Ontario uniform supplier G&K Services Canada Inc. was fined $60,000 last week for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after an accident that injured a worker was injured.

The company operates an industrial laundry service in Windsor. As part of the laundry process, clothing is placed into a bag with a drawstring at the bottom. The bag moves vertically along a conveyor, until it hits a sensor at the end, whereupon it is hoisted up into the air.

At the time of the accident, on September 24, 2009, a worker noticed that the drawstring on one of the bags was untied, and he attempted to tie the bag while walking with it along the conveyor. At the time the bag hit the sensor, the worker’s thumb was still entangled in the bag’s drawstring. The bag was then hoisted aloft. As a result, the worker was lifted into the air with the bag, and his thumb was amputated by the force of the moving bag.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the emergency stop button on the bag hoist had been placed too high up for a worker to reach in an emergency. G&K Services Canada Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that an emergency stop button was located within easy reach of the machine operator.

A $60,000 fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Robert Gay, who also 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.

Springside Paving & Construction Limited in Concord, Ontario was assessed a $100,000 fine for an accident that led to the death of a worker on July 13, 2009, after the company pleaded guilty to a violation of Ontario’s Regulations for Construction Projects last month. According to a statement from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, the company failed, as an employer, to ensure that a signaller assisted a vehicle operator if his view of the intended path of travel is obstructed or if a person may be endangered.

The incident that led to the fine occurred on July 13, 2009, as three workers were replacing an asphalt driveway and re-leveling an interlocking walkway at a residential property in Vaughan, north of Toronto. After disconnecting a trailer from a truck, one worker boarded the vehicle and slowly began reversing the truck toward the work site, and the vehicle ran over and killed another worker.

The company initially faced four charges, but three were dropped when the company pleaded guilty.

According to the MoL, between 2005-2009 a total of 40 workers died after being struck by construction equipment or the material they were handling, the MoL reports. Last summer, the MoL kicked off an enforcement campaign involving construction projects. During that campaign, inspectors issued 2,728 orders, 14.4% of which related to equipment, material handling and general storage. The campaign also led to 158 orders citing equipment maintenance or operation problems, and 76 orders noted improper handling or storage.

In the wake of a report by the Expert Panel on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) is considering amending both the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, in order to implement the recommended move of prevention functions to the MOL from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

For decades, the WSIB has had the legal authority to set up and fund safety associations, and over the last 20 years or so, they have taken steps to coordinate their activities and keep their expenses under control. The latest move to that effect came last year, when the WSIB took much greater control over the safety associations than ever before, by bringing them all together into four ‘divisions’ with one overall policy direction. However, they are still struggling to get the associations to cooperate and coordinate on issues such as regulatory functions, enforcement and prevention. Other provinces have created single agencies to cover enforcement, compensation and prevention.

The proposed regulatory amendments will allow the MOL to establish itself as the chief prevention agency, rather than the WSIB; to appoint a chief prevention officer; and to create a new prevention council charged with representing labour, employers and safety experts. Once all of this has been established, the MOL will begin implementing other Expert Panel recommendations, involving more amendments to the OHS Act.

Springside Paving & Construction Limited in Concord, Ontario was assessed a $100,000 fine for an accident that led to the death of a worker on July 13, 2009, after the company pleaded guilty to a violation of Ontario’s Regulations for Construction Projects last month. According to a statement from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, the company failed, as an employer, to ensure that a signaller assisted a vehicle operator if his view of the intended path of travel is obstructed or if a person may be endangered.

The incident that led to the fine occurred on July 13, 2009, as three workers were replacing an asphalt driveway and re-leveling an interlocking walkway at a residential property in Vaughan, north of Toronto. After disconnecting a trailer from a truck, one worker boarded the vehicle and slowly began reversing the truck toward the work site, and the vehicle ran over and killed another worker.

The company initially faced four charges, but three were dropped when the company pleaded guilty.

According to the MoL, between 2005-2009 a total of 40 workers died after being struck by construction equipment or the material they were handling, the MoL reports. Last summer, the MoL kicked off an enforcement campaign involving construction projects. During that campaign, inspectors issued 2,728 orders, 14.4% of which related to equipment, material handling and general storage. The campaign also led to 158 orders citing equipment maintenance or operation problems, and 76 orders noted improper handling or storage.

In the wake of a report by the Expert Panel on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) is considering amending both the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, in order to implement the recommended move of prevention functions to the MOL from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

For decades, the WSIB has had the legal authority to set up and fund safety associations, and over the last 20 years or so, they have taken steps to coordinate their activities and keep their expenses under control.  The latest move to that effect came last year, when the WSIB took much greater control over the safety associations than ever before,  by bringing them all together into four ‘divisions’ with one overall policy direction. However, they are still struggling to get the associations to cooperate and coordinate on issues such as regulatory functions, enforcement and prevention. Other provinces have created single agencies to cover enforcement, compensation and prevention.

The proposed regulatory amendments will allow the MOL to establish itself as the chief prevention agency, rather than the WSIB; to appoint a chief prevention officer; and to create a new prevention council charged with representing labour, employers and safety experts. Once all of this has been established, the MOL will begin implementing other Expert Panel recommendations, involving more amendments to the OHS Act.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour would like everyone to know that inspectors will be spending at least the entire month of February conducting a safety blitz of loading docks at transportation and industrial businesses.

The decision to conduct the safety blitz was made after a report from the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), suggested that hazards in shipping and receiving areas and loading docks may often be overlooked.  Since such areas can often be busy places with a number of inherent hazards, failing to take proper precautions puts workers are at greater risk for injury or death. Provincial officials would like to see the number of injuries and fatalities in loading docks head downward.

Throughout this blitz, inspectors will be looking for a number of things, including how operators enter and exit vehicles; how vehicles are positioned and secured;  and safety precautions taken when loading and unloading vehicles using either mechanical  or manual means.

A  January 18 ruling by the Court of Appeal for Ontario that helps to define “regularly employed” workers under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) has serious implications for many employers with regard to the formation of joint health and safety committees (JHSC).

The high court’s three-judge panel unanimously agreed that independent contractors should be considered to be “regularly employed” pursuant to Section 9(2)(a) of the act. Prior to the ruling, employers throughout Ontario did not count independent contractors many of whom do their work largely from home, or who simply don’t work from a particular workplace, as part of their “regular” workforce, and thought themselves exempt from JHSC requirements. Now, they will have to count such independent contractors and off-site employees as part of their workforce and comply.

This case marks the first time the court has had to consider the meaning of “regularly employed” under Section 9(2)(a). The case involved United Independent Operators Ltd, a transportation load broker based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The company contracts truck drivers, who independently own and operate their vehicles, to pick up aggregate from quarries, gravel pits and construction sites and transport it to customer locations.

In July 2004, a United truck driver suffered a broken pelvis and two broken legs after he was crushed between his truck and another United truck at a customer’s worksite. Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MoL) investigated and found that United had violated the OHSA by failing to maintain a joint committee. They ordered the company to create a JHSC and brought oh&s charges against them.

The company, however, claimed it had no obligation to have a JHSC, since one is only required at workplaces with 20 or more workers who are “regularly employed,” and they only employed 11 full-time staff, not including the independent truck drivers.

The courts agreed with the company during an initial trial and a subsequent appeal to the Ontario Court of Justice. They cited a prior decision from the Ontario Labour Relations Board in which the board determined that “regularly employed” only applied to workers who enjoyed a traditional employment relationship with their employers.

But the high court suggested that only applying Section 9(2)(a) traditional employment relationships “seriously” reduces the section’s scope and limits the number of JHSCs that must be established, which interferes with the intended purpose of the act. “It is clear that JHSCs play a critical role in [the internal oh&s responsibility system]. JHSCs assist by increasing the ability of workers and employers to prevent and respond to dangerous and changing conditions,” the court ruled.

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.

Be aware, Ontario workers and employers; Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MoL) is planning another blitz, and this time, they plan to focus on Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

This blitz, which is scheduled to run from September 1 to October 31, 2010, will concentrate on  several industries, including the construction and mining sectors.

The term “Musculoskeletal disorders” covers a wide variety of disorders, including repetitive strain injury, cumulative trauma, back strain and tendonitis. According to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, such injuries represent 43% of all lost-time claims. In 2008, there were more than 33,000 lost-time claims attributed to MSDs, resulting in a loss of more than 1.2 million days and costing the province approximately $142 million. And unlike acute, traumatic or sudden injuries, MSDs tend to be slow and cumulative.

The construction aspect of the blitz will concentrate mainly on home building, and will focus on equipment maintenance and access to excavation sites, in order to make sure there are no obstacles, and that workers are walking while they carry materials.

When it comes to the mining industry, inspectors will examine large vehicle access and whether the equipment has enough clearance to compensate for body parts. They will also check to make sure that roadways in surface mines are well maintained, to minimize the whole-body vibration jarring that workers often suffer.

The Ontario government recently launched an eight-week health and safety awareness campaign designed to enlighten construction workers and their employers.

They unveiled the campaign at Algonquin College, at the site of the school’s  new construction trades building, which will open to about 2,500 construction trades students next year. The new campaign follows a 90-day safety enforcement blitz of more than 2,800 construction sites.

Even though the province’s lost-time injury rate among construction workers is one of the lowest in Canada, the 90-day blitz revealed numerous violations, including improper equipment use and poor supervisor and worker training. As a result, Ontario officials decided that it was time to emphasize the need for the entire construction industry to learn the importance of safety.

The campaign is being run in Canadian cities with the highest construction activity, including Ottawa.  It is sponsored by the Ministry of Labour, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the Infrastructure Health & Safety Coalition, and will feature newspaper advertising in the key ethnic languages spoken in the construction sector, and posters will appear on construction fences.  Tip sheets for workers will be available on the ministry’s website at www.ontario.ca/ConstructionSafety.

Another aspect of the campaign revolves around a hope that the public can become more involved in providing information to ministry officials. To that end, a toll free phone number (1-877-202-0008) has been established for the public to call in and report safety issues they see. If a follow-up visit deems a jobsite unsafe, the province can issue a stop-work order in the interests of safety.