Category Archives: Legislation

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Legislation

Ontario seeking advice from industry to prevent construction accidents

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Ontario has created an advisory group to assist in implementing the province’s Construction Health and Safety Action Plan. Announced on May 21, the Construction Health and Safety Advisory Group, which consists of four labour and four employer representatives, will work with Parliamentary Assistant Mike Colle and Chief Prevention Officer George Gritziotis to provide advice on how to best implement the action plan.

“While we have made great strides in reducing workplace injuries, the number of fatalities in our construction sector is still far too high,” Ontario Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn said in a statement on May 21. “This advisory group will provide important advice on the occupational health and safety needs of the construction sector and will help us create safer workplaces.”

Ontario’s construction industry has traditionally experienced higher rates of workplace injuries and fatalities compared to other sectors. In 2013, the construction sector represented seven per cent of employment in Ontario but 26 per cent of fatalities, the Ministry of Labour said.

Preventable workplace accidents continue to be a problem in the construction sector, Gritziotis noted in the statement. “I am confident that together, we can enhance safety in the sector,” he said. “The work of the advisory group will build on the stakeholder engagement we have conducted to date.”

The action plan, as set out in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s mandate letter on September 25, 2014, aims to protect workers’ health and safety by strengthening accident prevention in the construction sector.

The advisory group will make suggestions to the government on how to: increase the commitment to health and safety in construction workplaces; enhance training for workers in the sector; work with other enforcement authorities and municipalities to improve safety; build awareness about construction health and safety among young people; encourage effective supervision of construction workers; ensure that legislation and regulations are better understood; and ensure effective consumer outreach strategies.

The group is comprised of labour representatives, including Joe Dowdall of the International Union of Operating Engineers, James Hogarth of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, Cosmo Mannella of LiUNA Ontario Provincial District Council and Mike Yorke of the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario. Employer representatives on the group include Mike Wieninger of PCL Constructors Inc., Steve Riddell of Ellis Don Corporation, Tom McLaughlin of Thomasfield Homes Ltd. and Dave McLean of Mattamy Homes.

The action plan would require government, labour, workers, owners, supervisors and consumers to work together, Colle said in the statement. “We all have a role and responsibility in preventing workplace injuries and fatalities.”

There were 69 fatalities and 4,752 time-loss injuries in Ontario’s construction sector in 2013, based on Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada statistics. Recently, one worker died and another was seriously injured after a crane collapsed north of Toronto on May 21. A 40-year-old construction worker from Aurora, Ont. also died after a crane tipped over and fell onto him at a worksite in Brampton in April (COHSN, April 28).

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Legislation

Group seeks stakeholder involvement for national first-aid standard

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CSA Group is in the process of developing what would be Canada’s first voluntary national standard on first aid in the workplace. The standards organization is now calling for participants from employer, employee, regulator, training-provider and general-interest stakeholders to volunteer on the Technical Committee (TC) on Workplace First Aid to create the new consensus-based standard, CSA Group said in a statement on May 8.

“I think it’s a really exciting project, and I think that it’s very timely,” said Jeanne Bank, health and safety standards manager with CSA Group in Toronto. “What we’re hearing from a lot of the regulatory bodies is that they were going to be having to update their programs anyway, so to be able to do it under our umbrella makes a lot more sense.”

The Canadian Red Cross and regulators approached CSA Group about exploring the feasibility of a national standard due to the differences that exist across jurisdictions for workplace first-aid requirements, Bank said. In October 2014, CSA Group and the Canadian Red Cross held their first stakeholder consultation to discuss the idea.

“There’s been quite a positive response so far. So we’re hoping to be able to establish a good technical committee that has that balance of representation,” Bank said. There is a strong interest from employees, employers, training providers, regulators and people involved in prevention, she added.

“Any of the meetings or conferences that we’ve been at, people have been anxiously asking, ‘When is this going to be started?’ and ‘How can we get involved in it?’”

The final standard should be completed within 18 months of the first TC meeting, according to Bank. Once the committee has reached a consensus on the draft document, there will be a 60-day public review period. After reviewing the public’s comments, the standard will be revised and voted on by the committee. Provincial regulators will then decide whether to endorse or implement that standard within their jurisdictions.

The application process for the TC on Workplace First Aid will be open until June 30, and the first TC meeting is planned for the fall. Those who are interested in sitting on the TC are being asked to submit a bio or CV along with a statement of interest to CSA Group.

Compliance & Enforcement, Hazmat, Health & Safety, Legislation

Updated WHMIS training program launched

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OTTAWA – YOW Canada Inc. has announced the creation of a bilingual online training course in Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) 2015 regulations. The updated training program incorporates the implementation of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labelling, YOW Canada said in a statement issued on May 13. Health Canada has introduced changes to WHMIS by incorporating GHS and renaming the system WHMIS 2015. Due to these changes, WHMIS is in a period of transition. The YOW course will cover both WHMIS 1988 and WHMIS 2015 until the full phase-in period is finished. For more information see: www.yowcanada.com.

Health & Safety, Legislation, Workers Compensation

Burial benefits increase for firefighters

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FREDERICTON – The Government of New Brunswick is increasing burial and related-expenses benefits for families of eligible firefighters and former firefighters. Labour Minister Francine Landry introduced amendments to legislation on May 13, which will ensure benefits for families of eligible firefighters and former firefighters that are equivalent to those in the Worker’s Compensation Act, the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour said in a statement. “Firefighters across the province risk their lives every day and as a government, we greatly appreciate the work of all of our firefighters in helping keep New Brunswick families safe,” said Landry. “With these amendments, we are supporting firefighters and their families in the time they need us the most and providing assistance to the loved ones they leave behind.” The Firefighters’ Compensation Act was inadvertently overlooked when provisions increasing burial and related expenses were added to the Workers’ Compensation Act in 2012, said the Minister. The proposed amendments will be made retroactive to Dec. 20, 2012.

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Legislation, Workers Compensation

Eleven women face deportation following human trafficking investigation in Ottawa

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(Canadian OH&S News) — Sex worker groups are condemning the police raids on massage parlours in Ottawa that have resulted in deportation orders for 11 women. The investigation inspected 20 massage parlours and body rub facilities in the city from April 27 to 29.

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) announced on May 8 that it had detained 11 women on immigration-related matters after a joint investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Ottawa Bylaw Services and the Human Trafficking Unit of the OPS. All of the women appeared for admissibility and detention hearings during the week of April 27 and were subsequently issued deportation orders as they did not possess valid work permits.

Representatives from four sex worker advocacy organizations decried the police’s actions in a statement issued on May 11, which said that the threat of deportation in human trafficking investigations increases women’s vulnerability to violence and limits the ability of victims to come forward.

“Investigations under the guise of trafficking and police raids make the situation even worse. It makes people hide further underground, makes them more vulnerable to violence and endangers their safety,” Elene Lam of Butterfly, an Asian and migrant sex workers support network, said in the statement.

Executive director of Maggie’s – Toronto Sex Workers’ Action Project Jean McDonald said this poses major health and safety concerns for sex workers. “In Toronto, for instance, we’ve had a number of robberies, violent robberies and assaults on migrant sex workers, some of whom are working in massage parlours. Because they may face deportation if they come forward, they can’t make a proper report to the police.”

McDonald suggested that if police truly want to help human trafficking victims they should offer them immunity from deportation and detention and an opportunity to apply for permanent residency. This would encourage victims to report instances of abuse, she said.

“Not only will this protect women who may be involved – whether willingly or unwillingly – in the industry, it will also assist in enforcement efforts to combat trafficking.”

No charges had been laid against the 11 individuals as of May 12. The CBSA investigation is ongoing and additional immigration charges may follow, according to the OPS statement.

“Based on the investigation we conducted during the project itself, there was no immediate evidence of exploitation or human trafficking in any locations that we inspected,” said Sgt. Jeff LeBlanc of the OPS Human Trafficking Unit. The police often get complaints about massage parlours in residential neighbourhoods that are then transferred to the human trafficking unit, he said.

Eleven bylaw charges were issued for improper licensing following the investigation. Establishments must obtain business licenses and massage parlours need massage parlour licenses, according to LeBlanc. The human trafficking unit decided to partner with bylaw services because they are knowledgeable in the licensing requirements, he said.

“Obviously, the main goal is safety of the clients and the safety of the workers,” he said. Many of the establishments had doors that locked from the inside, which could pose safety risks for workers and clients, he noted.

“If this is how we are helping people, it just seems ridiculous,” said McDonald, referring to women being deported. “It really exposes the fallacy of human trafficking laws in Canada… They’re not really helping the people who may actually be facing exploitation or violence within their workplaces.”

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Legislation

Recommendations from Stobie Mine inquest highlight safety oversights

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A coroner’s jury has released its recommendations from the inquest into a double fatality at Vale’s Stobie Nickel Mine in Sudbury, Ontario. The inquest into the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram concluded on Thursday with the publication of 24 recommendations to improve mining safety.

Crown counsel, Vale and the union representing Stobie Mine workers all said they were pleased with the outcome of the inquest. “The jury, in our opinion, did a fantastic job,” said Joe Guido, recording secretary for the health, safety and environment executive committee at United Steelworkers Local 6500 in Sudbury.

“Ultimately, the 24 recommendations were what we were looking for and the next plan for us is trying to ensure that they’re implemented by the Ministry of Labour and the company.”

Susan Bruce, counsel to the coroner, said the jury’s recommendations had honoured the deceased workers. “If they are implemented, they will go a long way towards ensuring that workers in Ontario are never killed by another run of muck in a mine.”

The jury accepted all eight recommendations put forward by presiding inquest coroner Dr. David Eden and suggested an additional 16. Sixteen recommendations were directed at the Ministry of Labour.

Some of the recommendations to the Ministry included: ensuring workers are located out of the way of uncontrolled material, water or slime; implementing the recommendations in the Mining, Health, Safety and Prevention Review regarding water management and the Internal Responsibility System; requiring a supervisor to attend workplaces every work shift when high-risk tasks are being performed; ensuring that if there is a hazardous condition and the area is barricaded, work is only done after being authorized by a supervisor; and forming a database of field visits and coroner’s inquest recommendations in the province to be reviewed during inspector training.

After the Mining Legislative Review Committee has reviewed the recommendations and reached a consensus, that advice will be passed on to the Minister of Labour for consideration. The process could take anywhere from six months to a six years, according to Guido.

“It’s a tedious process; however, if there is political will from the Ontario government then it can be done relatively quickly.”

During the inquest, all sides were cooperative, Guido said. “We were all there for the same thing. We don’t ever want to see this happen again.”

However, over the two weeks of the proceedings, he said it was very difficult for family members to hear details of how their loved ones had died.

Clifford Bastien perished in a similar incident at the Stobie Mine in 1995. The inquest into Bastien’s death recommended putting workers out of harm’s way by ensuring all control valves are located outside the Ross Feeder control/gate. The Chenier and Fram inquest reiterated those recommendations in clearer terms.

“It is recommended to the Ministry of Labour that no worker shall be positioned so that he or she may be endangered by an uncontrolled run of material, water or slime, while operating controls for moving material,” the document states.

In future, Vale plans to ensure that recommendations coming out of inquests and other major incidents are followed through on. “That is certainly something that we are going to concentrate on moving forward,” said Angie Robson, corporate affairs manager at Vale’s Sudbury operations.

Following an internal investigation, Vale implemented 42 recommendations on safety at the mine, which have been endorsed by the jury. Robson said Vale would review the further recommendations made by the jury.

Chenier, 35, and Fram, 26, were transferring muck through a transfer gate at an ore pass on June 8, 2011 when a sudden release of muck and water broke through the gate. As a result of the accident both miners died from smothering and compressional asphyxia; Chenier also suffered blunt force injuries. After pleading guilty to three of six charges in 2013, Vale received the largest oh&s fine ever issued in Ontario for the violations.

Hazmat, Health & Safety, Legislation, Transportation

Transport Canada, TSB to collaborate on rail study

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Transport Canada (TC) has announced plans to work with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) on a joint study on railway safety, focusing specifically on voice and video recorders in locomotives.

Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt announced on April 30 that both TC and the TSB would research ways that railways can use these recorders to provide information for accident investigators, particularly about how train crews act and communicate just before these incidents occur.

“Locomotive voice and video recorders are a critical safety tool that provide [sic] investigators with an unparalleled understanding of how and why accidents happen,” Raitt said in a press release. “Transport Canada strongly supports the use of voice and video recorders on trains and is pleased to launch this joint initiative with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.”

The release added that the study would provide the basis of any future changes to regulation or legislation that the government may develop regarding using voice and video recorders to improve rail safety.

According to backgrounder info from TC, these recorders have been standard practice in the Canadian aviation sector since the 1980s, but are not a requirement for rail. In March, the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities made a recommendation that TC make video and voice recorders mandatory in railway companies’ safety management systems.

“The Government of Canada believes that voice and video recorders, coupled with strong safety management systems, will help railways better manage safety and prevent accidents from happening,” TC said in a statement.

The TSB confirmed in its own concurrent press release that it was collaborating with TC on the study, elaborating that researchers would examine the potential benefits of locomotive recorders, evaluate related technology issues and identify regulatory and legislative considerations. The Board also noted that its “Watchlist” of transportation safety risks included five issues concerning the rail sector.

“We’re looking forward to working with TC and engaging other key stakeholders on this important safety initiative,” said TSB chief operating officer Jean L. Laporte, as quoted in the Board’s release.

“Over the past 18 months, positive action has been taken by industry and TC to address the rail safety deficiencies we’ve identified through our investigations,” Laporte added. “We’re on the right path, but there is more work to be done.”

Rail safety, particularly regarding the transportation of dangerous goods, has been a much-discussed issue in Canada since the Lac-Mégantic derailment in 2013, a disaster that claimed the lives of 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Que. (COHSN, July 15, 2013). Multiple train derailments have occurred earlier this year, including two Canadian National incidents near Gogama, Ont. (COHSN, March 17).

TC’s announcement came during Rail Safety Week (RSW), which ran from April 27 to May 3. RSW was a week designated to promote awareness of safety issues around railway operations in Canada. Raitt inaugurated RSW by announcing that TC would invest more than $9.7 million into improving more than 600 railway crossings this year (COHSN, April 28).

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Legislation

Cement company fined $75,000 for injuring worker

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NEWMARKET, Ont. – A company that manufactures cement and other construction products has been handed a $75,000 fine, plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, for a 2013 incident in which an employee was trapped in a sand and gravel hopper and injured his leg in Sunderland, Ont. According to information from the provincial Ministry of Labour (MOL), a worker for St. Marys Cement was inside the 80-tonne-capacity hopper trying to remove some gravel blockage on July 19 of that year. When the materials inside the hopper were released out of the bottom, the worker’s body dropped through the opening and became trapped there. The MOL investigated the incident and found that St. Marys had contravened Section 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which states that all further supply of material must be stopped and any removal of material prevented before an employee enters a container containing bulk material. In a Newmarket court, the company pleaded guilty to failing to carry out measures and procedures prescribed by law. Judge Joseph F. Kenkel ordered St. Marys to pay the fine on April 20.

Health & Safety, Legislation

April 28 marks 25th official National Day of Mourning for occupational fatalities

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NATIONAL – Tuesday, April 28 is the National Day of Mourning (DOM), commemorating Canadian workers who have died on the job, and the 25th official DOM since the federal government recognized the day in Dec. 1990. As part of this year’s observance, the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower in Ottawa will fly at half-mast, and there will also be an official ceremony in Ottawa’s Vincent Massey Park. Other DOM events taking place nationwide: a noon ceremony in Toronto’s High Park; an event sponsored by WorkSafeBC, the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Business Council of B.C. at the Vancouver Convention Centre at 10:30 PST; an 11:00 a.m. MST ceremony at Calgary’s Memorial Garden; the N.S. Federation of Labour’s ceremony at Halifax’s Province House, happening at 11:00 a.m. AST; and a wreath laying at the Confederation Building in St. John’s, beginning at noon. DOM originally began as Workers’ Memorial Day in 1984, initiated by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, with the Canadian Labour Congress adopting it as a day of remembrance the following year. More than 900 Canadians per year died in occupational incidents from 1993 to 2013, according to statistics from the Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada.

Health & Safety, Legislation

Chief Medical Examiner: Alberta saw 25 farming fatalities in 2014

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New information from Alberta’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has revealed that it investigated 25 deaths related to agriculture in 2014, of which 20 were owners, operators, owners’ family members or employees of their respective farms.

The preliminary data also show that nine of the fatalities were machinery-related, meaning that the victims were caught in, crushed by or struck by mechanical farm equipment or that they fell from it, collided with other objects while operating it or were involved in rollovers. Animal-related deaths, falls from heights and crushes by hay bales each accounted for three deaths.

In addition, three of the 25 recorded victims were visitors to the farms, while two were uninvolved with them.

Brookes Merritt, spokesperson for Alta.’s Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour, confirmed that the numbers were official, albeit preliminary.

“They are the numbers that were forwarded from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to Alberta’s farm-safety team,” Merritt told COHSN. “It remains preliminary, so they’re kind of looking at the numbers before, I suppose, they finalize it, in whatever capacity they do that.”

“It’s kind of shocking,” said Siobhán Vipond, secretary treasurer for the Alberta Federation of Labour, about the OCME statistics. “There’s lots of dangerous work happening on here, and many farms are multimillion-dollar businesses. So let’s start looking at this like an industry, and let’s start seeing some standards.”

Alberta remains the only Canadian province in which occupational health and safety legislation doesn’t cover agriculture, Vipond added. “Does that play a role? Well, it could, because the idea that you would lose a job is sometimes a burden that people can’t go towards. That’s too much of a burden. So people may be doing unsafe work because they’re not protected.

“I don’t know how many people have to die for people to think this is serious,” she said. “These are lots of workers, and it’s shameful how they’re being treated.”

Farmworkers Union of Alberta president Eric Musekamp called OCME’s revelations a “pretty dreadful situation,” adding that the number of fatalities was an increase of more than 50 per cent from 2013.

“We have very poor reporting in Alberta, so these numbers are probably low,” said Musekamp. Because of the lack of oh&s coverage, “there’s no proper investigation,” he explained. “There’s only a voluntary record-keeping system in the province, and 40-to-45 per cent of hospitals don’t actually record agricultural incidents as such.”

Musekamp added that OCME’s tally “does not include motor-vehicle accidents or industrial diseases, like in ordinary industries, where cancers and all that sort of stuff is tracked under workplace fatalities.”

Merritt conceded that the 2014 numbers were an increase from the previous year. “Having said that, if you look back over the historical data, those numbers do change from year to year, and we have seen fluctuations like that in the past,” he added. “And it’s not particularly attributed to anything other than just circumstance.”

Additional 2014 statistics revealed by OCME:

  • Twenty-two of the 25 victims were men;
  • Two of them were under the age of 18, while 12 were older than 65;
  • Seventeen of the fatalities occurred in rural areas north of Red Deer; and
  • In 13 cases, the death occurred at the scene of the incident, and in 20, the victim died within 24 hours.

Musekamp criticized the provincial government for its lack of helpful action on farming safety. “It’s on the election front now. We’re trying to pose it to the various candidates,” he said about the issue of oh&s coverage for farm workers. “The Conservative party won’t take a position or are opposed to change, and the progressive parties, the Liberals and New Democrats, are full-square in favour of equality for farm workers.”

Progressive Conservative Premier Jim Prentice announced last fall that he would consider extending oh&s legislation to large-scale farms, but wanted to see more research on the problem before committing (COHSN, Oct. 13). “I can’t comment on policy direction,” Merritt said when asked about the government’s plans on farm safety.

“He’s not the first premier to make promises on this file,” said Vipond. “I don’t think there’s political will to do it. I think we’re hearing a lot of great lies. We heard Alison Redford also say that she was going to deal with this, and she had time to and she didn’t.”

“It looks like he’s going to concede and capitulate like all the rest,” said Musekamp, referring to Prentice, “and ignore the science, the facts, the data, the empirical evidence, the experience of others and all of that.

“It’s a crisis. Twenty-five, 50-something per cent increase, and we’re doing nothing.”