Canadian Occupational Safety

August/September 2014 7 Nova Scotia hires safety prosecutor T he government of Nova Scotia has hired a prosecutor to focus on workplace safety investigations. Alex Keaveny has been appointed to the special prosecutions section of the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. The Public Prosecution Service and the Department of Labour and Advanced Education worked together to create the position to ensure more workplace accidents with serious injuries or death are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted, where warranted. As the Crown attorney dedicated to occupational health and safety cases, Keaveny will provide investigators with advice before charges and prosecute offences. "When someone is injured or dies at work, their loved ones understandably look for justice," said Labour and Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan. "Keaveny's appointment, plus a strengthened partnership among our inspectors, the police and the prosecutor's offi ce, will help ensure just that." Keaveny will also be involved in education and training for safety offi cers and managers at the Department of Labour and Advanced Education. The training will focus on what to look for during an investigation and provide a prosecution perspective on how to gather evidence that can effectively support a court case. Investigators will also receive training on Criminal Code offences under Bill C-45, known as the Westray Bill. "This appointment is another step i n the province's commitment to enhance the investigation and prosecution of offences resulting in workplace injuries or fatalities," said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Lena Metlege Diab. "Everybody in the workplace must understand there is a legal accountability for workplace safety." Keaveny is a veteran prosecutor. He was a Crown attorney in Toronto and Halifax and has experience in private practice where his focus was on civil and tax litigation and regulatory defence. Since he joined the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service, Keaveny has prosecuted hundreds of Criminal Code and regulatory offences. The provincial government announced in February it is hiring 17 additional staff for its safety division, including inspectors and engineers, and is implementing a division focused on education and compliance. New safety orientation standard for oil and gas E nform's electronic general safety orientation (eGSO) has become the mandatory standard for general safety orientations in the upstream oil and gas industry. The General Safety Orientation Guideline for the Oil and Gas Industry was published by Enform, the Calgary-based safety association for Cana- da's upstream oil and gas industry, on behalf of six industry associations in December 2012. This replaced the IRP 16 – Basic Safety Aware- ness Training. The purpose of the guideline was to outline the basic occupational health and safety information that all employers are required to provide their new, young and inexperienced workers upon hire or trans- fer. eGSO, a free online 20-minute video, was launched in 2013 as an easy and engag- ing way to provide workers with standard orientation information, said Enform. WHat's neW: • Starting June 1 all companies will be expected to use eGSO as part of their gen- eral safety orientation. • Workers with an eGSO record of completion will not be required to repeat general safety orientations. • An eGSO record of completion will be required for all workers (new and experienced). • Construction Safety Training System (CSTS) and Pipeline Construction Safety Training (PCST) will no longer serve as equivalent to viewing the eGSO. • Enform will no longer evaluate company ori- entation programs for equivalency with the General Safety Orientation Guideline. • Enform will provide a process to deliver eGSO to groups of workers who will subsequently receive individual records of completion. • Workers with an existing Petroleum Industry Safety Training (PST) certifi cate will automati- cally receive an eGSO record of completion from Enform. • Workers completing the PST course will automatically receive an eGSO record of com- pletion from Enform. Brain may never fully recover from exposure to glue, degreasers: Study P eople who are exposed to paint, glue or degreaser fumes at work may experience memory and thinking prob- lems in retirement, decades after their exposure, according to a new study. "Our fi ndings are particularly important because expo- sure to solvents is very common, even in industrialized countries," said study author Erika Sabbath of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. "Solvents pose a real risk to the present and future cognitive health of workers, and as retirement ages go up, the length of time that people are exposed is going up, too." The study involved 2,143 retirees from a national util- ity company in France. Researchers assessed the workers' lifetime exposure to chlorinated solvents, petroleum solvents and benzene, including the timing of last exposure and lifetime dosage. Of the participants, 26 per cent were exposed to benzene, 33 per cent to chlorinated solvents and 25 per cent to petroleum solvents. Participants took eight tests of their memory and think- ing skills an average of 10 years after they had retired, at an average age of 66. A total of 59 per cent of the participants had impairment on one to three of the eight tests; 23 per cent had impairment on four or more tests; and 18 per cent had no impaired scores. The average lifetime solvent exposure was determined based on historical company records, and the participants were categorized as having no exposure, moderate exposure or high exposure. They were also divided by when the last exposure occurred, with those last exposed from 12 to 30 years prior to the testing considered as recent exposure and those last exposed 31 to 50 years prior considered as more distant exposure. The research found that people with high, recent expo- sure to solvents were at the greatest risk for memory and thinking defi cits. For example, those with high, recent exposure to chlorinated solvents were 65 per cent more likely to have impaired scores on tests of memory, visual attention and task switching. The results remained the same after accounting for factors such as education level, age, smoking and alcohol consumption. "The people with high exposure within the last 12 to 30 years showed impairment in almost all areas of memory and thinking, including those not usually associated with solvent exposure," Sabbath said. "But what was really striking was that we also saw some cognitive problems in those who had been highly exposed much longer ago, up to 50 years before testing. This suggests that time may not fully lessen the effect of solvent exposure on some memory and cognitive skills when lifetime exposure is high." The results may have implications for policies on work- place solvent exposure limits, according to Sabbath. She recommends retired workers who have had prolonged exposure to solvents during their career partake in regular cognitive screening to catch problems early. was launched in 2013 as an easy and engag- Since he joined the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service, Keaveny has prosecuted hundreds of Criminal Code and regulatory offences. The provincial government announced in February it is hiring 17 additional staff for its safety division, including inspectors and engineers, and is implementing

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