Officer feared mail in wake of tsunami and meltdowns was radioactive and refused to work without monitoring
A Canadian border services officer who refused to sort mail coming from Japan in the wake of the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown was not in any danger of being exposed to harmful levels of radiation, the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal has ruled.
Damian Azeez was a border services officer (BSO) for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at a cargo terminal in Mississauga, Ont. On March 24, 2011, Azeez and a co-worker noticed mail arriving from Japan and been put into the system for them to screen. This was cause for concern for Azeez because of the earthquake and tsunami that had recently hit Japan and damaged a nuclear facility. The nuclear meltdowns that followed caused a spread of radioactive materials into the environment, forcing the area to be evacuated.
Concerns about radioactive mail
Azeez was worried the mail coming from Japan might be contaminated with radiation and sorting it could expose him to dangerous levels. He felt CBSA should have screened the mail and provided him with equipment to detect radiation levels. He believed the agency had such equipment but it chose not to use it.
Azeez and his colleague initiated a work refusal due to health and safety concerns, pursuant to the Canada Labour Code.
CBSA investigated the work refusal and checked various federal and international agencies to see if there were any warnings or data regarding radioactive contamination of Japanese mail that would warrant special attention. There were no warnings or cautions, or any evidence there was a danger, so the agency determined there was no danger to its employees.
Azeez appealed to the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal, arguing existing data didn’t take into account a BSO’s duties and the exposure to potentially radioactive materials the job could entail. He argued any level of exposure to radiation of BSOs could create a potential hazard and is cumulative, so repeated exposure could lead to hazards such as cancer.
Azeez pointed out CBSA’s emergency preparedness all hazards approach plan referred to dangerous goods, including radioactive materials, that come through Canada’s ports of entry and BSOs must keep watch for such materials. He argued this showed CBSA was aware BSOs could be exposed to radiation.
On the day he refused work, Azeez said, there was no way of knowing whether the mail coming from Japan had been exposed to radiation without a radiation detector and personal dosimeter — which CBSA had. However, CBSA’s efforts to find out about any danger — emails and conference calls with Health Canada and other agencies — were not due diligence to determine if there really was a danger, as the data referred to general areas, not of the mail coming into the mail centre at the Mississauga terminal. This was particularly true for BSOs, who would have a higher degree of exposure to any radiation than the general public. Health Canada and CBSA were “making assumptions based upon the statistical chance of something occurring rather than assessing the situation by monitoring at the site of concern,” said Azeez.
Ultimately, CBSA was more concerned with “forcing people back to work” rather than investigating the radiation levels and coming up with data that would help protect BSOs who are exercising their right to refuse dangerous work, he said.
CBSA argued reasonable expectation of injury could not be based on “hypothesis or conjecture.” It pointed out Azeez had no data or other reason to be worried about radiation, other than his “fear” that he might be exposed. There was no medical or scientific evidence showing the levels of radiation of any items from Japan, such as mail, sufficient to cause injury or illness, CBSA submitted.
No reason to doubt government guidelines: Court
The tribunal noted the code defined “danger” as hazard, condition or activity that could “reasonably be expected to cause injury or illness.” It also noted radiation exposure was commonly known to have hazardous effects on the human body, though exposure to low levels was common and unavoidable.
The tribunal found Health Canada’s guidelines were strict enough to limit the amount of exposure to radiation and as the “recognized authority” there was no reason to doubt its standards. Other organizations were also monitoring the radiation levels coming from Japan and assessing the risks of exposure in Canada, which were considered not dangerous to human health.
Though radiation is harder to detect than other hazardous substances with which BSOs could come into contact, the tribunal found the monitoring of radiation levels in Japan and in Canada were sufficient to suggest any radioactivity in Japanese mail was harmless and it wasn’t necessary to provide BSOs with special equipment to monitor the radioactivity of pieces of mail. Azeez’s application was dismissed.
