Features
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SHUTEYE STANDARDS NEEDED
Doctor, doctor – get yourself some sleep. More shuteye for physicians is in order, notes a public release on a recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Drs. Noni MacDonald, Paul Hébert, Ken Flegel and Matthew Stanbrook suggest…
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Keep A-head of Hazards
Welding carries with it a host of potential hazards that demand careful consideration even before arc meets metal. Depending on the welding process employed, issues such as ergonomics, noise, electric shock, bright light, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, toxic fumes and gases,…
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COURT CLARIFIES JHSC COVERAGE
The Court of Appeal for Ontario has weighed in on the meaning of “regularly employed” workers under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and that opinion may have implications for when joint health and safety committees (JHSCs) are required. The…
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BEYOND ESTABLISHED BORDERS
Representatives for a popular vacation resort in Ontario plan to again appeal a directive for the business to notify the Ministry of Labour (MOL) of all critical injury and fatality incidents involving non-workers. “It’s the absurdity of the whole thing,”…
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POLICE STATE
Ontario’s ombudsman will explore how the provincial police service deals administratively with operational stress injuries (OSI) in response to the receipt of almost three dozen complaints from officers. On March 31, ombudsman André Marin announced he would launch an investigation…
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Know Your Foe
Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” Though known for his wit, Berra’s message regarding the importance of planning is no joking matter, particularly when it comes to occupational health and…
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Just Temporary
There has been much talk around temporary foreign workers (TFWs) of late. In past, the occasional media blip about some person from some other country being injured or abused at a Canadian workplace failed to inspire much more than passing…
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Hip to be Cool
Stop whining about the cold; get ready to whine about the heat. Summer is just around the corner and that means on-the-job measures must be in place. Beating the heat is not solely an outdoors issue. If indoors, consider foundries,…
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Safety Submerged
The deaths of three workers tasked with helping to refurbish a shaft at the Bachelor Lake gold mine in northwestern Quebec reveals in sad, often shocking, detail the need for constant vigilance.
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Phantom Rising
To some, it is a constant buzzing in their ears; for others, it is a sort of whistling, humming or even the usually calming sounds made by crickets.
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POLLUTION REVS UP RISK
If there were not already enough reasons to put the brakes on environmental air pollution, another concern looks to be rounding the bend. Recent research out of Children’s Hospital Boston, funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland,…
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Keep it Clean
Protecting workers from hazards in work environments is common enough. But how common is it to protect the environment from the worker? Unlike in industrial manufacturing environments, use of coveralls in cleanrooms “serves to protect sensitive processes and products from…
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Don’t let the bedbugs bite… at home or at work
Business is “very brisk” for Amin Poonja which, although good for him, is not so good for those on the other end of the phone line.
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Wellness helps drive higher morale, lower costs
Retaining skilled labour in an aging work force is pushing workplace wellness up the agenda for some employers in Saint John.
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Danger Pay
The reach of an incident on Christmas Eve, 2009, one that claimed the lives of four migrant workers and critically injured another, seems to have no end. The image of a scaffold separated in two extends beyond the wreckage of mere equipment,…
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LONG STORY SHORT
A professional engineer facing a charge under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act came out on top during a recent showdown between individual rights and the public interest. The charge against Wayne Vollick alleged he had provided negligent or incompetent…
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Retirement mandatory no more for two veteran pilots
A federal tribunal has ordered Air Canada to reinstate two long-time pilots who had earlier been forced to retire, in line with mandatory provisions of their collective agreement.
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What’s Appening?
The idea came to John Holtan while he was attending a week-long training event in Atlanta about five years ago. A refinery and power plant operations instructor in North Dakota at the time, Holtan made the trip to Georgia Tech hoping to beef up…
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DIRTY DEEDS
These days, employers and workers alike are becoming more aware that environmental hazards on the outside can infiltrate workplaces on the inside. Lately, though, the buzz has been growing around a potential enemy launching a sneak attack through wires and…
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Hear for Tomorrow
Sound can be transformed into the unsound when excessive: too much noise, too much vibration, even too much exposure to solvents can lead to hearing loss that no amount of second-guessing will restore. A whole host of controls should be…
