A British Columbia roofing worker for Weather Tight Supplies died last week after he fell through a skylight at the vacation home of former provincial premier Gordon Campbell.

The worker, Dave Lesko of Sechelt, was working on renovations to the vacant waterfront property in Halfmoon Bay, when the accident occurred around 1 p.m. According to neighbors, at least two fire department trucks and two ambulances arrived quickly, and an air ambulance took the injured worker to a Vancouver hospital, where he died from his injuries the next day.

WorkSafeBC is conducting an investigation, as is Weather Tight Supplies, who is required to conduct its own investigation and report the findings to WorkSafeBC. The twin investigations will focus on determining the nature of his activity, what he was doing and how and why he fell.

Security company Garda was slapped with $92,750 in penalties last week for failing to protect a female guard who was raped by an intruder at an unsecure construction site nearly five years ago.

The fine itself was small; just $5,000 plus a $750 victim fine surcharge. But Alberta provincial court Judge Marlene Graham also assessed the company an $87,000 payment, which will go to the Hazard Assessment Working Alone program at SAIT Polytechnic, a safety training program for lone workers, beginning in September 2012

At the time of the assault, the victim had only lived in Canada for three years and had only been issued her security guard licence by Garda three weeks before the assault.

This is believed to be the first prosecution in Alberta, and possibly the first in Canada, in which a company has been charged under the OHSA after an employee working alone was the victim of a crime.

The court said Garda’s primary negligence was in failing to conduct a specific site assessment. The judge said, “In my view, this was very obviously a dangerous and unsafe site. It was an outdoor site just off Macleod Trail. There was an exit door at the back that was always locked. One wonders why you’d have an exit door if it’s always locked.” She also noted that the front of the site was covered by an unsecured orange tarp flap. The victim had been provided with a chair, but no means of protection from anyone who might venture on to the site.

The judge also noted, “There was a high degree of probability an intruder might enter at night in winter, for warmth or to take construction material … who knows what else. … It was also foreseeable that a criminal act could happen. It was patently unsafe and not addressed by Garda. It showed a high degree of negligence. (The victim) was affected profoundly by the sexual and physical assault. … Garda is not to be prosecuted for the act of the intruder, but for its own negligence.”

An Edmonton mine worker who was injured while working at the Minto Mine in Yukon is suing the owner of the mine, Capstone Mining, and mine contractor and former employer Pelly Construction, for damages for his injuries.

The worker, Timothy Hansen, filed a statement of claim in Yukon Supreme Court last week. The accident that led to the suit occurred in July 2009, as he was operating a Caterpillar 330 loader, and rocks and debris fell from above, striking his head and body. The claim does not specify whether the rocks fell from the worker’s own loader bucket or elsewhere. At the time, he was taken to hospital and diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and musculoskeletal injuries.

In his suit, Hansen says he continues to suffer pain and a lack of function in his left hand and arm, as well as emotional distress. He claims that he continues to receive medical treatment for his injuries and to have a reduced quality of life, a reduced ability to earn money, and an ”impaired ability to engage in occupational, domestic, social and recreational activities.”

The suit also accuses two fellow employees of negligence leading to a lack of safety guards on the loader, a broken cab window, and a lack of other safety equipment. He claims he told one of the individuals his concerns, yet alleges nothing was done to address them.

His suit asks the court to grant him regular and special damages, as well as claiming his insured benefits on behalf of the Yukon government.

Three workers at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa are reportedly okay after inhaling chemical fumes at the facility on the morning of May 27.

According to the mint, chemical vapours were apparently released from the waste water treatment system at the refinery. A spokesman for the mint said the workers, aged 51, 58 and 35 were immediately taken to hospital to be checked out and were released hours later. Two of the men were exposed when they rescued their co-worker by pulling him away from the fumes.

A hazardous materials team determined there was no need to evacuate the entire building, and the area where the fumes were released was isolated and ventilated. An Ottawa fire department spokesman later said there was no danger to the public because the fumes were contained. Normal production continued at the mint in all non-affected areas, including public tours.

Meanwhile, the cause of the incident is under investigation.

Young people aged 14 and 15 in Saskatchewan who are looking for a summer job should be aware that they must complete the Young Worker Readiness Certificate Course (YWRCC) and print out a certificate before taking any job.

Such young workers can apply for and interview for jobs before completing the certificate, but the certificate must be presented to their boss by their first day of work. Employers are required to keep a copy of the certificate in their files for every one of their employees in that age group.

Young workers under 16 must also have the consent of their parent or guardian, are not allowed to work after 10 p.m. on a school night, and cannot work more than 16 hours during a school week.

The YWRCC, which was launched in February 2010, has been completed by more than 5,600 young people to date. A number of schools throughout the province have incorporated the YWRCC materials into their curriculum. The purpose of the YWRCC course materials is to make young workers aware of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

The YWRCC course materials are available in French and English at www.lrws.gov.sk.ca/ywrcc. The English version of the test can be completed and submitted online. The French version, however, can be requested from Labour Standards to be completed on paper.

A 35-year-old mine worker was killed in a workplace accident deep underground at Mosaic Co.’s Colonsay, Saskatchewan mine last week.

According to reports, the man was driving down a mine corridor when his vehicle flipped, which caused him to sustain serious injuries. Shortly after paramedics arrived on the scene at about 11:30 am, he was pronounced dead.

The mine site shut down operations following the incident, and Saskatchewan Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) investigators were at the mine by 1 pm, where they remained for most of the afternoon. Investigators plan to look at whether everyone involved was following OHS regulations, and say their examination of the incident could take three months. The provincial coroner is also assisting the investigation.

The United Steelworkers union also plans to aid in the investigations, due to their concern over the fact that five Steelworkers have lost their lives on the job over the course of three weeks – two in forestry and three in mining.

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.

Manitoba’s Workers Compensation Board (WCB) is currently accepting applications for a share of a total $1 million in funding under its Research and Workplace Innovation Program. The grants are intended for programs that focus on innovative, practical solutions to workplace health and safety problems and encourage an early and safe return to work, as well as for scientific research on workplace injury, illness and disease.

Application forms, available at http://www.wcb.mb.ca/research-and-workplace-innovation-program-0, will be accepted until June 30, 2011, although notices of intent to apply for scientific research projects are required to be submitted by May 5, 2011.

This program has been making grants available since 1997, and has recently funded initiatives focusing on preventing workplace injuries in health care, comparing work-related disability in rural and urban health-care workers and understanding young worker responses to work hazards.

Other projects focus on rehabilitation options for workers with rotator cuff tears, returning to work after total knee replacements and programs for effective delivery of post-secondary occupational health and safety education and training throughout the province. Over the years, these grants have resulted in a number of practical applications and a host of new resources that the province has been able to share with employers, workers, and the general public, contributing to a strong culture of safety in Manitoba.

Many in the province of Alberta are worried about a disturbing trend.

According to figures compiled by Alberta Employment and Immigration, the number of workplace death in the province spiked up by 24% last year, from 110 workplace fatalities in 2009 to 136 in 2010. Though the number is still short of the record 166 deaths in 2008, the spike is still worrisome, especially since the economy is showing signs of recovery, and workplace fatalities tend to go higher during good economic times. Because there are fewer people working in dangerous occupations, the number of fatalities tends to drop during a recession.

Labor leaders have been very vocal about what they feel has been a pattern of inconsistent, or even lax, enforcement, which has led to a pattern of safety practices that can best be called chaotic. As the economy shows signs of recovery, union leaders are worried that even more workers will be forced to pay for uneven safety practices and lax enforcement. Given that the number of worker deaths has already increased 24%, even though the number of workers in the province hasn’t increased by nearly that much, the figure is destined to get even worse.

Among steps labour activists have recommended to provincial officials have included the posting of workplace inspections online, and to make accident reports admissible at trial, which could leader to a greater number of prosecutions. For their part, the Alberta government has announced the addition of 30 new health and safety inspectors over three years to help prevent unsafe practices. They also note that the high number of recorded fatalities includes workers killed in car accidents, as well as those who died from long-term exposure to hazardous materials.