VERNON, B.C. – The Vernon School District has been ordered to pay a fine of $628,034.57, following renovation of property that turned out to have asbestos-containing materials in it. According to an April 18 news release from the District, the renovation work was conducted last May on property leased by the school board as the future site of its Open Door Learning Centre. WorkSafeBC later determined that the District had not taken sufficient precautions to prevent worker injury or illness, exercised due diligence in preventing the asbestos exposure or maintained safe working conditions. “The District is very disappointed in WorkSafeBC’s decision,” read the release, calling the penalty “excessive” and adding that the landlord of the property had not informed the school board that asbestos-containing material was present. “The District has developed and implemented a comprehensive and fully compliant asbestos-management program… and has undertaken comprehensive asbestos training of its maintenance workers.” The District stated that it had taken “all reasonable steps” to comply with all asbestos-hazard-mitigation requirements and would be working with its lawyers to review the fine.
Category Archives: Hazmat
University building rooms reopened following asbestos leaks
The University of Toronto (U of T) has been hit with health and safety grievances from the union representing its teaching assistants and contract faculty, following a trio of recent asbestos leaks in the main campus’ Medical Sciences Building.
The leaks resulted from renovation work in the building, part of a large, campus-wide rehabilitation project funded in part by the federal and Ontario governments, according to Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice president of university operations. Part of this project involves getting rid of all asbestos, he explained.
“The University of Toronto has a policy,” said Mabury, “that whenever we’re doing a significant renovation in any space, we remove asbestos.” The removal is not mandatory, he added, but the university’s choice.
The first leak occurred on Feb. 1, with the second on Feb. 24; these incidents affected four rooms in the research tower of the Medical Sciences Building. “I stress ‘four’ because we have 1,900 rooms in that building, to give you an idea of the scale,” said Mabury.
The third incident involved the discovery of a 50-year-old wall sealer, 0.5 per cent of which contained asbestos fibres, in another room of the research tower. “None of us had ever seen this before, and our outside consultants hadn’t seen it before,” Mabury said.
Local 3902 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has claimed in its grievances that the university risked the health of its employees by allowing them to work in the building during the leaks. The majority of the building’s workers were unaware of the first asbestos leak for about five weeks after its discovery, according to media reports.
While CUPE Local 3902 did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment, Mabury conceded that there had been insufficient communication to employees following the first leak.
“In retrospect, it would have been better if we had more broadly communicated the first incident,” he said. “But one has to balance that kind of communication with the desire not to unnecessarily raise concern and alarm.”
But the university did inform the joint health and safety committee of the leaks and take other required actions, such as frequent air-quality tests. As of April 17, U of T had conducted 491 air samples outside of the containment zones of the building since autumn, Mabury indicated.
“We’ve had outside experts come in and assess all the evidence, both our procedures and actions, as well as all the data,” he said. “We believe that the building is as safe now as it was when it was built.”
In addition, the asbestos contractor whose breaches caused the first two leaks is no longer working in the Medical Sciences Building.
“That contractor had worked on campus for many, many years, very successfully, but that led us to not have them work in the building any further,” said Mabury.
Following the CUPE grievances, the university has put additional procedures and oversight in place and made efforts to communicate with workers and other stakeholders more effectively, such as in online updates.
“We will more extensively communicate if this ever happens again,” said Mabury. “We’ve learned from the experience here and applied this learning not only in this building, but throughout the tri-campus University of Toronto experience.”
EDIT: The affected lab rooms in the building have recently reopened, according to an announcement on the U of T website.
Faulty valve causes ammonia leak at P.E.I. sports arena
Three employees of a sports facility in the community of Pownal, P.E.I. were treated at a local hospital and released, following an ammonia leak that occurred on the morning of April 10.
Pownal Sports Centre employee Dave McDougall was working on a valve in the building when it failed and released the gas, according to Ronnie Drake, a part-time worker at the facility.
“I was here at the time,” Drake told COHSN. “It’s a normal procedure that he does all the time: he drains up oil off the ammonia, and anyhow, in doing so, the valve that he was using, it’s under pressure. He just lets the valve go very lightly, and that valve was defaulted.”
Although McDougall was already wearing respiratory protection at the time, he had to put on a Scott air pack as well before closing the valve, added Drake.
“And Dave, he was saying, ‘I’ve never seen a valve do that before,’” he said.
The Cross Roads Fire Department in nearby Stratford reportedly attended the scene of the incident, as did the hazardous-materials team from the provincial Department of Communities, Land and Environment.
“Following an investigation, it was determined the leak was the result of a mechanical failure of the oil-drain valve,” said Amber Nicholson, a senior communications officer with the Department, in an e-mailed reply. “A comprehensive review of the maintenance procedures for servicing the ammonia refrigeration system is currently underway.”
Cross Roads did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment.
McDougall, Drake and a third employee were treated and observed for possible side effects at the hospital for three hours. Drake had inhaled some ammonia, while McDougall had sustained skin and breathing irritation.
“He was a little hoarse, and I think he had a burn on his left leg, from the ammonia,” said Drake, regarding McDougall. “He had to have Band-Aids on it. He had a couple of blisters.”
All three employees have since returned to work at the Sports Centre.
A leak like this one had never happened at the facility before, according to Drake.
“Just a freak accident type of thing,” he described it. “The refrigeration guy was here, and he mentioned to the board inspector, he said he’d never seen that happen before, valves do that.
“When they tested the valve, that’s when they found it wasn’t anything that happened. It was just a faulty valve.”
The Pownal Sports Centre includes a stadium and an indoor ice arena, according to its website. The facility opened in 2004.
Pownal is a small community in the municipality of Alexandra, about 8.5 kilometres southeast of Charlottetown.
Staffing cuts may endanger workers at oil refinery, says union
Employees at the North Atlantic Refining Limited (NARL) oil refinery in Come By Chance, N.L. have been expressing concern about workplace safety following recent layoffs, according to the local union leader.
Located near Placentia Bay, the refinery is operated by NARL and has a capacity of 115,000 barrels, or about 18,300 cubic metres of oil, per day. The employer announced impending layoffs in the fall, stating that the downsizing was necessary because of “economic pressures that has [sic] forced many refineries throughout the world to close,” according to a NARL media statement from Nov. 9.
“It’s not about the layoffs, it’s about the safety of the reduction of the workforce,” said Glen Nolan, president of United Steelworkers Local 9316. “When you reduce staff into our units,” he added, “it affects the procedures for the units. It also affects the emergency procedures. And to do all that, you need also to have the new training to do that.”
Nolan elaborated that he and the union had not received basic information about procedure change as far as safety and emergency response were concerned. “I have not received any of this documentation. I’ve been after it,” he said. “We’re entitled to the information.”
He cited the staff reductions in the refinery’s hydro units as an example. “We had two operators on a hydro unit. If you reduce those numbers to one on a hydro unit, you need to have a plan in place how that person is going to be safe,” explained Nolan, noting that each hydro unit supplies about 1,000 pounds of steam per hour for utilities and turns gas into hydrogen.
“So when you reduce those numbers in those units, how are you going to do it safe? You took that one person out, I can’t see how this would be safe,” he said. “That’s our concern.”
NARL did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment, but manager Dan Harris said in a March 27 press statement that safety was a top priority at the refinery. “Safety is a core value of our company and will remain the cornerstone of how we operate,” he said.
Local media reports have stated that refinery workers have accused NARL management of mistreating them with threats and a poor workplace environment. Nolan declined to comment on these allegations, but said that there had been refusals to work at the refinery because of the safety concerns.
“There are work refusals on our site right now,” he said, adding that he had been engaging in dialogue with the employer and with government occupational health and safety authorities “to have this investigated on the number of things that are happening out there.
“That’s our job, is to ask the questions.”
The Come By Chance refinery was built in the early 1970s and operated by Shaheen Resources from 1973 until 1976, when the company went bankrupt. In 1986, Newfoundland Processing Ltd. restarted the facility, which has since changed hands between different companies. New York commodity merchant bank SilverRange Capital Partners has owned the refinery since 2014, with NARL operating it.
“We have a right to be safe in a refinery or any other place that we work,” said Nolan.
Union praises plan to conduct asbestos inventory in B.C.
BURNABY, B.C. – Following an announcement by the British Columbia government that it is taking steps to build an inventory of provincial government buildings built before 1990 and containing asbestos, the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) applauded the move in March 27 news release. The union called the plan “a significant step in ensuring worker safety during construction, maintenance and renovation of government buildings,” adding that the inventory will cover 758 buildings, 451 of which are leased by the province. “It is unacceptable that workers are still being unknowingly exposed to asbestos in 2017. We have known about its deadly effects since the 1980s,” BCGEU president Stephanie Smith said in a press statement. “It is time for the government to move forward with this provincial inventory.” The release noted that the project could take as long as four years to complete, due to the number of buildings being listed. Asbestos-related disease is the leading cause of occupational fatality in B.C., and 44 per cent of accepted work-related deaths in 2016 were linked to asbestos exposure, according to information from WorkSafeBC, the province’s workers’ compensation board.
Unifor holding info sessions on hazmat-exposure claims for GE Canada workers
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. – National private-sector union Unifor is holding drop-in information sessions this week for General Electric Canada (GE) employees who are considering filing workers’ compensation claims regarding hazardous-material exposure at the corporation’s Peterborough plant. A media release from the union invited GE workers and their families to the sessions, which are scheduled from March 28 to 30 at the Peterborough Naval Association’s Admiralty Hall. The sessions are providing information on the claims system, the status of cases, and the next steps in the process, and attendees can speak with members of Unifor, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the provincial Ministry of Labour and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers Inc. “Unifor will be in attendance to aid current and former members who have or are considering an occupational-disease claim,” the release stated. The union encouraged interested parties to book appointment times in advance by phone.
Politicians, union raise alarm about potential disaster at fuel company
Safety issues at the Windsor, Ont. location of Sterling Fuels Limited could lead to disaster for employees, the surrounding community and the environment if the company does not address them immediately, according to politicians and the local Unifor chapter – but Sterling’s safety manager has maintained that safety is the company’s top priority.
At a Windsor press conference on the morning of March 13, MP Brian Masse, MPP Lisa Gretzky, employees of the company and others called on Sterling to make necessary repairs to its facility. The employer has dozens of outstanding work orders against it, according to information from Unifor Local 444.
In a March 10 letter to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau, Masse claimed that the marine and land fuelling company has “serious environmental, workplace health and safety and public safety concerns” that need to be addressed urgently.
“It is my understanding that there have been significant spills onsite and that they occur with an alarming degree of regularity,” wrote Masse, who represents the Windsor West riding for the federal NDP. “Further, the remediation of these spills has been called into question, with allegations that runoff of hazardous material stored onsite in some instances ends up in the [Detroit River].
“In addition to the environmental concerns that these allegations raise, the workplace health and safety aspects are extremely worrisome,” added Masse in the letter, published on his website on March 13.
Although Local 444 did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment before press time, a March 11 post on the union’s Twitter account stated that the federal and Ontario Liberal governments needed “to work together to solve multijurisdictional issues” to deal with the problem.
“Lac-Mégantic cannot be repeated in Windsor,” the union tweeted, referring to the oil explosion that killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Que. in July 2013. “Sterling Fuels needs to abide by orders against them.”
Joel Gardner, the corporate health, safety and environmental manager for Sterling, said that the company is “fully committed” to the safety of its employees and the surrounding community.
“We’re regularly inspected,” said Gardner. “We have a robust safety and environmental management program.” He added that the company had invested heavily in maintaining, improving and upgrading controls at the Windsor site over the previous few years.
“We’re confident and comfortable with what we do and how serious we take safety and environmental management, and we’re going to continue to do that.”
On March 15, Gardner wrote a letter to Garneau, Masse, Gretzky, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkins and others, stating that not all of the relevant information about the alleged risks had been shared with the public.
“Sterling is a federally regulated facility,” Gardner wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by COHSN. “We spent over a million dollars on improving plant safety and environmental protection over the last few years – and spending continues.
“Improvements to the Sterling Fuels facility over the past three years cover plant and dock safety improvements, tank and loading-arm emission-control systems, personal and yard H2S monitoring devices, secondary-product containment systems and environmental-protection projects, including [a] groundwater-monitoring program.”
In March of last year, Local 444 members at Sterling refused to work, reportedly over a lack of proper protective equipment and training. But Gardner said that the walkout had resulted from “a new process” involving rail offloading. The incident resulted in an investigation from a health and safety officer, “which resulted in three compliance directions,” he noted.
“One of the compliance directions we’ve received, our compliance plan has been approved, and we’re working on closing the last two out.”
Masse’s March 10 letter requested “immediate action” on behalf of federal, provincial and municipal authorities to enforce Sterling’s full safety compliance immediately.
“I also call for a full report of this analysis to be provided publically,” wrote Masse.
Dollar store shuts down due to asbestos risk
The Dollar Tree location in downtown Victoria has been temporarily closed following a recent inspection by WorkSafeBC, because of crumbling floor tiles containing asbestos.
The store was inspected by WorkSafeBC occupational hygiene officer Jason Smit on Feb. 21, according to the subsequent inspection report, a copy of which was obtained by COHSN. The report contained two outstanding orders to the store, one of which was a stop-work order, the other demanding compliance with the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.
“Floor tiles, which are described as asbestos-containing, in the building asbestos inventory located in the retail area were found to be in poor (pulverized) condition. Workers are required work in this area,” Smits wrote in the report.
“The employer has not controlled the material by removal, enclosure or encapsulation. Workers access this space and are required to move materials across these floor tiles,” the report continued, stating that the store had violated Section 6.7(1) of the Regulations.
No work will be permitted in the store until Dollar Tree meets the following four conditions:
- hiring a qualified hazardous-materials consultant to perform a risk assessment regarding the building’s asbestos content;
- hiring a qualified asbestos-abatement contractor to develop abatement procedures and clean up the risky areas;
- having a qualified person conduct a final inspection and document that all asbestos is either safely contained or removed; and
- undergoing a follow-up inspection by Smit.
“The employer must ensure that all friable asbestos-containing materials in the workplace are controlled by removal, enclosure or encapsulation, so as to prevent the release of airborne asbestos fibre,” Smits wrote.
Dollar Tree Canada, the corporation that owns the Victoria store, did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment.
Local media reports have stated that the store has a yellow “Closed” sign on the front window and a metal gate blocking the entrance.
With headquarters in Burnaby, Dollar Tree has more than 200 locations across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The franchise sells every single item at $1.25, from food and toys to home products and books, according to information from its website.
New strategies needed for derailments of trains with dangerous goods, says TSB
SUDBURY, Ont. – The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is calling for Transport Canada (TC) to study the factors that increase the severity of outcomes of derailments of trains carrying dangerous goods and develop new strategies to reduce potential disaster. The recommendation came alongside a new TSB report, published on Feb. 16, on a derailment of a Canadian National train carrying petroleum crude oil near Gogoma, Ont. on Feb. 14, 2015. When 29 of the train’s 100 tank cars derailed that day, 19 of them spilled 1.7 million litres of crude, igniting fires that burned for five days, the report stated. The TSB investigation determined that failure of the track’s joint bars had contributed to the derailment. The train was moving at well below TC’s maximum allowed speed at the time. “The current speed limits may not be low enough for… unit trains carrying flammable liquids,” TSB chair Kathy Fox said at a press conference in Sudbury on Feb. 16. “We are also calling for Transport Canada to look at all of the factors, including speed, which contribute to the severity of derailments, to develop mitigating strategies and to amend the rules accordingly.” No one was injured in the 2015 derailment.
Munitions depot was at high risk of “catastrophic” fire, 2015 report warned
An internal risk assessment in 2015 concluded that a fire at the Canadian Forces (CF) ammunition depot in Bedford, N.S. was “likely to occur” and could have “severe consequences.” But CF’s current Halifax base commander says that the risk has since been lowered.
Following the assessment, the military prepared a 32-page report that set the probability of a fire at “occasional”, meaning that one was likely, and deemed the potential severity of such a fire to be “catastrophic”. The report was dated June 2015, but became available to the public after CBC News published an online story about it on Feb. 9 of this year.
The CF report, which claimed that a fire at the facility “may cause death of personnel, severe loss of operational capacity, destruction of property or severe environmental damage,” identified inadequate maintenance of three systems – the vegetation control in the explosives area, the lightning-protection system and the water supply for fire protection – as the main factor in the risk.
But Navy Captain Chris Sutherland, the present commander for CF’s Halifax base, told COHSN that the base had taken action following the assessment and lowered the fire risk substantially.
“My predecessor requested the report, and I received it November 5th of 2015,” explained Capt. Sutherland. “I assess the fire risk to be low, based on all of the mitigating efforts we undertook, to include dealing with the vegetation.”
Capt. Sutherland, who is in charge of fire services and security for the base’s integral and lodger units, added that the base was currently updating its lightning rods. “They still work. They’re just not working up to code,” he said. “Next fiscal year, they will be replaced.”
As for the water supply, the Bedford depot has water sources from the municipalities of Bedford and Halifax available, as well as a reservoir. “Those three are more than sufficient to provide pressure to fight a fire in the Bedford magazine area,” said Capt. Sutherland.
“If we were to have multiple fires on multiple fronts, it would create more of a challenge. However, we have within ten kilometres of the ammunition depot three other fire departments, civilian ones, and we have an agreement with them.” So a potential large fire would bring ample response within six minutes, he added.
Capt. Sutherland also stressed that a contained explosion within one of the magazines would pose no risk to the community.
“Because of the infrastructure investment in the new magazines, which have their own fire-suppression system, with the way ammunition is built and constructed today, the risk to anyone in the area is nonexistent,” he said. “Even if a fire were to touch one of those magazines, they’re fireproof, and even if the ammunition were to go off, they’re designed and they’re spaced out in such a way as that the resulting explosions would be contained within the structure.”
Capt. Sutherland contrasted the base’s modern safety measures with the careless way explosives had been stored outdoors at the end of World War II. Returning soldiers, he said, “were so keen to get back to their loved ones, they basically just offloaded everything and kind of buggered off.
“Now everything is in proper, modern magazines with their own self-protection-monitoring systems and spaced in such a way that there can be no sympathetic damage to a subsequent magazine, were one to have an incident.”
The previous fire risk assessment of the depot took place in 2003. No assessment is scheduled for the moment, but one could be requested at any time, noted Capt. Sutherland.
“My recommendation to my turnover,” he said, “would be that once the lightning rods and the vegetation work and the work on the water supply are complete, that we conduct another fire assessment.”