Canadian Occupational Safety

6 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com WORKPLACE NEWS Legislation allows WorkSafeBC to bar worst employer offenders T he British Columbia government has introduced legislation to improve workplace health and safety as part of its commitment to implement key recommendations made by Gordon Macatee in his WorkSafeBC Review and Action Plan released last July. The legislation amends the Workers Compensation Act to strengthen WorkSafeBC's ability to promote and enforce occupational health and safety compliance in workplaces. The legislation has four specifi c objectives: • Provide a range of new safety enforcement tools. • Shorten the process for fi nalizing fi nancial penalties (for example, allowing on-the-spot fi nes). • Ensure timely employer investigations of workplace incidents and reports. • Enhance workplace safety expertise on the WorkSafeBC board of directors. Together, these amendments expand WorkSafeBC's ability to encourage com- pliance with safety regulations, expedite investigations of workplace incidents and issue stop work orders where unsafe conditions present a risk to workers. The legislation will also permit WorkSafeBC to seek a court injunction to bar the worst employer offenders from continuing to operate in an industry when they ignore WorkSafeBC orders and continue to use unsafe practices, said the provincial government. The legislation comes in the wake of the deadly sawmill tragedies at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake and Lakeland Mills in Prince George, and is a move by the provincial government to "learn from what happened and take the steps necessary to ensure they don't happen again," said Shirley Bond, minister of jobs, tourism and skills training and minister responsible for labour. The Crown declined to approve charges against both companies because WorkSafeBC did not properly warn the sawmill owners about the risks of com- bustible dust, and because it was concerned the agency's inspections would not stand up in court. With the new legislation, the government is striving to "implement a world- class inspection and investigation regime at WorkSafeBC," said Bond. On July 15, Bond and the board of directors of Work- SafeBC accepted all the recommendations in Macatee's report. Of the 43 recommendations, 12 required legisla- tive changes in order to be fully implemented. Macatee has reviewed the new legislation to ensure it meets the intent of the action plan, and he will continue to oversee the implementation of his rec- ommendations and report on progress on a monthly basis. Work disability puts people at risk of premature death: Study By Uyen Vu P eople who are permanently impaired by work-related injury face a greater risk of dying early, according to a new study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) in Toronto. "For both men and women with a permanent work-related impairment, a crucial factor that predicts whether they die early is what we call 'work disabil- ity' — the diffi culty they face staying in the labour market," said IWH associate scientist Heather Scott-Marshall, who led the study, Long-Term Mortality Risk in Individuals with Permanent Work-Related Impairment. Work disability, she explains, stems from the physical, psychological and emotional diffi culties individuals experience coping with, or adapting to, an acquired impairment. These diffi culties can affect their sense of self and create problems with social role functioning, such as how they fulfi ll their roles as a worker, spouse and parent. "This, in turn, can affect their ability to re-enter the labour market after an injury and may compromise long-term employment success," said Scott-Marshall. Other key factors contributing to work disability include stigma and discrimination against workers with impairment, which have been shown to affect opportunities in the labour market. The IWH study used an innova- tive technique to link a set of data kept by Statistics Canada with another database held by Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. It took a sample of 19,000 Ontarians whose work-related injury left them permanently impaired, and followed their outcomes for up to 19 years. To set up a comparison or control group, research- ers paired each individual in the injured sample with up to 10 other people who did not experience a work injury but shared similar characteristics such as age, sex, region of residence and income level. The study found the overall rate of death in men with permanent impairments was 14 per cent, com- pared to nine per cent in the non-injured control group, representing a 55 per cent higher risk of mor- tality. For women, the death rate among those with permanent impairments was six per cent, compared to four per cent in non-injured controls — a 50 per cent higher risk. The study also found a higher risk of death showed up most starkly one decade or more after the injury. For both men and women, a disabling injury at a young age (25 to 39) meant a higher likelihood of premature death. "This again probably ties into work disability and the fact that younger people may have greater diffi - culty getting back to work," said Scott-Marshall. "It could be that people at a younger age are less estab- lished in the labour market when they get injured. Or maybe the type of work they do is more physical and less easy to go back to after the injury. These are only speculations for the time being and further research will tell us more." Uyen Vu is the editor of At Work, the quarterly newsletter of the Institute for Work & Health. N.L. introduces new committee training standard N ewfoundland and Labrador has launched a new certifi cation training program for occupational health and safety committees and worker health and safety representatives. The new program will come into effect July 1. The new training program will be shorter, with a minimum of 14 hours, and has been condensed into one course for both committees and representatives. "The initial course was developed 12 years ago, at a time when health and safety awareness was not as high as it is in the province today. The course now focuses more on the OHS committee role within the organization and within the organization's OHS program," said Carla Riggs, director of communica- tions at the province's Workplace Health, Safety & Compensation Commission (WHSCC). The program content will be updated to refl ect new legislation, introduce case studies and use new training materials. Risk assessments, working alone and violence prevention are just some of the topics the new training will cover, in response to the updates to Newfoundland and Labrador's Occupational Health and Safety Regulations in 2009. The program will also include a practical component with group and indi- vidual activities that help participants apply the principles covered during the two days. The most signifi cant practical component is a mock OHS committee meeting. Groups work through activities that simulate issues committee members may encounter in workplaces while completing the required minute report form. The idea is to help participants understand how an OHS committee meeting should fl ow and what is expected, particularly for those who have not been on a committee before, said Riggs. The training that many committee members have already completed will con- tinue to be valid for a period of time. Through a phased-in approach, those who have already completed the existing training program have until June 30, 2018, to re-certify and they must renew their certifi cation every three years thereafter. The number of registered OHS committees in Newfoundland and Labrador has more than tripled in the last decade, with more than 3,800 committees at the end of 2014, said Tom Mahoney, executive director, worker services with the WHSCC. "It is extremely important that we offer training to these committees so that they are aware of their responsibilities and stay current with legislation in a way that is relevant and engaging," he said. Committee training is now available province-wide from 95 training provid- ers. Trainers are required to attend a curriculum orientation session to be ready to deliver the new program.

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