Alberta (Canada) workers will before long get a look at most employers’ injury and fatality records, however a debate continues over whether the provincial government is unveiling enough information to improve safety on the job.
Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk is expected to announce very soon what data will be included online in a new government initiative scheduled to go live at the end of next month, according to The Calgary Herald. (WCxKit)
Sources familiar with a draft of the plan informed the Herald the province intends to unveil safety information on all employers covered by the Workers Compensation Board except those with small workforces (approximately less than 40 full-time equivalent workers in a year).
Online data will likely detail
1. A company's lost-time claim rate and how it compares with the industry average;
2. Whether the employer has had workers die on the job;
3. And whether the company has a government-endorsed certificate of recognition, also know as COR. The certificate acknowledges an employer has an audited health and safety program.
It's not clear at this time how many years' worth of information will be disclosed.
Canada’s changes to Alberta's workplace safety system come after a stinging auditor general probe in the spring that reported the province wasn't sufficiently cracking down on employers who repeatedly flout safety laws and whose workers must deal with a greater risk of injury.
Both the Alberta Construction Association and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reportedly have reservations about the government's intention to unveil safety records on a majority of companies.
Ken Gibson, executive director of the construction association, noted Alberta has about 140,000 employers covered by the Workers' Compensation Board. (WCxKit)
His group is reportedly worried about the accuracy of the information the province plans to unveil and whether the public will be able to sort through a large mound of data to obtain a meaningful picture of safety performance.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Another company with a fall protection-related contravention has been charged by Saskatchewan's Ministry of Labor Relations and Workplace Safety has charged, bringing the total number of charged companies to 20 for this year.
On August 30, Regina-based Penny Lynn Holdings Ltd, operating as Dale Pierre Roofing, was fined $840 after pleading guilty to violating the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. The charge follows an August 5, 2009 incident when an OH&S officer observed four Penny Lynn workers on a roof with no fall protection or protective headwear. (WCxKit)
The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure workers use a fall protection system where a worker may fall three meters or more, adding that an additional charge of violating OH&S regulations was stayed in court.
The ministry conducts approximately 4,000 work site inspections annually. So far, this year’s convictions of 20, exceeds last year’s figure by 10 additional cases.
Overall a total of 33 prosecutions have been initiated, one more than all of last year.
Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker and website publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing.
Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
More than a year after hearings got under way, a labor arbitrator has ruled against a trio of chaplains who complained their boss, a priest at St. Boniface General Hospital (Winnipeg), bullied them.
According to The Canadian Press, arbitrator Arne Peltz reported in his 140-page decision that the complaints of harassment and abuse "were entirely without merit.''
Peltz also commented the complainants, a non-denominational minister, a Roman Catholic nun and a priest, should ask Father Gerry Ward for forgiveness. (WCxKit)
He says Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole, Sister Jeannine Corbeil and Father Roland Lanoie should search their hearts and reflect deeply on the moral quality of their actions.
The three each sought a month off, $10,000 and disciplinary action for Ward, the director of spiritual care services at the hospital.
According to the trio, Ward verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, and then labeled them as troublemakers.
"At the very least, these three chaplains owe the hospital and Father Ward a public apology,'' Peltz concluded. “ After the unrelenting and unfair attack he has sustained, I hope Father Ward can forgive them.''
The chaplains are still employed in the spiritual care department.
In his decision, Peltz said their complaints were "frivolous and vexatious'' and "blown out of proportion.''
Corbeil testified that Ward referred to the department as a "kindergarten'' and a nuclear medicine specialist as "the lady who glows in the dark.''
She said Ward informed her that her large size intimidated a chaplain and her temper had others referring to her as Attila the Nun.
Lanoie questioned why he wasn't getting his work schedule sent to him electronically anymore, and Ward informed him it was because Lanoie was rude to his assistant.
Ward's assistant informed the hearing she didn't know anything about it and that she hadn't reported to Ward that Lanoie was rude to her.
After Murrell-Cole was elected as the chaplains' union representative, he was removed from his long-held position as the psychiatric unit's chaplain.
Murrell-Cole complained he was reassigned to a greater workload and a desk he had to share with other chaplains.
The hospital defended Ward, arguing the trio turned out to be unhappy employees resistant to change who challenged their boss's authority.
In 2008, they filed a grievance against Ward. The hospital's head of human resources looked into their claims and brought in an outside consultant who said the chaplains were the problem, not their boss, the hospital's lawyer Ken Maclean said during the hearings.
Ward walked into a "very troubled workplace . . . with problematic communication . . . He was hired to end that discord,'' Maclean commented. (WCxKit)
The labor arbitrator, who listened to the two sides over the course of a year, said in his award that Ward had his work cut out for him when he was brought on in 2005.
"The evidence revealed a picture of an exasperated (spiritual care) director who was facing intractable conflict including intemperate, sometimes insubordinate conduct by part of his staff,'' Peltz wrote in his decision.
"The grievers were ungovernable but Ward and (human resources) persisted in efforts at counseling, coaching and mediation, rather than discipline.''
Still, Peltz ordered the hospital to pay $2,500 in compensation to Murrell-Cole after he was shuffled out of his position in the psych ward, his original position. Peltz said while the hospital was acting in good faith it was in violation of the grievance investigation process.
Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker and website publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing.
Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
Join WC Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=1922050/
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
A British Columbia tree planter's contract was terminated by the provincial government while authorities investigate allegations workers were subjected to no toilets, only creek water to drink and were paid with bounced checks.
According to The Canadian Press, upwards of 30 workers were removed from the Khaira Enterprises work camp after forestry ministry staff came upon what the province's labor minister details as "substandard conditions'' last month. They were responding to complaints of illegal burning.
The company is barred from government work for at least one year and the ministry is withholding its security deposit and other funds on the grounds it contravened its contract with BC Timber Sales. (WCxKit)
"I am very concerned about the alleged substandard conditions and mistreatment of employees at this forestry work camp,'' Labour Minister Murray Coell said in a statement about terminating the contract. "The conditions described are completely unacceptable for employees.''
According to the B.C. Federation of Labour, whose staff and president spoke to about a dozen workers in recent days, most members of the group were landed immigrants from Burundi and the Republic of Congo. President Jim Sinclair said they travelled from Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal to earn money to pay rent and go back to school.
They are also owed tens of thousands of dollars, he alleged, and said they initially tried striking and reaching out to authorities for help, but were only rescued when Forestry got the complaint for burning rubbish.
Sinclair said the workers were treated like “virtual slaves,'' and he put the blame on the province for lack of oversight.
"I've seen lots of lousy working conditions, but this is probably the grossest example that I've seen,'' he said in an interview. "It just shows you how far we've come as a society away from the idea that government is going to stop people from being abused. "Ninety per cent of them are new immigrants, they're being taken advantage of partly because of who they are.'' Sinclair fears there could be other hidden situations like this and called for the government to make and follow through on recommendations. (WCxKit)
WorkSafe BC and the Employment Standards Branch has launched investigations, including immediately interviewing the workers. A report could take several months.
\ Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
The Federal Court of Canada will conduct a judicial review in November of a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision challenging the ability of unions and employers to negotiate mandatory retirement ages for all Air Canada pilots.
According to The Canadian Press, the challenge to the tribunal decision was brought by the Air Canada Pilots Association. The association wants to continue to negotiate a standard retirement age for pilots, currently set at age 60.
The pilots association asked the federal court for a review a 2009 decision they believe “erred at law by ignoring Supreme Court of Canada decisions which found it acceptable for employers and employees to determine a retirement age through the collective bargaining process.” (WCxKit)
The tribunal ruled Air Canada's contract with the pilots was discriminatory under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It found the provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act allowing employers to impose mandatory retirement policies as “bona fide occupational requirements'' violated the Charter.
If left unchallenged, the tribunal's decision would potentially affect the wages and benefits of the Air Canada pilots and thousands of other federally regulated employees working under collective agreements containing a fixed age of retirement, the union said.
The human rights tribunal was responding to a complaint, filed in 2005 by a pilot, who was required to retire from his position as an Air Canada Airbus 340 pilot when he turned 60 years of age in 2003. (WCxKit)
This man and another pilot, who filed a subsequent complaint, requested reinstatement to their positions, with full seniority, along with damages for lost income, pension and other benefits.
\ Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has awarded a Vancouver lawyer close to $6 million due to a career-ending accident in which a co-worker fell on her while dancing at a staff party.
According to CBC News, the lawyer blacked-out when the dance floor collision knocked her to the floor during a party at the downtown nightclub. Due to the incident, the woman now suffers debilitating headaches and must spend hours a day in a dark, quiet room. (WCxKit)
Prior to the accident, the mother of two was working at a Vancouver law firm and was considered by her colleagues who testified, as a potential “rainmaker," a lawyer who can bring in new clients.
"The award is based on the fact that the judge found that she was destined to be a very, very successful lawyer," her attorney told CBC News. "As a result of the injuries she suffered … she will never be able to work as a successful lawyer."
It was while dancing with a pair of colleagues during the party in 2001 when the woman’s future changed, according to her lawyer. "One of them lost his balance and fell back, taking her down with him," Murphy stated. "He literally weighed twice as much as she did. She fell backward on to a very hard floor and that's when she suffered her head injury." The co-worker who landed on Danicek admitted he was intoxicated and was liable. (WCxKit)
More than $5 million of the woman’s award goes toward lost wages and potential earnings.
\ Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
A video of what appears to be horseplay and unsafe work practices on a Calgary construction site has prompted an investigation by Alberta Employment and Immigration (AEI) and action from the city's building officials.
Canadian OH&S News reports the video was filmed at a condominium development site in Calgary, according to AEI spokesman Barrie Harrison. The vides, apparently shot by a worker, captures one co-worker tossing a clamp to another co-worker across elevated scaffolding.
"I was extremely disappointed to see workers, professionals, acting in such a manner, and obviously, extremely shocked for the disregard for the safety of the public [and] the safety of the workers below," Kevin Griffiths, Calgary's chief building official, said.
If the horseplay as seen in the video is proven to have occurred, it would be a violation of Section 189 of Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Code, stipulating "if a worker may be injured if equipment or material is dislodged, moved, spilled or damaged, both the employer and the worker must take all reasonable steps to ensure the equipment or material is contained, restrained or protected to eliminate the potential danger." (WCxKit)
"When there's activity like this going on, (in) any sort of scaffolding construction, there should be some sort of safety netting beneath," Harrison said. "In some cases, you may want the sidewalk or street below to be cordoned off, but from the looks of the video, it doesn't look like any of that is in place." However, he adds, he does not want to assume anything until AEI's investigation is complete.
The workers were employed by Edmonton-based construction firm Skyway Canada, according to company president and chief operating officer Gary Carew. He added a pair of the workers in the video were suspended without pay, pending the results of investigations by both Skyway and AEI. The third involved worker recently left the company.
"Skyway Canada Ltd is deeply disturbed by the images in the video which we learned of last week," Carew says. "We do not condone the high-risk behavior of the workers in this video. We have commenced a comprehensive investigation into this incident and will share the results when completed."
Gary Wagar, executive director of the Alberta Construction Safety Association (ASCA) in Edmonton, notes that companies are obligated to manage horseplay through their safety management systems. "I think that there's a culture in general in young people, not just in the construction industry, when it comes to horseplay," he contends.
Wagar suggests that if AEI inspectors were authorized to issue OH&S fines on-site, workers and employers might have more incentive to comply with safety regulations. (WCxKit)
Griffiths, meanwhile, would like to see municipal fine amounts raised for sites that endanger public and worker safety. "We want to send a strong message that everyone needs to do everything possible not to inflict any possible endangerment to the public, and in extension, to workers obviously, on-site," he says.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
Violence is a growing concern in the workplace, and while many may think of violence as only physical assault, it has a much broader definition.
To help people recognize and report these signs, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) developed informational material depicting various types of behaviors are considered to be workplace violence.
According to Jessie Callaghan, senior technical specialist at CCOHS, and expert in the areas of workplace violence and bullying,
Workplace violence is:
1. ANY act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated or assaulted in his or her employment.
2. It’s NOT limited to incidents occurring within the traditional workplace, i.e. –
3. Work-related violence can occur at:
a. off-site business functions
b. at work social events
c. in clients' homes
d. away from work but resulting from work, such as a threatening telephone call to your home from a client
Workplace bullying is a form of workplace violence involving repeated incidents or a pattern of behavior that intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates a person or group, or is an assertion of power through aggression.
Each of these acts is considered a serious workplace problem and can cause undue stress, anxiety and low morale, ultimately affecting the individual, the employer and productivity as a whole for the organization.
For more information on violence and bullying and to download free PDF posters, please visit the CCOHS website at www.ccohs.ca.
\Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
An Act (Bill 168) to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace officially came into force recently in Canada. Is your workplace in compliance?
Representing the most significant changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act in almost two decades, these new amendments set forth tremendous obligations for employers.
Chief among them is the requirement for employers with six or more workers to develop and implement workplace violence and harassment policies and program(s). To this end the employer must provide all workers with information and instruction on the content of these workplace policies and related measures. The new law also requires measures to address domestic violence as a potential source of workplace violence. (WCxKitz)
To employers comply with the new legislation, the Toronto-based Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) developed a new Workplace Violence and Harassment Program. The three-hour training program covers essentials for those creating a new workplace-specific program or evaluating an existing workplace violence program.
WHSC training participants discuss:
1. Definitions of workplace violence, harassment, domestic violence and bullying.
2. Legislative requirements.
3. Behavior(s) that could be considered harassment.
4. Sources of workplace violence.
5. Causes of workplace violence.
6. Warning signs of workplace violence.
7. Related risk factors and their assessment.
8. Eliminating or controlling risk factors.
Participants cover information important to addressing domestic violence:
1. Signs a victim of domestic violence may exhibit.
2. Signs a perpetrator of domestic violence may exhibit.
3. Components of an effective domestic violence program.
4. What employers, JHSC, co-workers can do to assist the victim of domestic violence.
5. Domestic violence resources.
In addition to the Workplace Violence and Harassment Program, WHSC has developed two compliance checklists. One checklist helps workers determine if their employer is in compliance. The other checklist helps employers determine what they need to do in order to comply with the new law. (WCxKitz)
To learn more about WHSC’s new Workplace Violence and Harassment Program call 1-888-869-7950 and ask to speak to a training service representative.
\Author Rebecca Shafer, Consultant/Attorney, President, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
Search and rescue groups in Alberta, Canada are applauding the passage of legislation providing payment for liability insurance for volunteer search organizations by the provincial government. Not quite a workers comp issue, but closely related nontheless.
The issue was highlighted last May when a woman from Quebec died after she and her husband skied out of bounds at a resort and spent days lost in the rugged mountainous region.
The 51-year old husband filed lawsuits against a local search and rescue group, the RCMP and the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort after his 44-year-old wife froze to death during their 10-day ordeal in February.
The man is suing for negligence, alleging that between February 17 and 21, all three organizations were informed of SOS signals he stamped into the snow in the area about 700 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, but failed to launch a search. The allegations have not been proven in court.
In a statement of defense filed in court, the three organizations say the couple made a “deliberate choice” to ski out of bounds and can't blame others for the tragic consequences. (workersxzcompxzkit)
Until now, search and rescue groups were forced to pay for their own insurance. One estimate for the cost of buying insurance for all of the province's 40 search and rescue groups and 1,500 volunteers is “between $75,000 and $80,000 a year.''
\Author Rebecca Shafer, J.D., Writer, Consultant, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
FREE WC IQ Test: http://www.workerscompkit.com/intro/
WC Books: http://www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/workers-comp-books-manuals.php
WC Calculator: http://www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/calculator.php
TD Calculator: http://www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/transitional-duty-cost-calculator.php
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers' comp issues.
©2010 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
Posted in
