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
6 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com Pipelines pose fewer risks for workers: Fraser Institute O il transport by pipeline presents signifi cantly lower safety risks to workers than oil move- ment by road or rail, according to a study by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian public policy think-tank. The study, Intermodal Safety in the Transport of Oil, determined the rate of injury requiring hospitaliza- tion is 30 times lower among oil pipeline workers compared to rail workers involved in the transport of oil, based on extensive data collected in the United States. Road transport fared even worse, with an injury rate 37 times higher than pipelines, based on reports to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the period 2005-09. The study also found the risk of spill incidents is lower for pipelines per billion ton-miles of oil move- ment compared to rail and road. Road transport had the highest chance of a spill, almost 20 incidents per billion ton-miles. Rail had slightly more than two incidents per billion ton- miles annually while pipelines had less than 0.6 per billion ton-miles annually. Resistance to pipeline infrastructure expansion is putting more pressure on road and rail systems as growth in North American oil production outpaces pipeline capacity. Petroleum production is now nearly 18 million barrels per day, and could climb to 27 million barrels per day by 2020, said the report. "People's unfortunate tendency to boil com- plicated issues down to simple black-or-white equivalencies interferes with their ability to really understand the trade-offs involved in the choice to move oil by pipeline, rail, train and so on. Worker safety is an important dimension of the overall equation that tends to be overlooked in the discussion of pipelines such as Keystone XL," said study co-author Kenneth Green, Fraser Institute senior director of natural resources studies. The superior safety and environmental performance of pipelines is "hardly surprising," the study said. "When you have more moving parts, more poten- tial interactions with other non-controlled actors such as trains and trucks, the potential for accidents is higher when compared to pipelines," Green said. "It's not a completely simple comparison. When you have a pipeline spill the release volumes are higher than for a truck or train incident. But with road and rail you have risk of more incidents in more places, so the overall question of environmental protection becomes unclear." Canadian pipeline data reported by the National Energy Board shows similar risk patterns. The study found the 10-year average for the frequency of liquid leaks is about three leaks per 1,000 km of pipeline, a "remarkably small" average considering that Canada produces and transports 3.2 million barrels of oil each year, and that 97 per cent of Canadian petro- leum and natural gas products move by pipeline. The fatality rate among Canadian oil pipeline work- ers averaged 0.2 per year from 2000 to 2009 while injuries to contractors and other workers averaged 3.8 per 200,000 work-hours over the same time span. Rail-related fatalities totalled 71 in 2011, compared to the fi ve-year average of 81. There were 63 danger- ous goods leaks in 2012, representing 31 per cent of all reported rail incidents. The Transportation Safety Board recorded 1,023 reportable rail accidents in 2011, a 15 per cent decrease from the 2006-10 aver- age of 1,198. Transport Canada received reports of 345 acci- dents involving trucks hauling dangerous goods with crude oil involved 27 per cent of the time. equation that tends to be overlooked in the discussion of pipelines such as Keystone dents involving trucks hauling dangerous goods with crude oil involved 27 per cent of the time. HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS More OHS inspections needed in Nova Scotia: Auditor general By Liz Foster A uditor general Jacques Lapointe probed Nova Scotia's occupa- tional health and safety practices in his latest report, and found plenty of room for improvement. For example, inspection practices were not consistent among inspectors. Some inspectors' reports were compre- hensive, while others only included the bare minimum of information employ- ers needed to address defi ciencies. The report also found of the 3,754 orders issued between April 2012 and March 2013, more than one-third were not complied with by the date required. Lapointe recommended the department develop and imple- ment checklists to create consistency among inspections and in inspectors' followup procedures. The department also does not set inspection targets for inspectors, such as the amount of time that should be spent on targeted industries, the report found. Only 27 of the 100 most high- risk workplaces were inspected in the last year. Lapointe recommended the department set inspection targets to ensure efforts are concentrated on high-risk industries. In total, Lapointe's offi ce made 16 recommendations related to occupa- tional health and safety. The majority of these recommendations are simple solutions that will provide consis- tency, Lapointe said. "Some of these things can be done to improve the quality of the work very quickly," he said. "By simply improving the work the inspectors are doing… it could have a multiplier effect. It spreads out so that people don't need an inspector coming in tell- ing them how to do things, they talk to their colleagues and I would hope the result of that should be that you have fewer accidents and fewer deaths." Lapointe said this ownership of occupational health and safety is crucial, as the government is only a guiding force in worker safety. "The primary responsibility for workplace safety does have to lie with the workplace," he said. "The government's role is a regulatory and leadership role. It can't, and in fact shouldn't try, to manage. Everyone has a role to play." Other recommendations include: • have recipients sign inspection reports to acknowledge receipt of the reports and related orders • require evidence of compliance with orders for violations that pose seri- ous health and safety risks • comply with policy so two offi cers attend the preliminary investigation of a workplace fatality • comply with policy concerning man- ager review of investigations • establish a complaint logging and tracking system to ensure all com- plaints are recorded and investigated in a timely manner. Liz Foster writes for Canadian Safety Reporter, a sister publication of COS. New workers' comp legislation passes in Saskatchewan A s of Jan. 1, Saskatchewan has a new Work- ers' Compensation Act. The act addresses the recommendations of the 2010 Workers' Compensation Act com- mittee of review as well as the government's consultations on the recommendations, according to Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan. "(It) increases benefi ts in a fi scally respon- sible manner and modernizes the language for ease of use." The new act will contain provisions that include: • improving benefi ts for injured workers by increasing the maximum insurable earnings • introducing a system of indexation to ensure benefi ts are adjusted annually • raising to $25,000 the level at which workers at age 65 years may choose a lump sum pay- ment rather than an annuity • providing the board with the ability to assess administrative penalties. The maximum wage rate, the upper limit on earnings used for the calculation of benefi ts, will increase from $55,000 to $59,000 for new claims. The maximum wage rate was last increased in 2005, said the government. The act also contains an indexation formula based on increases to the average weekly wage. The Workers' Compensation Board is in the process of implementing the changes required with the new act.