MySafeWork.com blogs

Feeling Hot, Hot... Sick

Rob — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:52:46 -0700

We're deep into the dog days of summer - lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer - and while many of us are hitting the beaches and lakes and soaking in the rays, we actually have more to fear from the sun than just high UV and skin cancer. Working in the sun - specifically, under-hydrated, overexposed, unprotected work - can result in illness, and even fatality, during the hottest months of the year.

Speaking of "dog days", most of us get pretty upset when we see a pet left in a car on a hot day, panting from heat exhaustion and trying desperately to "sweat" through their drooling tongues, with no water bowl at hand. (This blog post is starting to remind me of my fellow blogger's post recently about posh pet resorts and how they can be safer than kids' camps!)

Treat Workers as Humanely as Chickens

In California this fall, a vote will be taken to make sure that chickens are treated humanely on farms, while weak regulations fail to protect farmworkers from heat illness and other risks. But, as an article in the LA Times wrote recently:

"Dozens of farmworkers have died from heatstroke in the last decade in California. No one knows exactly how many because sometimes their deaths are not recorded as heat-related or not recorded at all..."

But it isn't just farmworkers who are at risk of overheating. Other risky jobs include:

Landscapers/gardeners
Construction workers
Patio waiters, dog walkers
Garbage collectors
Road workers

Every employer of outdoor workers has a responsibility to make sure they get proper hydration (access to water and time to take breaks to drink it) as well as shelter from the sun at regular breaks through the day... Heck, why not even make sure you have hats and sunscreen on hand as a business owner?

Do you really want the drop in productivity that will result from one of your employees dropping from the heat?

Stay cool...

Are Kids Camps as Safe as Posh Pet Retreats?

Rob — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:52:46 -0700

The following post was submitted by guest blogger, Marisa Aud, communications specialist with Our Youth at Work foundation.

Curtis Geesman 15, dies at a camp in Ohio after participating in sumo-suit match.

Sean Whitley, 17, of Marlton died in Philadelphia, the result of a fire at a Boy Scout camp.

There’s been a lot of commotion over the past several summers regarding where pet owners are going to leave their four-legged family members while they’re away at their summer hot-spots. I’m not talking about just leaving their furry pal with a trusted neighbor or family member; I mean what's known as "doggie daycare" or "pet motel" and in some cases "pet retreats."

Now don’t get me wrong - we ought to treat the animals of our earth with love and respect. It just seems ironic that we shell out a few extra bucks for our pets in order to know they'll be taken care of and loved...

But when it comes to our children, we tend think the opposite when sending them off to summer camp: “The rougher the better, it’ll be good for their character!”

I’m not saying that we don’t read the camp brochure. Sure, we take the time to check into what kind of activities they might participate in, the counsellor-to-camper ratio, cost and whether or not the kids are allowed to bring a cell phone.

But do we take the time to see if:

Those counsellors have had criminal and background checks?
Are they certified in Red Cross and CPR procedures?
Do we know what kind of meals they serve and if the health inspectors regularly check up on staffers while camp is on?
Will there be a nurse on site the entire time of camp?
Are the campers instructed on safety procedures in all areas, when it comes to: swimming (buddy system in the water, boating (mandatory life jackets?] hiking (bar repellant, if needed?), etc.?

I’m doing all of us parents a little favor by reminding you that it’s OK to be overly-aware of their summer camp before they even get there.

And if your child has already been to camp this summer, go over the details of their week with them: What their schedule was like, what activities they participated in, who supervised. Find out if there was something that could have been better and speak with the camp director about what changes they might consider for next year - believe me, courteous feedback is always welcome.

Rating the quality of summer camps online

It’s up to us as parents to take the necessary precautions, it’s just the required homework that comes with the position.

Check out a great website: www.campratingz.com to read other campers' experiences about the camp you’re interested in and be sure to get your child to post their rating when they return from camp.

If we can’t be with our kids when they go to camp, perhaps we should make a visit to the camp and meet the staff for ourselves before they get there. (And of course, we should be safety-cautious on our family camping trips, too.)

The truth is, there will always be a risk associated with giving a child a little independence. However, knowing that the people who will be spending up to 170 hours with our child are on our side can greatly reduce that risk.

Let’s do what we can to insure summer camp is as fun and safe as it can be for our kids - I’m referring to the ones who walk on two legs ;)

Farmers at Risk - All the Time

Rob — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:24:11 -0700

For many of us city slickers, farms aren't much more than a pastoral landscape as we take our country drives on Sundays; maybe, at best, we think of the food that comes to our tables. But as dangerous places??

Farm accidents don't really count as workplace injuries, do they?... You wouldn't think so, given that they are not covered by some workers compensation programs, and many national statistics-gathering bodies don't include agricultural accidents and illnesses in their OHS numbers.

But take a look at the average day on a working farm, and you'll see staggering risks, including:

Heat-related illness (dehydration, heat stroke, even death)
Cold-related illness (hypothermia, slides/falls due to ice, snow)
Transportation and heavy-machinery accidents (starting at a young age)
Amputations and other injuries working with tools
Back strain and other injures working with farm animals
Skin, eye and respiratory irritation from working with pesticides and herbicides such as sulfur
Chornic illness, including cancers, from working with methyl bromide, chlorpyrifos, diazinon and other chemical

I don't know about you, but looking at this preliminary list of risks around the farm, I'm shocked - and even more so, by the fact that there is very little in place, legislatively or procedurely, to keep farmers safe.

I met a man recently who worked in the Niagara area alongside migrant workers picking fruit - and he noted that most of them used bicycles to travel around the farms of their employers. Problem was, these bikes were not in good working order, lacked night lights, and the workers didn't have access to bike helmets. As a result, lots of accidents - some fatal - happened regularly with bicycling farm hands.

Why should people who work with their hands in the great outdoors be any less protected from getting hurt or sick than those of us working in urban centres?

Do you know of any farm accidents that could have been prevented? Any solutions to getting this sector of employment "up to code' on health and safety?

One teen sent to emergency every 6 minutes from a workplace injury

Rob — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:35:29 -0700

During this season of high work activity for teens, some sobering statistics to consider:

Every year, approximately 200,000 teenagers in the United States are injured on the job, and about 70 teens are killed at work. Every six minutes, a teenager is injured seriously enough on the job to require treatment in a hospital emergency room.

Are these numbers acceptable to anyone? Solutions, anyone?

Immigrant men twice as likely to get hurt at work

Rob — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:30:10 -0700

As if it isn't hard enough to get a decent job in a new country, recent stats bear out that immigrant workers are more likely to get hurt at work than native-born employees. Two new studies by the The Institute for Work & Health (IWH), an independent, not-for-profit organization, compare work conditions and injury rates between immigrants and workers born in Canada, and come up with some startling conclusions.

Immigrant men are twice as likely to have work-related injuries requiring medical care compared with Canadian-born men. In their first five years in Canada, immigrants are also:

30 per cent less likely to work full-time
65 per cent less likely to have employment benefits
40 per cent more likely to be overqualified for their jobs
More than twice as likely to be working part-time, but wanting to work full-time

And why is this kind of discrepancy happening? Who knows?

Workers comp doesn't measure immigrant status

“It is surprising that we know so little about this issue, given that immigrants will account for all labour force growth in Canada over the next five to six years,” says Dr. Peter Smith from the IWH. “Currently, provincial workers’ compensation agencies don’t collect information on the immigrant status of injured workers, and the surveys we looked at were not designed specifically to answer these questions.”

Formal education/training - specifically, the location of where the education was gained - is apparently one factor in the differences.

An immigrant who has a degree from outside Canada is more than twice as likely to:

work in physically demanding jobs
work in an unskilled job
be overqualified

(However, immigrants with degrees from Canada had no higher risk.)

Are you an immigrant worker experiencing these setbacks and disadvantages? - and your suggestions on how to keep you as safe as workers born in this country.

See our MySafeWork group in Facebook grow

heather — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:06:59 -0700

I love how the word about workplace safety and health - about getting respect as employees - is spreading through the power of Facebook! More and more concerned parents, teens, workers, employers from all walks of life are joining our FB group! We have 62 members now - and that's only in 3 months.

Now, get ye to the group and add your pet peeves, rants, compliments, concerns, questions, whatever to our Discussion Board and our Wall. Why not upload some homemade video of safety tips or nasty mistakes? Photos of your workplace heroes?

Keep it coming, folks! We are just loving this space! Also check us out at the Flickr photo-sharing site, and our YouTube channel.

Hiding injuries & WSIB

jessica — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:09:49 -0700

So for the last couple of days I have been mulling over the article in the Toronto Star titled "Hiding Injuries Rewards Workers." The article basically outlines how many companies are hiding employee injuries so that they will save money and be eligible for the WSIB rebate. The article goes on to show how companies force their employees back to work before their injuries are healed, and then they are forced to do menial jobs beneath their capabilities. As I read this article, I guess I felt pretty double-minded about it...

On one hand, I can see the problem with companies asking their employees to work while not well. This is obviously not an acceptable practice and should not be tolerated. Any company that does not respect their employees enough to take their injuries seriously should not only be penalized, but really should not be allowed to operate in our country.

On the other hand, I can understand WSIB chairman Steve Mahoney's frustration with the investigation. As a leader in an organization I know too well that well intentioned programs are never quite perfect when they are launched. It usually takes a couple of years for all of the bugs to be ironed out. The fact that WSIB is creating positions to deal with some of the short fallings of companies is a sign in the right direction.

Fewer than 500 inspectors for almost quarter-million companies

The truth is - 450 inspectors is not enough man power to monitor the 230 000 companies covered by WSIB (this does not take into account the 1000's of other businesses not covered by the Insurance Board). It really doesn't matter what precautions are put in place (although creating less loopholes is definitely necessary), with this small workforce there will always be companies that play by their own rules.

What really needs to happen is a shift in public opinion about the importance of safety. Workplace injuries need to have such a stigma attached to them that employees wouldn't consider working for a company that would treat them this way.

The future: workers won't let companies hide their injuries

This will only happen as public opinion about the importance of safety grows and as champion companies invest into the transfer of knowledge to the next generation of leaders. The WSIB is currently addressing this concern through their prevent-it.ca campaign and many other endeavors that they support and companies such as Hydro One are investing large amounts of time and resources into educating the next generation of leaders.

Let's hope that five years from now - companies won't be able to hide worker injuries because workers won't let them.

Employees' part in the blame game

Rob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:51:51 -0700

Duane Craig writes in his excellent article, Manslaughter on the Jobsite at the blog, The Construction Informer: "There is another side to safety on construction sites... the overwhelming difficulty in getting people to voluntarily comply with safety rules on the job and having enough visibility into what is really going on to make them think twice about not complying."

He points the finger at "workers who ignore safety rules and get injured as a result of that negligence" and says that they "bear the responsibility themselves rather than all those who tried in vain to convince them of the necessity to comply with safety rules."

What on earth can we do about stupid employees who refuse to wear personal protective equipment or follow procedures to keep them safe. It's an ongoing issue - across all sectors; as Duane writes, "an overwhelming difficulty."

The Chronic Safety Offender

We have an article about this very issue in our Employers resource section on this site, titled "Dealing with the Chronic Safety Offender."

Clearly a company has to make an example of safety offenders but, as the construction blog example points out, that isn't so easy to do when the boss isn't on site.

Any ideas on how to overcome this problem (short of well-meaning citizens shouting up to neighborhood construction workers and roofers to 'put on a safety harness" - which, I'm pretty sure, doesn't have much effect)?

Move over "Zoomers" - make room for younger workers

heather — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:20:39 -0700

CARP - the Canadian Association for Retired Persons - doesn't want to be considered that anymore; they're now Canada's Association for the 50Plus. That doesn't bode well for the younger generation.

According to Mose Znamier, the new executive director of CARP, Baby Boomers - he calls them Zoomers (Boomers + Zip) - are not taking the off-ramp from work like their preceding generation did approaching 65.

The famous media mogul who founded the hip TV station, MuchMusic, back in the '80s, usually has his finger firmly on the pulse of his generation. Statistics bear out that he's right again. In Ontario, changing employment law so that it's now possible to keep working past 65 is having its effect.

Is it even safe for Boomers to keep working?

But is it in the best interests of society for Boomers to push back the retirement age? Rob Ellis wrote about the health and safety hazards of Baby Boomers working past the threshold of optimum competence, physically and mentally.

I'm not saying the 60+ folks should disappear form the face of the earth into gated communities down south and golf course homes - just that they should consider the generation that's next in line for jobs... and the very real possibility that their fading eyesight, lower energy levels and, let's face it, cognitive decline, make them less than ideal candidates for many careers.

What do you think? Are you a Boomer, or know one, who wants to keep working?

Safety Crusaders: no capes, just ordinary folks

Rob — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:31:20 -0700

Safety Crusaders, as selected by Consumers Reports in its Safety Blog include some surprising pioneering work by ordinary folks across North America... their exceptional acts of bravery to save others from harm:

Mom fighting to keep amusement park rides from killing or injurying thrillseekers.
Father-and-daughter lead jewellry sleuthing team
Grieving mother who dreams of "“a day when children swimming in a pool without four-sided barrier fencing and with drain systems capable of pinning a child underwater would be just as unthinkable as children riding in a car without car seats."
Senior man running the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute out of his home.

We've written about our own safety crusaders/champions in this blog before, such as:

Mom Shirley Hickman who turns her son's death working with a Zamboni machine into a nationwide peer-support service for other families.
Corporate leaders like Ontario Hydro CEO Laura Formusa who send employees to talk to high school students about workplace safety.

What Safety Crusader would you like to recognize? Add your comments below.