VICTORIA, B.C. – New amendments to Part 23 of the British Columbia Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (OHSR), regarding safety risks in oil and gas flow piping systems, went into effect on Aug. 1. According to a news release from WorkSafeBC, the province’s occupational health and safety authority, the organization’s board of directors approved the amendments at a meeting in March. The changes to the Regulation involve requirements for integrity-assurance programs and pipe restraints. “Due to advancing technologies, the operating pressures of flow piping systems are now far greater than the pressures when the current OHSR requirements were developed,” WorkSafeBC stated. “Serious injuries can occur to workers when flow piping systems fail and the component parts are not restrained properly.” The amendments also aim to align regulations with current best practices in the oil and gas sector, the release added.
Category Archives: Hazmat
Alberta healthcare workers are poorly protected from dangerous meds: AUPE
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) has filed five occupational health and safety complaints with the provincial government regarding worker exposure to cytotoxic medications – which potentially cause effects ranging from skin and eye irritation to cancer.
The union stated in a July 17 news release that the complaints had stemmed from exposure incidents in Edmonton, Westlock, Cold Lake and Vegreville and that reports of exposure from AUPE members continued to trickle in every day. Cytotoxic medications are primarily used in chemotherapy, although medical professionals also use them to treat rheumatoid and juvenile arthritis.
The employees “were handling the medication without proper personal protective equipment, and then there were some in there trying to link it back to health concerns as well,” explained AUPE oh&s representative Trevor Hansen, “after, of course, we noted some of the acute and the chronic illnesses that could be associated with cytotoxics.”
The medications have also been linked to vital organ damage and pregnancy-related health issues like birth defects, according to the union.
“At the time when we launched our campaign,” said Hansen, referring to the union’s actions to raise public awareness of the drugs’ hazards, “we had about 100 concerns from various healthcare workers across the province in regards to cytotoxic medication.” Since the launch, AUPE has received “an additional 30 to 40 complaints from our membership.”
Todd Gilchrist, vice president of people, legal and privacy for Alberta Health Services (AHS), said in a media statement that AUPE members had made the employer aware of the exposure incidents upon their occurrences in April and June.
“AHS Workplace Health and Safety conducted a health and safety investigation to determine the level of exposure and potential risk,” said Gilchrist. “After speaking with each employee and reviewing their individual actions and relevant safety protocols, it was determined that there had been no exposure that could cause harm. This was communicated back to employees and their labour representatives.
“We have no reason to believe that harmful exposures have occurred or that any staff member has experienced adverse health effects from exposure to cytotoxic medications. Although no employees reported any illness or health effects, Workplace Health and Safety occupational health nurses reached out to affected staff to hear their concerns and answer any questions.”
But Hansen said that there was a “lack of awareness” about the side effects of cytotoxic medications in the industry.
“Nursing staff, they hear the words ‘cytotoxic medication’, they link it back to how it affects patients,” said Hansen. “We’re finding the culture in healthcare, it’s very patient-focused as to how it affects patients and clients. A lot of nursing staff don’t actually take the effects as to how it’s going to affect them as a worker.”
In addition, workers in facility maintenance and food services often know nothing about cytotoxic medications or the risks of exposure. “We’re finding the employers that have practices in place sporadically throughout the province. It’s not consistent.”
AUPE recommends that healthcare workers wear special chemotherapy gloves and non-impermeable gowns, as well as respirators and eye protection, to prevent exposure.
“That would extend into both our auxiliary nursing group, who are the nurses that would be preparing and administering the drugs,” said Hansen about the union’s recommendations. “We’re advising our general support staff to take similar precautions.”
Gilchrist said that AHS has safety policies, procedures, education and training to deal with the hazards of exposure to cytotoxic medications. “We will continue to work with staff and unions to ensure the continued health, safety and wellness of all AHS employees,” he said.
“The health and safety of staff is our top priority. We continue to take steps to ensure their ongoing health, safety and wellness.”
Canada Post employees claim carbon-monoxide exposure from trucks
Canada’s national mail service has responded to recent claims from employees that aging postal trucks have been leaking carbon monoxide (CO) inside the cabs in the Ottawa area.
The issue became public with a CBC News story posted online on July 12. The story quoted Julie Stewart, a Canada Post deliverer in Kemptville, Ont., and Smiths Falls mail worker Diana Bayer, both of whom claimed that workers were being poisoned by CO coming through their trucks’ exhaust.
The article also stated that some Canada Post workers had begun carrying gas detectors while on their delivery routes. Stewart reportedly had to go to the hospital twice earlier this year because of drowsiness and chest pains.
In an e-mailed response to COHSN, Canada Post stated that it has processes for equipment and vehicle maintenance and that employees are welcome to identify and report any issues.
“We have taken the concerns brought forward by the two employees in Kemptville and Smiths Falls seriously and have taken action,” the organization wrote.
“The vehicles were pulled from service, and extensive testing was conducted, including on-the-road delivery conditions to investigate. Maintenance, as well as a health and safety rep, were involved. We have informed the employees that no evidence was found to support their claims.”
Mail vehicles are inspected and maintained on a regular basis, depending upon elapsed calendar days and elapsed kilometres travelled, Canada Post said. A multipoint inspection and any necessary maintenance are required before a truck returns to service.
“As part of their regular duties, employees are expected to complete a daily vehicle inspection to help detect any issues or potential issues that would require testing or servicing outside of the regular schedule,” the organization added.
“In addition to our regular maintenance program, if a potential safety issue is identified, we will pull the vehicle off the road for testing. We also have a joint approach with the unions – at the local and national level – to review any potential safety concerns.”
But the CBC story quoted Stewart as saying that supervisors had done nothing about the alleged CO problem for many mail workers. It also cited a case in which a Brockville worker had supposedly measured a CO reading of 49 parts per million inside her truck’s cab, using her own CO tester. In the latter case, the employee’s supervisors replaced the exhaust system inside the vehicle and solved the problem, she said.
The problem has reportedly occurred inside Grumman LLV trucks, which have been out of production since 1994. Canada Post signed a deal with Ford to replace them in 2010, according to the CBC, but some workers are still driving Grumman trucks more than 20 years old while on the job.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment before press time.
A Crown corporation, the Canada Post Corporation employs about 64,000 workers nationwide, including around 25,000 mail carriers delivering to nearly 16 million addresses, according to the organization’s 2015 annual report.
Feds lower limit of exposure to airborne chrysotile asbestos
The Government of Canada furthered its efforts to ban asbestos across the country on July 12, when it announced that it was lowering the acceptable level of workplace exposure to airborne chrysotile asbestos to as close to zero as possible.
The move was effective immediately, according to a news release from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Patty Hajdu, the federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced in Gatineau, Que. that the lower threshold would minimize the risk of workers contacting airborne asbestos fibres and align Canada’s national standard with those of individual provinces and territories. The new limit is also more consistent with international standards.
“Every employee has the right to a safe workplace,” said Hajdu, as quoted in the release. “I’m proud to be announcing these long-overdue regulatory changes on asbestos, a key element of our government’s comprehensive ban.”
Federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan said in a press statement that protecting Canadians’ health and safety “is of utmost importance” to the Justin Trudeau government.
“Canadians can be confident my colleagues and I will continue to work hard to ensure that families, workers and communities will be protected from the harmful impacts of asbestos exposure,” added Duncan, “so they may lead healthy, secure lives.”
The move is part of the federal government’s ongoing strategy to ban all asbestos and asbestos-containing products by next year. Canada’s occupational health and safety law regulations require exposure to airborne asbestos to follow the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold Limit Values at 0.1 fibres per cubic centimetre, according to a backgrounder on the ESDC website.
Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff, whose organization has been lobbying for a complete asbestos ban for some time, told COHSN that the lower threshold was a move “in the right direction” that would “send a clear message” that the carcinogenic mineral should not be used.
“We welcome the action of the government,” said Yussuff. “There’s always going to be argument on what level of threshold is acceptable for workers to be exposed, and we believe no amount of asbestos fibres is safe. So lowering the threshold certainly brings us one step closer to the inevitable situation that the government already announced, a complete ban of both import and export of asbestos.”
Yussuff added that there is still a lot more work to do, including bringing all provincial asbestos-exposure standards into line and creating registries of buildings that still contain the mineral. “We’ve got some distance to go,” he said.
“I also believe that we need a national registry for workers that are dying from asbestos-related disease in this country,” explained Yussuff, “to give us, really, an account as to how many people are affected by the substance, yet decades after the worker may have been exposed to it.”
ESDC announced its strategy on a nationwide asbestos ban last Dec. 15. In addition to the new occupational exposure limit, the strategy consists of regulating the handling, removal, repair and disturbance of asbestos-containing material to minimize worker exposure. Previously, Public Services and Procurement Canada had already banned the use of asbestos in all new federal construction and renovation projects (COHSN, April 12, 2016).
“It moves us one step closer, of course, to try to make this country a safer place for workers who work in industry,” Yussuff said about the lowered threshold.
MLA urges inquiry into David Fifi death at Vale’s Thompson smelter
WINNIPEG, Man. – The provincial Liberal party of Manitoba is demanding an investigation into the Nov. 2008 death of David Fifi, a 52-year-old boilermaker who worked at the Vale smelter in Thompson. Jon Gerrard, the Member of the Legislative Assembly for River Heights, brought up the case in the province’s legislature on May 31. Although the cause of Fifi’s death was deemed to be a heart attack, his widow strongly believes that he and other workers were exposed to toxic gases at the smelter (COHSN, May 23). “On behalf of David Fifi’s widow and other employees who many [sic] have been exposed to a toxic, unsafe workplace, Manitoba Liberals urge the government to open a full inquiry,” stated a press release from the party, “to see if the concerns raised and the allegations of a cover-up have merit and to make recommendations with regard to future protection of workers.” The release added that there is evidence that “both the company and NDP government were aware of the leaks, but did nothing to stop the exposures or protect the workers and allowed them to continue operating, knowing full well how dangerous it was.” Vale Canada announced on May 16 that it will close its Thompson nickel-mining operations this autumn.
Former miner whose illness led to anti-McIntyre Powder campaign passes away
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – Jim Hobbs, a retired nickel and uranium miner who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2001, died on May 24 at the age of 76. An online obituary from the Elliot Lake Funeral Chapel & Cremation Centre stated that Hobbs had passed away at the Espanola Nursing Home after having “faced his illness with dignity, a positive attitude and strength.” Hobbs’ daughter, Janice Martell, believed that his illness had resulted from McIntyre Powder, a type of aluminum dust that miners once inhaled on the job, as employers believed it would protect workers from silicosis; this led Martell to found the McIntyre Powder Project in 2015. The Project includes a voluntary registry of information on miners who had inhaled McIntyre Powder on the job and documents their health issues. Hobbs left behind his wife, Elaine Burns, four children including Martell, 15 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, according to the obituary. Hobbs’ funeral and reception are scheduled for the morning of June 3 at the Massey Arena in Massey, Ont.
Silicosis affecting miners in Labrador, according to new study
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has released the results of a medical audit that studied the effects of silica-dust exposure at two mining properties in western Labrador. The audit sought to reveal whether both active and retired miners had developed silicosis over the previous decade.
Conducted by Horizon Occupational Health Solutions, the audit involved taking chest X-rays of 636 individuals who had worked at the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) mine in Labrador City and Wabush Mines in Wabush and then having a trained physician evaluate the results. According to the 43-page audit report, which was published on May 24, 35 of the subjects exhibited signs of silicosis.
“Some 25 of those people already knew they had silicosis,” said Perry Trimper, the Minister Responsible for Service N.L., which is the province’s occupational health and safety authority. “It was ten individuals that we’ve now asked to go and see a physician and have a thorough checkup, just to determine if, in fact, that may be the case.”
Trimper explained that the province had adopted a Silica Code of Practice in 2006 and, more recently, wanted to check whether measures around controlling silica dust had been effective in protecting workers. The majority of audit subjects who had contracted silicosis had been working at the sites prior to the Code adoption, he said.
“The unfortunate thing is that some ten individuals now may be realizing that they have silicosis,” noted Trimper. “That type of discussion has been ongoing with them since we got the results.”
The report made 11 recommendations, all of which Service N.L. immediately accepted. Among the recommendations:
- review the Code and update its roles and responsibilities;
- hire one or two respirologists as consulting specialists for suspected silicosis, and consider using one or two radiologists to read chest X-rays of workers who may have been exposed to silica dust;
- establish requirements regarding regular reviews of medical surveillance files of current employees; and
- review procedures of health-surveillance screening at workplaces to keep them compliant with the Code.
“We’re starting right away,” Trimper said about implementing the recommendations. “We’ve developed an action plan for each of them.” Service N.L. is scheduled to meet with the steering committee with which it has been working to discuss how to deal with the recommendations on June 1. “We’re going to be sharing our strategies as to how we can implement these actions as soon as possible.”
He added that he had not formed his own expectations about what the audit results would be. “What I was more interested in were the recommendations,” said Trimper. “What else does government need to do to make sure that, again, we have the workers properly protected? So that was the real outcome for me.”
Following the publication of the report, United Steelworkers Local 5795 – which represents workers at the IOC mine – expressed frustration with the employer’s failures of trust and honesty in a May 25 media release, in part because of the health issues.
“The company preaches safety and looks for ways to discipline our members,” said Local 5795 president Ron Thomas in a press statement, “but, meanwhile, turns a blind eye to fixing high dust conditions that affect the broader community.”
“What I’ve been focused on as the minister responsible,” said Trimper, “is to ensure that we’re doing everything we can.”
The Horizon report is accessible online at http://www.servicenl.gov.nl.ca/ohs/safety_info/pdf/medical_audit_report_2017.pdf.
Widow seeking inquiry into alleged toxic exposures at Manitoba smelter in 2008
Almost nine years after her husband died of a supposed heart attack during a work stint at a Vale Canada smelter in Thompson, Man., Lila Fifi still has questions – and is unsatisfied with the answers she has received.
At about 5 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2008, David Fifi phoned her unexpectedly from where he was staying with their son. His voice was hoarse, his breath coming out in short gasps. “He could hardly even speak,” recalled Lila Fifi. An ambulance took him to a local hospital, but he passed away shortly after 8 a.m. that day.
David, 52, was a boilermaker who was part of a team hired earlier that year to install a new electrostatic precipitator (ESP) at the Thompson smelter. Although his death was officially deemed due to natural causes, Lila Fifi is not convinced it was that simple: she believes he was exposed to high levels of toxic gas through leaks and holes in the flue line at the facility – and that he was not the only one. She is still trying to get the federal government and other authorities to initiate some kind of public inquiry or investigation into what really happened.
“He was blasted for three times a day for six days in a row, and there’s not one citation,” said Fifi. “The day that David passed away, they shut that job down for two days, and they put it up and running, and they haven’t done anything.” Workplace Safety and Health (WSH), the provincial government oh&s authority, did investigate the fatality, but ceased the investigation when the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (CME) ruled that David’s death was not work-related. Fifi was denied survivor’s benefits from the worker’s compensation board.
Cory McPhee, Vale Canada’s vice president of corporate affairs, told COHSN that the company had provided proper respiratory protection and gas monitors for the group hired to replace the ESP in 2008.
“They had procedures in place for dealing with gas, all of those procedures were followed, there were other workers there, there were no other exposures. Everything had been fairly normal,” said McPhee, stating that nothing unusual had happened in the days leading up to David Fifi’s death.
“There’s nothing to connect this to any workplace exposure,” he added. “That does nothing to take away from the tragedy of him losing his life, but it certainly was not workplace-related.”
An e-mailed response from WSH stated that its 2008 investigation had “concurred with the determination” by the CME that David Fifi had “died as a result of natural causes.”
But witness reports from a few of David’s work colleagues on the day after his death suggest another scenario. According to a series of statements obtained by COHSN, four co-workers told WSH investigator Dennis Fontaine that David and others had been ill for about a week before the tragedy.
“We got high gas at least three times a day for at least six days,” foreman Sean Mcelmoyle said on Nov. 7, 2008. “All members of the crew, including myself, are ill right now.”
Mcelmoyle passed away after David did, according to Lila Fifi, who said that a friend of hers had tried to convince Mcelmoyle to quit at the Thompson smelter shortly after David’s death. “His wife doesn’t know why he died,” said Fifi.
Another boilermaker, Doug Bell, told Fontaine that David had been “coughing a bit” on the day before his death. In addition, the workers did not have a sufficient number of gas monitors on the job, he claimed.
“We were constantly getting gassed from at least four different stacks,” said Bell. “This cuts right through your respirators, so no matter how you try to protect yourself, you can’t.” The gas was so thick that Bell could taste and smell it through his respirator, he described, “and it was making my eyes water.”
Safety rep Dean Bull questioned whether the workers had been using the right kinds of gas monitors in his statement. Meanwhile, fellow boilermaker James Keck stated that he had gone to the hospital on the morning of Nov. 3, 2008 because he had been “vomiting after work, had a problem standing up, felt hot and [felt] a tingling in my hands.”
After her husband’s passing, Lila Fifi began to attend safety meetings at Vale and discuss issues with other employees. “And there were lots of concerns there,” she said. “You know how many things we saw in there that there were deficiencies, and nothing was done about it.”
She has accused Vale and the Manitoba government of suppressing information about toxic exposures at the Thompson smelter. “They must be doing some kind of elbow rubbing,” she said.
“Why isn’t anything being done? The people that know. Nobody’s doing anything. I can’t believe it,” said Fifi. “Today, Vale’s operating as they were before. Nothing’s being done.
“Why isn’t there somebody turning around and being a whistleblower?”
Located about 740 kilometres north of Winnipeg, Vale’s nickel operations in Thompson currently employ around 1,500 people at a mill, smelter and refinery, according to information from the company website.
Report reveals decades of toxic chemical exposure at GE plant
Workers at a General Electric (GE) facility in Peterborough, Ont. were exposed to more than 3,000 toxic chemicals for more than half a century, with some employees developing terminal diseases, according to an explosive study by the Advisory Committee on Retrospective Exposures.
Authored by occupational-health researchers Bob and Dale DeMatteo and published on May 18, The Report of the Advisory Committee on Retrospective Exposure Profiling of the Production Processes at the General Electric Production Facility in Peterborough, Ontario 1945-2000 revealed that workers had been exposed to at least 40 confirmed or suspected carcinogens from the end of World War II to the turn of the century.
The 183-page report was released at a media conference at Peterborough’s Royal Canadian Legion branch on the afternoon of May 18, according to a press release from Unifor, a national union that represents more than 310,000 workers. Former GE employee Sue James and Unifor national representative Joel Carr joined the authors at the event, which was attended by other GE retirees and relatives of deceased claimants.
“These GE workers have suffered horrific and often terminal diseases at a disproportionate rate, yet approximately half of the compensation claims filed have been rejected, abandoned or withdrawn due to what was deemed to be insufficient proof,” said Carr. “This report provides much needed evidence to allow the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to reopen and support these claims.”
James said that many of her former GE colleagues had died, including her father, a longtime employee who had developed tumours in his lung and spine.
“I’ve seen the results. I’ve been to the funerals,” said James.
Unifor plans to present the study to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), Ontario’s workers’ compensation authority. The union claimed in a separate release that 31 of its members were former GE employees with WSIB claims for work-related illnesses, including cancer.
The DeMatteos wrote in the report introduction that the study was intended to address GE employees’ concerns that their working conditions had been misrepresented and ignored.
“The major source of this information came from the workers themselves, through a series of intensive focus group[s] and key informant interviews that went on for over eight months,” the report read. “This information was corroborated by government inspection reports… in addition to joint health and safety committee minutes, internal memoranda and industrial-hygiene literature.”
“This report provides a powerful narrative of what the workers, and the community, already know to be true,” said Carr in a statement.
The Report of the Advisory Committee on Retrospective Exposure is available online at http://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/document/ge_advisory_cmtt_report_may_15_final_for_web.pdf.
Employee’s burn injuries lead to conviction of transport firm
WINNIPEG, Man. – Maxim Transportation Services Inc. was recently fined a total of $48,750, including surcharges, over a 2014 incident in Winnipeg that left an employee with burns to his face and left forearm. Workplace Safety and Health (WSH), the oh&s department with the Manitoba government, stated in an April 20 media bulletin that the worker had been cutting a hole on the top of a metal 45-gallon barrel with an oxygen acetylene cutting torch on Sept. 10, 2014, when flames shot out of a filler hole and burned him. It turned out that the barrel had not been fully purged of flammable contents before the worker began the task, the bulletin added. On March 23 of this year, Maxim pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees, a violation of Section 4(1)(a) of the provincial Workplace Safety and Health Act. “When a workplace incident occurs,” WSH stated, “WSH may conduct an investigation and can recommend prosecution if it is determined that noncompliance to Manitoba’s safety and health laws contributed to the incident.”