Yukon introduces new mobile live fire training unit for firefighters • Engineering regulator concerned about recent manufacturing accidents • Website provides fatigue management for North American commercial drivers • Bangladesh struggling to check if garment factories safe
Yukon introduces new mobile live fire training unit for firefighters
WHITEHORSE, YT — The Yukon Fire Marshal’s Office (FMO) is introducing a mobile live fire training unit.
“The new $765,000 mobile live fire training unit will provide realistic fire training to fire departments across the territory,” said Premier Darrell Pasloski.
Some key features of the training unit include a hydraulically powered second floor, a smoke generator and configurations that allow firefighters to train for fires in single storey, second storey and basement structures, as well as fires in kitchens and hazardous materials lockers. The unit can be set to simulate rollover fires where gases burn overhead of firefighters.
The training unit is part of the government’s recent $1.9 million investment in the Yukon FMO. This funding has resulted in hiring two additional deputy fire marshals and an increase in the FMO’s capacity to deliver education programs, conduct life safety inspections, fire investigations, fire prevention and firefighter training.
Engineering regulator concerned about recent manufacturing accidents
TORONTO — Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), the province’s professional engineering regulator, is concerned about two recent workplace accidents and calling on the government to improve “a safety gap” in industrial workplaces.
The first incident involved the death of a Brantford, Ont., worker, whose head was caught in a machine on May 14 at the Massilly North America plant. The second incident was the injury of a worker whose legs were trapped under machinery on July 12 at a Canadian Tire warehouse in Brampton, Ont.
On Oct. 25, 2010, Ontario passed legislation to remove section 12(3)(a) of the Professional Engineers Act, which would close a safety gap in industrial workplaces, according to PEO. The repeal of this “industrial exception” was to take effect Sept. 1, 2013, following three years of transition planning and consultations with stakeholders. On June 12, the proclamation date was delayed by the government and a new implementation date has yet to be announced.
As a result, certain acts of engineering on machinery in industrial facilities continue to be allowed to be carried out by non-engineers. Only professional engineers have the experience and training to design and oversee the most complex manufacturing processes, says PEO.
Through PEO’s discipline process, professional engineers are held accountable for their actions and conduct to ensure the public interest is served and protected.
Website provides fatigue management for North American commercial drivers
ARLINGTON, VA. — A new website is offering a “comprehensive approach” to commercial driver fatigue management.
The North American Fatigue Management Program (NAFMP) is designed to provide online fatigue management training for drivers, drivers’ families, carrier executives and managers, dispatchers and shippers/receivers, according to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), which developed the site.
The website provides information and training free of charge, along with the following:
• information on how to develop a corporate culture that facilitates reduced driver fatigue
• information on sleep disorder screening and treatment
• driver and trip scheduling information
• information on fatigue management technologies.
Visit the site at www.nafmp.com.
Bangladesh struggling to check if garment factories safe
DHAKA (Reuters) — In the months since the Rana Plaza collapse killed more than 1,100 workers, at least five different Bangladesh agencies have sent teams to begin inspecting the estimated 5,600 factories that make up the nation’s $20-billion garment industry.
But there’s little co-ordination between the agencies and senior government officials are unable to say just how many factories have been checked. Estimates vary from 60 to 340.
While United States and European retailers, which buy the bulk of Bangladesh-made clothing, had hoped to complete factory inspections within nine to 12 months, inspectors and government officials say it will take at least five years.
Bangladesh has fewer than 200 qualified inspectors. A group of 80 mostly European retailers who signed an accord to carry out co-ordinated inspections in Bangladesh have started hiring and training inspectors on their own to check the 1,000 or so factories that supply their brands.
