Features
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Hands-Off Documents
The story has all the makings of a compelling Hollywood flick: a confidential, privileged report a company had been assured would be destroyed finds its way into the hands of a provincial inspector an…
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Colour Me Safe
New technology is often eagerly anticipated, while concurrently viewed with scepticism — that is, at least until any wrinkles have been ironed out.
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The Other Hepatitis
There are plenty of types of hepatitis: C likely being the most familiar and capable of setting off the loudest alarm bells in workplace settings.
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A Safe and Helpful Lift
Lifting is a common workplace task that seems tailor-made for injury. Picking up a load that is just a few kilograms too heavy, reaching just a little too far forward, carrying something just a bit ov…
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Taking a Broader View
Tunnel vision — the term can carry hefty negative connotations. That is certainly the case when it comes to occupational health and safety, where failure to consider anything but what’s directly ahead can be hazardous indeed.Take a road…
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Breathe In, Breathe Out
The list of deadly substances a worker may encounter while responding to a hazardous event is varied and frightening: materials that are radioactive, flammable, explosive, corrosive, biohazardous or t…
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Changing The Look Of Violence
Theresa Vince, Pierre Lebrun and Lori Dupont — their names have become synonymous with work-related violence, harassment or both.
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Equip Against MSD Pain
TAKING A PASSIVE APPROACH — basically, reacting after something has happened — is never a good thing when it comes to preventing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). With many jurisdictions across Cana…
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Well-Conceived Wellness
WHEN VANCOUVER’S AIRPORT saw lost-time injuries climbing skyward in the late 1990s, it became clear that a new flight plan was in order.
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Incremental, Insidious, Forever
IT’S A HAZARD that’s heard daily, but all too often, not heeded. Dangerous noise levels are a part of the job for approximately 30 per cent of the industrial work force, says Brian Myers, portfolio ma…
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Get Real in the Virtual World
TWO YEARS BEFORE assembly line workers at Ford Motor Company plants actually start production on a new vehicle, the unit is already being built.
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Distraction Hear and Now
IMAGINE BEING A SAFETY MANAGER, preparing to lead the monthly meeting that’s just about to start. The agenda is full, so everyone will need to focus to get things done.
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Giant Mine Saga Nears End
THE WIDOWS OF NINE WORKERS killed in a deliberately set explosion during a hard-fought labour dispute at Yellowknife’s Giant Mine have asked Canada’s highest court to decide, once and for all, what co…
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Warming To Protective Gear
ON FEBRUARY 3, 1947, the tiny village of Snag in the Yukon set a record yet to be bested. With a week of cold air blowing in from Siberia, Snag netted the lowest air temperature ever recorded in Canad…
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Chemical release clears processing plant
ABRAMS VILLAGE, PEI
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Regina v. INCO: Righting an Old Wrong
MANY WILL SAY that the recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision in R. v. Inco Limited (released June 6, 2001) has been too long in coming. On the surface, the question at issue was a simple one: When does an inspector, entering the premises of a co…
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DELEGATING SAFETY
Do the contractor safety practices at your workplace consist of reliance on contractual sign-offs in which the contractor agrees to be “fully responsible for compliance with all applicable health and safety legislation and standards”? Or do your p…
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DISCIPLINE FOR SAFETY INFRACTIONS… OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES
The corporation’s thorough written health and safety system has been detailed in all respects to the court in an effort to establish due diligence. Yet several company supervisors, under cross-examination by the prosecution, have now admitted that…
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Who Pays for PPE?
If the law says the employer must “provide” protective equipment, does that mean it has to pay for it? Surprisingly, the answer varies. Hard hats, safety boots, protective gloves, respirators: By law, personal protective equipment has to be used in…
