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.

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.

Beginning with new regulations that took effect February 1, 2011, the Government of Manitoba is letting everyone know it is getting serious about preventing all types of workplace harassment.

The new regulations extend protection to workers against psychological harassment. That means the definition of harassment has been broken down into two types. The first is inappropriate behavior to a person based on their race, sex, age or a categories.   The second is basically workplace bullying, which includes “severe, repeated conduct that adversely affects a worker’s psychological or physical well being,” as well as “a single occurrence, if shown to have a lasting, harmful effect on a person.”

According to the Ministry of Labour and Immigration, the new regulations have been in the works for some time, and were created based on feedback from a number of groups, including employers, labour groups, and professional and trade groups. They also listened to a number of individuals who suffered from work place harassment and learned the toll it took on their mental health. The number one reason cited for disabilities-based health leaves is mental health issues, and the new regulations were crafted in order to help with both health and productivity. The new legislation hopes to help by putting on employers the obligation to have policies to prevent harassment.

There is plenty of information available for those who would like to learn about the new laws. A brochure, available at safemanitoba.com, includes detailed examples of types of inappropriate behavior, as well as scenarios to further illustrate how the new boundaries work. For employers who need to rewrite their own harassment policies, the website also features a sample harassment prevention policy.

At an annual meeting held on January 16 and 17 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, federal, provincial and territorial labour ministers discussed a number of issues and reaffirmed their continuing commitment to safe workplaces, to protect workers and employers.

The get-together was co-hosted by the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Canada’s Labour Minister, and the Honourable Jennifer Howard, Minister of Labour and Immigration for Manitoba.

Minister Raitt asserted that the Canadian Government’s top priority was the economy and that “safe and healthy workplaces boost productivity and innovation,” and that “the well-being of workers and employers are key to the success and performance of Canada’s economy.”

According to Minister Howard, “Safe and healthy working environments do not just happen, they require a commitment by governments and everyone at the workplace. … Manitoba has long enjoyed a reputation as a leader in workplace health and safety issues and we want to continue to build on our successes.”

The meeting included discussions of Canada’s international labour activities, and endorsed a renewed strategy for Canada’s work as part of the International Labour Organization. They agreed to work together to develop programs that use social media and other tools to enhance the occupational health and safety of young workers.  They also participated in panel discussions regarding the evolution of work and possible long-range labor policy, with an emphasis on labour relations, employment standards, and mental health in the workplace.

The labour ministers’ meeting is an annual event, but ongoing work continues throughout the year, through the Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation (CAALL). Established in 1938, CAALL is an association of federal-provincial-territorial departments of labour and heads of occupational health and safety agencies.

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.

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.