Category Archives: Occupational Hygiene

Compliance & Enforcement, Hazmat, Health & Safety, Legislation, Occupational Hygiene

Feds adopt new safety regulations for hazardous materials

Leave a comment

The federal government has announced a new set of occupational health and safety regulations to align Canada’s hazardous-material practices with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), which has become the new international standard for hazard identification.

Announced on June 30 by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the new rules amend the federal Canada Labour Code as part of the nation’s implementation of the GHS, which replaces the former Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) for identifying and classifying dangerous chemicals. The changes were published in Part II of the Canada Gazette on June 29.

“Every employee has the right to a safe workplace. These new amendments will better protect workers from hazardous products and improve their overall safety,” said MaryAnn Mihychuk, federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, in a press statement. “These regulations provide improved, harmonized and consistent hazard information that will help businesses reduce their costs and make compliance easier in Canada and abroad.”

The amendments affect five regulations under the Code – the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, the Maritime Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, the Aviation Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, the On Board Trains Occupational Health and Safety Regulations and the Oil and Gas Occupational Safety and Health Regulations – according to a June 30 news release form ESDC. In addition, the federal government is working with provincial and territorial governments that are changing their own legislation, to ensure consistency across the country.

Canada began work on implementing the GHS two years ago, when Health Canada (HC) proposed amendments to the Hazardous Products Act (COHSN, April 7, 2014). The new system standardizes communication of hazard information via labels and safety data sheets for all dangerous chemical substances being handled or stored in workplaces. Currently, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia either have adopted the GHS or are in the process of implementing it, according to ESDC.

Last year, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety developed the website WHMIS.org, to help Canadians transition to WHMIS 2015, which implemented the GHS into the old WHMIS rules. In addition, training companies such as YOW Canada Inc. in Ottawa and Danatec in Calgary began offering programs to help workers and employers adapt to the new standard.

The GHS is expected to increase worker protection through a better, globally recognized system of hazard identification and lower the costs of retesting and reclassifying materials from different markets, according to information from HC.

Hazmat, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Human Resources, Occupational Hygiene

Defence Department employees moving to building with asbestos

Leave a comment

Following an April 21 fire that forced the shutdown of an Ottawa building where about 1,800 Department of National Defence (DND) workers were employed, word has come out that around 500 of the workers will soon be moving to a facility containing asbestos – but neither the employer nor the workers’ union is raising alarm at this point.

The National Printing Bureau building, located at 45 boulevard Sacré-Coeur in Gatineau, Que., was reportedly last inspected by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) in November. The DND has said that the building poses no current health and safety risk associated with the notoriously carcinogenic mineral.

“While asbestos is present at the 45 boul. Sacré-Coeur location, it is contained and encapsulated and does not pose a threat to employees,” DND communications advisor Dominique Tessier stated in an e-mailed response to COHSN. “The planning for temporary alternate workplaces at other buildings throughout the [National Capital Region] aims at ensuring the health and safety of our members.”

Tessier added that the DND was not aware of any concerns from employees about the presence of asbestos. “We always encourage our members to raise any issues with their immediate supervisors so that they may be appropriately addressed.”

The fire, which occurred at the Louis St. Laurent building, made the top two floors “uninhabitable,” according to June Winger, executive vice president of the Union of National Defence Employees, which represents DND staff.

“So the Department has been trying to put our members, their employees, in different workplaces to be able to allow them to continue doing their work,” said Winger. “Some employees are just working in alternate buildings where there happens to be some vacancies; other employees are working from home and such.”

Although Winger was aware of the asbestos at the National Printing Bureau building, she said she was “fairly comfortable and confident” with the safety guarantees from PSPC and the DND.

“I don’t think that they would ever try to outright mislead or lie to us about that sort of situation,” she said. “I don’t know how sophisticated they are in the detection and remediation of asbestos. So that’s more where our concern lies.”

Winger added that asbestos in older work facilities was an ongoing concern for the union. “If it appears that they are in any sort of imminent danger,” she said about the employees, “then we’ll address that with the appropriate steps, as we do in every situation when our members feel that their health is being compromised.

“We expect the employer to address it in a safe, practical way,” Winger added, referring to safety risk, “and when it’s not being done, then we will push forward to ensure that it is being done appropriately.”

The federal government came under fire earlier this year, after reports revealed that federally funded construction projects were still using materials containing asbestos and that Canada was still importing asbestos-containing products (COHSN, Feb. 9). PSPC banned the use of asbestos in new federal construction projects on April 1 and stated that the government was planning to develop a database of federally owned buildings and establish disclosure requirements regarding asbestos for newly leased buildings this year.

Tessier pointed out that the National Printing Bureau building is already home to several government department offices, including offices of the DND.

“The safety and security of our employees is always our top priority,” she said.

Winger noted that the move was only temporary and that the DND was planning to move the majority of its employees to the Carling Campus, a government building complex in Ottawa’s west end, within the next few years.

“So it’s all a bit of a temporary situation where everybody’s just trying to help out together to get the job done,” said Winger.

Hazmat, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Legislation, Occupational Hygiene

Unions support bill on registry for occupational disease

Leave a comment

Bill C-292, an Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (occupational-disease and accident registry), passed its first reading in the House of Commons in Ottawa on June 14.

The amendment to the bill by MP Sheri Benson of Saskatoon-West will require employers to report information about all accidents, occupational diseases and other hazardous occurrences known by the employer to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, who will have to maintain a registry containing all of that information and to make that information available to employees — past, present and potential — for examination.

Benson paid tribute to the late Howard Willems, who had been exposed to asbestos as part of his job as a food inspector for the government in Saskatchewan. Willems’ death led to the establishment of a mandatory asbestos registry in that province. “This bill would help inform and protect workers so that many more can come home safe at the end of their work day,” Benson said in reference to Bill C-292.

Bill Daniels, international vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, First District, said that the introduction of this private member’s bill was long overdue. “For decades, workers have been unknowingly exposed to hazardous substances while on the job, which has led to various health problems and even the ultimate sacrifice, their lives.”

He added that this change would have a positive effect on workers by allowing them access to pertinent information on the various hazards to which they could be exposed at work. “This is something every worker deserves to know.”

Bob Blakely, Canadian operating officer at Canada’s Building Trades Unions, said in a statement dated June 15 that the union was pleased to support the legislation, which it regards as an important component of federal leadership on workplace safety. The bill “is a long time coming and will create accountable partnerships in the workplace,” Blakely noted. “This bill will allow workers to know when and if workplaces are safe or unsafe.”

Canada’s Building Trades Unions look forward to continuing to work with MP Sheri Benson, as well as with provincial governments to pave the way towards a safer work environment for its members, the statement added.

Occupational disease is a disease or condition caused by work or exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace. According to information from the federal government’s labour program, an average of slightly fewer than one million occupational injury claims have been reported each year by provincial or territorial workers’ compensation boards from 1996 to 2008. In 2008, there were approximately three occupational fatalities each day of the year and roughly one out of every 13,805 workers covered by provincial or territorial compensation systems died from an occupational injury. Factoring in direct and indirect costs, the total costs of occupational injuries to the Canadian economy is estimated to be more than $19 billion annually.

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Human Resources, Occupational Hygiene, Young Workers

Former sales worker awarded $21,288 in harassment case

Leave a comment

A member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a Calgary mobile-phone store to pay a total of $21,288 in compensation to a former sales employee and manager, who lodged a complaint against her supervisor alleging multiple instances of sexual harassment.

Tribunal member Ricki T. Johnston signed the decision in Ottawa on June 15, awarding to complainant Shelby Anne Opheim $12,000 for the employer’s willful and reckless conduct, $7,500 for her pain and suffering and $1,788 to make up for lost earnings.

Opheim was hired by Gillco Inc. to work at the store, Mobilicity, on May 4, 2011 at the age of 18, according to the written decision by Johnston. She often worked alone in the store with her boss, Gagan Gill, who was there two or three days each week. Opheim alleged that Gill had begun making sexually explicit comments to her within the first two weeks of her employment. The comments intensified and soon developed into unwanted touching, such as Gill forcing his hands up Opheim’s skirt and grabbing her breasts, she alleged.

Opheim quit the job on June 25, 2011, after Gill had allegedly asked her to walk up and down the street in front of the store in a skirt and high heels with flyers for a promotional sale – a request that made her feel “cheap” and unsafe, the Tribunal decision stated.

“There were considerable challenges with regard to determining the facts in this matter,” wrote Johnston in the decision. “Credibility was a significant factor, as the complainant and the respondents disagreed as to the occurrence of many of the events at issue.”

But Johnston determined that Opheim had offered “clear and specific evidence” that was consistent with the allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct in her complaint. “This sexual conduct consisted of… sexual comments, sexual touching, sexual requests and the sexualized and demeaning work request that the complainant walk up and down the street in front of the Mobilicity store. The conduct was both frequent and ongoing.”

In contrast, Johnston deemed the evidence of Gill and Gillco to be lacking in substance. The respondents did not even challenge Opheim’s accusations in cross-examination or address any of her specific allegations.

“The only evidence Mr. Gill gave in his examination-in-chief on this point was to state that there was ‘nothing sexual’ with the complainant and that he ‘never touched her,’” Johnston wrote.

The decision noted that Opheim had begun to suffer from depression and anxiety following Gill’s alleged behaviour “and will be required to take anti-depressants for the rest of her life, at a cost of approximately $135 per month.” But she did not offer any evidence that these conditions had affected her ability to work full-time.

“I prefer the evidence of the complainant and find the individual respondent committed a discriminatory practice in sexually harassing the complainant,” wrote Johnston.

Compliance & Enforcement, Hazmat, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Occupational Hygiene

N.L. healthcare authority facing charges for asbestos exposure

Leave a comment

An investigation by occupational health and safety officials from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has resulted in charges against the Eastern Regional Health Authority (also known as Eastern Health), as well as one of its supervisors and two employees.

The charges against Eastern Health, which operates healthcare facilities across the province, stem from a May 2014 incident that allegedly took place at the Miller Centre in St. John’s, according to a news release from Service N.L. The release, dated May 6 of this year, did not specify the details of the incident, but stated that it had been related to ongoing maintenance work in an area of the Centre known to contain asbestos.

Eastern Health is facing 10 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Asbestos Abatement Regulations. Service N.L. stated that the charges involved the organization’s “alleged failure as an employer” to provide proper instruction, training and supervision to workers, to make sure that employees set up a decontamination area, to provide ventilation and personal protective equipment (PPE), such as respirators, to the workers and to comply with the work and hygiene practices in the Regulations.

In addition, an Eastern Health supervisor has been charged with four violations of the Act, involving failure to warn employees of the safety hazards present at the worksite, to instruct them on the proper precautions and to make sure that workers were wearing the appropriate PPE.

An employee of the organization is charged with failure to take reasonable care to protect his or her health and safety and that of others and to use equipment for protection. A second employee is also facing the former charge.

The accused parties are expected to appear in court for the first time at the St. John’s Provincial Court on May 19.

A 2013 quality and safety evaluation by Accreditation Canada found that Eastern Health was compliant with 94.2 per cent of the required criteria, including 96.2 per cent of high-priority criteria. But the evaluation stated that Eastern Health required improvement in several areas, including covering of contaminated items on carts from operating rooms and preparation for public health threats (COHSN, Nov. 11, 2013).

Although asbestos has long been known to be a carcinogen, the federal government did not officially acknowledge that all forms of the mineral were a health risk until last year. Public Services and Procurement Canada banned the use of asbestos in federal construction and renovation projects on April 1 of this year (COHSN, April 12).

Eastern Health is the province’s largest integrated health organization, employing more than 13,000 healthcare and support professionals for a regional population exceeding 300,000, according to information from its website.

Compliance & Enforcement, Health & Safety, Human Resources, Occupational Hygiene

Computer store fined after video camera found in washroom

Leave a comment

CARNDUFF, Sask. – A computer and electronics dealer has pleaded guilty to occupational health and safety charges and been fined $2,100, stemming from a 2014 complaint from an employee who found a concealed video camera in the staff washroom. According to an April 27 news release from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, oh&s officials from the Ministry conducted an inspection of the store, ITComputes, on Dec. 20, 2014, following the worker’s discovery of the hidden camera, which was located near the toilet. Store manager Brian Cowie was charged with seven counts of voyeurism in Jan. 2015 and admitted in court that he had been secretly filming female employees for several years; he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a $1,400 fine and house arrest last year. SE Ventures, the company that runs ITComputes, was charged with failing to ensure that employees were not exposed to harassment regarding any circumstance arising out of their employment. “The Saskatchewan Employment Act protects workers from bullying and harassment in the workplace,” the Ministry release stated. The firm was sentenced to pay the fine on April 18 of this year in Estevan Provincial Court.

Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Occupational Hygiene, Workers Compensation

Ex-workers taking hospital to Supreme Court over alleged cancer cluster

Leave a comment

Three former employees of the Mission Memorial Hospital in Mission, B.C. are claiming that a laboratory in the workplace caused them to contract breast cancer – and their case is heading to the Supreme Court of Canada.

An investigation into the laboratory found that its rate of breast cancer was about eight times the rate for the overall British Columbia population, according to an April 20 press release from the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). The ex-employees – Katrina Hammer, Anne MacFarlane and Patricia Schmidt – initially brought claims to WorkSafeBC, which denied benefits to them. An appeal to the B.C. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) ruled in the workers’ favour, but subsequent appeals have brought the case to the Supreme Court.

Several employees in the lab contracted breast cancer between 1970 and 2004, according to Tonie Beharrell, a staff lawyer for the Health Sciences Association of B.C. who represents Hammer and MacFarlane.

“About seven lab workers during that time had contracted breast cancer, and by the time some of the later cases happened, they were kind of looking around and going, ‘Wow. This seems to be quite a high rate,’” said Beharrell.

The investigation report, issued in 2005, indicated a cancer cluster in the lab. “What it didn’t indicate was whether or not there was any specific workplace causation,” explained Beharrell. “And it was hindered by the fact that this was from 1970 onward, and documents from the early years were simply not available, whether they hadn’t been kept or had never existed. So in trying to determine what the causation might be, there were complications.”

Among the possible explanations suggested in the report: possible carcinogens in the regents and solutions that the employees had handled; a hospital incinerator with venting problems; that the diagnosed women all had genetic predispositions to cancer or were part of a high-risk group; or simply a statistical anomaly.

“The women who were, in fact, diagnosed with cancer have a range of risk factors and non-risk factors, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any significant similarity between them in that regard,” said Beharrell.

Fraser Health Authority, the organization that runs the hospital, declined to comment to COHSN due to the matter being before the courts.

After WCAT called the evidence in the workers’ case “sufficient to conclude it was as likely as not that some workplace exposure was of causative significance,” as quoted in the NUPGE release, Fraser brought the case to a judicial review with the B.C. Supreme Court, which concluded that there was no evidence that the cancer cases were work-related. Then a five-judge panel with the B.C. Court of Appeal voted three to two that there was no occupational causation.

“It’s not the shortest process in the world,” said Beharrell, referring to the appeal system.

Beharrell and two other lawyers representing the workers made an appearance at the Supreme Court of Canada on Jan. 14, to challenge the B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal decisions.

“The scientists and physicians were weighing the evidence against the standard required to reach ‘scientific conclusions’ based on ‘scientific evidence,’” read NUPGE’s statement in the Court, as quoted in the release. “That is a significantly higher test than that required in the administration of the workers’ compensation scheme for the adjudication of workplace disease claims.

“Requiring the appellants to meet that test would fundamentally undermine the purpose of that scheme.”

Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Legislation, Occupational Hygiene, Workers Compensation

Fredericton mourns firefighter who had occupational cancer

Leave a comment

Professional and volunteer firefighters from around New Brunswick and elsewhere came together in Fredericton on March 28, for the department funeral of a veteran firefighter who had died of throat cancer believed to have developed from his job.

Robert Berryman, who had served with the Fredericton Fire Department (FFD) for nearly 35 years before retiring in 2013, passed away from the disease on March 23. He was 61 years old, according to an FFD news release.

Berryman’s public funeral took place at Fredericton’s Nashwaaksis United Church, with Main Street shut down for a departmental ceremony that included a large pipe band made up of musicians from four regional department bands. Attendees came from as far as Halifax and other Maritime cities, according to Evan Jilks, president of International Association of Firefighters (IAF) Local 1053.

Jilks, who co-organized the ceremony, described it as “very well attended.”

Although Berryman contracted cancer shortly after his retirement from service, his passing is considered a Line of Duty Death, with the disease presumed to have been caused by his firefighting career. New Brunswick’s presumptive legislation for firefighting-related diseases, enacted in 2009, deems certain types of cancer to be job-related for firefighters, including retirees, thus qualifying them for workers’ compensation benefits.

Berryman is the FFD’s first Line of Duty Death under the legislation and the city’s first firefighting Line of Duty Death overall in about four decades, said FFD assistant deputy chief David McKinley.

“We’ve had five firefighters die in the line of duty here. Three were killed outright; two did have heart attacks on the scene and died as well,” explained McKinley.

Cancer can develop from firefighting in a number of ways, including inhalation of carcinogens from fire and smoke, as well as wearing contaminated clothing, from which carcinogens can seep through one’s skin, McKinley added. Today, firefighters need to wash their uniforms and personal protective equipment regularly in order to decontaminate them, but that has not always been the case.

“Back in the old days, firefighters used to take their gear into the bunkroom with them and the dorms, and that’s a no-no now,” said McKinley. “So we do our best now to make sure we’re protecting ourselves. We’re making sure we wear respiratory protection in any circumstances where we could be contaminated, and keeping our gear clean. It’s very important.”

Jilks noted that times had changed a lot over Berryman’s career, in terms of firefighter protection.

“He was in the days when we were still wearing long coats and tall boots,” said Jilks. “I don’t even know if we had air packs at the time, and if we did, we only had one or two.

“He started his career in 1978. So there have been a lot of advancements since then, in our personal protective equipment.”

McKinley said that nearby Saint John had also had a recent firefighter fatality from occupational disease. “He was still working, and anyway, he was off work on sick leave for quite a while,” he recalled. “He had workers’ comp benefits that maintained him. But he did die, though, before too long.”

While not every cancer case automatically qualifies a firefighter for workers’ comp – only nine forms of the disease are eligible, for example, and being a smoker could disqualify someone with lung cancer – McKinley said that the presumptive legislation had proved to be a good development.

“It helps members, firefighters, maintain some benefits after they leave or if they have to leave early, which isn’t uncommon,” he pointed out. “There’s a significantly higher incidence of these particular types of cancer in firefighters than there are against the general population.”

Berryman had been an executive officer with IAF Local 1053 for 10 years, according to information from the FFD.

Hazmat, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Occupational Hygiene

ONA blasts Guelph hospital for alleged inattention to safety

Leave a comment

Guelph General Hospital (GGH) in Guelph, Ont. is the latest healthcare centre in the province to face public fire for alleged incidents of violence against staff. The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) announced on March 15 that it had filed a grievance against the hospital, for insufficient protection of employees and patients.

The grievance was spurred by several recent attacks, including one in which a patient had thrown a urine bottle at a female registered nurse in the first half of March, according to Anne Clark, a regional vice president with ONA.

“One of our members was grabbed by an agitated patient,” said Clark, “and she couldn’t call for help. Before anybody could come to her assistance, a full bottle of urine was thrown in her face, which splashed into her mouth and eyes, and she was bitten.”

In another recent case, a patient arrived in the emergency room with a chemical spill, but staff did not have the proper protective equipment or space for decontaminating the patient. The employees were reduced to taking the patient outside the hospital and scrubbing the contaminants off with soapy water, ONA has charged.

“In this day and age, hospitals should be equipped to deal with that,” said Clark. “They didn’t have gowns and all the equipment that you need for a chemical spill.

“And this has happened before,” she added. “An incident happened last year.”

But GGH president and CEO Marianne Walker told COHSN that no contamination had occurred in the more recent chemical incident.

“We did have equipment, but it wasn’t readily available, and the staff weren’t appropriately trained. So quickly, we put in a temporary solution,” said Walker. She said that the hospital had since learned from the incident and created a more comprehensive plan. “Today, staff are trained, equipment is readily available and they know what to do.”

Walker added that she had been “quite surprised” by ONA’s accusation of inattention to safety, because the hospital has four staff members with the union who work closely with the joint health and safety committee and because Walker herself sits on the provincial government’s panel on violence in healthcare. While conceding that violence had been occurring against GGH staff, she called it a problem affecting all hospitals across the province, not just hers.

Clark said that GGH’s recent incidents were part of an escalating pattern showing a lack of concern for safety and hygiene there.

“They need to be working with us to find a solution,” she suggested. “Staff incidences need to be brought to us in a timely manner, and the occupational health and safety committee needs to be involved.” The union is also calling for GGH to initiate mandatory violence-prevention training, adopt a system for flagging violent patients and have a safety audit conducted in every unit.

“You need to be prepared for every eventuality, and you need to be able to take every precaution reasonable to protect your staff,” said Clark.

Walker countered that the hospital was already taking action, such as offering crisis-intervention training four times a year. “It is mandatory right now in the high-risk areas, such as emergency department and also the intensive care,” she noted. “About 60 people a year attend it right now, but what we’d like to do is increase that amount.”

GGH also has “gentle-persuasion training” for dealing with patients with cognitive impairment, and it has also updated its emergency codes, added security cameras and hired a health and safety officer, added Walker. “And now we just finished our hospital-wide security audit, and so we’re just waiting for the final reports, and we will implement those recommendations.

“We want to become one of the safest hospitals in Ontario. It is a journey to get there.”

Hazmat, Health & Safety, Health and Wellness, Occupational Hygiene

Building housing ministry offices evacuated due to possible asbestos

Leave a comment

Saskatchewan’s government authority for occupational health and safety had to face a work-related safety crisis of its own from Feb. 23 to 24, when a building that houses some of its offices was evacuated over an asbestos scare.

The Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, which employs about 90 people on the third, fourth and sixth floors of a building at 1870 Albert Street in Regina, brought in a plumbing contractor on Feb. 19 after a leak in a sixth-floor ceiling water pipe was found at about noon that day, according to Ray Anthony, an executive director with the Ministry’s oh&s division. The possibility of an asbestos presence was raised after the contractor’s employees cut out a section of an orange concrete rainwater pipe in the process of repairing the leak.

“Later on in the afternoon, one of our hygienists discovered this piece of pipe in the stairwell and asked these plumbing contractors if they had checked for asbestos,” said Anthony, “and they said, well no, they hadn’t, they had been told that there was no asbestos in the building.”

A test on the material came back positive for asbestos late on Feb. 22, although the Ministry management did not know about it until the following morning. “So we knew that they hadn’t followed proper precautions,” Anthony added, referring to the plumbers.

The building was evacuated immediately, due to uncertainty about the air quality, and the Ministry brought in an independent third party to test the air for asbestos fibres.

“We had basically all the floors cleaned up, and we did testing before and after, all of which were negative for asbestos fibres,” said Anthony. “It was an incident, and that’s the way we treated it.”

After all of the offices were cleaned up and vacuumed according to proper procedures, the building was declared safe and everybody returned to work at about noon on Feb. 24.

“Basically, we’re just trying to follow best practice,” Anthony added.

Since Nov. 2013, Saskatchewan has maintained an official public registry of government-owned buildings – including schools, healthcare facilities and other buildings owned by provincial government organizations – indicating whether they contain asbestos. The Saskatchewan Asbestos Registry resulted from the passing of The Public Health Amendment Act, or Howard’s Law, on April 18 of that year (COHSN, Nov. 18, 2013). Ironically, the registry does not cover 1870 Albert Street, since the building is privately owned.

“We don’t own this building,” said Anthony. “We just rent here.”

The Saskatchewan government does own more than 500 buildings around the province, he explained, “and those are registered, and the asbestos is mapped and listed in them under the registry.”

The oh&s division of the Ministry has an office on the Albert Street building’s sixth floor, where the apparently contaminated pipe was located.