Category Archives: Occupational Hygiene

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.

New workplace bill would give Albertans job-protected sick days

A new bill making its way through the Alberta legislature aims to bring the province’s workplace law up to date with the rest of Canada – including guaranteed, job-protected leave for employees with illness.

Bill 17, or the Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act, was introduced on May 24 and had its second reading on the following day. If passed, the bill would align many types of leave with federal standards, including leaves for maternity, bereavement, domestic violence, citizenship ceremonies and illness, death or disappearance of a child, according to an announcement from the provincial Ministry of Labour (MOL).

The bill would also allow workers to have a maximum of five days of job protection for personal illness or short-term care of an immediate family member per year, as well as 16 weeks of unpaid, protected leave for long-term illness or injury.

“A guarantee of job-protected, unpaid sick days would give workers time to get healthy,” Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray said in a press statement, “and it would keep employers from worrying about ill workers spreading infectious bugs to others because they are afraid to take a sick day off.

“These proposed changes would make life better for workers and employers,” added Gray.

The MOL noted that Alberta’s Employment Standards Code and Labour Relations Code have not been updated in any significant way in almost 30 years.

The bill has received public support from doctors across the province. Edmonton family physician Dr. Doug Klein called the sick-day provisions “an important social support initiative” in a statement.

“There is a small minority of Albertans who fear taking sick leave will cost them their jobs,” said Dr. David Ryan, a family doctor in St. Albert. “These proposed changes would improve the overall health of Albertans and protect our workforce.”

“I’ve seen too many hard-working Albertans juggle work and family responsibilities while battling a chronic illness,” said medical specialist Dr. Raquel Feroe. “This balancing act comes at the detriment of the patient. Long-term job-protected sick leave will help Albertans focus on recovery and battling illness.”

Other legislative amendments proposed in Bill 17 include raising the minimum work age to 13, modernizing standards for overtime and vacation pay, simplifying union certification and decertification and elimination a provision that allows employers to pay less than minimum wage to disabled workers.

Currently, Alberta and British Columbia are the only two Canadian provinces without job-protected sick leave. The territory of Nunavut also lacks this provision.

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.

TTC union releases online video exposing poor air quality in tunnels

TORONTO, Ont. – The union representing frontline employees of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has released a video on the Internet putting a spotlight on the perceived need for workers in the subway tunnels to wear protective masks. Posted on the website of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 on May 16, the two-minute video, Enough Is Enough, exposes the alleged health risks that workers face. “For far too long, the TTC has ignored its workforce’s longstanding concerns about subway air pollution,” stated a Local 113 press release about the video. “We want more Torontonians to understand the significant health risks subway workers are exposed to on a daily basis – sometimes up to 12 hours a day… It’s unacceptable for subway workers to sneeze and cough out filthy black dust after a shift.” The union added that it would continue to fight to allow subway workers to have the choice to wear respiratory protection. A recent Health Canada report claimed that TTC subway tunnels contain a high level of air pollution (COHSN, May 2).

Bullying, harassment still a problem within the RCMP, says federal report

A new investigation report from the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP has confirmed that harassment, sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation are still thriving within the national police force – and concluded that reform by the federal government is necessary to make lasting change.

Published on May 15, Report into Workplace Harassment in the RCMP was based on an examination of the workplace culture, policies and past investigations within the force. The report stated that the RCMP lacks both the will and the capacity to do what needs to be done to address occupational harassment and bullying.

“The time has come for the federal government to take responsibility to effect substantive changes to the organization by modernizing and civilianizing key aspects of the RCMP’s administrative management and oversight,” Commission chairperson Ian McPhail, Q.C. wrote in the report’s conclusion.

“The cultural transformation of the RCMP will not be brought about in a piecemeal fashion… Meaningful change will require sustained commitment from both the Minister of Public Safety and RCMP senior leadership, including instituting any necessary changes to the governance of the RCMP.”

In response to the report, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale issued a statement saying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had given him a mandate to ensure that the RCMP was free from sexual harassment and violence.

“The issues identified come at a great cost – to the victims’ health and well-being, to the reputation and credibility of the RCMP and to all Canadians,” said Goodale. “The recommendations will be carefully reviewed and will inform further action to ensure that the RCMP is a healthy and respectful workplace.”

Among the report’s findings: the RCMP has failed to initiate comprehensive measures to deal with harassment; decision makers often consider irrelevant factors; lack of screening for harassment complaints may increase conflict; decision makers usually apply incorrect legal tests with prejudicial considerations; and decision makers receive inadequate training for harassment cases.

As a result, McPhail offered ten recommendations to deal with the situation, including a new leadership culture, a modernized governance structure, clearer harassment-policy documents, a simplified definition of harassment for investigation purposes and independent administrative investigators to deal with harassment complaints.

“We can and we must do better, as these reports make all too clear,” said Goodale, who thanked McPhail and others for their work and contributions.

“Workplace harassment, bullying, intimidation and sexual harassment can cause significant harm to individual RCMP members and employees, in some cases damaging careers and causing serious emotional and physical harm,” wrote McPhail.

“Responsibility now lies with the federal government to effect substantive change.”

Alleged thief assaults officer, service dog with bear spray

NANAIMO, B.C. – An RCMP officer and his police service dog were assaulted with bear spray by a suspected thief during an arrest on the evening of May 6. According to a news release from the RCMP’s Nanaimo detachment, three police officers received a report of a male shoplifter at the Woodgrove Centre that day, but the suspect had fled by the time they reached the mall. The officers located the suspect at about 7 p.m., shortly after he had broken into a nearby home, police said. The man discharged bear spray at the officers, hitting one of them and his service dog, but the officers managed to arrest and detain the suspect, who received minor injuries requiring stitches at a local hospital. All three officers were decontaminated after the assault and returned to work immediately, police said. The suspect – whose name could not be released publicly as of May 10, as charges had not yet been formally sworn by a provincial judge – has been charged with two counts of breach of probation and one each of assaulting an officer, possessing a weapon, possessing a controlled substance, theft and break and enter.

TTC, union clash over reported pollution in subway tunnels

The union representing subway workers with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is calling for better employee protection, including respiratory masks, following the release of a Health Canada (HC) study claiming poor air quality in the underground tunnels.

Published in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology on April 25, “Metro Commuter Exposures to Particulate Air Pollution and PM2.5-Associated Elements in Three Canadian Cities: The Urban Transportation Exposure Study” concluded that air in the TTC subway system contains extremely high levels of a particulate matter called PM2.5. This particulate includes high quantities of iron and may come from friction between train wheels and the subway track, the report stated.

“There have been numerous studies of air quality in subway systems internationally, including those in London, New York and Stockholm,” read an e-mailed response from HC. “The results from Toronto are consistent with levels observed elsewhere.”

The study research was conducted in 2010 and 2011, in collaboration with the University of Toronto and McGill University.

On April 27, two TTC employees were sent home after refusing to work in the subway tunnels without wearing respiratory masks, according to Kevin Morton, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113.

“So the guy wears a mask, and then he’s criticized and threatened and fired, and I got all his money back,” said Morton about one of the workers. “He was suspended without pay, but I took care of that.”

Morton called the study revelations “22 years out of date,” elaborating that the union had known that the air was polluted since the TTC had conducted an air-quality test in 1995.

“The report only confirmed what we believed,” he said. “We have asked for air-quality tests, and they’ve been Mickey Mouse tests done by the TTC, rather than all-out tests for base metals, carbon monoxide or diesel.”

Morton added that the TTC had received “preliminary findings” about the study results last November. “They never told us until I read it on the front page of the Toronto Star,” he said.

An April 27 news release from the TTC stated that the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) had ruled the air in the subway “not likely to endanger” employees or riders and that respiratory protection was not required.

“It’s most regrettable that a comparison to the air quality on the TTC was, in certain media articles, made to that of Beijing, one of the planet’s most polluted cities,” TTC CEO Andy Byford said in a media statement. “Doing so, frankly, has caused harm to the TTC’s reputation and unnecessary alarm for some TTC employees.

“The TTC had already committed to its own air-quality assessment and will begin that study later this year.”

But Morton claimed that the MOL had based its decision solely on the test results from 1995. “That’s ridiculous,” he said.

“We’ve got people who’ve been diagnosed and died with more lung diseases and cancers than proportional,” he said about certain welding and blacksmithing workers. “A lot of our employees down there in the maintenance and transportation are being brought in for respiratory problems.”

Morton said that the TTC had recently mandated that all subway officers would have to wear safety shoes, safety glasses and earplugs. “But nothing for their nose or their mouth. Isn’t that ridiculous?” he said. “They said particulates get in your eyes. Well, particulates get into your eyes, they get into your nose, they get into your mouth.

“If they can unilaterally mandate glasses, why are they afraid of the mask? Because it’s the public’s perception that somehow, it’s dangerous or toxic, or bad for my health.”

Local 113 is planning to meet with TTC management on May 3, to discuss the possibility of hiring an air-quality expert to conduct a proper evaluation. “If we can mutually agree on a third party, that’s fine,” said Morton. “But if they say no, they’ve chosen one, we will probably go ahead and hire our own, with or without their support.”

HC stated that it was using the report to advise on strategies to improve air quality in underground transit.

“The objective of this study was not to calculate health impacts, but rather to better understand exposure for commuters within time frames specific to commuting peak hours,” wrote HC. “Presently, Health Canada is working with the Toronto Transit Commission to study the benefits of past, present and possible future air-quality solutions.”

The TTC stated that it had taken measures to mitigate air pollution since 2011, such as refurbishing the air conditioning, removing thick debris buildup from tunnel walls and buying a new vacuum car with high-quality air filtration.

Workers claim hazardous conditions in transit tunnel construction

Overcrowding and poor sanitation have been endangering the health and safety of workers involved in the construction of Ottawa’s light-rail-transit (LRT) tunnel system, according to the head of the Ottawa and District Labour Council (ODLC).

Following a CBC News online story from April 18, which quoted employees anonymously about the working conditions, ODLC president Sean McKenny told COHSN that the workers had “significant concerns around trips and falls, significant concern around just the clustering of people,” as well as overflowing porta-potties.

“They’re not feeling as if any of their concerns are being taken seriously,” said McKenny, adding that the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) had issued more than 150 orders to the Rideau Transit Group (RTG), the management company in charge of the LRT construction, over the previous six months. “There were 37 alone in one week.”

Calling the overall situation “dire,” McKenny added that the porta-potties had become “just so unkempt that a lot of the workers would not use them. Of course, they have to have a place to go. So they end up going wherever they can.” As workers relieve themselves anywhere in the tunnel, it has a detrimental effect on the air quality, which is already poor due to the air being closed off, he said.

In an e-mailed response, RTG communications director Kathryn Keyes declined to discuss any specific incidents or orders, but stressed that RTG held safety as a top priority.

“We continue to comply with all industry standards in terms of incident management and notification (such as notifying the MOL when an incident/injury warrants),” wrote Keyes. “All orders from the MOL are actioned [sic] expeditiously, and we work collaboratively with MOL inspectors towards acceptable resolution.

“Their visits to our active construction sites are welcome, as they assist us in improving safety at our worksites.”

McKenny said that there had been a meeting between himself, the CEO of RTG, the head of OC Transpo and John Manconi, the City of Ottawa’s general manager of transportation services, in March to discuss the health and safety issues.

“We’ve agreed to continue to have discussions to try and ensure that there is a place where, in fact, the workers feel that they are safe,” he elaborated.

But McKenny disputed the City’s claim that the situation was under control. “John Manconi’s public comment,” he said, “is that the Ministry of Labour is extensively in the LRT and this is a good thing. My rebut to that to the media is, no, it’s not a good thing, because that means that things are not going well, requiring the presence of the Ministry of Labour.”

Keyes countered that the LRT construction project had achieved better lost-time injury rates than the industry average for heavy civil construction in the province.

“At any given time, up to 1,100 employees (this includes subcontractors) are currently working on the project,” she wrote. “To date, over five million hours have been worked on the project.”

Last fall, work on the LRT system was stopped temporarily after some rebar fell from the tunnel ceiling, preventing a lift from descending and trapping three workers. One of the workers received a minor hand injury in the incident (COHSN, Nov. 15).

McKenny noted that workers on the project had been required to sign a confidentiality agreement before beginning work, preventing them from discussing such incidents to the media.

“Our media and our community in general are certainly paying very close attention because there is that lack of transparency,” he said.

“It’s not a question of workers wanting to go down into the tunnel and work on carpeted floors and receive massages. That’s not the piece. They just want to ensure that they’re safe.”

School district fined $628,034 over material containing asbestos

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.