Canadian Occupational Safety

August/September 2015 3 August Professional development Emergency showers Summer safety September Ergonomics Respiratory protection Eye safety Hazards of burning out Employees who are stressed and overworked not only face reduced productivity and increased sick days, they also pose a health and safety risk to themselves and co-workers. Guest columnist Renée Gendron, principal of Vitae Dynamics, discusses how to watch for signs of burnout. www.cos-mag.com/burnouthazards.html Webinars The COS webinar library is lled with on-demand topics such as arc ash, safety leadership and respiratory protection. Sign up for upcoming webinars on ISO 45001 or contact dermatitis. www.cos-mag.com/CPDCentre on now @ twitter.com/cosmagazine Join Canadian Occupational Safety group on Follow us on Culture Shock Shawn Galloway, president of ProAct Safety, is back with his video series on safety culture. Watch the latest video on the four safety behaviours. Lone workers Working alone is common in many industries and presents speci c risks such as technical, violence and health and well-being. DIRECTOR, CARSWELL MEDIA Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9411 PUBLISHER John Hobel (on leave) ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com 416-298-5196 EDITOR Amanda Silliker amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9502 ASSISTANT EDITOR, CARSWELL MEDIA Mallory Hendry (on leave) ASSISTANT EDITOR, CARSWELL MEDIA Anastasiya Jogal ART DIRECTOR Steve Maver PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Pamela Menezes pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9298 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Nicholas Cholodny nicholas.cholodny@thomsonreuters.com 647-537-4705 Stephen Hill stephen.hill@thomsonreuters.com 416-558-9102 MANAGER, MEDIA PRODUCTION Lisa Drummond lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com MARKETING MANAGER Mohammad Ali mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9585 COLUMNISTS Legal Cheryl A. 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Printed in 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: $64 including tax ($59.84 + $4.16 GST); US: $64, 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. AMANDA SILLIKER FROM THE EDITOR Canadian Occupational Safety's Editorial Advisory Board Dave Gouthro, CRSP, CHSC, CHSO Occupational Health & Safety Consulting David Johnston, CRSP Director, EHS, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. Eldeen Pozniak Director, Pozniak Safety Associates Inc. Guy Chenard Retired, Senior H&S Advisor, Ontario Power Generation Maureen Shaw President, Act Three Consulting Dr. Ron Saunders Director of Knowledge Transfer & Exchange Institute for Work & Health cos-mag.com visit us online More videos at www.cos-mag.com/video.html coming up online latest videos Safety 1, human rights 0? T he clash between safety and human rights is something that continually makes headlines. We seem to have diffi culty differentiating between the idea of keeping workers safe on the job while also allowing them to practice their religious beliefs. If you tried to keep score, it would be diffi cult. In occupational health and safety legislation, naturally safety is the winner, but in individual claims put forth to human rights commissions, religious freedom takes home the prize, with commissions often siding with the worker. If this is the case, then why don't we amend health and safety legislation to allow room for religious beliefs? Now, don't get me wrong, I fully understand this is a contentious and diffi cult issue — one that I have had to think about a lot — especially for safety professionals who are passionate about keeping workers safe on the job above anything else. But I think if we look beyond the safety lens, we might see there is a bit of wiggle room. (I say "we" because my work every single day is all about safety and helping you keep workers safe on the job.) In the United Kingdom, which is similar to Canada in many respects, the government recently passed legisla- tion to exempt Sikhs from wearing hard hats in almost every industry. It has decided an individual has the right to choose if his religious beliefs trump his safety. The legislation also has limited liability provisions in place so if the Sikh gets hurt on the job, the employer is not on the hook for it. I think this is a good idea — with a few caveats. In highly dangerous operations, such as construction, oil and gas and mining, the employer needs to make the risk of not wearing a hard hat crystal clear to the worker. This should include an actual presentation outlining where the different risks lie, how often they occur and the outcomes should a worker get injured. I think not only the Sikh worker but also his family should be privy to this information because if he gets a concussion from a falling object and dies on the job, it is his family that suffers. After that is explained, then the Sikh and his family can determine if the risk is worth it. And that's the whole point: He decides. It's not the government or the employer deciding, it is up to the individual worker who has to choose between his religious beliefs and his safety. You may not agree with his decision but, frankly, it's not yours to make. Canada is only becoming more and more diverse as time goes on and we need to adopt practices and policies (including health and safety) that respect all kinds of workers and their religious convictions. It's the right thing to do. It also opens up the labour pool. There are high-qualifi ed Sikhs out there right now wanting to work who need to turn down opportunities because they cannot wear respirators over their beards or hard hats in place of their turbans. But there has been a very exciting development on this front recently. A company out of the United Kingdom has just received approval in Alberta for its respirator for IDLH environments and fl ash fi re risks that can be safely used with full beards. (See cover story on page 20.) This issue of COS also includes a special expanded section on the oil and gas industry, from pages 12 to 19. With recent cutbacks to safety training and widespread layoffs in the oil patch, safety needs to stay top of mind to ensure the remaining workers aren't cutting corners to get the job done faster, and younger workers who are less experienced know where the risks lie. I have learned so much from all of you about safety, now it's time for me to give back. Columnist Glyn Jones discusses how improving your writing skills can make you a better safety professional. Many of his tips are ones I use (or have used) as well and I hope you are able to get a few helpful hints from his column on page 9. Amanda Silliker, Editor amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com

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