Canadian Occupational Safety

20 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com hen Beth Castle goes onto a work site in northern Alberta, the big burly men welcome her with open arms — fruit basket and all. Castle is a nutritionist who strives to help remote workers make healthier food choices. "A lot of the guys come up to me and say 'You know what, I wish I had this information long ago because now I'm a Type 2 diabetic and have heart disease or have had a stroke," says Castle, owner of Redneck Nutri- tion in Calgary. Remote workers from all industries, such as construction, utilities and electrical, municipal governments, mining and oil and gas, face a particular challenge with proper nutrition. "They have issues with long hours and intense work, and sometimes it's extreme hard work… and at that point they don't have any concern about nutrition and making good choices," says Castle. A 2013 report by Target Logistics in The Woodlands, Texas, examined factors that affect worker health, safety and productivity in remote work sites, and it found better nutrition programs can lower accident rates. "Food and rest are, in essence, protective equipment, and they serve to lower the risk of serious workplace accidents," says the report. "As such, food and rest should be viewed as essential to worker safety and health as goggles, ear protection." The report found the number 1 cause of worker-initiated accidents is fatigue in its various forms, such as exhaustion, weakness or sleepiness. Proper nutrition can have a big impact on ensuring workers stay alert on the job and have suffi cient energy to perform physically demanding tasks, says Ken MacLean, director of marketing for Algeco Scotsman, the parent company of Target Logistics, in Edmonton. If workers are not receiving the proper nutrition and have not eaten for a long period of time, they can experience low blood sugar (or hypoglycemia) which comes with a slew of safety concerns. They may experience headaches, diz- ziness, sweating, trembling, tremors, clumsiness and diffi culty paying atten- tion. Workers might also experience anxiety, confusion and changes in behaviour and mood. "Can you imagine working sensitive, sensitive equipment when that is going on?" asks Castle. "And what if it is low blood sugar and lack of sleep? The combination can be deadly." FAIR FARE AT CAMPS? The fare at camps seen in industries such as oil and gas and mining can vary widely. For example, the options at camps in Western Canada are often of high quality because it is a very tight labour market in the area and having excellent food helps employers attract the best talent, says MacLean. But at the other end of the spectrum, there are caterers that cut corners and serve food that is lower in nutritional value, such as frozen, fried foods and powdered concentrates. The cooks at some camps may benefi t from a dietician coming in to educate them on healthy cooking techniques. For employers with a large number of Aboriginal workers at their remote sites, cooks should prepare special meals of whole foods — such as whole grains, vegetables and wild game — for this workforce that suffers a high rate of diabetes. There is also a special food guide from Health Canada specifi cally for First Nations, Inuit and Métis. But cooks may need support from the company to ride out the culture shift. "Sometimes the cooks will say 'The guys only want fries and gravy,' so it can be diffi cult for them because if they end up having fruit and veg- etables and things go to waste, you know what, they will say 'Why am I buying that when no one is going to eat it?'" says Castle. To encourage workers to make healthier choices at the camp, one idea is to label the food options in the cafeteria to indicate the different levels of nutrition. "They could label them worst, better, best or however they want to label them, and what happens if you do that, it's more conscious," says Castle. Nutritional information for menu items can also be available online through the food service provider. One innovative idea from ESS North America, a food services provider for oil and gas, mining and infrastructure companies, is to have "portion plates" available in the cafeteria. These plates encourage workers to fi ll one-half of their plate with vegetables, one-quar- ter with a starch and one-quarter with a protein. So far, about 30 per cent of workers that have this program avail- able to them have traded their white Proper nutrition among remote workers linked to improved safety performance, increased productivity An apple keeps the By Amanda Silliker

• Cover