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Magazine Name - December 2009

Features

Just Asking

Playing For Keeps
VIRTUAL LEARNING; It seems a cliché, I know, but after it was over, I was left confused: how could everything go so wrong, so quickly? As the property manager of Fortuna Industrial Park, I was tasked with ensuring all businesses in the park -- neighbours in effect -- followed the same emergency response plan. Simple enough, that is until one summer night when a large gasoline spill occurred while gas tanks were being refilled. Not so far away was a concert site, from which hot ash and embers from the pyrotechnics display were riding the wind back to the gas bar. Before I knew it, a fire had ignited -- a decidedly unnerving thing at a gas station. Concert-goers, initially oblivious to the unfolding drama, soon grew panicked when they realized the potential for things to go "boom." They were not alone. I could feel my own anxiety rise as a site-specific spill was quickly transformed into a full-scale emergency. As much as I tried to coordinate and manage, it felt like a no-win situation: too many options, too many decisions, and not enough time or resources. In less than a minute, things had spiralled out of control. And, then, it was all over.

Addiction Affliction
SUBSTANCE USE; The findings of a new study may add some urgency to an old problem. Substance use, alcohol in particular, is a "chronic challenge" in the oil and gas industry's labour force, notes the report, "Health and Wellness Trends in the Oil and Gas Sector." The study by Shepell·fgi in Toronto points out that in 2008, workers sought addictions counselling through an employee assistance program (EAP) more often than the average for other industries -- about a third more, in fact. Alcohol dependency in the industry has also risen steadily, demonstrated by a 481 per cent increase in EAP access for alcohol abuse from January, 2006 to December, 2008. The results were gleaned from examining EAP data for 36 upstream petroleum organizations over that three-year period and comparing this to program use across all industries in Canada. The rapid expansion of the oil sands and its accompanying occupational stressors were noted as among the drivers. Citing social disruptions brought on by rapid coal mining development in the ranching town of Gillette, Wyoming in the 1970s, psychologist Eldean V. Kohrs coined the term, Gillette Syndrome, to describe the repercussions boom towns can experience as a result of nearby natural resources extraction. Population explosion, drinking, divorce, depression and delinquency were among the unwelcome reported side effects. Is this same scenario now playing out on Canadian soil? As Alberta's oil sands churn out product to sate the seemingly endless global appetite for energy, what is the ripple effect on occupational health and safety?

Ready Or Not
WORKPLACE CULTURE; Peter Clarke knows the ins and outs of working safely at the Michelin Tire (Canada) Ltd. plant in Granton, Nova Scotia -- and so he should. He's been through the French tire maker's two-day, occupational health and safety orientation and training program five times. "I could go there right now and start building tires," says the 23-year-old political science graduate, currently studying journalism, who grew up in the nearby town of Pictou. His father has put in more than three decades on the assembly line at Michelin Tire, making Clarke eligible for a job as a summer fill-in at the plant. That's been the case for five years running. "They make sure even returning students get the exact same stuff every year, just drill it into your head. How everything works in the plant, the safety rules," says Clarke. "They really pound in the fact that it's the law that you have the right to refuse unsafe work."

Departments

Accident Prevention

Law File

Workers' Compensation

Dispatches

Safety Gear

Time Out

OH&S Update

Editorial

Health Watch