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.

Ontario courts continue to slam companies with huge fines for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Wal-Mart Canada Corp., for example, was hit with two fines totaling $120,000 in less than a month; a $45,000 fine on June 23 and a $75,000 fine on July 16.

The $45,000 fine resulted from an incident that occurred on September 27, 2008. A worker was operating a forklift outside a Wal-Mart store in Barrie, to place skids of bottled water near the main entrance. While doing so, the forklift struck and injured a customer’s feet.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the worker did not have full view of the forklift path of travel and its load.

In that case, the company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the operator of material handling equipment has a full view of the intended path of travel of the equipment or its load, and to failing to make sure material handling equipment is only operated as directed by a competent signaler who is stationed in full view of the operator with a full view of the intended path of travel of the vehicle and its load.

The $75,000 fine resulted from an incident that occurred on January 19, 2009, when a worker employed by a Wal-Mart store in Welland climbed a ladder to get five boxes of toys from a shelf. As the worker began to climb back down with the boxes held in one arm, he missed a step at the bottom of the ladder and fell, injuring his arm.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the worker carried the boxes in such a way that his or her safety was endangered by not keeping the required level of contact with the ladder.

Wal-Mart Canada Corp. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that materials required to be lifted, carried or moved were lifted, carried or moved in a way that did not endanger the safety of any worker.

Also on July 16, Concord-based Welded Tube of Canada was fined $140,000 for an incident that occurred on July 31, 2008, in which a worker was injured as he prepared a two-and-a-half ton bundle of steel tubes and sent them down a conveyor to be processed for shipping. That worker and a co-worker then began to make a mechanical adjustment in the path of the conveyor. The bundle of tubes needed to be rearranged, so it was sent back on the same conveyor, where it struck the worker and injured his leg.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the conveyor was not protected by a guard to prevent access to the path of travel while it was in motion.

Welded Tube of Canada pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a machine with moving parts that may endanger a worker is equipped with a guard or other device which prevents access to the moving parts.

And on July 9, 2010, grocery store operator Metro Ontario Inc. was fined $100,000 for an incident that occurred on January 18, 2009. A worker at the company’s North Bay location was using a band saw to cut beef in the meat department, when his hand slipped, and the saw’s blade partially amputated some of his fingers.

That Ministry of Labour investigation found that the machine’s blade was improperly guarded, and Metro Ontario Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the saw was equipped with a guard that prevented access to its moving blade.

In addition to the huge fines levied in the cases above, in each case the court imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act, which is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Taryn Crawford, a 25-year-old driver who slammed into the back of a work truck and  pinned 19-year-old worker Sefatullah Khanzadeh between two vehicles and killing him, pleaded guilty to careless driving in Edmonton provincial court last week.

According to a stipulated statement of facts read into the court record, Khanzadeh was working as a contract landscaper for Land Tec on July 24, 2009, when the accident occurred. At around 10:30 that morning, he and his work crew were weeding the median of 97th Street near 144th Avenue. One work truck had been parked in the inside lane of 97th Street, and traffic cones had been placed near the site to direct traffic away from the work crew. After completing the weeding work, Khanzadeh began to pick up the cones and throw them into the back of the truck. As he did so, Crawford’s car slammed into the back of the truck, pinning Khanzadeh between the two vehicles. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In February, a Workplace Health and Safety report, which was not presented in court, stated that Crawford was “distracted from driving responsibilities” and was seen texting on her wireless phone immediately after the crash. According to the report, “(t)he driver …  did not even know that she had crushed a landscape worker. There were no visible skid marks from her vehicle,” indicating she had not tried to stop before the crash.

The careless driving charges, which fall under the Traffic and Safety Act, carry a maximum penalty of a $2,000 fine and six months in jail.

Vancouver officials are investigating a building demolition in which two walls and a lamp collapsed onto the street, barely missing a flagperson and several cars.

Unfortunately, the incident, which occurred at 5:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon during a demolition being conducted by Global Excavation and Demolition, was caught on video, and several of the videos have gone viral on YouTube, raising questions about the company’s safety procedures.  The company, however, claims the situation was “under control” and suggested that in any demolition, “sometimes things happen that are out of your control.” Karmjeet Singh Panesar, one of the owners of Global Excavation and Demolition,  was apparently operating the crane at the time.

One video (see below), taken from a high angle, shows one wall of 1102 Hornby St. collapsing onto Helmcken Street.  Seemingly undeterred, the operator continued to work, and proceeded to follow that up by knocking down an adjacent wall, part of which fell onto Hornby Street and took out a lamp post.

This is not their first incident. The company has received six compliance orders in the last three years, including one for an excavation. They currently have one other demolition permit for Vancouver, but that has been put on hold while city officials and WorkSafeBC review the company’s safety practices.  The YouTube videos will be used as evidence in the investigation.

The company has promised to pay for replacement of the $4,000 lamp post.

Here is the video of the first collapse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKIZk4qAqKU

And here is the video of the second:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvWRKojULbo

Be prepared for some changes in road safety enforcement on Newfoundland and Labrador roads, as the government is making some changes.

As the law currently stands, if the police stop a driver, he or she will be charged with impaired driving if a breathalyzer test reveals a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08. But if the government gets its way and new changes are adopted, such drivers found to have a blood alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08 will lose their driving privileges for seven days instead of the current 24 hour suspension. In addition, the  penalty for repeat offenders will also increase up to a maximum of six months.

The aim of the government is to protect public safety. They note that other provinces have made similar changes, to positive effect. And they’re not just targeting those who might have had an extra beer before heading out on the road. The new law would also outlaw the practice of texting while driving, as well.

And it’s not just impaired driving that has officials concerned. In Labrador, highway construction crews have been complaining that drivers are blowing through the eight construction zones on the almost 250-km drive between Wabush and Churchill Falls much too fast. In addition, there have been numerous complaints of vehicles passing in no-passing zones, and not obeying the flag persons.

Because of this, police stepped up enforcement in the area and they are aggressively ticketing motorists along the dangerous stretch of road. The province recently doubled fines for speeding in a construction zone, too, so such tickets can set you back as much as $1,500.

Put simply, if you’re not being careful out there, it’s going to cost you.

In the wake of a significant increase in rail accidents over the last ten years, many inside the federal government are pushing for stiff new penalties for railways caught violating safety rules; penalties that could cost a lot more than just dollars.

Minister of State for Transport Rob Merrifield recently announced that new legislation will include protection for whistleblowers, as well as much larger financial and legal penalties for violations. If passed, the law would require each railway company to designate one executive legally responsible for safety, and who might possibly face jail time if the company is convicted of breaking the rules.

Though it sounds as if the goal is to punish executives for breaking the rules, Merrifield insists that is not the case. “What we’re really wanting to do is to make sure that they have a culture of safety within the company and if you are saying there’s one person deemed to have that responsibility there’s a lot more chance that’s actually going to happen,” he has been quoted as saying.

The new changes are based on the results of two railway safety reviews, which were launched after deadly rail accidents in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and completed in 2008. The advisory panel responsible for the first report made 56 recommendations to improve safety, while in the second report, a Commons committee made 14 additional recommendations. The Commons committee report also concluded there was a lack of accountability regarding safety from both Transport Canada and the country’s railways, which hadn’t done enough to create a culture of safety.

Workplace safety officials in Yukon have adopted a new approach to investigative reports into serious incidents, and have begun to release preliminary investigation reports, in the hope that such reports might prevent similar occurrences, even as investigations continue.

Recently, the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board released two preliminary reports examining two separate mining-sector death.

One report details an October 19 incident in which a 20-year-old worker employed by Procon Mining and Tunnelling Ltd was struck by his own pickup truck while descending an underground slope at Yukon Zinc’s Wolverine Mine, near Ross River. While delivering a part for a piece of equipment, the worker drove the pickup into the underground workings of the mine. While driving down the 15% decline, the worker came upon a piece of equipment, stopped and applied his vehicle’s emergency brake, but not the parking brake. He then left the truck in neutral and proceeded to walk towards the equipment.

Investigators note that “the emergency brake did not hold and the vehicle rolled down the decline, striking the young worker from behind,” causing internal injuries serious enough to cause the worker’s death. The report also noted that, while a standard parking brake prohibits wheel movement, an emergency brake clamps onto a vehicle’s drive shaft, to prevent any type of movement, even on a 15% decline. The investigation is ongoing, and will analyze maintenance logs and installation records related to the emergency brake.

But the report doesn’t just lay blame; it also suggests several preventive steps, including a recommendation that drivers of manual transmission vehicles parking on such a slope should put them into first gear or reverse and apply all parking brakes and chock the vehicle’s tires.

In the other incident, a 65-year-old worker died on September 11 after his Michigan 175B front-end loader rolled onto its cab and crushed him. The report indicates the incident occurred at his placer mine on Dominion Creek near Dawson City. After driving up a ramp with a 16% grade to dump a load of material, the engine stalled, and that caused the loader to roll backwards down the ramp.

According to that report, “while attempting to steer the loader down the slope without power, it struck a gravel bank at the bottom of the slope. The left side tires ran up onto the gravel bank, causing the loader to roll over onto its cab. The cab was crushed along with the operator. The loader was an older model that was not equipped with a roll-over protection system (ROPS) and it had faulty brakes.” Investigators also note that the loss of power “likely inhibited [Conklin's] ability to steer.”

Many of the same recommendations were made in both reports, but the latter report also added that equipment with faulty braking systems or without adequate roll-over protection must be removed from service. It also suggested that “ROPS canopies can be designed and fitted to older equipment by a professional engineer registered in Yukon, or sometimes obtained through the original equipment manufacturer,” and that seat belts should be worn.

The decision to issue such interim reports, which indicate direct causes and possible prevention measures publicly, was not taken lightly. After several incidents within a short period of time, officials felt they needed a way to get information out more quickly, and to enable companies to examine their own workplaces and make changes. The accidents detailed in the first preliminary investigation reports were considered “very preventable.”

According to Quebec’s workplace health and safety board, Commission de la sant� et de la s�curit� du travail, which is referred to by everyone as CSST, last year there were 5,000 workplace accidents involving machines in Quebec, resulting in six deaths. Many of these accidents happened as employees were trying to repair or maintain machinery.

As a response, CSST has created a shocking new ad campaign that is so graphic that the television spot does not appear before 9 PM, so as not to upset small children, or adults with weak stomachs.

Check this out.

The first ad depicts what might occur when a worker turns on a breaker, after his machine fails to start. He presses the button, and a panicked supervisor runs at him and screams at him to turn off the machine. When the worker checks to see what the fuss is about, he realizes that he’s crushed the skull of a colleague, who was repairing the machine at the time. The end of the TV spot features a photo of the dead employee attached to the breaker, with the message, “Danger. Ma vie est en jeu.”

Thankfully, the campaign doesn’t end there. Later, during the same commercial break, a second CSST ad shows how the accident could have been easily avoided by safely padlocking the defective machine until it is fixed.

This is not the first time CSST has used such advertising. In 2005, they ran a similar ad, in which a worker loses an arm. In the wake of that campaign, workplace accidents in Quebec dropped 13 percent. In fact, Quebec has seen a steady decrease in the number of workplace accidents and deaths over the past several years, and the CSST hopes that the graphic advertising campaign will further reduce those numbers.

Though the graphic depiction of the accident has upset some viewers, one has to ask the question; if it saves lives, isn’t the risk to the sensibilities of a few worth the net cost, which is saving lives? The fact of the matter is, CSST research shows that such ads are effective. An opinion poll taken after the new ads began airing last month showed that 99 per cent of those polled said it made them think about safety on the job. Another 89 per cent said it would encourage employers to pay closer attention to accident prevention.

If the choice is being grossed out for a few minutes during a commercial break once in a while, or saving someone’s life, isn’t the choice easy? If the ads make people think about safety, then the net result is positive.

The government of Alberta has come up with that they feel is a clever idea to encourage young workers to develop a pattern of safe practices early on in their working lives, with their launch of a relatively gory and graphic new web site, www.bloodylucky.ca. The site is targeted to 15- to 19-year-old workers.

Introduced as part of a Work Safe Alberta campaign on October 29, the site contains six graphic videos of accidents in various workplaces, including a store, a restaurant, and a lumber yard, all of which are intended to show, in graphic detail, the serious injuries that can result from unsafe work practices. For example, in one video, a young grocery store worker momentarily takes his eye off the cheese slicer he’s operating to flirt with a young girl and loses a finger. In another, a worker in a lumber yard is badly injured, as his foot is run over by a forklift.

The graphic videos are intended to attract attention, of course, but the site is also full of safety tips, accident prevention advice, real stories of accidents that have actually happened to young people on the job, and it suggests questions every young worker can ask their bosses, such as “How can I be injured while doing my job?”; “What safety procedures do I need to follow?”: and “Do I need any safety gear?”

Between 2003 and 2007, nine workers between 15 and 19 years of age were fatally injured in Alberta. So far this year, another two have died, and disabling injuries among young workers are thought to be quite common.

Just as important as the statistics, however, is the fact that safe work practices have to become a habit, for everyone’s benefit. And the younger the habits begin, the easier it is to train them later, and the more sensible precautionary measures seem. And safe work habits are to everyone’s benefit.