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.

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.

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.

As part of their ongoing effort to improve the province’s occupational health and safety (oh&s) record, the Saskatchewan government has developed two new online oh&s training courses.

The courses, which cost $10 each, are designed to be taken by those responsible for conducting inspections and investigations related to health and safety, including members of occupational health and safety committees, health and safety representatives, managers, and supervisors.

The first course, entitled “Saskatchewan Workplace Inspections,” explains how to effectively prepare for and conduct regular inspections to prevent work-related injury and illness.

The second course, entitled “Incident Investigations in Saskatchewan Workplaces,” provides safety and other personnel an overall introduction and a practical approach to conducting proper investigations whenever there has been a workplace accident that causes injury.

Upon completion of either course, participants will receive a certificate. If you’d like to know more about the courses, please click this link.

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.

A new construction season has begun in Ontario, and advocates for road workers in the province have taken to social media web sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as SMS text messaging, to push their safety message out to drivers.

Believing that raising public awareness to the dangers in a road construction zone offers the best protection for the workers, road worker advocates, led by LIUNA Local 183 and the Ontario Road Builders’ Association, have launched an online public awareness campaign called “Safety: A Two Way Street,” with which they hope to “Facebook,” “Tweet” and “text” their appeals directly to drivers.

They also hope to get road workers themselves to post stories about and pictures of their families to the sites, and to make personal appeals to drivers to slow down and pay close attention in work zones. By using social networking to show that road workers are not just faceless workers on a work crew, but real people, with families who would suffer greatly if anything bad were to happen. By doing this, they hope to encourage drivers to behave as they approach road construction zones.

This initiative is just another in a series of steps the Ontario government has taken to try to increase safety for workers in road construction zones. Back in 2006, they amended the Highway Traffic Act to double fines for speeding in designated construction zones, and to make it an offence to disobey a traffic control worker’s STOP and SLOW sign. Those changes were brought about after 52 people were killed in Ontario road construction zones between 2000 and 2006. Still, even with these changes and a number of awareness campaigns, more than 2100 collisions occur in Ontario road construction zones every year, on average.

Summer is upon us, and with the summer heat comes heat stress, which can lead to a number of ailments, including (from mildest to most severe) heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Working through hot conditions stresses the body’s cooling system. When the hot summer temperatures combine with such factors as hard physical work, dehydration, fatigue, or other medical conditions, the result can be illness, disability and even death.

While younger and more physically fit workers tend to be less likely to have problems, the fact is, heat stress can lead to problems for anyone of any age, including the physically fittest. Workers with heart, lung or kidney disease, diabetes and those taking medications are more likely to experience heat stress problems. In addition, workers who use diet pills, sedatives, tranquilizers can be at higher risk for heat stress. Drinks containing caffeine or alcohol can exacerbate the effects of heat stress, as well.

If you are a supervisor, keep an eye out for symptoms of heat stress among your workers, because the victims of these afflictions are often unaware of the symptoms, and their survival may depend on your ability to identify symptoms and seek immediate medical assistance. The symptoms of every stage of heat stress are as follows:

Condition Symptoms Proper Response:
Heat Cramps Painful muscle spasms and heavier than usual sweating Drink lots of water and rest in the shade or a cooler environment.
Dehydration Marked by a high level of fatigue, and difficulty moving. Drink lots of water (try to stay away from drinks with caffeine and/or sugar) and rest in the shade or a cooler environment.
Heat Exhaustion Marked by pale, clammy skin, heavy sweating, weakness and fatigue, nausea or dizziness. Can also cause blurred vision and/or fainting. The body temperature may also be slightly above normal. Lie down immediately in cool environment, remove any personal protective equipment and loosen clothing. If the symptoms continue, call an ambulance.
Heat Stroke Marked by hot, dry skin because the body stops sweating, red face, and high body temperature. It can also lead to collapse, lack of consciousness, convulsions, confusion or erratic behavior. Immerse worker in water, in the shade, and call for an ambulance immediately, because this is a life threatening condition.
Workers and supervisors have a responsibility to limit the effects of heat stress on the job.

Supervisors should:

• Prepare to allow 2-3 weeks for employees to get used to the summer heat. It often takes that long for a worker to become acclimated to a hot environment.
• If possible, move work around, so that heavier work can be done in the coolest part of the day. If a heat wave is only supposed to last for a couple of days, schedule lighter work for the hottest days.
• Try to reduce the workload by increasing the use of equipment on hot days, in order to reduce physical labor.
• Establish a schedule that allows for work and rest periods during hot days.
• Review with workers how to recognize signs and symptoms of heat stress disorders.
• Make sure you or someone else in the workplace is prepared to administer first aid if necessary.
• Know ahead of time who among your workers are “high risk” employees for hot work environments for extended time periods, and divvy up the work accordingly. Understand that individual workers vary in their tolerance to heat stress conditions.
• If possible, provide cooled rest areas, increase the number and length of rest breaks and provide plenty of cool drinking water near workers.

Workers should:

• Learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of heat stress.
• Be sure to pace your work and take regular rest periods in shade or cooler environment.
• Use fans for ventilation and cooling, especially when wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) or working around equipment that is hot.
• Be sure to wear lightly colored and loose clothing, unless you’re working close to equipment with moving parts.
• Reduce the physical demands of your work by using aides, such as hoists. The less you exert yourself, the better.
• Whenever possible stay shaded from direct heat by wearing a hat, and applying sunscreen.
• Above all, drink plenty of water. Do not wait until you’re thirsty. Drink before you’re thirsty. And be aware that sports drinks are not necessary, plain water works well.

With hot weather now upon us, workplaces have to protect their workers from the effects of heat stress. By doing so, everyone can prevent workplace injury, illness and even death.

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.

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 .

The relatives of a Nova Scotia worker who died after inhaling a chemical that caused his suffocation say the fine levied against his employer is just a ‘’slap on the hand” for a giant drug manufacturer Sepracor Canada, and they are very disappointed.

A plea deal between the Crown and Sepracor last week led to the dropping of four of five charges under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of worker Ronald Daigle. The remaining charge, failing to provide venting for a worker who died in a workplace accident, to which Sepracor pleaded guilty, resulted in a fine of $45,000.

The incident in question occurred on October 7, 2008 at the Sepracor factory in Windsor. Daigle was at his workstation, handling the chemical trimethylsilyl diazomethane, a chemical with highly toxic fumes. Due to workplace renovations occurring at the time, the venting hood that was usually in place to suck away such fumes was inoperable. The company had apparently notified employees the vent hood wasn’t working, and they made a list of procedures workers should avoid that day. But there was no notice to employees to avoid working with the chemical and its toxic fumes, and they provided no individual breathing apparatus.

That night, after being exposed to the chemical for an extended time without proper ventilation, Daigle felt ill and began coughing up blood. Within 18 hours of his initial exposure to the chemical, he was in intensive care in a Halifax hospital. According to experts, the fumes of trimethylsilyl diazomethane actually destroy the lungs by filling them with so much fluid that air can’t get into them, which causes the exposed victim to actually smother.

Even though the company had provided no alternative to the venting hood, the court agreed with the Crown and Sepracor’s joint recommendation to dismiss charges that the firm failed to ensure adequate personal protection equipment and that the employee was instructed in the safe use of the chemical. Two other charges – failing to instruct an employee in safe use of a substance in the company’s lab and failing to ensure that no person would disturb the scene of an accident — were also dismissed.

Not only was Daigle’s family upset at what it considered to be the light fine, but the Labour Department investigator who looked into the incident suggested that the fine could have been larger, given that the maximum fine for a failure to provide venting was $250,000 at the time of the incident.

After this incident, the information sheets describing trimethylsilyl diazomethane in Canada have been changed to indicate that its fumes can severely damage lungs.