Alberta hands out $3.4 million in OHS fines for 2011 • New, young worker safety blitz results in 9,799 orders in Ontario industrial sector • New, young worker safety blitz results in 456 orders in Ontario health-care sector • Treatment of depression can increase productivity • WorkSafeBC extends hours of teleclaim centre
Alberta hands out $3.4 million in OHS fines for 2011
EDMONTON — Alberta courts handed out workplace health and safety penalties of more than $3.4 million in 2011, double the $1.7 million collected in 2010. More than $2.3 million of the $3.4 million in penalties in 2011 was in creative sentences paid to third parties, such as post-secondary institutions, training programs, rescue societies and other organizations that advance workplace health and safety. Individual creative sentences in 2011 ranged from $29,000 to $355,000. A creative sentence provided the Fort McMurray/Wood Buffalo office of St. John Ambulance with more than $330,000 for a new classroom training facility and to certify about 1,000 high school students in standard first aid. In 2002, occupational health and safety legislation in the province was amended to allow for creative sentences. Since 2006, more than $10 million has been directed to organizations that promote workplace health and safety.
New, young worker safety blitz results in 9,799 orders in Ontario industrial sector
TORONTO — An Ontario safety blitz focused on new and young workers in industrial workplaces resulted in 214 stop-work orders from May to August. New and young workers in Ontario are four times more likely to be injured during their first month of employment than at any other time, according to the Ontario Ministry of Labour. From May 1 to Aug. 31, 2011, inspectors conducted 3,458 blitz-related visits to 2,847 industrial workplaces and issued 9,799 orders under the OHSA and its regulations, including 214 stop-work orders. Of the 9,799 orders issued in the industrial sector, 8,625 (88 per cent) were time-based, 862 (8.8 per cent) were orders for immediate compliance, 98 (one per cent) were orders for compliance plans and 214 (2.2 per cent) were stop-work orders. Non-compliance noted by inspectors involved training, orientation and supervision, personal protective equipment and the internal responsibility system.
New, young worker safety blitz results in 456 orders in Ontario health-care sector
TORONTO — An Ontario safety blitz focused on new and young workers in industrial workplaces resulted in four stop-work orders. From May 1 to Aug. 31, 2011, inspectors conducted 186 visits to 164 health-care workplaces and issued 456 orders under the OHSA and its regulations, including four stop-work orders. Of the 456 orders issued in health-care sectors, 423 (92.8 per cent) were time-based, 19 (4.2 per cent) were orders for immediate compliance, eight (1.8 per cent) were orders for compliance plans and four (0.4 per cent) were stop-work orders.
Treatment of depression can increase productivity
TORONTO — Employees with depression who receive treatment while still working are significantly more likely to be highly productive than those who do not, according to a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, examined data from a large-scale community survey of employed and recently employed people in Alberta. People who experienced a depressive episode were significantly less likely to be highly productive, according to the study. Of the 3,000 workers looked at in the sample, 8.5 per cent (255 workers) experienced a depressive episode. The study found that among all study participants who had been diagnosed with a severe depressive episode, 57 per cent did not receive treatment and 40 per cent of those who experienced a moderate depressive episode did not receive treatment. Mental illness costs the Canadian economy an estimated $51 billion annually, with one-third of that attributed to productivity losses, according to CAMH.
WorkSafeBC extends hours of teleclaim centre
RICHMOND B.C. — WorkSafeBC has extended the operating hours of its Teleclaim Contact Centre by two hours. Previously, the centre was open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Now it will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Workers can contact the centre at (888) 967-5377.
