Ontario OHS Expert Advisory Panel Report

Well the long awaited report from the Expert Advisory Panel on Health and Safety, led by Tony Dean, released the results of its review of Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety System.

The panel consulted wide variety of stakeholders for their input about how to improve the prevention system. The panel has made significant recommendations for improving both the structure of the system and its work.

The recommendations include:

• The establishment of a new prevention organization, housed in the Ministry of Labour, and an associated council of stakeholders. The health and safety associations would align with this new entity.

• A strong emphasis on training, including mandatory awareness training for workers, supervisors, and health and safety representatives.

• A special focus on high-risk work, vulnerable workers, and small business.

• New efforts to combat the underground economy.

• Tougher penalties for willful violators.

For a copy of the report click here

Ontario MOL Loading Dock Blitz: February 1st to 28th, 2011

The next MOL Biltz will involve a province-wide loading dock inspection blitz. All industry sectors will be affected.

Loading docks and shipping areas have exposure to the four highest hazard priorities for Ontario's prevention system: contact with machinery, motor vehicle incidents, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and slips, trips and falls."

Inspectors will be looking for

• vehicles unsecured against accidental movement (O. Reg. 851, section 57)
• an absence of signalers, or signalers who are not fulfilling their duties (O. Reg. 851, section 56)
• pedestrian traffic hazards, with the movement of vehicles in and out, and other mobile equipment; this would include clearances, lighting, barriers, warning signs…
• floor and ground surfaces, making sure there is no accumulation of garbage, no tripping hazards, ice, snow, uneven surfaces…
• related hazards, such as falls, lifting devices and forklifts, conveyors, material handling from heights, hazardous chemicals, flammable and explosive substances, personal protective equipment, guarding, lockout...
• items unsecured against tipping or falling (O. Reg. 851, section 46)
• worker training related to hazards they are exposed to.

Are you in Compliance?

For assistance with reviewing and ensuring your dock safety standards and practices are in compliance with the law and keeping your employees safe, contact PHS Solutions at jebidia@phssolutions.ca or call 416-270-7689.

Ontario Ministry of Labour - One Number for Workplace Health & Safety Calls

Ontario has launched a new toll-free number 1-877-202-0008 to report workplace health and safety incidents or unsafe work practices.

On Nov. 1, 2010, the Ministry of Labour launched a Health & Safety Contact Centre, which allows anyone, anywhere in Ontario to call one number to report a workplace health and safety incident, critical injury, fatality or work refusal.

For assistance with your health and safety needs call 416-270-7689 and visit www.phssolutions.ca

Ontario MOL Blitz on Lockout and Guarding of Conveyors

Ontario Ministry of Labour inspectors will focus on lockout and guarding hazards involving conveyor systems from November 1 to December 31 2010 during stepped-up activity at industrial workplaces across Ontario.

Conveyor-related injuries occur less often than other types of injuries in industrial workplaces. However, the injuries that do occur tend to be more severe.

The most common activities in which injuries and deaths occurred involved cleaning a drum or other part of a conveyor, conveyor maintenance, regular activities such as sorting or packing near a conveyor and recovering a jammed item from an unguarded pinch point hazard.

Inspectors will take a “zero tolerance” approach to any contraventions found under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations.

Blitz Focus

Inspectors will focus on sectors in which conveyors are used. These will include:

• Farming operations
• Large bakeries
• Food and beverage manufacturers
• Waste recycling
• Cement plants
• Auto sector
• Printing sector
• Soil screening operations for landscaping
• Saw mills
• Chemical plants
• Pharmaceutical plants
• Automotive plants
• Computer plants
• Electronic plants

In particular, inspectors will target establishments:

• Known to have conveyors
• Known to have hazardous processes and equipment;
• Where complaints have been received; and
• Where there is a poor compliance history

Priorities

Inspectors will focus on the following key priorities:

• Guarding: Inspectors will check for pinch points and other hazardous locations lacking guarding devices on conveyors. Guarding is typically required in locations such as power transmission interfaces, nip points, shear points (where a moving conveyor part meets or passes near a stationary point such as a wall) and spill points (where material could spill from a conveyor).
• Locking and Blocking: When it is necessary to open or remove guards, workers must follow lockout procedures to prevent injury from the conveyor starting. Lockout procedures typically involve bringing the machine to a complete stop and disconnecting all its power sources. Blocking is an extra step that must be carried out to prevent the conveyor belt from moving under its own power due to tension on the belt.
• Musculosketal Disorders (MSDs): Inspectors will check that workers are not exposed on an ongoing basis to things such as repetitive work, forceful exertions such as heavy lifting and carrying, awkward postures and vibrating equipment that can affect the bones, joints, ligaments and other soft tissues. These types of activities can result in MSDs, which are injuries and disorder of the muscles, tendons and nerves.

PHS Health & Safety Management System Software

Proactive Health and Safety Solutions Inc. has just released another update to it's leading edge Health and Safety Management System Software application. The web-based application is designed to assist organizations in managing their health and safety needs in support of their efforts to prevent accidents, incidents, achieve legal compliance and due diligence. Please check out this latest update at www.safetysoftware.ca and give me a call at 416-270-7689 to arrange for a full demo of the software features and very affordable pricing.

Criminal Charges Laid in Toronto Scaffolding Collapse

Well Ontario leads the way again on health and safety related criminal charges.

The owner of a Toronto construction company and two others charged in a deadly scaffolding collapse in Toronto last Christmas Eve have each been released on $10,000 bail.

Four migrant workers who were repairing concrete balconies at an apartment building died when they plummeted 13 storeys to the ground when their swing stage scaffolding broke.

A fifth suffered serious injuries but a sixth man, who had attached himself to a lifeline, was uninjured.

Joel Swartz, 51, of Toronto, owner of Metron Construction Corp., Vadim Kazenelson, 35, of Gormley, Ont., and Benny Saigh, 52, of Toronto, surrendered to police Wednesday morning.

The three men and Metron Construction Corp. each face four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The maximum penalty for criminal negligence causing death is life in prison.

The next court appearance in the case is Nov. 3.

The case is "precedent setting,'' said lead Toronto police Det. Kevin Sedore in an interview.

"I think it's also going to be a wake-up call for supervisors and persons who are directing work and details,'' said Sedore, who called the deaths a preventable tragedy.

A publication ban was imposed on evidence presented at the bail hearing. None of the allegations has been proven in court.

Metron, along with Swing N Scaff of Ottawa, had previously been charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Following the construction deaths, inspectors from Ontario's Ministry of Labour conducted an enforcement blitz at hundreds of construction sites.

Ontario also launched a review into how to better protect workers after a string of deaths on construction sites across the province.

Stay tuned for more on this case as it evolves.

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