Canadian Occupational Safety

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 3 Contents of Canadian Occupational Safety are copyright © 2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited and may not be reproduced in whole or part without written consent. Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. HST/GST # 89717 6350 RT0002 QST # 1019064405 TQ0005 Canada Post – Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement 40065782 International Standard Serial Number 0008-4611. The publishers accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, colour transparencies or other materials. Manuscripts or other materials must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Canadian Occupational Safety is published six times yearly by Thomson Reuters Canada Limited, 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 Telephone 416-649-9926 Fax 416-609-5840; www.cos-mag.com Issue dates are February/March, April/May, June/July, August/September, October/November, December/January. Subscription price: Canada: $69 plus tax; US: $69,International: $96 Canadian Occupational Safety makes every effort to ensure accuracy in all items reported, but cannot accept responsibility for the representations or claims made by sources used. Is elimination the Holy Grail? Guest blogger Andrew Cooper explains why elimination isn't all that — even though it's at the top of the hierarchy of controls. Using asbestos and the ozone layer in his argument, Cooper asks if elimination might just be another control in disguise. www.cos-mag.com/eliminationblog Webinars The COS webinar library is filled with on-demand topics, such as mental health, safety culture, fall protection and ISO 45001. The one-hour sessions are delivered by health and safety experts from across Canada. Keep watching for new topics added regularly. www.cpdcentre.ca/cos YouTube channel Have you subscribed to the Canadian Occupational Safety YouTube channel yet? Here you will find all the latest health and safety videos, including interviews with OHS experts from across Canada, the Safety Tips videos series that helps engage workers in safety and our Health&Safety Q&A series where your burning questions are answered. www.youtube.com/Canadian OccupationalSafety Follow us: @cosmagazine Join our group: Canadian Occupational Safety Subscribe: Canadian Occupational Safety Winner videos Can't get enough of the Canada's Safest Employers award winners? Or just looking for some more innovative ideas that you can put in place at your organization? Watch videos of all the gold winners here: www.safestemployers.com/winners Health&Safety Q&A Our video series matches experts with your most pressing questions. This month, Norm Keith, partner at Fasken in Toronto, answers a question that we received from many readers: How do I update my safety policies in light of cannabis legalization? www.cos-mag.com/HSQAcannabis DIRECTOR, MEDIA SOLUTIONS, CANADA Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9411 PUBLISHER Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com 416-298-5196 EDITOR Amanda Silliker amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9502 ASSISTANT EDITOR - VIDEOGRAPHER Alexia Kapralos ART DIRECTOR Steve Maver PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Pamela Menezes pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9298 ADVERTISING: SALES MANAGER Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9928 MANAGER, MEDIA PRODUCTION Lisa Drummond lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com MARKETING MANAGER Robert Symes rob.symes@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9585 COLUMNISTS Legal Cheryl Edwards, Norm Keith and Jeremy Warning Professional Development Glyn Jones Safety Culture Dave Fennell CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel. 416-609-3800 (Toronto)/ 1-800-387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax 416-298-5082 (Toronto)/ 1-877-750-9041 (outside Toronto) customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY'S EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Guy Chenard, CRSP, C.E.T. Safety Consultant Dave Gouthro, CRSP, CHSC, CHSO Occupational Health & Safety Consulting David Johnston, CRSP Director, EHS, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. Eldeen Pozniak, CHSC, CHSMSA, CRSP, Director, Pozniak Safety Associates Inc. Laura Rourke, EHSS manager, Tigercat Industries Dan Strand, CRSP, CIH, ROH Director, Prevention Field Services, WorkSafeBC AMANDA SILLIKER FROM THE EDITOR visit us online cos-mag.com THOMSON REUTERS CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY ON NOW ONLINE EXCLUSIVES LATEST VIDEOS Printed in WEBINAR SERIES Different but the same O ne of the greatest things about Canada's Safest Employers (CSE) awards is that it recognizes companies from all sorts of different industries. Sure, many companies in the oil sands are leaders in the safety space, but that doesn't mean a real estate company can't be a safety leader, too. No doubt, working on an oil rig is much riskier than appraising a building, but the latter still comes with hazards that need to be mitigated. Parallels among very different companies can be seen throughout the CSE award winners. While the construction safety manager is busy putting together a policy on trench safety, a safety co-ordinator at an insurance company is developing a policy against verbal abuse and harassment from customers. While the occupational health unit is developing a training module on blood-borne pathogens at a large health-care organization, the safety co-ordinator at a utility company is updating its training procedures on chainsaw operation. When a diamond mining company is adopting a new, less-intrusive drug testing system, a camp and catering company is purchasing new industrial oven mitts to prevent forearm burns. While safety professionals at all these companies certainly have different day-to-day lives, the underlying goal is the same: To keep workers healthy and safe on the job. No matter what industry you work in and no matter how inherently dangerous it may or may not be, all safety professionals are driven by the same goal. The winners of Canada's Safest Employers awards are the MVPs of the safety game, so read all about them starting on page 18 and get some ideas that you can implement in your own organizations. Who knows? Maybe one day you will find yourself in the pages of this very magazine. While conducting a session at a conference with past winners of a Canada's Safest Employers award, an EHS manager for a large pharmaceutical company told me she has to say her safety messages seven times in seven different ways before they stick. This proved that branding and marketing is a huge part of a safety professional's job, even if it's not the first thing that comes to mind. On page 35, I spoke with marketing professionals to glean some expert advice on how you can get workers excited about safety. Many techniques that marketers use to engage consumers can be used at your workplace, too. Hard hats might get all the attention when it comes to head protection, but there is a place for bump caps. At a large airline company (also a winner of a CSE award) minor head injuries accounted for one of the company's largest incident rates. Its workers had no need for full-fledged hard hats, so the OHS manager decided to give bump caps a try. Workers were involved in their design — so they actually liked wearing them — and injuries dramatically reduced. Even though it's not legislated, it might be worth considering bump caps if your organization has minor head injuries. Learn all about them on page 30. Being a safety professional can be overwhelming sometimes. With limited time and resources, how do you prioritize your actions? How much time should you spend on preventing small cuts versus other more serious incidents? Our Safety Culture columnist, Dave Fennell, was happy to tackle this question from a COS reader on page 16. Using an analogy of mining a diamond, he explains how you can determine which incidents and hazards require the most of your attention. Amanda Silliker, Editor amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com EMPLOYERS SAFEST 2018 CANADA'S

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