Canadian Occupational Safety

February/March 2017 7 Newfoundland enhances cancer coverage for career, volunteer fi refi ghters T he government of New foundland and Labrador has amended the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act to provide presumptive cancer coverage for the province's career and volunteer fi refi ghters. Adding a presumptive clause to the legislation means a fi refi ghter who ser ves for a specifi ed period of time and develops a specifi c form of cancer will be presumed to have developed that cancer as a result of their work, and can receive workers' compensation benefi ts. "Our government is proud to provide a ben- efit that firefighters have been seeking for more than a decade and is already provided in most other provinces," said Premier Dwight Ball. "This was recommended by statutory reviews of the Workplace Health and Safety Compen- sation Commission in 2006 and 2013 and is long overdue." Ball added that this new benefi t will not increase employers' assessment rates. With this legislative amendment, qualifying f iref ighters will receive wage-loss benef its, medical aids and certain other benefi ts through WorkplaceNL, while health-care costs associated with fi refi ghters' cancer treatment will be paid through the Medical Care Plan. Structuring benefi ts in this way reduces demand on the WorkplaceNL Injury Fund, the government said. The 11 types of cancer that will be covered are: brain, breast, bladder, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, leukemia, lung, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, testicular and ureter. "It is satisfying to see years of advocacy work on this issue being rewarded," said Doug Cadigan, president, International Association of Firefi ghters, Local 1075. "Firefi ghters will continue to answer the call, knowing that there are measures in place to support them, should they require this new benefi t in the future." For fi refi ghters to qualify for the benefi t, they will need to submit documentation that includes their term of service, the nature of their work and the number of times they fought fi res — whether through their career or as volunteers. "This coverage will offer much needed protection to many volunteer fi refi ghters who may encounter serious health problems resulting from the valuable work they did protecting their communities," said Duane Antle, president, Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Fire Ser vices. "(The) government's decision to include volunteer fi refi ghters in this legislation respects the fact that many communities throughout the province rely heavily on volunteers and we appreciate that this was recognized." There are approximately 350 active career fi re- fi ghters and 5,900 active volunteer fi refi ghters in Newfoundland and Labrador. 'Psssht-psssht' replacing 'beep-beep-beep' vehicle backup alarms in B.C. M ore employers across British Columbia are replacing the conventional " beep-beep-beep" vehicle back up alarm wit h a broadband, or white noise, alarm. The broadband alarm, which meets WorkSafeBC's occupational health and safety requirements, uses the same cadence but broadcasts a range of frequencies, rather than a single frequency, as is typically used in a conventional backup alarm. These types of broadband alarms are popular in Australia. Reversing vehicles can pose a sig- nifi cant safety risk on work sites. In the past decade, 11 workers were killed in the province when backing vehicles or mobile equipment pinned them against an object or struck them, according to WorkSafeBC. The broadband alarm emits a pulsing "psssht-psssht" sound — something much different from the typical backup alarm. "When we hear beeping from backup alarms all the time, we gradually learn to ignore it as a warning signal," said WorkSafeBC occupational audiologist Sasha Brown. "With the broadband alarm, because we're not hearing it as much in our daily lives, we are less likely to become used to the sound, or habitu- ated to it, and are therefore less likely to tune it out when it is important for us to hear it." Another advantage of broadband alarms is localization. The broadband alarm is more focused in the area where a person is potentially at risk, thereby alerting workers and pedestrians who are in the vicinity of the vehicle. "Our brain analyzes information that comes from each ear, compares it, and notices the differences in timing, loudness and phases of the sound waves. It then uses this to fi gure out where the source of a sound is located. Essentially, the more information we give it, the better it can fi gure this out," said Brown. "It makes sense that broadband sounds, which have lots of different frequen- cies, would be easier to localize." In 2015, the University of Victoria installed 20 broadband alarms on it s f le e t of maintenance vehicles after receiving noise com- plaints from nearby residents. It educated employees and residents on the new system and the facilities department held demonstrations of the new alarms on campus. The response to the broadband alarms has been overwhelmingly posi- tive, said Darryl Huculak, EHS co-ordinator for the facilities department at the University of Victoria. "It's not something people are used to hear- ing, so they tend to take more notice of it," he said, adding it's much easier to determine where the sound is coming from as well. Today, most of the university's maintenance vehicles have been retrofi tted and all new vehicles are evaluated for the retrofi t with the broadband alarm. Newfoundland enhances cancer coverage for career, volunteer fi refi ghters T New foundland and Labrador has amended the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation

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