Steelworkers consider private prosecution in B.C. worker’s death • Pipelines pose fewer risks for workers: Study • Ontario safety blitz targeting underground mines this fall • Workplace cancer prevention guide released in Quebec • Ontario electrical safety record improves, but high-risk behaviour continues: ESA • Alberta underreporting workplace injuries: Research group • Improving working conditions may reduce depression costs: Study
Steelworkers consider private prosecution in B.C. worker’s death
BURNABY, B.C. — The United Steelworkers (USW) is considering the pursuit of private prosecution after the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch opted not to lay criminal charges in the death of mine worker John Wilson.
Wilson was killed in February 2008 when his excavator overturned into a tailings dam at Craigmont Mine near Merritt, B.C.
“We have legislation in this country to hold corporations and their executives criminally responsible when workers’ lives are put at risk, but this legislation is not being enforced,” said Stephen Hunt, western Canadian director of USW, in a statement.
A B.C. Ministry of Mines investigation into the incident determined the company violated several provisions of the Mines Act and the Health and Safety Reclamation Code for Mines.
The mine’s sump pond was not designed by a qualified professional to accepted engineering standards, a previously ordered survey of the mine site had not been conducted and there was no emergency response team in place at the time of the incident.
Pipelines pose fewer risks for workers: Study
VANCOUVER — Oil transport by pipeline presents significantly lower safety risks to workers than oil movement by road or rail, concludes a study by the Fraser Institute, an independent think tank.
The study, Intermodal Safety in the Transport of Oil, determined that the rate of injury requiring hospitalization was 30 times lower among oil pipeline workers compared to rail workers involved in the transport of oil, based on extensive data collected in the United States.
Road transport fared even worse, with an injury rate 37 times higher than pipelines based on reports to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the period 2005-09.
The study also found the risk of spill incidents is lower for pipelines per billion ton-miles of oil movement compared to rail and road.
Ontario safety blitz targeting underground mines this fall
TORONTO — This fall, underground mines in Ontario will be visited by safety inspectors to check for hazards and help prevent the collapse of excavated rock areas to keep miners safe.
Provincial mining inspectors and engineers will focus on ensuring mines have proper controls and measures in place to prevent rock collapses as well as to prevent “rockbursts.”
Their inspections will also focus on:
• How an excavation is designed, including how it will be dug out and structurally supported.
• Whether uncontrolled falls of ground or rockbursts are being reported to the Ministry of Labour
• If a formal program exists between supervisors and workers for communicating issues involving stability of excavations.
Workplace cancer prevention guide released in Quebec
MONTREAL — A “quick and easy” guide to cancer prevention in the workplace has been published by the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), a scientific research organization funded by Quebec’s workplace compensation board, the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST).
The brochure, Are There Carcinogens in Your Workplace? It’s Time to Act!, is intended for occupational health and safety officers, employers and workers. The Canadian Cancer Society, which is dedicated to prevention, has welcomed its publication, according to the IRSST.
The brochure, based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge available, helps identify carcinogens in the workplace, provides examples of preventive measures and best practices for controlling exposure, and proposes a model action plan for eliminating or reducing exposure.
Ontario electrical safety record improves, but high-risk behaviour continues: ESA
TORONTO — Despite a 38 per cent decrease in electrical fatalities in the last five years, Ontarians — including professional electricians — continue to be injured and killed in electrical safety incidents, according to a new report released by the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA).
More than 70 per cent of all incidents occur in four areas: electrical workers; contact with overhead power lines; the misuse of electrical products; and electrical fires caused by old or faulty electrical wiring. ESA research shows there continues to be a gap between actual risk and perception of risk when it comes to these four areas.
Electricians continue to be critically injured on the job when working on energized electrical panels or commercial lighting systems. Electrical workers account for 28 per cent of electrical-related workplace fatalities from 2003 to 2012, according to the ESA. Electrical workers and those who hire them do not perceive these jobs to be high-risk, the ESA’s research reveals. Some electricians end up “working live,” which is a technically improper procedure in many cases.
Alberta underreporting workplace injuries: Research group
EDMONTON — Alberta is underreporting the number of workplace injuries occurring in the province, a University of Alberta research group claims.
Alberta reports injuries that result in lost or reduced work, but the actual number of workers who are injured on the job is about 10-time greater than that, according to The Parkland Institute.
“The reason for the discrepancy is that the only injuries the government discusses in public are the disabling injury claims,” says Bob Barnetson, an Athabasca University professor who wrote the fact sheet. “By not reporting on those injuries which do not result in lost or modified work, they are under representing the true rate of injury by a factor of ten.”
The province’s numbers would be lower if Alberta mandated that businesses establish joint employee-employer safety committees, the institute says, adding Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada where these committees are not mandatory.
Improving working conditions may reduce depression costs: Study
GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — The sum total of adverse working conditions explains a substantial portion of the risk of depression in working-age adults, suggests a recent study out of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Using an approach called item response theory, the researchers analyzed the relationship between working conditions and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative sample of working-age adults. The study included four waves of data collection over 15 years in nearly 1,900 respondents and was published in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the ACOEM.
The results showed that workers with a higher total “negative working conditions score” also had higher scores for depression. For workers with the total highest scores, negative working conditions accounted for about one-third of the standard deviation in depressive symptoms — “a substantial difference,” according to the authors.
