Canadian Occupational Safety

Oct/Nov 2015

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.

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6 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com WORKPLACE NEWS Health-care workers targeted in violence prevention programs By Anastasiya Jogal T he governments of Ontario and British Columbia have recently announced they are establishing new measures to address violence in health care. The British Columbia Nurses' Union (BCNU) and the provincial health ministry are pumping $2 mil- lion into a violence prevention program. "Health-care workers on the whole have a higher percentage of being assaulted than police offi - cers, which is a really sad fact," said Gayle Duteil, president of BCNU. "Unfortunately, it came to our attention with a number of vicious assaults against health-care workers, nurses and doctors and we just couldn't let it continue." There are about 700 sites across the province where violent attacks are often experienced. The four most troublesome sites will be targeted fi rst. BCNU has identifi ed another six sites as high risk. "We are going to chip away one at a time," said Duteil. In due time, these types of initiatives do work, according to B.C.'s Ministry of Health. For example, the ministry and its partners have been working to reduce workplace violence with investments like a $37-million health and safety action plan launched in 2011. This contributed to a decrease in violent incidents from 2,789 in 2012 to 2,599 in 2014. Violence can come from a number of different sources including patients, relatives and co-workers. Unfortunately, patients with mental health issues or substance abuse tend to become violent, said Duteil. Ontario is putting together a "leadership table" for violence prevention in the health-care sector. Workplace violence in the sector costs about $23.8 million annually for hospitals alone, and violence claims make up 10 per cent of the lost-time injuries in hospitals, said the Ontario government. The members of the leadership table will bring together key stakeholders and experts to provide advice on how to reduce and prevent workplace violence for health-care professionals. To start, the group will focus on preventing violence against nurses in hospitals, followed by all hospital workers Small airlines exempted from pilot fatigue rules after lobbying By Allison Martell C anada's transportation regulator has made smaller carriers exempt — for now — from long-delayed rules on pilot fatigue, handing a partial victory to the airline industry after intense lobbying. In a fi ling with the federal register, Canada Gazette, Transport Canada said it plans to cap duty time at nine to 13 hours — depending on when shifts start — down from 14 hours. It also would create a new regulation that would afford fl ight crew members a rest period of 10 consecutive hours. But it restricted the changes to bigger airlines, in contrast with a previous draft that would have applied to the whole industry. Transport Canada pledged to issue rules for the smaller carriers soon, but gave no further details. "We should be talking about implementation right now," said Dan Adamus, president of the Air Line Pilots Association's Canadian board. "We are extremely, extremely disappointed." The plan, in the works since 2010, is meant to bring Canada in line with international safety standards, including those in the United States, Australia, the European Union and India. Transport Canada said it determined that the new rules would have more of an impact on smaller opera- tors: "The introduction of the proposed changes in two phases would give smaller carriers more time to make the operational changes needed to meet the requirements." The Gazette said commuter airlines, air taxis and operators that use aircraft to do aerial work like map- ping and sightseeing would get their own rules "as soon as possible as part of a future regulatory proposal." John McKenna, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, was pleased with what he sees as a change of course from Transport Canada. He said pilots' unions had too heavily infl uenced the draft proposal. McKenna, whose members include most Canadian airlines, but not top carriers Air Canada or WestJet Airlines, said his group lobbied Transport Minister Lisa Raitt after the draft was published, saying new rules could raise operating costs by up to 30 per cent. "They were kind of surprised to hear that and backed off a little bit, but the minister wanted to do some- thing so she came up with a revised (proposal)," he said. Documents obtained by Reuters show staff asked late last year for more time to look at alternative schemes proposed by the industry. A briefi ng note circulated internally in November and December 2014 said those proposals were "not supported by fatigue science or necessarily aligned with international standards," but still requested more time to "work with industry" and potentially tweak the rules. Major airlines typically have stricter limits on fl ight time than what Transport Canada requires. Air Canada said its practices "far exceed" the rules, but the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) is unhappy with Transport Canada's proposal. The Notice of Intent states that changes are still years away, and the group was hoping to have the new regulations in effect by 2015. "It is no exaggeration to say that Canada's fl ight and duty time regu- lations are vastly outdated, and continue to be among the worst in the world," said Capt. Ian Smith, president of ACPA. "It has been very frustrating to say the least." Allison Martell is a Reuters journalist in Toronto. (With fi les from COS staff.) Manitoba appoints new chief prevention offi cer D ennis Nikkel has been appointed as Mani- toba's new chief prevention officer. Nikkel will be responsible for providing advice to the Manitoba gov- ernment on the prevention of workplace injury and illness. "Our new chief preven- tion offi cer was selected for his long-standing commitment, exper- tise and experience in workplace injury and illness prevention," said Labour and Immigration Minister Erna Braun. "His con- tributions have played an integral role in laying the foundation for a number of the signifi - cant initiatives keeping workers in Manitoba safe today." Nikkel has worked for the Manitoba government for 36 years, fi rst as an environ- mental control offi cer and then as director of occupational health for Workplace Safety and Health. He has served as chair of the Minis- ter's Advisory Council on Workplace Safety and Health since 2011. He said he is looking forward to working with all stakeholders on "new and exciting ways to move Manitoba forward in workplace injury and illness prevention." The chief prevention offi cer will be respon- sible for: • overseeing the continued implementation of the province's injury and illness preven- tion strategy • ensuring public awareness and prevention activities promote understanding of and compliance with Workplace Safety and Health enforcement efforts • ensuring delivery of effective public aware- ness programs and prevention activities. "This appointment ensures the province stays on track with the goals of Manitoba's Five Year Plan for Workplace Injury and Illness Prevention. The plan aims to improve services for workers and employers in an effective, fair and measurable way," said Braun. In addition, the chief prevention offi cer sits on SAFE Work Manitoba's prevention commit- tee to help co-ordinate prevention activities with the mandates of the Workers Compensa- tion Board and Manitoba government. "All Manitobans have a role to play in reducing injury and illness," said Nikkel. "We have made great strides in workplace safety and health as a province, and ensuring our methods remain current, effective and responsive to the needs of Manitoba workers is a priority." Manitoba appoints new chief prevention offi cer D toba's new chief prevention officer. Nikkel will be responsible for providing advice to the Manitoba gov- ernment on the prevention of workplace injury and illness. "Our new chief preven- tion offi cer was selected for his long-standing commitment, exper- commitment, exper-

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