PICKLE LAKE, Ont. – A new investigation report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has concluded that ice accumulation led to a plane crash that killed a pilot near Pickle Lake on Dec. 11, 2015. At about 9 a.m. that day, a Cessna 208B Caravan left Pickle Lake Airport with a load of cargo destined for Wapekeka Airport, but the aircraft struck trees and terrain and was destroyed ten minutes later, stated the report, which was published on Sept. 28 of this year. The TSB investigation revealed that ice accumulation on the plane had seriously degraded the vehicle’s performance with aerodynamic stall. In addition, Wasaya Airways Limited conducted the flight according to the company’s typical practice of operating in icing conditions without assessing the safety risks appropriately. “Without effective risk-management processes, aircraft may continue to be dispatched into forecast or known icing conditions that exceed the operating capabilities of the aircraft, increasing the risk of degraded aircraft performance or loss of control,” the TSB wrote in the report.
Category Archives: Environment/Climate Change
WorkSafeBC publishes new safety guide for pipeline construction
RICHMOND, B.C. – A new resource from the occupational health and safety authority for British Columbia aims to teach employers, employees and business owners the basic safety requirements in pipeline construction. Available both as a PDF document and as a pamphlet, the Pipeline Construction Inspection Guide details the obligations of owners, employers, contractors, suppliers and workers under the province’s regulatory jurisdiction over pipelines, according to a press release that WorkSafeBC sent out on Sept. 18. The guide also includes a glossary of terms and outlines relevant sections of B.C. workplace safety legislation, as well as the required personal protective equipment for pipeline construction. It deals with the safety requirements of the pre-construction, construction and post-construction phases of a project, from removal of timber and drilling to cleanup. The Pipeline Construction Inspection Guide is available as an info-flip hard copy for $12 from the WorkSafeBC online store, and the PDF version is available for free at https://www.worksafebc.com/en/resources/health-safety/books-guides/pipeline-construction-inspection-guide?lang=en.
Agriculture workers at risk from sun, heat stress: AgSafe B.C.
LANGLEY, B.C. – The agricultural health and safety association for British Columbia is telling farms in the province that protecting outdoor workers from sun and heat stress in the summer is the employer’s responsibility. Agricultural workers are about three times more likely to develop skin cancer than indoor workers are, due to high sun exposure, according to a media release that AgSafe B.C. sent out on Aug. 10. The organization offered tips for minimizing sun exposure and preventing heat stress for farm employees, such as using sunscreen, wearing loose-fitting clothes and wide-brimmed hats, wearing sunglasses, drinking water regularly and taking breaks in shady areas. Additionally, employers should minimize outdoor work between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. “There are resources available for those who employ outdoor workers to help them develop and implement a sun and heat safety plan,” AgSafe executive director Wendy Bennett said in a press statement. “The key is controlling the worker’s exposure to sun and the possibility of heat stress,” she added, noting that farm equipment that gives off heat can increase the risk. Employers should look out for signs of heat stress, which include extreme fatigue, nausea, dizziness, muscle cramps and quick shallow breathing, AgSafe stated.
Union warns hospital employees to keep safe from wildfire smoke
BURNABY, B.C. – The union representing nearly 50,000 healthcare workers in British Columbia has cautioned its members about the risks of smoke from the province’s ongoing wildfires. An Aug. 4 news release from the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) commended the workers for their dedication to the job during the provincial state of emergency, but warned that they could be at risk from wildfire smoke. The union advised its members in the release to stay indoors as much as possible, keep hospital windows closed so that air scrubbers and filters could function properly, minimize strenuous activity, stay hydrated and follow local advisories for updates. “We thank each and every [member] for their extraordinary generosity and dedication in the face of this ongoing disaster,” HEU secretary and business manager Jennifer Whiteside said in a media statement. “So many members – many who are experiencing their own losses and displacements – have stepped up to help meet the needs of displaced patients and residents.” WorkSafeBC issued a similar advisory to employers in all industries in July (COHSN, Aug. 1).
WorkSafeBC offers tips to protect employees from wildfire smoke
RICHMOND, B.C. – As wildfires continue to rage throughout British Columbia this summer, the province’s occupational health and safety authority has issued recommendations for employers on how to protect workers from exposure to smoke from the fires. A July 26 news release from WorkSafeBC suggested that employers should reduce the amount of time that workers spend outdoors, while minimizing physical activity for outdoor workers and having them use N95 half-face respirators. For indoor workplaces, employers should inspect their air-conditioning systems and make sure the filters are clean and working properly; they should also reduce the intake of outdoor air and use portable air cleaners with high-efficiency particulate air filters or electrostatic precipitators, said WorkSafeBC. The release also included links to the organization’s web pages on heat stress, fighting wildfires and emergency-response planning. About 4,260 square kilometres have burned in the province since April, according to media reports.
Drilling company convicted after falling tree kills employee
TIMMINS, Ont. – Diamond drilling firm Orbit Garant Drilling Services Inc. has been ordered to pay a fine of $200,000, plus the standard victim fine surcharge, for its involvement in a workplace fatality near Timmins on June 25, 2014. A court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) stated that the company had been operating surface drills near the St. Andrews Holloway-Holt mine sites at the time of the accident. An employee was exiting a bulldozer that day when a dead tree, which weighed more than 900 kilograms, fell onto the cab door and injured the worker fatally, the Ministry said. The subsequent MOL investigation revealed that the route from the drill site had been impossible to walk through due to softness and mud, so the workers had needed to exit the worksite via bulldozer. A trial at the Ontario Court of Justice in Timmins later determined that the employer should have provided proper transportation for the workers that day. Orbit was found guilty of failing to remove all dead trees from the route to and from the worksite and ensure a same means of egress for employees, and Justice of the Peace Sylvie-Emanuelle Bourbonnais imposed the fine on July 13 of this year.
TSB issues recommendations after fatal vessel capsizing
VANCOUVER, B.C. – A new report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) included three recommendations to Transport Canada (TC) on passenger-vessel safety, as it examined an Oct. 25, 2015 accident in which the whale-watching boat Leviathan II capsized in Clayoquot Sound, B.C. During an excursion that day, a large wave struck the Leviathan II on the starboard quarter, sending 24 passengers and three crew members overboard into cold seawater without flotation aids. Six of the passengers died, according to the report, which was released at a news conference at the Vancouver Maritime Museum on the morning of June 14. The TSB recommended that TC do three things: identify areas off the Pacific coast conducive to the forming of large waves and adopt strategies to protect vessels from them; make passenger vessels adopt better risk-management processes and strategies; and have passenger vessels that travel beyond sheltered areas carry emergency radio equipment to reduce response time during accidents. “When people find themselves in cold water, every second counts,” TSB chair Kathy Fox said at the conference. “Our recommendations today are aimed at putting in place measures to avoid accidents in the first place and to expedite rescue efforts.”
Employers should protect outdoor workers from sun, says dermatology association
NATIONAL – As the weather warms up and Canada heads into the summer months, the Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA) is warning of the dangers that UV exposure poses to outdoor workers. As part of Sun Awareness Week, which ran from June 5 to 9, the CDA sent out a press release on June 9 to offer tips on how workers can protect themselves from skin cancer and employers can assist. “Skin cancer is largely preventable,” said CDA national chair Dr. Jennifer Beecker in a media statement, “and employers can help by making sun safety an integral component of their occupational health and safety management program to protect their workers.” Among the measures suggested by the Association: working in the shade as much as possible; wearing lightweight clothes; using sunscreen and storing it away from extreme heat; avoiding sunlight reflected off surfaces; and avoiding the sun from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aside from skin cancer, outdoor workers are also at risk of heat stress, sunburn, skin damage and cataracts, the CDA stated.
Suncor Energy, trucking firm fined for 2014 workplace fatalities
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Suncor Energy Inc. and Brayford Trucking Ltd. were recently convicted and fined for unrelated workplace fatalities, both of which occurred in Fort McMurray in 2014. Suncor pleaded guilty to failing to protect the health and safety of a worker on April 24, with other charges dropped, according to an undated announcement on the Alberta Ministry of Labour (MOL) website. An upgrade supervisor with the company was killed when he fell into a three-metre hole while searching for a water source on Jan. 19, 2014. Suncor was fined $15,000, including a victim fine surcharge, plus a “creative sentence” of $285,000 to go to a safety research project, the MOL stated. On April 28, Brayford was sentenced to pay a $100,000 fine, including a victim fine surcharge, and serve two years of corporate probation, for a March 14, 2014 incident in which an excavator sank into water after a sheet of ice broke, drowning the excavator operator (COHSN, March 8, 2016). Brayford later pleaded guilty to failing to train a worker to operate equipment safely and failing to test the ice. Other charges against Brayford were dropped, according to a separate MOL announcement.
Falling concrete wall kills worker in Alberta
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – A worker died on the afternoon of June 2, after wind blew down a concrete wall at a worksite in Lethbridge. A news release from the Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) stated that emergency-response services had been notified of the accident at about 4:30 p.m. that day. After the wall fell onto the worker, he was sent to the hospital in critical condition, but succumbed to his injuries there, police said. Officials from Alberta’s occupational health and safety division also attended the scene and will be investigating the incident. The LPS stated that it would not release any further information on the accident. Local media reports have stated that the winds in the city reached a speed of about 50 kilometres per hour that day. The province’s fourth-largest city, Lethbridge is located approximately 120 kilometres from the United States border.