A Concord, Ontario-based curtain wall assembler, Zimmcor, Inc., was fined $50,000 last week for two violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, as a result of an accident in which a worker was seriously injured.

Workers were attempting to move a cart holding several 22-foot-long aluminum extrusions on January 23, 2009, after that cart became wedged between several others. One worker was positioned between the cart they were trying to move and another cart, and as he pushed on the wedged cart, other workers were pulling. As they did so, the cart tipped over, causing the load to fall on and fracture the pushing worker’s leg. When a co-worker tried to limit the damage by attempting to remove adjacent bundles of extrusions with a forklift, the forklift accidentally touched the cart and more extrusions fell on the injured worker’s leg.

An investigation by the Ministry of Labour determined that the extrusions were not properly balanced or secured on the cart. An inspector examined the workplace on January 26, 2009, and also observed that shields on a double-bladed chop saw were tied with metal holdbacks, which rendered the shields ineffective as a means of protecting workers from the hazards posed by the saw’s moving blades.

Zimmcor Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the load being transported, placed or stored would not tip, collapse or fall, and to ensure that the load could be removed or withdrawn without endangering the worker. The company also pleaded guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that the shields on a double-bladed chop saw were not rendered ineffective by metal holdbacks.

As a result of these guilty pleas, Zimmcor Inc. was fined $45,000 for the count that led to the worker’s injury, and $5,000 for the charge related to the chop saw. The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Malik Asad, who also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

According to the latest WorkSafeBC report, four Vancouver Island companies have been fined by WorkSafeBC for unsafe working conditions or practices, including several that didn’t necessarily end in injury or tragedy.

The largest of the fines was the $15,000 assessed on Dogwood Street 7-Eleven Canada Inc in Campbell River for what they referred to as “numerous health and safety violations.” The report noted that the business had failed to ensure that records of worker injuries and exposures were kept on site; that it had failed to provide appropriate emergency washing facilities for workers who may have been exposed to harmful materials; and that it failed to provide proper instruction to its workers as to how to report and document incidents of workplace violence.

Cei Industries Ltd., also of Campbell River, was fined $5,373 for allowing its staff to work too close to live high-voltage power lines. WorkSafeBC said the company allowed work to continue on a structural steel building that was too close to live power lines, in violation of the requirement to maintain the minimum applicable distance between workers and live high-voltage equipment and conductors.

The agency also fined Coast Outdoor Advertising of Ladysmith $7,844 after one of its workers was severely burned and fell 8.5 metres, after a metal rod he was using came into contact with a live overhead power line.

In addition to those fines, Arbutus Environmental Services was fined $13,109 for not properly training a driver.

WorkSafeBC intends for its administrative penalties for health and safety violations to motivate as many employers as possible to comply with the Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. They consider such fines when an employer commits a violation resulting in high risk of serious injury, serious illness, or death, is caught with several violations, fails to comply with an order within a reasonable amount of time, or demonstrates reckless disregard for regulations.

Ontario uniform supplier G&K Services Canada Inc. was fined $60,000 last week for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after an accident that injured a worker was injured.

The company operates an industrial laundry service in Windsor. As part of the laundry process, clothing is placed into a bag with a drawstring at the bottom. The bag moves vertically along a conveyor, until it hits a sensor at the end, whereupon it is hoisted up into the air.

At the time of the accident, on September 24, 2009, a worker noticed that the drawstring on one of the bags was untied, and he attempted to tie the bag while walking with it along the conveyor. At the time the bag hit the sensor, the worker’s thumb was still entangled in the bag’s drawstring. The bag was then hoisted aloft. As a result, the worker was lifted into the air with the bag, and his thumb was amputated by the force of the moving bag.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the emergency stop button on the bag hoist had been placed too high up for a worker to reach in an emergency. G&K Services Canada Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that an emergency stop button was located within easy reach of the machine operator.

A $60,000 fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Robert Gay, who also imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

A month-long safety blitz focused on inspection of forklifts and other powered mobile equipment was conducted in February and March by Alberta’s occupational health and safety ministry. As a result, 214 work orders were issued, ranging from operators not having a proper seatbelt to workers operating a machine without receiving adequate training.

The Ministry expressed its disappointment with the finding. Coming just after a report released last week that showed the province’s workplace fatalities rose 24% last year over 2009, it was a sobering reminder that the province still has a lot of work to do.

Among the 214 work orders issued, 24 were issued for improper inspection and maintenance; 20 for failing to conduct a visual inspection prior to operating equipment; 16 for failure to comply with hazard assessment requirements; and 14 of the orders were related to worker training, competency and proper supervision to sagely operate the equipment.

In a bid to improve the workplace safety situation, the provincial labour ministry will hire 30 new OHS safety workers by 2013. They plan to give those inspectors new powers, such as the ability to penalize employers and employees on the spot for not adhering to standards. They will also be conducting a further series of safety blitzes this year, involving young worker safety and safety at residential construction sites.

Within the next few weeks, students in Ontario will be heading out to summer jobs, and those concerned with safety would like all of them to come home alive and in one piece at the end of the summer.

Each and every year, 40,000 youth are injured on the job in Ontario – and that’s just the number of injuries that are reported. Often, young people are too intimidated or embarrassed to speak up to a boss when they’re hurt. Young workers should know the importance of reporting workplace accidents, even if the injury seems minor, because it brings a dangerous situation to the employer’s attention.

They should ask their employers questions about safety, and they should not be afraid to demand orientation and training. Above all, young workers should realize they have the right to refuse work that feels unsafe.

One charitable foundation, Our Youth at Work, has come up with a checklist of questions for all young workers to keep handy for their first few days on the job:

• Is orientation and training offered to new hires? When does it start? How long does it last?
• Will I be able to observe coworkers in action during orientation/training?
• Are there potential hazards I should know about?
• Whom do I go to if I have a question, or if I need to say ‘no’ to unsafe work?
• Where is the personal protective equipment kept? Does it fit me properly?
• When was the last time the workplace was safety-inspected? Did everything pass?

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.

The Government of Canada’s Ministry of Labour has announced the appointment of Stevan Horvath as full-time President of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, effective April 11, 2011.

Mr. Horvath is currently Vice-President of Operations for Advanced Inc., a leading supplier of audio visual solutions serving Ontario’s corporate, government and education markets. For the past ten years, he has served as Chairman of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association, a not-for-profit health and safety organization operating in Ontario. Throughout his career, Mr. Horvath has also occupied several senior management positions in both private and public corporations.

In addition to being a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University, Mr. Horvath holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Queen’s University and an Industrial Hygiene Certificate from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, located in Hamilton, Ontario, was created in 1978 to promote the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment. It is governed by a council representing the federal, provincial and territorial governments, employers and workers.

On March 7, Contractor Aecon Construction Group Inc. was hit with a fine of $225,000 as a result of a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, stemming from a September 2008 explosion that killed a homeowner.

Union Gas Ltd. was preparing to provide natural gas service to residential neighborhoods outside of Owen Sound in the summer and fall of 2008, and they contracted Aecon to install natural gas lines. At least one of the homes being serviced had a private propane service on the property, including a storage tank and buried supply lines.

Aecon went to the home to begin installation of the natural gas line, even though the propane line had not been marked and was still in service that morning. As they attempted to install the natural gas line, the blade of an underground plough severed the unmarked propane line, causing the propane to leak through the soil and foundation of the house into the basement.

The next day, one of the homeowners went into the basement and lit a candle, causing the propane that had accumulated in the basement to ignite, resulting in an explosion and fire. The homeowner was blown out of the house and suffered third-degree burns, and died shortly thereafter.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the Aecon supervisor on site was aware of the propane service, but assumed the propane line would not be in the path of the natural gas line. The homeowners had not been present to supervise the location and excavation of the existing service lines.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the owner of the propane service was requested to locate and mark the service prior to the excavation. In addition to the fine, Judge Gary F. Hearn imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The Ontario Ministry of Labor has fined the Corporation of the City of Brampton $75,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a young worker was injured while working at a snow tube hill.

The incident in question occurred as city workers were preparing the tube hill for use by the public on February 20, 2009. It was a daily practice for workers to test the speed of the hill before opening it up to patrons.  In order to test the speed of the escape lane, a young worker sat in a tube and slid down the lane.

On that day, however, the tube slid in the wrong direction, went over the berm and collided with the tow line lifting device.  As a result, the worker suffered broken bones, a punctured lung, spinal fracture and a concussion.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the city failed to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that the berm was adequate for the protection of the worker, and the Corporation of the City of Brampton pleaded guilty to the charge.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Michael Barnes.  In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. That money is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour would like everyone to know that inspectors will be spending at least the entire month of February conducting a safety blitz of loading docks at transportation and industrial businesses.

The decision to conduct the safety blitz was made after a report from the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), suggested that hazards in shipping and receiving areas and loading docks may often be overlooked.  Since such areas can often be busy places with a number of inherent hazards, failing to take proper precautions puts workers are at greater risk for injury or death. Provincial officials would like to see the number of injuries and fatalities in loading docks head downward.

Throughout this blitz, inspectors will be looking for a number of things, including how operators enter and exit vehicles; how vehicles are positioned and secured;  and safety precautions taken when loading and unloading vehicles using either mechanical  or manual means.