitting protection and new bottom outlet valve.”
TC said that it had been conducting technical discussions with its U.S. counterparts to harmonize North American the tank-car standards. “This work is being conducted in an expedited manner,” TC said. “Consultations on the proposed tank car continue.”
CN did not respond to COHSN’s request for an interview by press time.
Since the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, Que. less than two years ago (COHSN, July 15, 2013), the government has responded to safety concerns with increased rail regulations and directions. In the statement, TC claimed to have hired more safety inspectors, trained them to do audits and ordered them to carry out the audits more frequently. Last April, TC issued a protective direction to phase out insufficient tank cars, particularly CTC-111A (known as DOT-111 in the U.S.) cars, and order shippers to develop Emergency Response Assistance Plans for tank cars carrying dangerous goods (COHSN, April 28).
But others have been expressing alarm about the series of derailments, particularly regarding environmental damage.
Steven Del Duca, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, called the most recent incident “very concerning” in a March 9 press statement, adding that he intended to confront Raitt about the issue. Mattagami First Nation chief Walter Naveau told the Canadian Press on the same day that his community was concerned about smoke inhalation, river contamination and other environmental threats.
“The safety and security of the transportation system are Transport Canada’s top priorities,” TC said. “Transport Canada takes all incidents involving dangerous goods seriously.”
Media union working with reality-TV reps to improve health and safety
NATIONAL – In reaction to the tragedy in Argentina on March 9, when a helicopter crash killed 10 cast and crew members of the French reality-TV series Dropped, the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) has announced that it will organize with reality-TV employees across Canada to improve the latter group’s working conditions and occupational health and safety standards. “The Canadian Media Guild is sickened by the news,” the union stated in a press release on March 10, referring to the tragedy. CMG noted that 54 per cent of reality-TV employees in the country claimed to work in dangerous conditions, according to a poll that the union conducted in 2013. The Guild intends to publish a guidebook by the end of March, about how to keep safe on the job in reality TV; it also plans to negotiate with production companies about oh&s standards. More than 100 people had already joined CMG’s campaign, the release added.
Lobster fisherman dies after entangled trawl line pushes him overboard
CLARKS HARBOUR, N.S. – A 64-year-old fisherman was killed on March 9 in an apparent accident while hauling lobster pots off the coast of Cape Sable Island. According to local RCMP reports, the boat captain was working with two other fishers when the trawl line became tangled with the hauler; when the man tried to free the line, it entangled him and pulled him overboard. Although the victim, whom media reports have identified as Captain Larry Wayne Sears, was wearing a personal floatation device, he died of his injuries after another fishing boat, responding to a distress call, pulled him out of the water. “My heart goes out to this man’s family, friends and loved ones,” N.S. Labour and Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan said in a press statement on March 10. “I want to assure them that our investigators will help find out why this happened, and I hope, in some way, this provides them some comfort.” The province’s Ministry of Labour noted in a press release that its oh&s division was investigating the incident, as was the RCMP. This was N.S.’s first fishing fatality of 2015, the ministry added.
How compatible are participatory ergonomics programs with occupational health and safety management systems?
Amin Yazdani, M.Sc., Nancy Theberge, Ph.D. and Richard Wells, Ph.D., Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario; W. Patrick Neumann, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto; Daniel Imbeau, Ph.D., Département de Mathématiques et de Génie Industriel, École Polytechnique de Montréal; Philip Bigelow, Ph.D., School of Public Health and Health Systems, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo; Mark Pagell, Ph.D., Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin, Dublin; and Margo Hilbrecht, Ph.D., Canadian Index of Wellbeing, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are a major cause of pain, disability and costs. Prevention of MSD at work is frequently described in terms of implementing an ergonomics program, often a participatory ergonomics (PE) program. Most other workplace injury-prevention activities take place under the umbrella of a formal or informal occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS). This study assesses the similarities and differences between OHSMS and PE, as such knowledge could help improve MSD prevention activities. Using the internationally recognized Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS 18001), 21 OHSMS elements were extracted. In order to define PE operationally, the researchers identified the 20 most frequently cited papers on PE and extracted content relevant to each of the OHSAS 18001 elements. The PE literature provided a substantial amount of detail on five elements: (i) hazard identification, risk assessment and determining controls; (ii) resources, roles, responsibility, accountability and authority; (iii) competence, training and awareness; (iv) participation and consultation; and (v) performance measurement and monitoring. However, of the 21 OHSAS elements, the PE literature was silent on eight and provided few details on eight others. The PE literature did not speak to many elements described in OHSMS, and even when it did, the language used was often different. This may negatively affect the effectiveness and sustainability of PE initiatives within organizations. It is expected that paying attention to the approaches and language used in management-system frameworks could make prevention of MSD activities more effective and sustainable.
Scand J Work Environ Health, Volume 41, Issue 2, pages 111-123. Correspondence to: Amin Yazdani, Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1; email: ayazdani@uwaterloo.ca.
Surveillance of work-related amputations in Michigan using multiple data sources: results for 2006–2012
Thomas W. Largo, Bureau of Disease Control, Prevention, and Epidemiology, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, Michigan; Kenneth D. Rosenman, Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, Michigan
An amputation is one of the most serious injuries an employee can sustain and may result in lost time from work and permanent limitations that restrict future activity. A multi-data source system has been shown to identify twice as many acute traumatic fatalities as one relying only on employer reporting. This study demonstrates the value of a multi-data source approach for non-fatal occupational injuries. Data were abstracted from medical records of patients treated for work-related amputations at Michigan hospitals and emergency departments and were linked to workers’ compensation claims data. Safety inspections were conducted by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration for selected cases. From 2006 through 2012, 4,140 Michigan residents had a work-related amputation. In contrast, the Survey of Occupational Injury and Illness conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that there were 1,770 cases during this period. During the seven-year period, work-related amputation rates decreased by 26 per cent. The work-related amputation rate for men was more than six times that for women. Industries with the highest work-related amputation rates were wood-product manufacturing and paper manufacturing. Power saws and presses were the leading causes of injury. One hundred and seventy-three safety inspections were conducted as a result of referrals from the system. These inspections identified 1,566 violations and assessed $652,755 in penalties. The system was fairly simple to maintain, identified more than twice as many cases than either BLS or workers’ compensation alone and was useful for initiating inspection of high-risk worksites.
Occ Environ Med, Volume 72, Issue 3, pages 171-176. Correspondence to: Thomas W. Largo, Bureau of Disease Control, Prevention, and Epidemiology, Michigan Department of Community Health, 201 Townsend Street, P.O. Box 30195, Lansing, Michigan, 48909; email: largot@michigan.gov.