Canadian Occupational Safety

Contents of Canadian Occupational Safety are copyright © 2019 HAB Press and may not be reproduced in whole or part without written consent. HAB Press disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. HST/GST # 89717 6350 RT0002 QST # 1019064405 TQ0005 Canada Post – Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement 40065782 International Standard Serial Number 0008-4611. The publishers accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, colour transparencies or other materials. Manuscripts or other materials must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Canadian Occupational Safety is published six times yearly by HAB Press, 312 Adelaide Street West Suite 800, Toronto, ON M5V 1R2 www.cos-mag.com Issue dates are February/March, April/May, June/July, August/September, October/November, December/January. Subscription price: Canada: $69 plus tax; US: $69,International: $96 Canadian Occupational Safety makes every effort to ensure accuracy in all items reported, but cannot accept responsibility for the representations or claims made by sources used. It is also not responsible for claims made by its advertisers. Safety Leader of the Year Nominations have closed for the 2019 COS Safety Leader of the Year award. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for truly exceptional safety professionals. The winner will be revealed in the December/January issue of COS and will star in an exclusive video of their accomplishments. www.cos-mag.com/safety-leader Celebrating safety superheroes The deadline has come and gone, and we are no longer looking far and wide for the superheroes of safety. Our judges are hard at work reviewing the nominations. Celebrate with us and all the winners at the ninth annual Canada's Safest Employers gala dinner and awards presentation in Toronto on Oct. 22. www.safestemployers.com Heat stress affecting productivity A new report from the International Labour Organization found that climate change is resulting in an increase of heat stress cases on the job, and lost output will be equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs. www.cos-mag.com/heatstressILO Follow us: @cosmagazine Join our group: Canadian Occupational Safety Subscribe: Canadian Occupational Safety Psychological Safety Compassion fatigue is a condition afflicting many first responders. Katy Kamkar, a clinical psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, explains how to deal with this issue in the workplace. www.cos-mag.com/compassionfatigue Safety Tip In this month's Safety Tip video, we look at small businesses and outline what they need to know to keep their "family" of workers safe on the job. www.cos-mag.com/STsmallbusiness EDITOR Amanda Silliker amanda.silliker@habpress.ca COPY EDITOR Patricia Cancilla ART DIRECTOR Steve Maver PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Jacqueline D'Souza jacqueline.d'souza@habpress.ca ADVERTISING: HEAD OF SALES Paul Burton paul.burton@habpress.ca 647-537-4705 CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR Keith Fulford keith.fulford@habpress.ca COLUMNISTS Legal Cheryl A. Edwards Cathy Chandler Professional Development Glyn Jones Safety Culture Dave Fennell CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY'S EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Guy Chenard, CRSP, C.E.T. Safety Consultant Dave Gouthro, CRSP, CHSC, CHSO Occupational Health & Safety Consulting David Johnston, CRSP Director, EHS, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. Eldeen Pozniak, CHSC, CHSMSA, CRSP, Director, Pozniak Safety Associates Inc. Laura Rourke, CRSP, Peng, TSRP EHSS manager, Tigercat Industries Dan Strand, CRSP, CIH, ROH Director, Prevention Field Services, WorkSafeBC AMANDA SILLIKER FROM THE EDITOR visit us online cos-mag.com CANADIAN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 ON NOW LATEST VIDEOS Printed in 3 2019 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER COMING UP Bringing it home J ohn McHenry didn't think asbestos was a big deal. He saw no issue with it. "I have worked with asbestos all my life," he would say. Much of his job involved insulating pipes with asbestos in plants throughout the Chemical Valley in Sarnia, Ont. More than 15 years after he retired at age 62, he began to lose a lot of weight, had chills, had a cough and had fluid removed from his lungs a few times. Two years after the symptoms started, he died, without having known the reason for his decline. Shortly after, his wife Georgina fell ill. She was constantly retching and was having night sweats that completely soaked the bed, followed by chills that caused her to shake for hours. Georgina underwent three lung biopsies before it was confirmed that she had mesothelioma from washing her husband's asbestos-laden clothes. This diagnosis ultimately confirmed that John died of mesothelioma, too. "My father was one loyal, dedicated man. All his life he told us the company had been good to him, he truly believed that," Trish Daubs told me, when recounting the deaths of both her parents. "It was not until after his death that we actually realized how wrong he was about that." Daubs' story highlights the importance of decontamination procedures — which clearly were not in place in John's day — to keep family members healthy. There are many occupations that are exposed to harmful substances on the job and employers need to make sure that these workers are properly decontaminating all their personal protective equipment. Read more about decontamination procedures on page 26. Some of the workers exposed to harmful substances — and countless other workplace hazards — will be recent immigrants. In a country like Canada, which prides itself on diversity, welcoming immigrants with open arms is part of our nature. But a recent study spanning across the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada found that newcomers are at a greater risk of injury and illness (see page 30). We must ask ourselves why that is and, most importantly, what we can do to reverse this trend. Canada is in the middle of a record-high labour shortage and we need immigrants to keep this country productive and growing. We cannot have these individuals coming to our country with the hope and promise of a successful career (and new life) to only be injured on the job within their first month — the riskiest time. By finding ways to reach out to new immigrants and help them learn about safety, safety professionals will not only be helping to prevent injuries, illnesses and fatalities, but they will also be contributing to the Canadian economy. In her legal column on page 12, Cathy Chandler discusses a new case that holds a prime contractor accountable for the death of a sub-contractor's employee. We seem to be hearing of more and more cases like this — and that's a good thing in my books. For too long, prime contractors have been hiding behind the veil of "Not my employee, not my problem" and I am very happy to see this seems to be changing. If you are in charge of a project, big or small, and you have contractors working for you, take ownership of the entire site, conduct regular and comprehensive safety inspections and ensure the subs' safety practices meet the same strict standards of yours — otherwise, hire someone else. Finally, I would like to extend a huge congratulations to the winners of our fourth annual Readers' Choice Awards. The awards provide a stamp of approval from you, the readers of COS, for your favourite health and safety vendors and suppliers. With countless options out there for safety training, PPE suppliers and more, it's helpful to know what companies your peers are regularly turning to. See page 14 for the complete list of winners.

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