Canada is on the verge of becoming the first country in the world to develop a national set of standards designed to protect workers from what they consider to be mental health injury in the workplace.

Mental health issues have been cited as the leading cause of short and long-term disability, affecting one in five workers. Nearly a quarter of Canadian workplaces have been deemed “psychologically perilous,” and a number of federal and corporate officials have provided up to $470,000 in funding to the Mental Health Commission to establish a voluntary set of best practices that could lead to improvements in workplace mental health.

The loss of work days and other disruptions to workplaces caused by mental health issues are estimated to cost the Canadian economy more than $50 billion a year. In the last five years alone, there has been a 700% increase in court-ordered damages awarded for workplace mental health injury. The recognition by the courts of a serious problem coincides with studies characterizing between 10 to 25% of workplaces as “mentally injurious.”

The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety will be voluntary for employers to adopt, and will provide them with tools to help with implementation.
The federal funds are being provided by Human Resources, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Beginning this fall, there will be a 60-day public consultation and it is hoped that standards will be ready for employers sometime next year.

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.

Bill 160 was approved by unanimous vote on May 18, after months of debate and consultation, which means more than 100,000 Ontario businesses will have to change their approach to workplace health and safety training. The Occupational Health and Safety Statute Law Amendment Act will take full effect when it achieves Royal Assent, which could happen as soon as next month.

As the law currently stands, employers and contractors in Ontario with more than five but fewer than 20 employees are required to appoint a Health and Safety Representative, but there is no mandate for formal training. With Bill 160, businesses in that category will now have to make sure their Health and Safety Representative is properly trained and certified. In addition, those workplaces with 20 or more employees must have at least two employees who have successfully completed Joint Health and Safety Committee Certification Training, with one representing the workers, and the other representing the employer.

The new law also takes the responsibility for workplace injury prevention away from the WSIB and gives it to the Ministry of Labour. It establishes the position of a provincial Chief Prevention Officer, as well as a Prevention Council, composed of representatives from trade unions, provincial labour organizations, employers, the WSIB and persons with health & safety expertise, who will work with the Ministry of Labour to develop a comprehensive occupational health and safety strategy and determine training standards.

In addition to those changes, Bill 160 also contains increased provisions designed to prevent reprisals for workers who report safety infractions to the Ministry of Labour.

Newfoundland based Concord Paving Ltd. is now facing charges in relation to a fatal workplace accident in May 2009, in which a flagperson was killed.

According to news releases at the time, the incident happened on the Holyrood Access Road in Holyrood. An excavator was being used to clean out a ditch alongside the roadway, when it struck and killed a flagperson who was working nearby.

After an investigation by the Occupational Health and Safety Branch of the Department of Government Services, the company was charged with six violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations generally relating to its alleged failure as an employer to provide a safe workplace, to ensure that effective means of traffic control were provided, and to ensure that workers were not exposed to the movement of heavy equipment.

The company will make its first appearance in St. John’s provincial court on June 13.

Nova Scotians now have a new website they can use to more easily access valuable workplace safety information, and this one’s practically interactive.

Knowledge Base, which was developed by the Department of Labour and Advanced Education as a response to client feedback, doesn’t just make it easier for users to easily locate occupational health and safety information. As the Ministry of Labour sees it, the most important feature of the new site could very well be the ability for users to influence the site content.

Users of the site will be able to access and contribute to a wiki-style FAQ and comment section, and they can access an RSS feed to help track updates and changes. In this way, the developers hope the site will change and evolve along with the needs of Nova Scotia’s employers and employees.

No longer will employers and workers have to make numerous phone calls and sift through multiple websites to find answers to their questions. Knowledge Base will provide relevant, accurate and timely information on a number of workplace safety topics.

The site launch last week was timed to coincide with North American Occupational Health and Safety Week. To visit the site go to www.gov.ns.ca/lae/kb .

Technology company APPinspect Inc. recently introduced a multi-building, multi-floor, multi-inspection OHS map app for iPad. Hazard Manager 3 allows a safety inspector to create graphical overlays of various hazard icons in nine different colours, starting with nothing more than a sketch, photo or map, which the user can upload to the iPad using iTunes.

Among the major features of this app are:

o The ability for users to add HazPoints for each layer of data needed (Workplace Inspection, Near Miss, Property Damage, etc.), which allows for accumulation of data, to view changes over time.
o The ability to make a complete record of every inspection for a floorplan, as well as for multiple buildings or map groups.
o Multiple users can create and save multiple inspections.
o The ability to share the details of any inspection via e-mail in PDF, CSV, or even a native Hazard Manager format (.hzp)
o The ability to identify, document, and maintain HazPoints in an Inspection.
o Copy over HazPoints to new inspections, with risk flag reset options.

Hazard Manager 3 runs $99.99 (USD) and is available worldwide in the App Store. Look for it in the Business category. It’s compatible with the iPad, iOS 3.2 or later and is iOS 4.3 tested.

According to a new report recently released by Quebec’s Public Health Department, the air at a large number of Quebec construction sites contains levels of asbestos at or above provincial standards. This data is raising new questions as to whether cancer-causing asbestos can ever be handled safely in Canada.

The study looked at 3,000 air samples taken between 2003 and 2009 from worksites considered to be at elevated risk for asbestos exposure. Researchers found that 43% of those sites had concentrations of asbestos fibres that met or exceeded the limit. Especially troubling is that Quebec’s occupational asbestos exposure limit allows for 10 times more airborne fibres than other Canadian provinces, and as much as 100 times more than a number of European countries.

The report, published last week on the department website, makes it clear that despite the government’s best efforts — setting standards, sending inspectors into work place, passing laws and making protective gear available — keeping levels below standards is very difficult.

The release of the study came as the Quebec government considers a controversial $58 million bank-loan guarantee to extend the life of the Jeffrey Mine in the city of Asbestos. It also comes just weeks after several Quebec politicians publicly noted that the substance could be used safely in Quebec. The report also calls into question claims that the substance can be used safely in the Third World, which is where most Canadian asbestos exports are shipped.

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.

WorkSafeBC handed down a lot of penalties for safety violations in 2010, but among the largest fines were those handed down to Marine Harvest Canada, Western Forest Products and Diveco Marine Ltd, a Powell River diving company.

The final 2010 WorkSafeBC report, released last week, shows that Diveco was fined $100,000 after one of its divers was fatally injured while diving to recover dead fish from a Marine Harvest fish farm pen at Lochalsh Bay on September 12, 2007. As he ascended rapidly to the surface from a depth of 31.5 m (103 ft.), he experienced an air embolism, lost consciousness and drowned. According to a WorkSafeBC investigation, the company did not have adequate safety procedures for diving operations, and it failed to provide its workers with the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety.

Another fine of $75,000 was assessed against Marine Harvest Canada of Campbell River, in connection with the same incident. The same WorkSafeBC investigation concluded that, as the prime contractor of a multiple-employer workplace, the company failed to coordinate the health and safety activities of all employers, workers, and others at the workplace, and it failed to establish and maintain a system to ensure compliance with the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

Meanwhile, Western Forest Products Inc. was fined $75,000 following the death of a logger near Gold River on February 12, 2008. In that incident, two company tree fallers were cutting down trees within two tree-lengths of one another near the Galiano Forest Road. One faller cut down a tree that ended up striking and killing the other faller. A WorkSafeBC investigation into that accident concluded that the company failed to ensure that its fallers worked the required minimum two tree-length distance from each other, and that it failed to provide its workers with adequate supervision and instruction.

While last year WorkSafeBC imposed 256 penalties totaling more than $3 million against employers for violations of Occupational Health and Safety Regulations and the Workers Compensation Act, the agency notes that they only penalize those employers who are unmotivated by other means to keep their workplaces healthy and safe. A penalty is generally not imposed if an employer is found to have taken all reasonable steps to prevent violations that can lead to serious injury or death.

WorkSafeBC is an independent provincial statutory agency that serves about 2.3 million workers and more than 200,000 employers. Their enforcement arm includes officers who investigate serious workplace health and safety incidents, as well as occupational safety and hygiene officers who conduct inspections, respond to reported incidents and provide consultation and education to help achieve compliance.