Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
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6 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS Bear attacks among risks for remote workers By Liz Foster O n May 7, Lorna Weafer — an instrument tech- nician for Suncor Energy — was attacked and killed by a black bear at the company's oilsands base plant just north of Fort McMurray, Alta. "A number of her colleagues tried to help her, but tragically, despite their efforts, they were not able to save her," said Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal. Weafer was working in a team with six other people at the time of the attack. Her co-workers reportedly tried to scare the bear away using fi re extinguishers, a water cannon and an air horn. While Suncor employees working in the bush carry bear spray, it is not believed spray was used during the incident, which took place on an industrial site. Bear safety awareness materials, advisories and information sessions are available for Suncor employees with increased emphasis during times of high bear activity, Seetal said. Following Weafer's death, the company immediately implemented critical incident counselling services for employees on site and began working directly with offi cers from the Fish & Wildlife department of Alberta Environment Sus- tainable Resource Development to increase surveillance and provide further bear safety measures. The Occupational Health and Safety branch— along with Fish & Wildlife — continues to investigate the incident. Fatal black bear attacks are rare — there were 59 reported incidents between 1900 and 2009 — but no matter how unlikely an incident may be, employers are required to mitigate the risks that come with remote workplaces. "It may be a remote possibility, but it's a possibility," said Sari Sairanen, director of health, safety and environment at Unifor in Toronto, Canada's larg- est private sector union. The more geographically remote the workplace, the more employees are exposed to the dangers of wildlife. Complicating matters is a physical distance from the medical care readily available in more populated areas. The most effective thing employers can do, according to Sairanen, is engage employees in the assessment of workplace risk and in the implementation of safety procedures. "Many employers have had to deal with wildlife in their backyard and so we've learned lessons. There are best practices out there," she said. "It's up to the employer to fi nd out what those best practices are and to adapt them to their particular needs and location. You have to engage the worker in all of these decisions. They're the ones who will rely on these policies, so you have to engage them in the process." And while it is positive that employ- ers are re-evaluating their safety programs in light of recent events, it is important that emergency prepared- ness plans are considered through the lens of hazard and risk assessments and not re-jigged based on knee-jerk reactions, Sairanen said. It is often the most common-sense measures that do the most to protect workers, said Carolyn Campbell, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association in Calgary. "Having wildlife awareness and safety training would be important for all operators in remote areas," she said. "In the overwhelming number of incidents involving aggressive black bears… there was some kind of food or edible garbage attractant that they approached. Bears are really food-cen- tered, so being strict about anything that looks like food — including edible garbage — is really important." Liz Foster writes for Canadian Safety Reporter, a sister publication of COS. By Liz Bernier A mining tragedy in northern Ontario has renewed scrutiny of the industry's safety practices — and further underscored the need for the province's mining safety review. On May 6, Marc Methe, 34, and Norm Bissaillon, 49, died after a ground collapse at First Nickel's Lock- erby Mine near Sudbury, Ont. There is a joint employer-union investigation underway at the mine, and the Ministry of Labour is investigating. The fatalities came only one month after another mining fatality in the Sudbury area — and there have been many more incidents, according to France Gélinas, the MPP for Nickel Belt, the provincial riding where Lock- erby Mine is located. "Since I was elected six years ago, there have been more than six fatalities in my riding alone of people working in the mines. That does not include very serious accidents," said Gélinas. "Over the last 30 years, there have been dozens and hundreds of people get- ting hurt in our mines, and basically, every time there's an inquest, that inquest often brings forward good recommendations. Those recommen- dations tend to be implemented where the accident took place, but it doesn't seem like the best practice gets shared industry-wide." George Gritziotis, Ontario's chief prevention officer for the Minis- try of Labour, said the deaths are "unacceptable." "We must fi nd better ways of pro- tecting people who go into mines every day to earn a living. No job is worth a life. All of us have the responsibil- ity to work together to do what we can to stop these senseless tragedies from happening again," he said. These latest fatalities have set off alarm bells about mining safety issues, said Gélinas. "Anybody that hadn't heard the alarm bells, heard them this time." PROVINCIAL SAFETY REVIEW Ontario is currently conducting a one-year mining health, safety and prevention review, which will involve expert advice from an advisory group of industry, labour and health and safety representatives — as well as public and stakeholder input. So far, the review is on the right track with six working groups representing different topics, according to Chris Hodgson, president of the Ontario Mining Association in Toronto. The mining industry does have a good record in the province, but there is more work to be done, he said. "We've got a good safety record in Ontario — in terms of mining safety, we're one of the best in the world. We're also the second safest sector in Ontario's economy, behind Loud noise may raise risk for workplace injuries: Report By Shereen Jegtvig E xtremely loud noise as well as hear- ing loss from noise exposure, may cause workers to get hurt on the job, according to a recent study. Researchers found workers who are regularly exposed to noise levels of 100 decibels — about the volume stand- ing next to a lawnmower — had more than doubled the risk of being hospi- talized for a workplace injury. Exposure to high noise levels increases fatigue, decreases the ability to concentrate and impairs the quality of communication between workers, said Serge-Andre Girard, the study's lead author and researcher with the National Public Health Institute of Quebec in Quebec City. "Noise-induced hearing loss is a public health issue — in the U.S.A., up to 30 million workers are exposed to noise and in Quebec, this number is estimated to be 400,000," he said. "Despite considerable energy devoted to the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, it remains a signifi cant problem." Girard and his colleagues looked at records for 46,550 male workers over nearly 20 years, and found 1,670 had been hospitalized for work-related injuries within fi ve years of being given hearing tests. The researchers compared the number of injuries to workers' levels of hearing loss indicated by the tests and their exposure to loud noises in the workplace. They found that for every decibel of hearing loss, the risk of hospitalization due to work-related injury increased by one per cent. The researchers also found work- ers exposed to noise levels above 100 decibels had 2.4 times the risk of being hospitalized for work-related injuries compared to workers not exposed to loud noise. In their report, Girard's team esti- mated that for workers with the combination of severe hearing loss and working in an environment where noise exposure is overly intense, the risk of being hospitalized with a work-related injury is 3.6 times that of workers with neither factor. Workers who can't hear properly, either because of hearing loss or wearing hearing protection that's too strong, might miss important com- munications and signals on the job, said Peter Rabinowitz, a researcher for Loud noise may raise risk for By Liz Bernier mining tragedy in northern Ontario has renewed scrutiny of the industry's safety practices — and seem like the best practice gets shared industry-wide." Mining safety under