At the end of October, Ontario’s new distracted driving law took effect. The law makes it illegal for motorists to use almost any hand-held communication or entertainment devices while driving, except for a rare emergency. Therefore, if you tend to talk, text or e-mail from a hand-held device while operating a motor vehicle, expect to be stopped by police if you’re caught.

The new law only applies to hand-held devices, so if you really have to make a call, you can still use one of the following:

• A cell phone with an earpiece or headset using voice dialing, or plugged into the vehicle’s sound system

• A global positioning system (GPS) device that is properly secured to the dashboard or another accessible place in the vehicle.
• A portable audio player that has been plugged into the vehicle’s sound system.
• 
  

The law also permits the use of some wireless devices that require users to push a button to activate and/or deactivate the device’s “hands-free” function.

The only exceptions to the law allow drivers to use hand-held devices when calling for emergency personnel when they see an accident, or when the vehicle is safely pulled off the roadway, and is stationary and/or legally parked. Drivers may also view a display screen of an instrument or system that provides system status on the vehicle itself, but not a portable movie screen or laptop.

Of course, emergency personnel, police and the fire department will be permitted to use hand-held wireless communications devices and view display screens in the normal performance of their duties.

The use of hand-held radios by amateur radio operators (who provide assistance, especially in emergency situations such as severe storms and blackouts) will be phased out within three years, to allow hands-free technologies to be developed.

In addition, a small percentage of drivers in transport-related industries, like school buses, taxis and couriers, and public service workers, like transit and highway maintenance workers, who rely on wireless devices and display screen technologies in their work will receive a three-year reprieve, in the form of a phase-out period for the commercial use of two-way radios, including mobile and CB radios, to allow for hands-free technologies to be developed. In addition, mobile data terminals, logistical tracking devices and dispatching devices will be exempt for commercial and public service vehicle drivers who are engaged in the performance of their duties.

Hand-mikes (push-to-talk systems) and portable radios (walkie-talkies) may be used in a hands-free mode. This would mean the driver can use a lapel button or other hands-free application as long as the hand-mike or walkie-talkies is not held while driving.

This is a lot to remember, but it you would like a copy of the Ontario government regulation, click here. Suffice it to say, if you have to talk while you drive, try to do it hands-free.

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.

Where can a person smoke these days, anyway? Obviously, you can smoke in your own home, and on your own property. Just as obviously, you can’t smoke in any workplaces, when you work with other people; that’s why you see the gaggle of folks outside in the snow huddling together to get in a few drags during a slow part of their work day. But what if you’re a truck driver and your workplace is your truck? It should be safe, right?

Well, that question may have been answered with a big “no” in Ontario, where police recently pulled over a 48-year-old trucker and slapped him with a ticket under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, meaning he faces a possible $305 fine for lighting up while driving his big rig along Canada’s busiest highway.

According to the text of the law on the government’s web site, the law forbids smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces, including buildings, structures or vehicles worked in or frequented by employees. Examples on the web site include the inside of a trailer office on a construction site, the inside of a loading dock, or the inside of a delivery truck. Ontario police insist that the law is very specific about what constitutes a “workplace,” and a truck would fall under that definition.

Predictably, the Ontario Trucking Association feels that the definitions don’t quite apply to truckers, especially those who operate in other provinces or the United States, and they feel it most certainly should not apply to truckers who operate their own rigs and work alone.

Apparently, others should be worried about this stepped-up enforcement. According to some government officials, even a farmer’s enclosed tractor would be considered a work environment under the law, and he could be fined if he decided to light up. Presumably, if you’re operating your snow plow or other heavy equipment, even if you’re all alone, you’d best pull over and get out of your equipment before lighting up.

The enforcement push may not be limited to Ontario. A number of other Canadian provinces and territories have enacted stringent anti-tobacco laws prohibiting smoking in covered public places and workplaces, like restaurants and bars, as well. According to Alberta’s Health Ministry, it is technically possible for a trucker to be fined there, as well. Under Alberta’s law, the cab of a truck is considered a workplace if the driver is not alone in the rig.

So, be careful when you decide to light up; you could be hit with an unexpected expense.

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.

A supplier and mender of the rolls used in paper-making machines, Xerium Canada, Inc., was fined $60,000 on October 2, 2009, for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was injured.

In an incident that occurred on March 19, 2008, workers at Xerium’s North Bay facility were attempting to repair a machine used to mix bonding liquid. The power to the machine was turned off and the protective guards covering the machine’s drive shaft were removed so that they could work. The workers again turned on the machine, but failed to replace the guards immediately. As a result, one of the workers caught his sleeve in the machine’s moving parts.

Xerium Canada Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the machine’s driveshaft and gears were guarded to prevent access to their pinch points.

The $60,000 fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Susan Hilton. 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.

That’s $75,000 total off of the company’s bottom line, because workers forgot to do something deceptively simple that would have taken a few seconds, at most. Building a culture of safety, in which workers are trained to consider every detail before they even flip a switch, is worth every bit of the up-front investment your company puts forward.

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?

Nova Scotia workplaces be warned; the province is no longer only fining employers after a worker is hurt, and after a court determines there was a violation is found after the fact.

In order to better protect workers before tragedy strikes, beginning in January, the Province’s Department of Labour and Workforce Development’s occupational health and safety division will begin issuing fines when health and safety regulations are violated in the workplace, without necessarily bringing a court case and waiting for a judge’s ruling, which is how things have tended to work in the past.

The OH&S division issues about 4,000 occupational health and safety orders each year, when violations are found in the workplace. Previously, compliance was achieved through education, promotion, enforcement and prosecution. The new system will create an additional form of deterrence, by allowing inspectors to fine violators on the spot. It’s hope that the new system will encourage greater responsibility on the part of employers, supervisors and even workers. Though the workplace injury rate has been declining, in 2008 there were 29 workplace fatalities in the province and 8,000 incidents in which employees weren’t able to work the next day.

Anyone who receives notice of a penalty can appeal to the Occupational Health and Safety Appeal Panel. Penalties imposed on employers and supervisors will be larger than those imposed on employees, but in all cases, the penalty will increase if it is a repeat offence.

Nova Scotia is not the only Canadian jurisdiction with such a program in place. British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick and the Yukon already have such penalty systems in place.

Here’s a story that proves that it’s not just injuries that can cost a company; simply failing to take steps to protect workers can end up costing you as well.

EFCO Canada Co. a manufacturer of steel forms located in Nova Scotia, was fined $45,000 last week for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

The incident in question occurred In March 2008, when a constructor was building an intake line from the Welland Canal to the Thorold Cogeneration power site. In order to accomplish this, they needed to install a cofferdam, which is a structure built below water level that serves as a dry workplace. EFCO designed and provided the parts for the cofferdam.

On March 28, 2008, the constructor had installed the cofferdam and was removing the water inside it when the cofferdam failed. Although no workers were injured, a subsequent investigation found that the failure occurred because certain bolts had not been supplied and installed as required.

EFCO Canada Co. pleaded guilty under the OHSA to failing to take the reasonable precaution of providing the bolts necessary to secure the girders in the cofferdam.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Donna Cowan. 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.

Multinational food conglomerate Bunge has been hit with $70,000 in fines as a result of a serious worker injury at an oilseed processing plant in Toronto in 2008.

The incident that led to the fine occurred on March 28, 2008 last year, when a tanker truck was being loaded with edible oil at the Bunge facility. While the worker was still on top of the truck filling the tank, it rolled out of a loading bay. The movement of the truck caused the worker to fall more than 3 metres to the concrete floor below, whereupon the raised tanker trailer’s wheels ran over his arm and his leg.

After an investigation, Bunge Canada was charge with and pleaded guilty to violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act; specifically for failing to take the “reasonable precaution” of having a system of signals in place for allowing tanker-trailer drivers to pull away from a loading dock.

The fine was imposed last week by Justice of the Peace John Cottrell and comes with a required 25% cent victim fine surcharge, which goes toward the province’s fund to assist victims of crime.

The Bunge plant in question has since been closed.

A Brampton kitchen manufacturer has been fined $75,000 for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA), in an incident that resulted in the death of a worker. In addition, two supervisors from a temporary help agency were each fined $10,000 for their involvement in the same incident.

In August 2006, two workers from temp agency Opportunity Labour Agency Services were told to enter a shipping container to cut banding around a stack of plywood. As one of the workers began to cut the bands, the bundle of plywood fell on him. Ironically, these workers had been assigned this work after the task had already been deemed unsafe by other supervisors.

Neff Kitchen Manufacturers Limited pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the plywood could be removed without endangering the safety of any worker, which is covered under OHSA Industrial Regs., section 45(b)(ii). Two supervisors from Opportunity Labour Agency Services also pleaded guilty for failing to advise the workers of the potential or actual danger posed by this load. As noted, each one was fined $10,000, as well.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Karen Walker. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25% victim fine surcharge on the total, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.