If you think something like suffering through a strike will exempt your company from scrutiny during a safety blitz, think again.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has announced that Vale Inco mines will be included in their safety enforcement blitz activities in September, during which they will look for hazards involving live electrical equipment at mines. This is despite the possibility that 3,100 Vale Inco mine workers may still be on strike by then. The Ministry points out that no mines will be exempt from inspection. There could also still be workers in place maintaining the mines. The point they would like to make is that no one is exempt from the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The ministry routinely conducts safety blitzes, usually every month or so, in which they closely inspect such aspects of workplaces as ladders, ergonomics and cranes. In September, inspectors are scheduled to concentrate on electrical equipment and practices at underground mines, surface plants and aggregate operations across the province. According to a ministry press release, working on live, energized electrical equipment is a major safety hazard, and most electricity-related injuries to workers occur while they are performing their duties near equipment with electrical hazards. One of the main problems occurs when workers who install or maintain electrical equipment fail to turn off the power before working on that equipment.

In Ontario, there have been 70 electricity-related fatalities in all sectors during the past nine years, including 34 workers who had been working near exposed electrical equipment, 29 who had been working on energized equipment and seven who had been working on faulty equipment. In addition, many workers suffer burns from “arc flash incidents” (electrical explosions). In 2008, such burns were responsible for seven of 17 critical injuries and 11 of 83 non-critical injuries.

Although the mining sector saw few injuries related to electrical equipment, inspectors often issue orders to mine employers to improve their electrical safety practices and protocols.

If a safety blitz inspector finds a serious enough violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, each conviction can bring a fine of as much as $500,000. In addition, individuals found to have violated the Act can face a fine of up to $25,000 or up to a year in jail, or both.

And be warned, being on strike will not exempt you.

One worker was rushed to the hospital, two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene, and 25 other workers were evacuated after an explosion at a Calgary warehouse last week.

According to a City of Calgary press release, at approximately 3:20 pm, the Calgary Fire Department responded to a report of an explosion at the Foothills Industrial Park, in a warehouse occupied by Snap-on Inc. A worker was moving a 170-litre, 1.5-metre high drum using a pallet jack. The drum contained small butane torches which hazardous waste recycling firm Safety-Kleen was collecting, mostly from Snap-on customer returns, in order to bring them to another company for disposal.

The blast apparently occurred after the pallet jack hit an obstruction, which jarred the drum’s contents, and created a frictional spark that set off the torches inside the container. Because several other nearby drums also contained torches, the company called in the Calgary Police bomb squad to defuse the situation. According to the Calgary Fire Department, the situation was contained by about 8:00 that evening.

The pallet jack operator was taken to the hospital for injuries from the explosion, but was released four days later, and is expected to recover. Because of the size of the warehouse, there was little damage done to it.

Alberta Employment and Immigration inspectors issued a stop-work order following the incident, and both Safety-Kleen and Snap-on are conducting investigations, and will report their preliminary findings to investigators soon.

Sometimes, one has to wonder about the government’s priorities.

Federal employees are concerned over a new development on Prince Edward Island, where it seems the position of local health and safety officer has been eliminated, according to the local Parks Canada employees union. The reason for their concern could very well be the fact that this was the only labour affairs officer (LAO) position on P.E.I. The position was vacated earlier this year when the man who held it moved to another department. The job was posted after the other guy was transferred, and four applicants even interviewed for the position. But the wise folks at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) decided last month not to fill the position.

What that means now is, if Islanders are involved in a workplace accident or have concerns about a hazardous work environment, they must report it the LAO in Moncton. This has many federal government employees up in arms. Members of Parks Canada Employees Local 90023 have joined forces with their counterparts in the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) to demand the federal government bring the position back to P.E.I.

Strangely, this isn’t the first time this position has been vacated by HRSDC. A year ago, the job was up for grabs, and the department chose not to staff it and to use the Moncton office to cover P.E.I.’s health and safety needs. When workers rose up, however, the position was eventually filled, albeit temporarily.

The workers and the union want everyone involved to understand the risks involved in such a move. Will it take one worker being involved in a serious accident for the P.E.I. government to get it? There are currently more than 3,500 employees there; it’s hard to believe that the government is willing to take a bet that no one will get hurt in the absence of an enforcement officer.

Stayana International Trading, a Toronto company that shreds plastic materials for recycling, was fined $60,000 on March 26 for a violation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, after a worker was seriously injured. In addition to the company’s fine, Leonid Kofman, a sales manager for the company, was also fined $5,000.

The incident in question happened on August 28, 2007, when a worker at the company’s Flint Road industrial facility suffered a serious head injury after falling from a nearly 2-meters-high platform to a concrete floor below.

An investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Labour found that the platform had no guard rail, which may have prevented the worker from falling. Two days later, the ministry issued a stop-work order, and attached a stop-work tag to the main controls of the plastic grinder beside the platform.

Subsequently, a Ministry inspector went to the facility on September 19, 2007 to verify that the company had completed compliance measures and to lift the stop-work order, only to find that the stop work tag on the grinder had been removed and reattached. A worker then told the investigator that Mr. Kofman had removed the tag and authorized use of the grinder for a short time, until one of the company’s owners once again shut down the line and told workers they were not yet allowed to use the machine. When questioned by the inspector, Mr. Kofman denied removing the tag and authorizing use of the grinder, a claim that was later determined to be false.

Stayana International Trading, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure there was a guardrail on the open sides of the platform beside the grinder, and Mr. Kofman pleaded guilty to knowingly furnishing an inspector with false information. The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Lynette Stethem. In addition, 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.

We recently sent out a survey to all the recent graduates of the latest run of Operator Supervisory Courses Level 1. One of the questions was: Is 1 day long enough? The answer was no, that it should be 2 days to allow everyone to absorb the material. Plus everyone felt they weren’t able to get into the books as much as they would have liked. The additional day will allow us to look at ORCGA’s best practices.

Watch the calendar, there will be numerous OS Lev 1 & 2 courses coming to a city near you. Level 2 will be starting in March. The forum is up. Only graduates of the OSC will have access to the supervisor’s area. If you choose to not take the course then you can pay a yearly fee to access that area.

Putting the grader through it’s paces..