The owner of a Manitoba paving company where 15-year-old worker Andrew James was killed when he was buried in burning asphalt two years ago is facing more than two dozen new charges under provincial workplace health and safety laws. Including the charges his company already faces under the Employment Standards Code for employing a person under the age of 16, Gerald Shepell now faces a total of 29 separate charges in the July 25, 2008 accident.

According to court documents, the new charges include eight counts of failing to ensure the safety, health, and welfare of the workers he employed on that date.

According to reports, Shepell has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial on October 7. In an interview, he stated that he didn’t know it was against Manitoba law to employ people younger than 16 at construction sites. He stated that he had the permission of the boy’s parents and thought that was good enough.

For the record, people under the age of 16 are allowed to work in Manitoba, but they must have a permit from the provincial employment standards branch. They are not allowed to work between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and they are specifically forbidden from working at construction sites, manufacturing plants, on drilling or servicing rigs or on scaffolding.

Nearly two years after three of their workers were killed and two received major brain injuries after being overcome by toxic fumes, the operators of a mushroom farm near Vancouver were finally charged with a series of offences under British Columbia’s labour laws last week.

A total of 29 charges under the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations were brought against two companies; A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd., H.V. Truong Ltd.; and four individuals — Ha Qua Troung, Vy Tri Trong, Van Thi Truong and Thinh Huu Doan — who are either officers or directors of those companies.  Among the charges were; failing to ensure the health and safety of workers;  failing to fix hazardous conditions; failing to ensure workers are aware of safety hazards; inadequate training; and failing to create an adequate safety plan.

The incident that led to the charges occurred on Sept. 5, 2008, when a group of workers at a mushroom farm and composting plant in Langley were overcome by toxic fumes in a shed. What happened inside that shed set off what WorkSafeBC considers to be one the most complex investigations in the agency’s history.

According to investigators, a pipe carrying a compost mixture broke and released a toxic gas. Two men were overcome by the fumes relatively quickly, and when co-workers came to their aid, several of them were also overcome. Three workers died, including one of the rescuers. One worker is still in a coma and another was left unable to speak or hear.

The New Democrats and the British Columbia Federation of Labour, among others, have called for a public inquiry into overall farmworker safety, and also called for changes to the province’s agriculture industry. The Federation claims that the company offered a single pamphlet on working in confined spaces at the work site. Unfortunately, the pamphlet was available only in English, despite the fact that the workers involved were Vietnamese-Canadians, and spoke very little English.

This particular incident isn’t the only case in recent years involving the deaths of British Columbia farmworkers. In March 2007, three farmworkers were killed when a 15-passenger van carrying 17 people flipped onto a concrete median on the Trans-Canada Highway near Abbotsford. In that case, the deaths were ruled accidental, although the coroner’s jury made18 recommendations, including ensuring farmworkers are better informed about their rights.

Last week, a 58-year-old electrical contractor fell to his death in Carman, Manitoba after a hydro pole snapped while he was unhooking power lines.

The man, an electrical contractor whom area residents have identified as Bob Murray, who owned Bob Murray Electric Ltd., had been working at Vanderveens’ Greenhouses Ltd., located in the Rural Municipality of Dufferin, west of the town of Carman.  According to RCMP, they had hired Murray’s company to do electrical work as part of an addition to their facilities.

Murray was apparently in the process of unhooking hydro power lines, and was on a ladder that he had propped up against the pole before it snapped and fell over around shortly before 11:30 a.m., according to Carman RCMP. The pole apparently belonged to the greenhouse and was not owned or maintained by Manitoba Hydro, according to a Hydro spokesperson.

The incident is currently being investigated by Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health.

In the wake of the tragic scaffolding accident that occurred last Christmas Eve  in which four foreign workers plummeted to their deaths, two Ontario companies now face the prospect of paying $17 million in fines for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), as well as at least $30 million in lawsuits.

Last December  24, five workers were working from a scaffold on the side of aToronto high-rise, when the scaffolding broke apart, causing the workers to fall 13 storeys to the ground, killing four of them, and leaving the one worker who survived with a broken spine and two broken legs.

After a seven-month investigation, the Ontario Ministry of Labour has announced that it would lay 30 charges against the workers’ employer, Metron Construction, four charges against Swing ‘N’ Scaff, the scaffolding supplier, 19 charges against the directors of each company and eight charges against a supervisor. Among the charges against the companies were; failure to ensure workers used devices to prevent them from falling, failure to ensure the platform wasn’t overloaded, failure to ensure the platform was designed according to safety regulations and failure to ensure the workers were properly trained. The charges against the individuals include improper training of employees.

The companies face possible fines of up to $500,000 for each of the charges, while the individuals potentially face a fine up to $25,000, and up to a year in jail for each charge. In addition to facing the potential fines, 22-year-old Dilshod Marupov, the worker who survived, has also filed a lawsuit against the companies, the building owner and the Ministry of Labour, seeking $16.3 million in damages. The lawsuit claims the workers weren’t trained properly or given safety gear, and alleges the scaffolding was faulty. The ministry is included because the suit claims it allowed the companies to continue operating at the worksite despite two previous stop work orders for safety violations. Marupov’s lawyer has also filed a $14 million lawsuit on behalf of the estate of one of the workers killed.

In addition to the civil fines under OHSA, the employers could also face serious fines and prison sentences based on a criminal investigation under the Criminal Code of Canada. Bill C-45, passed in 2004, expanded the criminal liability of organizations for workplace accidents and broadened the range of individuals who are subject to criminal charges. While there have been previous cases in which Ontario employers in have served jail time as a result of workplace accidents, the Criminal Code has rarely been used since Bill C-45 was passed.

According to the Ontario Federation of Labour, the number of Canadian workers killed on the job has risen over the past 15 years. Altogether, 479 work-related fatalities in Ontario were reported to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in 2009.

Edmonton-based equipment dealer Finning Canada faces four counts for violations of Alberta’s occupational health and safety code in the wake of a worker’s death two years ago.

On July 8, 2008, a worker was killed on the job at Suncor Energy Inc’s Millennium mine site near Fort McMurray, when he and other Finning workers were moving a disabled hauling truck to the shop for repairs. The worker was run over by the vehicle and fatally injured, and two other workers also sustained minor injuries in the accident. One was treated on-site, while the other was taken to hospital in Grande Prairie, where he was treated and released.  A stop-work order was issued at the time, restricted to the immediate area around the site of the accident.

Finning released a statement on its website calling the worker’s death “truly a tragic incident – one that will forever impact Kevin’s family, all those who worked alongside him in the oil sands and our company as a whole.” The statement goes on to say that “at Finning, safety is a core value that influences everything we do. We remain committed to achieving and sustaining health and safety excellence in all of our business operations.”

The charges the company faces include;

• Failing as an employer to ensure, as far as it is reasonably practicable to do so, the health and safety of workers engaged in the work of that employer, as stipulated under section 2(1)(a)(i) of the provincial Occupational Health & Safety Act;
• Violation of sections 7(4) and 8(1) of the Act. Section 7(4) states that an employer must ensure that a hazard assessment is repeated at reasonably practicable intervals to prevent the development of unsafe and unhealthy working conditions.  Section 8(1) stipulates that an employer must involve affected workers in the hazard assessment and in the control or elimination of the hazards identified.
• Violation of section 15(1) of the Act, which demands that an employer must ensure that a worker is trained in the safe operation of the equipment the worker is required to operate.

The company is scheduled to first appear in Fort McMurray Provincial Court August 30 .

Based on a new report, British scientists have apparently found that what a person does for a living could play a role in how they die. The study found major differences between occupational groups and their risk of death from drug and alcohol-related diseases

The scientists analyzed all deaths among men and women aged 16-74 years in England and Wales between 1991 and 2000 – a total of more than 1.6 million deaths overall — and found some disturbing trends, based on a person’s chosen profession.

For example, their study found that merchant seamen had a high risk for death from cirrhosis and other alcohol-related illnesses such as cancer of the liver and mouth, as well as expected causes, such as from accidents like falling down stairs.

They also found that painters, bricklayers and roofers were twice as likely to die as a result of drug abuse, based on the statistical average. Accidental drug overdoses and poisoning was nearly twice the average among male painters, decorators, bricklayers, plasterers and roofers, and they found that cooks and bartenders were far more likely to suffer an alcohol-related death than the population as a whole.

Male tailors and dressmakers and make hairdressers were found to have a risk of death from HIV/AIDS that was nearly nine times higher than the statistical average.

The authors of the study hope to use this information to encourage employers to promote the implementation of general health information into their existing health and safety training programs.

A young contract worker from Newfoundland has died following a workplace accident at a mine site under construction in southeast Yukon.

The accident occurred on October 19 at Yukon Zinc Corp.’s Wolverine zinc-silver property, about 400 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse. Paul Wentzell, a 20-year-old employee of Procon Mining & Tunnelling Ltd, a contractor that is building a mine at the property, was working underground when he was reportedly struck and killed by an unoccupied vehicle around 9 a.m. PT Monday.

The accident is under investigation by RCMP, the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health & Safety Board and Yukon Zinc itself. All construction activities at the site, both on the surface and underground, were suspended for several days. In addition, an autopsy was ordered. Although so many investigations are ongoing, the company released a prepared statement, noting that the accident was not mining activity-related, in that “it was not a ground failure or related to blasting or anything like that.”

The statement went on to read, “This is a sad day for Yukon Zinc and Procon, and on behalf of our management and staff we express our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of our deceased colleague. … Both Yukon Zinc and Procon place great emphasis on mine safety and will continue promoting safety programs to ensure that a culture and mindset of ’safety first’ is maintained throughout the company.”

According to information from Yukon Zinc, placement of steel framing and cladding for the mine’s mill buildings has been underway since early August, with the last sections of the mill roof recently completed. The mine is scheduled to open next year.

In the wake of a rash of high-profile incidents involving high-rise construction job sites in recent months, City of Calgary officials are calling for increased safety measures at these sites.

The construction industry has seen increased scrutiny as a result of a number of incidents of falling debris from work sites in recent months. The most tragic incident occurred on Aug. 1, when a bundle of steel fell 40 metres and killed three-year-old Michelle Krsek, and injured several other family members as they strolled along the sidewalk. Since then, there have been at least four other incidents in which debris fell from a high-rise construction site in Calgary.

Recently, the Canadian Home Builders’ Association weighed in, and insisted that companies must be more diligent about understanding the risks. They suggest that company officials and workers can become lax over time and not pay proper attention to what should be relatively simple matters, like securing building materials.

The city and Alberta officials are conducting several investigations and looking at ways to increase awareness among stakeholders of their responsibility to make job sites safe. Construction sites have safety representatives whose job is to ensure proper protocols are followed, but sometimes it’s necessary to look beyond the rules and regulations.

The stated goal of the province is to “raise the profile” of workplace safety. Overall workplace injuries in Calgary have decreased in recent years, but workplace health and safety means a lot more than the raw numbers. They stress that workplace safety must become a culture; and not just something to consider when Occupational Health and Safety Inspectors show up or when tragedy happens.

Sudbury building supplies company Evans Home Building Centre has been hit with five compliance orders from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, after an employee was electrocuted while delivering a load of roofing shingles to a customer’s home.

The incident occurred on September 30 at about 10:20 AM, when 51-year-old worker Daniel St Jacques was making the delivery to a home on the north end of Sudbury, and his boom truck made contact with an overhead power line and caught fire. It is unknown whether St Jacques was inside or outside the truck when it made contact, but some police on the scene speculate that he was electrocuted when he attempted to reenter the vehicle.

Of the five compliance orders issued by the MOL, four of them related to the boom truck’s future repair and inspection, while the fifth concerns documents that Evans Home Building Centre will be required to provide to the labour ministry, including; training records for employees who operate delivery equipment; the boom truck’s inspection records; St Jacques’ time sheets for the days leading up to the incident; and any relevant company safety policies.

According to the MOL’s own statistics, there have been more than 70 electricity-related deaths on the job in Ontario within the last decade, and that “metal ladders, raised dump-truck bodies and crane booms have been implicated in a number of electricity-related injuries at construction sites.” While the ministry does not keep specific statistics on incidents involving boom trucks coming into contact with power lines, a similar incident did occur in August, 2007, when two employees of Rockway Building Supplies were delivering shingles to a home in Guelph. One worker who was standing outside the delivery truck touched the vehicle and was thrown to the ground almost a metre away, when a conveyer used to move the shingles off the truck touched an 8,000-volt power line.

That worker survived, but Rockway Building Supplies subsequently pleaded guilty in September of 2008 for failing, as an employer, to ensure that no object was brought closer than three metres to an overhead electrical conductor with a rating of between 750 and 150,000 volts, contrary to Section 188(2) of the Construction Projects Regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. As a result, that company was fined $45,000, in addition to the 25% victim fine surcharge.

Back on July 7, SNC-Lavalin Power Ontario Inc. pleaded guilty to a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and fined $300,000 after an accident in which a worker was killed. Now, a second company, Eastern Inc., a Brantford construction firm, was also fined $250,000 for the same incident.

The incident in question occurred on October 3, 2007, as Lockerbie & Hole was providing general site services for the construction of an electrical plant, in Toronto, for SNC-Lavalin Power Ontario Inc. While installing temporary lighting, an apprentice electrician was electrocuted when he opened a 600-volt electrical panel and contacted the taps of the live transformer.

While a Ministry of Labour investigation found that the company had an electrical lockout policy in place, requiring electrical installations to be done under lockout conditions, there was no record of the worker receiving detailed training in this policy. In any case, the written procedures that were in place made reference to out-of-province OH&S regulations, but not those applicable in Ontario.

Lockerbie & Hole Eastern Inc. pleaded guilty under the OHSA to failing as an employer to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker. In particular, it failed to ensure its lockout procedure complied with the current legislative standards.

The fine was imposed by Justice Geraldine Sparrow. In addition to the fine, the court 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.

Altogether, two companies are out $687,500 in fines and surcharges because they overlooked basic safety, and a worker died as a result. How much is worker safety worth to you?