The head of the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada’s largest private sector union, is sending out a warning to everyone that a large number of the country’s youngest workers are being asked to work in unsafe conditions. Not only that, but young workers often have no idea of their rights, including the right to refuse unsafe work, according to CAW president Ken Lewenza.

The warning comes in the wake of a $350,000 fine levied last week against retail grocer Metro Ontario for an Occupational Health and Safety Act violation that caused the death of a 17-year-old worker back in August 2009.

According to a Ministry of Labour investigation, the accident occurred at a Mississauga Metro store on Erin Mills Parkway. The young worker, a CAW member, had only been on the job for about three weeks when he was told to remove a box that had been stored on top of a drop ceiling. When the worker climbed up a ladder and stepped onto the ceiling, he fell through and suffered a fatal head injury.

According to statistics from the government of Ontario, each year more than 10,000 workers under the age of 25 are injured on the job and are unable to return to work the next day.

If you have ever used power tools or run a lawn mower for a while, you’ve probably felt the tingling that occurs in the hands. That tingling is a side effect of the vibration of the motor. Now, imagine if you have to use them day in and day out for a living.

A number of workers who use handheld power tools extensively in the course of their work are exposed to large levels of vibrations in their hands and upper arms, and those vibrations can have negative health consequences, if proper precautions aren’t taken. Among the most common possible health problems is hand-arm vibration syndrome which, over time, can cause some workers to lose sensation in their hands or even to lose dexterity altogether. Some workers develop an inability to distinguish between hot or cold surfaces. Others experience Raynaud’s Phenomenon, which is a discoloration in the extremities of their fingers.

The solutions to these problems, however, can be surprisingly simple. A recent study on soil compactors, for example, which are used extensively at construction sites, found that exposure to vibrations could be reduced by as much as 60% just by upgrading the seat. Likewise, making sure workers are properly equipped with anti-vibration gloves when they use power tools, especially large ones like jackhammers, can have a positive effect on a worker’s health and safety.

Workplace standards have also been developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for whole body vibration (ISO 5982) as well as for hand-arm vibration (ISO 10068). They are currently investigating an international standard for anti-vibration gloves.

Even though prevention remains the best medicine, experts caution against pushing workers beyond their capacity just to increase productivity. Companies shouldn’t disregard the long-term effects of excessive power tool use in the name of short-term financial gains.

Keywords: worker safety, power tool safety, workplace safety

An elderly driver who killed a flagger three years ago was issued a suspended sentence last week, and the sentence has managed to anger members of the province’s traffic control workforce.

The accident happened in February 2008, as a work crew was clearing ditches. Two flaggers were resetting the work site up after their lunch break. Terry Mitchell was standing at the far end of the curved road, communicating via radio with another flagger, when the driver of the car, 88-year-old Mellie Pool, ran into him. Mitchell was airlifted from the site of the accident, but died later that same day,

Besides being 88 years old, Pool is also legally blind, and his licence hadn’t been renewed since 2001 as a result of that blindness. Pool received the suspended sentence from a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia on March 3. In addition, Pool received two years probation, a further 10-year driving ban and was ordered to perform 15 hours of community service.

As one could imagine, a number of road workers and supervisors are quite upset with the judge in this case. A few have suggested that the lightness of the sentence actually served to devalue the flagger’s life. Some have suggested that, at the very least, Pool should be required to wear an electronic device to monitor his driving, or that some other measures be taken to keep him off the road.

You may recall a terrible tragedy that occurred in August 2009, when 3-year-old Michelle Krsek and members of her family were taking relatives from Romania were walking the streets of downtown Calgary, when a windstorm hit, and they were struck by falling construction material. The little girl was killed, and her father and 7-year-old brother were injured in the incident.

Well, nearly 18 months later, two construction companies, Germain Residences of Quebec City and subcontractor Flynn Canada, have received fines of the statutory maximum $15,000 after pleading guilty to Alberta safety code violations. According to court records, the companies were charged with not properly securing a stack of roofing material.

While some have suggested that the fine sends a “strong message” to construction companies in Calgary, many others aren’t so sure, including the judge in the case.  As he made his ruling and assessed the fine, the judge expressed frustration with the provincial legislation and the maximum penalty allowed, and said the fine is “woefully inadequate.”

This particular case has served to highlight the inconsistencies with regard to provincial fines, and what many say has been poor enforcement of safety at construction sites.  For example, while the fine for this incident was capped at $15,000, if a worker had been killed by the same sheet metal that killed the three-year-old bystander, the maximum penalty to the company would have been $500,000 and/or up to six months in jail for a first offence.

Calgary Municipal Affairs Minister Hector Goudreau agrees with the judge’s assessment, and he plans to make recommendations to others in the city to make the fines much stiffer in the future.

A business consortium from India has expressed a desire to reopen the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, Quebec, and an anti-asbestos advocacy group, the Rideau Institute, is upset about the government’s reaction to the overture.

The provincial government is considering a $58-million loan guarantee to the Indian consortium, which is led by Balcorp Inc. The lure of jobs in a down economy is cited as a major reason for even contemplating the deal. The Quebec government is considering paying for routine inspections in India to make sure the asbestos is used safely.

The Rideau Institute, however, believes it would be impossible to regulate safe use of asbestos throughout India because of the generally poor working conditions in that country. For example, when asbestos cement products are dispersed, they will end up in thousands and thousands of poor villages and slums.

The Institute also objects to the fact that Quebec’s Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec (CSST), their workplace health and safety board, is part of an economic mission to India next week to promote the safe use of asbestos. They say the Quebec government should not be helping to export asbestos to India, or anywhere else, for that matter.

According to a preliminary report by WorkSafeBC, a worker who died two days after he fell 14 metres while working on the sails at Canada Place on Dec. 2 “was not using a personal fall protection system” at the time of the accident.

Apparently, the 30-year-old worker, Diego Herrera, was wearing a safety harness, but that harness was unattached  when he fell through what the report describes as a “mouse hole” in the sails.

An inspection report taken at the work site also noted a number of violations of safety regulations at the work site, including ropes, straps, webbing, electrical cords and construction debris around the mouse hole in violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. The report made it clear that there were grounds for imposing an administrative penalty against Birdair Inc. of Amherst, N.Y, the company that was hired to replace the sails at Canada Place by Ledcor Construction Ltd., which is managing the project on behalf of Canada Place Corporation.

The report read, “The employer did not have a fall protection plan for the sealing up of the mouse hole. The mouse hole was not guarded or guard-railed. The area in front of the mouse hole had many slip and trip hazards.”

No further action will be taken, however, until WorkSafeBC’s investigation of the incident is complete.

WorkSafeBC regulations stipulate that an employer must have a fall protection system in place when work is being done at heights of 3 metres or more. The $21-million project to replace the sails — originally erected in 1984 — began in July 2010 and is expected to be completed later this year.

Officials with the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) in Southern Ontario are crediting a construction worker’s protective head gear for saving his life following an industrial accident on January 6.

Police received a call at about 1:10 pm, reporting an injured construction worker at a condominium construction site in Oakville.  The 31-year-old worker, an employee of EDVAC Contracting Ltd, based in Brampton, Ontario, was standing on the ground when a 3.5-metre aluminum beam, weighing approximately 30 kilograms, fell over a safety fence, plummeted eight stories and struck the worker on his head, face and right shoulder.  Emergency personnel and doctors agree that that only thing that prevented the head trauma from being more severe was his hard hat.

The worker was immediately transported to Hamilton General Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition. The Ministry of Labour (MoL) immediately secured the construction site pending an investigation.

EDVAC Contracting was issued one order: to develop and implement a procedure for placing formwork that will ensure that beams cannot fall from the building. Two orders were issued to the constructor of the site, Toronto-based Dominus Construction. One order was to provide employment records for the injured worker and witness reports to the ministry; and the other was to develop and implement a procedure to eliminate workers’ exposure to overhead hazards.

The investigation into the incident continues.

At an annual meeting held on January 16 and 17 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, federal, provincial and territorial labour ministers discussed a number of issues and reaffirmed their continuing commitment to safe workplaces, to protect workers and employers.

The get-together was co-hosted by the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Canada’s Labour Minister, and the Honourable Jennifer Howard, Minister of Labour and Immigration for Manitoba.

Minister Raitt asserted that the Canadian Government’s top priority was the economy and that “safe and healthy workplaces boost productivity and innovation,” and that “the well-being of workers and employers are key to the success and performance of Canada’s economy.”

According to Minister Howard, “Safe and healthy working environments do not just happen, they require a commitment by governments and everyone at the workplace. … Manitoba has long enjoyed a reputation as a leader in workplace health and safety issues and we want to continue to build on our successes.”

The meeting included discussions of Canada’s international labour activities, and endorsed a renewed strategy for Canada’s work as part of the International Labour Organization. They agreed to work together to develop programs that use social media and other tools to enhance the occupational health and safety of young workers.  They also participated in panel discussions regarding the evolution of work and possible long-range labor policy, with an emphasis on labour relations, employment standards, and mental health in the workplace.

The labour ministers’ meeting is an annual event, but ongoing work continues throughout the year, through the Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation (CAALL). Established in 1938, CAALL is an association of federal-provincial-territorial departments of labour and heads of occupational health and safety agencies.

There has been a rash of accidents involving snowplows in Saskatchewan lately. The latest incident involves a provincial snowplow that was hit  by a semi-trailer on the Trans-Canada Highway on Sunday afternoon, January 16. It was actually the third such incident in less than two weeks.

According to the Highways Ministry, the latest accident occurred during whiteout conditions near Balgonie. The semi swerved and hit the snowplow on the right rear side, causing extensive damage to both vehicles. Neither driver was injured.

That particular crash followed a more serious accident on Highway 40 near Shellbrook on Friday morning, January 14, in which a snowplow operator was plowing in the southbound lanes of the highway when a northbound car crossed into the wrong lane and hit the snowplow head on. The driver of the car in that accident was treated for minor injuries, while two passengers — a woman and a small child — received non-life-threatening injuries.

Another snowplow was hit by a car around noon on Jan. 6. In that incident, the operator had been plowing on Highway 19 near Elbow when he was rear-ended.  According to the Ministry’s report, the driver had entered the whiteout created by the plow before the crash.

Here are some basic safety tips for all drivers when operating near snowplows:

• Stay alert! If you’re on a major road and it’s snowing, there are likely to be plows working.
• Note that snowplows travel slower than posted speeds, and always yield to them.
• Remember that a snowplow weighs far more than a car, and a crash is more likely to do more damage to you and your vehicle than the snowplow and its operator.
• Give snowplow operators plenty of room to do their jobs.
• Never drive into a snow cloud.
• Never use cruise control on wet or icy roads.
• Slow down and be patient. Allow for a safe distance between your vehicle and a snowplow.

Wait until the snowplow pulls over (they do so every 10km) to pass.

Last summer, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) began testing a fully mobile work zone barrier system during a concrete repair project on Highway 115, southwest of Peterborough.

The new system is fully mobile, consisting of a wheeled unit, which is pulled by a standard truck tractor. The unit can be deployed relatively quickly and, because of its reversible axles, it can easily be reconfigured for either right or left applications in about half an hour.

These new mobile units, which are bright orange to alert drivers that road work is taking place, reduce the need for road crews to set up a Temporary Concrete Barrier (TCB), which means they can finish road work and reopen a lane in less time.  By adding panels, the size of the work zone can be expanded to as much as 31 metres, and the systems are also customizable, including such options as portable message signs, auxiliary lighting and a privacy barrier. The unit meets U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program 350 TL-3 crash test requirements, as well.

The mobile work zone barriers increase the safety of maintenance and construction crews, according to a number of test projects, and past use by others. The state of California has been deploying such mobile barriers since 2004, for example, and they have proven to be very time effective and safe. California refers to its mobile barriers as “Balsi Beams,” because they were developed after worker Mark Balsi was killed by a motorist while picking up trash along the highway. California’s Balsi Beam was among those demonstrated to MTO officials at a conference several years ago, which led to last summer’s trial.

Construction crews have so far found it easy to adapt to the devices, and feel very confident working behind them.  The Highway 115 trial project proved the units to be so effective that the contractor’s schedule was advanced, and work was completed ahead of time, because they were able to eliminate the work necessary in placing and removing the TCB.

Due to the success of the initial mobile barrier trial, MTO expects to expand their use for projects such as pothole filling, pavement testing, crack sealing, bridge and guide rail repairs, and even accident scene investigations.

Photos of the mobile work zone barrier system in action can be found here.