MySafeWork.com blogs

Double the Fines for Young Worker Safety

Rob — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:04:17 -0800

I'm sure you've seen a sign like this as you approach a road crew - a warning sign reinforcing the seriousness of driving too fast through a construction zone.

Why such a big jump in the penalty - doubling the fines? Because you could be endangering the lives of those young women and men wearing the hard hats and safety vests while they improve your roads, that's why!

Everyone seems to accept the doubling of fines in these high-risk circumstances when it comes to road crew safety... so why don't we apply the same principle to workplace safety in general?

The State of North Carolina has done just that - with a law that just took effect Dec. 1st, 2009, passed in a 114-to-1 vote - and is aimed specifically at young workers. It enforces:

A $500 fine instead of $250 for first-time violators of workplace safety regulations
$1,000 instead of $500 for subsequent violations
Up to $14,000 - instead of up to $7,000 - if a young person is hurt at work

Horrifically, a 2006 study of 16- and 17-year old construction workers in NC found that more than 80 percent of the young workers performed tasks that were clearly prohibited!

I applaud the state of North Carolina for toughening up the penalties against employers who don't take the safety and health of young workers seriously enough. The need is supported by appalling statistics: More than 400 younger workers are hurt every day on the job in the US. In Canada, there are more than 300 workers aged 15 to 24 who were reported injured each day in 2007.

Younger Workers Need Extra Support

I am especially pleased by NC's recognition that young worker safety requires stronger legislative support than for older workers. Although there are existing laws - in Canada, too - that protect everyone's right to refuse unsafe work, most adults agree that the young worker is at a complete disadvantage through inexperience when refusing unsafe work.

Let's face facts: A teenager doesn't always have the confidence to stand up to a much-older boss and say "No, I won't do that task. I don't feel safe." (Not to mention the whole macho culture suggesting that "safety is for sissies" that seems pervasive in many industries.)

Every company president and union leader that I've talked to in the last year agrees that young workers need stronger support in Canada, too. More than 100,000 young Canadians are hurt each year on the job - a shameful record. We can do better to protect our future workforce.

With the continued success of doubling fines for speeding in construction zones, there seems little doubt that the same idea in young worker safety would have an immediate, positive impact: bringing more awareness to the issue, and hopefully staunching the blood flow of young workers.

Additional revenues generated by the doubled fines could be put towards training. apprenticeships, and technical programs at the college level and in workplaces. Cooperative programs in high schools and colleges would also be a great benefactor of this protective legislation. It's win- win for all Canadians.

Nova Scotia Law Not Focused Enough

New legislation in Nova Scotia has increased occupational health and safety violations fines - now starting at $100 for employees, $250 for supervisors and $500 for employers, professionals like architects and engineers when they are acting as project managers.

I think it is a mistake that Nova Scotian legislators have made no distinction of age or experience for the workers.

It is difficult to imagine that anyone would be against giving extra support for the safety of young workers. The only argument that might be raised is: will businesses stop hiring young workers for fear of paying higher fines? (But did we stop, or even reduce, our amount of driving when the seat belt fines were tripled?)

Consider this blog post a call to action to legislators and industry leaders across Canada: You need to play catch-up with the North Carolina law that doubles fines for workplace safety and health violations involving young workers.

If you slow down when you see those "double fines" signs by road crews, you've seen the power of tougher financial penalty in action. Let's use it to keep Canadian youth from being cut, burned, broken - or even killed - on the job.

Hands-Free or Highway Parking

Rob — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:06:46 -0700

This week the use of hand-held cellphones, Blackberries, other PDAs, iPods and other MP3 players, and handheld GPS systems while driving became illegal in Ontario, where I live and work. Now only hands-free devices can be used in the new "distracted driving" law.

Of course, I am thrilled. I've been blogging about this road safety issue since early 2007. This legislation is long over due; but I'm not as happy as I could be.

On a drive I made this week on Highway QEW, I saw no one holding a cellphone (wow, first time in a long time) BUT I saw several cars pulled over on the side of a four-lane, super-busy highway. These were not empty cars pulled over; they were occupied by drivers chatting on their hand-held phones!!

I don't think this is what the government had in mind when they passed the distracted-driving law.

Imagine the danger of being a "sitting duck" as cars and trucks whizz past you at upwards of 120 km an hour, just inches away from your perch on the narrow shoulder of the highway. It's not as if everyone's always driving between the lines, especially with the amount of lane changing that happens.

A motorist preoccupied with his phone conversation, pulled over in a hazardous position that practically obstructs moving traffic - THAT'S deemed by some people as an improvement in safety!? I think it's a new bad habit.

What do you think? I want to know if you've seen this unsafe behaviour on the road in Ontario too this week. Leave your comments below.

Raise your Hand HIGH

Rob — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:10:34 -0700

I've long been a fan of the great, progressive work done by Work Safe BC... but now they've outdone themselves with an amazing, redesigned website that is social networked to the max - for their Raise your Hand campaign aimed at teens primarily and it includes:

Facebook
YouTube
Blog
Twitter: Their bio there reads "Injury isn't part of any job description. If something isn't safe at work, simply raise your hand."
Make your Own Button: Add your face or not, choose colour, design, message, symbol of your workplace, and more! This button can be shared to your Facebook profile or other places, downloaded, viewed...

I love that this site is calling itself a MOVEMENT - a burgeoning Youth Activism cause. We at MySafeWork have been calling for a workplace safety movement - akin to the enviromentalism movement of a few decades ago.

Guess we weren't the only ones making the connection to the powerful social acitivism of the '60s and '70s... the entire Raise your Hand site is designed in the hippy-culture style!

Gap Time: Is Your Business Prepared?

jessica — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:53:06 -0700

If I were to ask you what "Gap Time" was - you probably wouldn't be able to tell me what it was. In fact, up until a couple of years ago I probably couldn't have told you what it was either. Recently, I was at an assembly where I asked the question about Gap Time to students, executives and unions leaders. Nobody, except two young Mexican college students were able to correctly give a definition for "Gap Time" which is - the period of time where new immigrants learn to adjust to language, and culture.

In the next decade businesses and unions will see a significant percentage of their experienced workforce retire. Succession planning is extremely important if our economy is to compete on a global basis. Are we ready to accept all these new skilled young immigrants?

If two new Spanish speaking employees were introduced to your work , could we assume that you would be ready ? Who would conduct the training? How would you supervise? Would more time be required for orientation?

Maybe some our new champions can help us eliminate these cultural gaps. The Road to Zero depends on everybody's input.

Be a Snitch

jessica — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:42:49 -0700

Over the past 10 years I have been astounded to realize how many workplace hazards really exist in our "safe" and "comfortable" society. While, I had been to hundreds of gas stations and hundreds of fast food joints I must admit that I rarely thought about who the person was that was closing up and how dangerous a job that could be.

In the past decade however I have been educated about the dangers that some of these jobs pose. In fact, rarely do I frequent one of these establishments where I don't look at the young employees and wonder if they are being left alone to lock-up, or if their employer cares enough about them to put proper protocols and buddy systems in place.

Last week in Ancaster a young 16 year old girl spoke up in front of her entire school. "Last week the corner gas store that I work at on the night shift was robbed not once but twice. My boss told all of us to keep it HUSH-HUSH-don't say a thing we don't want any of our customers to find out that we have been robbed-KEEP QUIET !---so I quit-is there anybody I should tell? What should I do?"

When I heard this young girl tell her story I was astounded by her courage and her willingness to stand up for herself and help make Canada a better place to live, but it made me wonder...

What makes an employer in Canada feel like they can endanger their employees just for a buck?
Are there places/jobs where we just turn a blind eye to potential hazards – how can we bring better attention to these places?
How can we extinguish the “snitch” culture and find positive and creative ways to encourage whistleblowers?

Over the next few weeks I am going to be posting some ideas surrounding these questions. Let me know your thoughts...together we can make Canada the best place to work in the world!

Young Canadians Question Tradition in Safety in Northern Ontario

jessica — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:37:48 -0700

Last week MySafeWork had an the great opportunity to joining with Dibrina Sure to bring the message of safety to 4000 students in the Sudbury ON area.

On Wednesday morning Students filled the Memorial Arena, a place where they usually go to watch the Sudbury Wolves play, to learn about career opportunities, while interacting with local business and union leaders.

Although every presentation is different we can always be assured that students will not be afraid to ask difficult questions. During this presentation we focused on safety culture as an issue relating to tradition. As an organization one of our main goals is to challenge the current status quo around safety culture and begin to show people that we can attain the "road to zero". As usual, during the Q&A portion of the presentation students lined the aisles armed with challenging questions for experienced leaders.

Here is a sample of some of their questions:

Why do NHL players not wear full masks for protection and safety? Is is tradition?
Why don't construction workers get tied off on the roofs? Is it tradition?
Why don't all businesses offer Orientation? Is it tradition?
In these tougher economic condition the traditional minimum wage job is now being sought after by adults -students are going to find it tougher to quit their jobs even if they might be unsafe-should we stay with the money and the job and risk injury?

I am convinced that the more we give young people knowledge about the workplace - the more power we will give them to challenge the status quo. The question is not, do young people care about safety - the real question is do we as leaders care enough to give them knowledge so that they can change the face of tomorrow's workplace.

Needless Blood

Rob — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:01:41 -0700

If 2,000 polar bears were injured this year in Canada, don't you think someone would speak up?

Polar bears are important... but so are people.

Last year in Canada, 200,000 workers were injured at their jobs.

Something must be done.

Are you part of the solution?

'Tell Me Your Story' DVD a Big Winner for Workplace Safety

Rob — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:03:11 -0700

"Those stories are going to help a lot" says the trailer for the powerful workplace safety stories produced in a series of DVDs by Canadian company, Danatec. A few seconds into it, I see a man severely disfigured on face and arms by burn scars, a woman discussing the occupational disease that has made her a victim, and a pair of lab workers discussing the need for WHIMS training.

BUT it's NOT dull! Rather, the trailer is fast-paced, with an engaging soundtrack, cutting to images of varying workplaces, and still cram-packed with valuable information aimed at saving lives at work.

Dantec has produced a 45-minute training DVD that includes six real life-episodes that deliver a versatile case for safety on the job. The survivors themselves explain what happened in each graphic case and how serious injuries, or even deaths, would have been prevented if basic WHMIS principles had been applied.

We at MySafeWork have long lamented the lack of powerful, engaging workplace safety training material - and Danatec is showing everyone how it can be done!

The trailer is available at Blip.tv - a progressive social media site (more than 1 million viewers a month) that shares video (there are dozens of popular video sharing sites beyond YouTube) and this in itself is indicative of the kind of leading-edge approach the company is taking.

They're not content to settle for dusty three-ring binders of MSDS fact sheets, nor 20-year old videos of talking heads droning on about safety.

And Danatec has won seven prominent awards for its innnovative approach to workplace safety training, including the Gold Aurora Award, an international safety industry competition recognizing creativity, message effectiveness and technical excellence in film/video industries.

I challenge MORE COMPANIES to get on the ball and make this kind of safety training material and disseminate it as widely and successfully as Danatec is doing.

Got ideas?! Please leave them below... Got examples, please email us your video clips, or PDF doc or whatever modern means you are using to get across the message of RESPECT AND SAFETY in your workplace.

Our Fifth Annual 'Simulcast" at Ontario High Schools

jessica — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:25:09 -0700

I'm going to be up on that stage, like my dad, in a couple of weeks speaking to hundreds of high school students at once - live and via the miracle of video-simulcast, and I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous!

I will be speaking at four different schools in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, while my dad, Rob Ellis, speaks at other schools and our corporate champions talk to youth at still other schools.

Our 4th Annual Simulcast, held in April 2008, was the largest and most powerful safety outreach event undertaken by Our Youth At Work. More than 100 corporations sent their executives to more than 100 high schools in 50 cities across Ontario to reach out to students about the importance of workplace safety - all in a single morning!!

You need to be there to feel the powerful energy in those school auditoriums as we share our personal stories about tragic, and preventable, workplace accidents and deaths, and as we answer the questions of teens who hunger for knowledge, and desire to protect themselves in the working world.

Every year our Annual Simulcast gets bigger and better, and who knows? Maybe we are saving more lives each year. We certainly hope and pray that is the case!

This photo shows high school students, corporate champions and Rob Ellis at a previous Simulcast event.

For more information about our Simulcast event on April 17th, please email Nina at nina@mysafework.com

Lift, Push, Strain, Repeat...

heather — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:50:49 -0700

Take this quick test of knowledge:

What type of injury causes almost HALF of all injuries in which workers need to take time off work in Ontario?

OK, so what did you think?...

Motor accidents (including forklifts, ATVs, pickup trucks, etc.)?

Burns from occupational fire hazards?

Electricity-related accidents?

Falls from heights - like in construction?

Wrong, on all accounts...

The single greatest number of work-related injuries that require time off are, in fact, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

The Ontario government is starting a Safe At Work Ontario blitz next month to target workplaces in the construction, healthcare, industrial and mining sectors.

Provincial inspectors will concentrate on tasks that require workers to exert force in lifting, pushing or carrying items and tasks that put workers in awkward postures or are repetitive.

This initiative is part of the province's program launched in June 2008, an effort to lessen the "strain" (pun intended) on the health care system. "Keeping workers safe means increased productivity for Ontario's economy," the government press release adds.

Do you have any MSD nightmare stories you want to share? How about advice to avoid repetitive strain injuries at work?