BELLEVILLE, ON – An employer with two previous convictions for safety violations has been sentenced to one day imprisonment and a fine of $10,000 for ignoring safety regulations. No one fell or was injured. The employer, Steve Bell, was charged with failing as an employer to ensure a worker was adequately protected from falling. By law the worker should have been using a travel restraint system, fall-restricting system, fall arrest system or a safety net. On October 7, 2015, a Ministry of...
Many industries in Saskatchewan do routine drug testing on their employees for safety reasons. One of the primary drugs they look for is marijuana, leading to many questions for the industry once it’s legalized. Will employees be able to work on the job site safely and return home unscathed at the end of the day? It’s a question leaders in safety sensitive industries say will become increasingly difficult for them to know with any certainty once marijuana is legalized in...
Ontario is continuing to enhance safety for health care professionals at work by implementing recommendations from the Workplace Violence Prevention in Health Care Report, released today. Due to the nature of their work, health care workers, including nurses and doctors, face a number of workplace hazards such as exposure to infectious diseases, ergonomic hazards, slips, trips and falls, as well as violence. “Violence in our workplaces will not be tolerated. Progress on workplace violence in...
A group of non-union contractors is pushing to mandate drug and alcohol testing for all city construction workers. Associated Builders and Contractors wrote to the City Council asking for the requirement to be added to a controversial package of construction safety legislation the Council is considering. “The reality is that drugs and alcohol are likely among the leading causes of injury to construction workers. It would be strange to pass worksite safety legislation while ignoring...
TORONTO — Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer George Gritziotis has released his annual report highlighting significant improvements in workplace safety in the past year. The Occupational Health and Safety in Ontario: 2015-16 Annual Report revealed that in 2015 Ontario had fewer occupational injury and illness claims, fewer critical injury events and fewer workplace fatalities. Among the highlights identified by Gritziotis, over 106,000 workers were trained in the new Working at...
Ontario is helping to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities for workers on construction sites across the province through the implementation of its Construction Health and Safety Action Plan.Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn announced the plan today at the construction site for the new courthouse in Toronto. Created with input from construction employers, workers and other industry stakeholders, Ontario’s plan contains 16 recommendations to strengthen the prevention of...
Workplace safety is an area of concern for many sectors and industries, but especially for the construction sector, because it has one of the highest rates of accidents and injuries, even deaths, of any workplace category. Constructors, contractors, builders and developers have no greater responsibility than to ensure that every worker goes home to his or her family at the end of the day. That’s why efforts in reducing the rate of injury on construction sites is of utmost importance;...
Sombre, reflective, an honouring of those who lost their lives – all those elements combine every year with the marking of the Westray disaster.
There were 26 coal miners in the final hours of a four-day shift at the Westray mine in Plymouth, N.S., when a coal seam spit a jet of methane gas that somehow ignited. The explosion killed every man in the mine and tore off the metal roof at the pit entrance. A worker reads the explanatory plaques as he attends a service to honour the 26 coal miners who perished in the Westray mine disaster at the Westray Miners Memorial Park in New Glasgow, N.S. on Tuesday. (Andrew...
PICTON, ON – Essroc Canada Inc. pleaded guilty and has been fined $50,000 after a worker was critically injured by a machine. On April 29, 2016, a worker was performing regular duties at the workplace located at 1370 Highway 49 in Picton; the company is a cement producer. The worker went to a mill area to insert a heat blank into an inlet duct, a routinely-performed task. The inlet duct is positioned in close proximity to a dust collector screw conveyor. While inserting the heat...