VICTORIA, B.C. – The Government of British Columbia has amended the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulation to ban mandatory high-heel shoes in workplaces. A news release from the B.C. Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training announced on April 7 that the altered regulation now ensures that all employee footwear must be designed and built to all the wearer to perform tasks safely. WorkSafeBC is expected to develop a workplace guideline on appropriate footwear by the end of the month; employers and workers must consider such factors as evenness of terrain, abrasion, ankle protection, foot support, potential for crushing or musculoskeletal injury, puncture hazards and the dangers of slipping or tripping. “In some workplaces… women are required to wear high heels on the job,” said B.C. Premier Christy Clark in a press statement. “Our government thinks this is wrong. That is why we’re changing this regulation to stop this unsafe and discriminatory practice.” Shirley Bond, the province’s Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour, added in her own statement that the amendment would “let employers know that the most critical part of an employee’s footwear is that it is safe.”
Category Archives: Legislation
New Saskatchewan law increases safety lighting on tow trucks
REGINA, Sask. – The Government of Saskatchewan has passed a bill allowing tow trucks to have blue flashing lights in conjunction with amber lights, to increase their visibility in unsafe weather conditions. The Traffic Safety (Tow Trucks) Amendment Act, 2017 was both introduced and passed in the provincial legislature on April 6, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) announced in a news release. The bill was a response to the March 7 death of tow-truck operator Courtney Schaefer, in a fatal collision during a blizzard near the village of Gerald. “We’ve heard from tow-truck operators about how they risk their lives daily while they assist motorists in distress,” Joe Hargrave, Saskatchewan’s Minister Responsible for SGI, said in a press statement. “Adding blue lights will increase visibility, heighten awareness [and] increase safety for all operators and the public.” Hargrave added that highway drivers are legally required to slow down to 60 kilometres per hour when passing tow trucks and other emergency vehicles with flashing hazard lights. “So obey the law and slow down. It could save a life.” The law is expected to receive royal assent at the end of May, after which tow-truck operators may install blue lights on their vehicles, SGI stated.
Precarious work affects mental and physical health: OFL survey
A recent survey by the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) has found that insecure work – such as part-time, temporary or contract jobs – often has a negative effect on a person’s health, both mental and physical.
The survey asked 4,771 Ontario workers from July to October about their experiences with precarious employment, according to a March 20 media release from the OFL. Nearly one-third of respondents claimed that precarious work had caused some form of mental or physical health issues in the 15-minute survey, which was conducted both online and in person.
“People are actually working more than one precarious job to make ends meet,” said OFL secretary-treasurer Patty Coates. “So their workday isn’t the normal nine-to-five workday. They may start at seven in the morning, or they’re working until ten o’clock at night, because they’re working several jobs.” People in insecure work often have no access to paid vacation or sick days, she added.
“So it affects their emotional well-being, their physical health because they’re not taking care of themselves,” said Coates.
Stress and anxiety are a common result of unstable employment, and young people and women are the most likely to suffer from mental-health distress due to precarious work. It can have a negative effect on family life as well.
“A lot of our young workers are putting off their life,” said Coates, “because they’re not in a stable job. So they’re putting off having relationships, building relationships, putting off getting married. They’re putting off having children. Of course, they can’t even afford to purchase a home. So they’re putting off those life milestones because of the precarious work.”
The OFL initiated the survey to raise awareness of the fact that precarious work is a lot more common today than many people realize, as well as to understand what kind of effect that work has on individuals.
Another reason for the survey, according to Coates, is that the Government of Ontario is embarking on a review of the province’s Employment Standards Act and Labour Relations Act “because they are recognizing that there are changes taking place in our workplaces,” she explained. “There is more precarious work. There’s more part-time work, there’s more casual work, there’s more contract work. And less permanent jobs.” So the OFL is lobbying for changes to these laws “to make sure that workers don’t face the overwhelming stress of long-term precarious employment.
“When you have part-time precarious employment, those workers aren’t as productive because they don’t have the opportunity for benefits such as paid sick leave or vacation.”
Of the survey respondents, more than 25 per cent were precariously employed at the time, including 45 per cent of respondents between 18 and 34 years old. Out of those, more than two-fifths said that full-time work and stable income were concerns regarding their economic situations.
Nearly 90 per cent of all respondents stated that they had children, relatives or friends who were precariously employed, and more than 80 per cent recognized that precarious work is more common now than it was five or ten years ago.
All of the demographics surveyed cited wages, pay equity and benefits as their top priorities.
Three cancers deemed presumptive for firefighters in B.C.
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The British Columbia government is adding three types of cancer to those that could be considered occupational diseases suffered by firefighters. According to a statement issued on March 6 by the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, breast cancer, prostate cancer and multiple myeloma will be added to the Firefighters Occupational Disease Regulation under the Workers’ Compensation Act. That means firefighters who develop those diseases after a certain period of time on the job would be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits without having to prove that the cancer is work-related. The province said it had first recognized certain cancers as occupational diseases for firefighters in 2005. Since then, the list of cancers has grown to ten and includes brain, bladder and testicular cancer, as well as leukemia. Heart disease and heart injury were also restored as illnesses presumed to be conditions developed by firefighters in 2014. “Firefighters are exposed to toxic environments that greatly contribute to increased cancer risks, more than double that of the general population,” said Gord Ditchburn, president and board chairman of the B.C. Professional Firefighters Association. Members across the province are expected to benefit from the additional coverage, as will their families who, Ditchburn said, are often the ones who must navigate the coverage process with WorkSafeBC.
Recommendations on farm employment standards released
A working group tasked to review employment and labour standards for Alberta’s agriculture sector has recommended that farm workers should not get overtime pay. Family members who work on farms should also be exempted from all employment and labour standards, as the application of standards would be “impractical and unfeasible, as well as burdensome without providing any benefit.”
On the recommendation relating to overtime provisions, the report noted that most jurisdictions in Canada exempt the agriculture sector from overtime. As work hours in the farming sector are unpredictable due to the nature of work, an overtime rate would lower the base pay rate and present “complications” in calculating pay.
The report by the Employment Standards Technical Working Group was posted on the website of the Alberta government on March 6. Members of the public will have until April 3 to provide feedback on the recommendations made by six technical working groups, which started reviewing employment and labour standards for the province’s agricultural sector last May.
Alberta’s minister of labour Christina Gray said in a statement that she was pleased to share the working group’s first set of recommendations. “We would seek feedback as we go through the process,” she said, “and I encourage Albertans to look at the recommendations and provide their honest and rank responses.”
Oneil Carlier, the minister of Agriculture and Forestry, called the recommendations “an excellent starting point” to ensure that waged non-family farm workers enjoy the same rights and protections as other workers, while preserving rural Alberta’s way of life.
Other recommendations included the following:
- The type of work assigned to farm workers under the age of 16 must not be detrimental to their health, education or welfare, and parental consent must be obtained by employers;
- Work hours for waged, non-family farm workers aged 12 and 13 should not exceed 20 hours of work per week;
- Waged, non-family employees should have four days off every 28 days; and
- Minimum wage should apply to waged, non-family farm and ranch employees, except those who work in primary production like greenhouses, nurseries, sod farms and mushroom farms.
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) responded to the release of the working group’s report by urging the provincial government to implement strong basic rights protections and regulations for all farm and ranch workers.
“We are calling on the government to show continued leadership in standing up for some of Alberta’s most vulnerable workers by enacting employment standards that stand up for Alberta’s farm and ranch workers,” AFL president Gil McGowan said from Edmonton. “Given that the vast majority of agricultural workers in Alberta are not unionized, whatever regulations are put in place for the Employment Standards Code will serve as the basic floor of minimum rights for most Albertans working in the agriculture sector.”
McGowan also raised concerns on three recommendations: expanding paid, non-family youth employees in the industry for 12- and 13-year-olds; adding new exemptions for primary production like greenhouses; and exempting employment standards for family members who work on farms.
“When you allow kids that young to work for pay, it is a suggestion that they should be able to do potentially dangerous jobs such as operating heavy machinery,” McGowan suggested. “Our concerns about this are primarily about safety — we have to keep our kids safe.”
The provincial government said it would start drafting legislative amendments based on the recommendations and public feedback received.
Former Alberta government knew farm safety law was needed, says report
An internal report by the previous Alberta government has revealed that the Progressive Conservatives were fully aware that the province’s agriculture sector desperately needed mandatory workers’ compensation coverage.
The Feb. 16, 2015 report stated that every year, between 18 and 20 Albertan farm workers were dying in occupational accidents, more than 4,000 were injured on the job and more than 400 of the injured were out of commission for at least two months, according to a Feb. 21 press release from the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), which obtained the report though a freedom-of-information request.
“I’ve worked on a feed lot, and I’ve always known that agricultural work is dangerous work. But the magnitude of these numbers is eye-opening,” AFL president Gil McGowan said in a press statement about the report. “This utterly repudiates the arguments against basic workplace protections for agricultural employees.
“Anyone who reads this report and still says that Alberta doesn’t need common-sense agricultural workplace laws has no heart,” added McGowan.
After Rachel Notley’s NDP government came into power, Bill 6, or the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act, went into effect in the province on Dec. 10, 2015. The new legislation made workers’ compensation coverage compulsory for injured agricultural workers, giving farm employees the same basic protections that other Alberta sectors already had.
Prior to Notley’s election, Alberta’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner revealed that there had been 25 farming fatalities in the province in 2014. Twenty of the victims had been owners, operators, owners’ family members or employees of their respective farms (COHSN, April 21, 2015).
The government report also stated that agricultural workers in Alberta were losing more than $10 million in pay from lost-time injuries per year. In addition, it revealed that standard workers’ compensation coverage would cost less for farm employers than the private insurance that workers were relying on did.
“This document shows that the problem existed, that the research showed that reforms were necessary, and that this was ignored by successive Conservative governments who did nothing,” said McGowan. “This is almost criminal neglect that directly cost some Albertans their lives.”
The AFL release noted that since the passing of Bill 6, the province’s Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has processed 763 injury claims from farm workers, 407 of which had involved disabling injuries.
“The need for further occupational health and safety and WCB protection for workers in this sector [was] long overdue and was clearly needed. The government could no longer leave worker-injury compensation up to individual farm operators,” an AFL backgrounder to the report read.
“WCB is the most cost-effective option for the vast majority of farms in Alberta, compared to private or commercial insurance plans.”
British Columbia appeal court overturns decision on asbestos contractor
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently threw out last year’s decision by the provincial Supreme Court rejecting a WorkSafeBC order against an asbestos-removal contractor.
On Feb. 26, Judge George Macintosh of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that Seattle Environmental Ltd. had not violated a 2012 order to comply with the province’s Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. The judge stated that the order had been too complex and vague for the company to follow and that WorkSafeBC had not set it out “in unambiguous terms” (COHSN, March 1).
But WorkSafeBC appealed the decision, and on Jan. 13 of this year, Justice John Savage of the Court of Appeal in Vancouver wrote in a unanimous court decision that the order’s terms “are not ambiguous or insufficiently clear so as to be incapable of supporting a finding of contempt, given the nature of the statutory regime for workplace safety and the procedural history.”
The case’s origins go back to July 31, 2012, when WorkSafeBC filed a petition for orders restraining Seattle from exposing people to asbestos. The province’s occupational health and safety authority cited 17 incidents in which the company had allegedly violated the Act and Regulation, while noting that it had issued 244 orders to it, according to Judge Savage’s written decision.
“The respondents,” Judge Savage wrote, “are in the asbestos-abatement business. Asbestos has been determined to be a dangerous carcinogenic substance that requires special detection, handling and abatement techniques. As a result, these businesses are highly regulated under British Columbia workplace safety legislation.”
The judge noted that while the Act and Regulation may be complex pieces of legislation, this does not excuse people in a highly regulated profession like asbestos removal from following them.
“Requiring familiarity and understanding of statutory and regulatory requirements for workplace safety from voluntary industry participants is not an impermissibly onerous requirement,” wrote Judge Savage. “This is especially so, given the nature of the business in this case.”
The decision received praise from the B.C. Federation of Labour (BCFED) and the B.C. Insulators Union. In a Jan. 29 news release, BCFED president Irene Lanzinger said that she was “comforted that the Court of Appeal reinforced employers’ responsibility to abide by health and safety laws.”
But Lanzinger cautioned that the provincial Liberal government was still not doing enough to protect workers and that its asbestos-removal laws were inadequate.
“They failed to act on practical solutions that unions proposed to protect the well-being of workers in the asbestos-abatement industry,” she said. “Workplace protections are weak and not always rigorously enforced.
“Under the B.C. Liberals, workers are only an afterthought in our ‘workers’’ compensation system.”
Seattle Environmental faces $355,000 in fines for oh&s violations, according to BCFED.
Four new subcommittees to focus on mining safety in Ontario
In the wake of recent amendments to the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) regarding the mining sector, the provincial Mining Legislative Review Committee has formed four new subcommittees to deal with the industry’s safety hazards.
As announced in a Jan. 3 press release from Workplace Safety North (WSN), which is a nonprofit organization that provides oh&s training and resources for northern Ontario industries, these subcommittees will focus on ground control, traffic management, water management and ventilation/industrial hygiene respectively. A hoisting subcommittee that already existed will continue to function, the release added.
“The reason for the change is to allow for the Review Committee to better align its resources and efforts with the priority health and safety hazards in the Ontario mining sector,” Bob Barclay, the provincial coordinator for mining with the province’s Ministry of Labour (MOL), said in a media statement. “These priority health and safety hazards were identified in the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review, which was completed in 2015.”
The Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review made 18 recommendations to improve employee safety in the mining sector (COHSN, April 21, 2015). The MOL immediately accepted all of the recommendations, which included mandatory risk assessments by employers, mandatory water-management programs and formal traffic-management plans for mines.
“With the reorganization of the subcommittees, the Review Committee will become more focused, thereby allowing it to provide more information to the MOL,” added Barclay, “which we expect will result in health and safety improvements in the mining sector.
“These improvements may include regulatory changes, improved guidance for stakeholders and better health and safety knowledge.”
The subcommittee announcement came two days after a series of amendments to Regulation 854, the section of the OHSA regarding mines and mining plants, went into effect. The Jan. 1 changes to the Act require employers to assess and manage safety hazards, mine owners to develop water-management programs, employers to maintain traffic management and all seismic events to be recorded.
“Risk assessments are the building blocks for successful health and safety management systems,” WSN mining director Mike Parent said in a statement about the new laws. “Due to the levels of risk water impoundment and traffic bring to a mine, it’s important to conduct risk assessments, as they are essential in the development, implementation and maintenance of management programs for these hazards.”
Parent added that WSN offers onsite hazard-assessment services to help employers meet the updated requirements. “Our mining health and safety specialists include experts in ventilation, ground control and industrial hygiene, so we encourage companies to take advantage of this service.
“Everyone has a role to play, from frontline workers to health and safety committee members to management. That’s why it’s important for all levels to learn about the updated regulation.”
Bill aims to make cancer an occupational disease for firefighters
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador is the latest province to propose to make cancer a presumptively occupational disease for firefighters – meaning that afflicted firefighters would not have to prove that the disease was caused by work in order to collect workers’ compensation benefits. According to a Dec. 12 news release from WorkplaceNL, the provincial government hopes to amend the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act and Regulations to provide presumptive cancer coverage for career and volunteer firefighters. If passed into law, the amendment would cover 11 types of cancer, including brain, breast, bladder, kidney and lung cancer, along with leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “This legislation is another example of how our government listens to people and creates beneficial change through their feedback,” N.L. Premier Dwight Ball said in a press statement. “This new benefit will not increase the assessment rates currently paid by employers who fund the workers’ compensation system.” Ontario passed a law making lung cancer presumptively occupational for firefighters and fire investigators nearly a year ago (COHSN, Jan. 12).
Government turns to public for input on dangerous goods
FEDERAL – Transport Canada (TC) has launched a website seeking feedback from shippers, inspectors, manufacturers and other interested individuals about updating the federal Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations. Announced in a TC news release on Dec. 6, LetsTalkTransportation.ca invites input from industry stakeholders, academics and others on how to improve training in working with dangerous goods and responding to railway incidents until Feb. 28. Also encouraged to provide feedback are First Nations groups and provincial, territorial and municipal government representatives. “My personal commitment… is to advance public safety through an enhanced rail safety program and an invigorated transportation-of-dangerous-goods program. This means ensuring those who work with dangerous goods regularly, and those who must respond if something should go wrong, receive the most comprehensive training possible,” Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a media statement. “I hope that Canadians from communities across the country take part in the discussion on the website.” Garneau plans to attend the inaugural meeting of the Steering Committee on First Responder Training – a group of stakeholders that aims to help develop a national flammable-liquids curriculum for first responders – on Dec. 14, TC stated.