Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
Issue link: https://digital.thesafetymag.com/i/351662
February/March 2014 3 Latest COS videos Coming up online More videos at www.cos-mag.com/videos March Health and wellness Respiratory protection Safety leadership April Fire prevention Of ce safety Material handling Nominations now open for Canada's Safest Employers award 2014 Do you work for one of Canada's safest employers? If you work for a company that values and promotes the health and safety of its employees in meaningful ways, we want to hear from you. Visit www.safestemployers.com for details On now @ twitter.com/cosmagazine Join Canadian Occupational Safety group on Follow us on Canada's Safest Employers award 2014 now open Find out how you can nominate your company now Ergonomics training tool The Institute for Work & Health is developing a new online tool for of ce ergonomics DIRECTOR, CARSWELL MEDIA Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9411 PUBLISHER John Hobel john.hobel@thomsonreuters.com 416-298-5197 EDITOR Amanda Silliker amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9502 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AND VIDEOGRAPHER Zachary Pedersen PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Pamela Menezes pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9298 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Kathy Liotta kathy.liotta@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9920 Stephen Hill stephen.hill@thomsonreuters.com 416-298-5090 MANAGER, MEDIA PRODUCTION Lisa Drummond lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9415 MARKETING MANAGER Mohammad Ali mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com 416-609-5866 ART DIRECTOR Steve Maver CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR Ellen Alstein ellen.alstein@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9926 COLUMNISTS Legal Cheryl Edwards and Norm Keith Training Glyn Jones Workers' Compensation David Marchione CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel. 416-609-3800 (Toronto)/ 1-800-387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax 416-298-5082 (Toronto)/ 1-877-750-9041 (outside Toronto) carswell.customerrelations@thomsonreuters.com Staying on track W hen I became editor of COS in August, the Lac-Mégantic, Que., train derailment was fresh in everyone's min d. It made international headlines and I thought, "Wow, this is such a devastating tragedy, thank God it's a rare occurance." Boy, was I wrong — well, somewhat. Since that incident, there have been countless other trains derail that were transporting oil and hazardous mate- rials. The difference between these incidents and Lac-Mégantic is they were lucky enough to not leave fatalities in their paths. Here are just a few examples: In September, 17 rail cars on a train in western Saskatchewan went off the tracks, some carrying petroleum, ethanol and chemicals. In October, a train derailed in northern Alberta that was carrying anhydrous ammonia. Two days later another freight train carrying a cargo of oil and liquefi ed petroleum gas went off the rails in Gainford, Alta. In November, two dozen cars on a 90-car oil train derailed in Alabama, erupting into fl ames that took several days to extinguish. In December, a train carrying crude oil crashed into a derailed train in North Dakota. The collision spilled more than 400,000 gallons of crude and forced 1,400 people to evacuate their homes. And they just kept coming at the turn of the New Year. Early January brought the derailment of a freight train carrying propane and crude oil that caught fi re in Plaster Rock, N.B. Later in the month a freight train carrying crude oil derailed in Philadelphia. What is going on? How are so many trains derailing so frequently? As this issue of COS is going to press, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States issued recommendations around preventing these types of accidents. One of the recommendations is to phase out the use of DOT-111 rail cars built before 2011. Tens of thousands of the older models remain in service and shipping oil by rail has grown exponentially in recent years. Other recommendations were made around route-planning, emergency response plans, properly classifying hazardous materials and auditing systems. It's clear something needs to be done. Hopefully, the governments of both the U.S. and Canada will take these recommendations into account, and help protect the public and workers aboard these trains. After hearing about all these train derailments, I thought it made pipelines look not so bad after all. But then a natural gas pipeline exploded in Manitoba proving the debate continues over which method is safer. A report from the Fraser Institute argues pipelines are safer for workers than transporting oil by rail (See page 6 for more). Another major risk for workers that also made headlines last year, is static electricity. In March 2013, reports came out that the Hindenburg explosion was caused by static electricity. The Hindenburg was a German airship fi lled with highly fl ammable hydrogen gas. For one year, it ferried more than 1,000 people between Germany and the United States. But on May 6, 1937, the ship was landing in New Jersey and burst into fl ames. Thirty-fi ve out of the 100 passengers on board died and the cause was never discovered. But last year, British inventor Jem Stansfi eld released fi ndings from his research that found the combination of a gas leak, weather and a waterproof coating on the ship caused static electricity to build up and spark, leading to the explosion. One reason why it took so long to come to that conclusion is because static electricity is very hard to trace. It's a very little spark that can cause a massive fl ame — it was even one of the possible culprits in the 2008 Sunrise Propane explosion in Toronto. This issue's cover story looks at the hazards static electricity can cause for workers in the oil and gas industry. (Read the article on page 14). Amanda Silliker, Editor amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 2075 KENNEDY RD., TORONTO, ONT. M1T 3V4 Contents of Canadian Occupational Safety are copyright © 2014 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited and may not be reproduced in whole or part without written consent. Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 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. Printed in 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 eight times yearly by Thomson Reuters Canada Limited, 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, ON • M1T 3V4 Telephone 416-649-9926 Fax 416-609-5840; www.cos-mag.com Issue dates are February/March, April, May, June/July, August/September, October, November, December/January. Subscription price: Canada: $64 including tax ($59.84 + $4.16 GST); US: $64, 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. AMANDA SILLIKER FROM THE EDITOR cos-mag.com visit us online now open for Do you work for one of Canada's