Canadian Occupational Safety

October/November 2016 3 October Pandemic planning Slips and trips Material handling November Safety leadership Hearing conservation Oil and gas Winner videos Still curious why the winners of Canada's Safest Employers awards were chosen? Or looking for some ideas to implement in your company? Take a look at videos of all the gold winners here: www.safestemployers.com/video Webinars The COS webinar library is lled with on-demand topics such as arc ash, safety culture, fall protection, ISO 45001 and psychological safety. The one-hour sessions are delivered by health and safety experts from across Canada. Stay tuned for new live webinars added regularly. www.cos-mag.com/CPDCentre on now @ twitter.com/cosmagazine Join Canadian Occupational Safety group on Follow us on Culture Shock Shawn Galloway, president of ProAct Safety, presents a monthly video on safety culture. Watch the latest video about making sure everyone is on the same page in safety. Sexual harassment Jeremy Warning and Cheryl Edwards, lawyers at Mathews Dinsdale & Clark, explain what you need to know about Ontario's new sexual violence and harassment legislation. DIRECTOR, MEDIA SOLUTIONS, CANADA Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9411 PUBLISHER Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com 416-298-5196 EDITOR Amanda Silliker amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9502 ASSISTANT EDITOR - VIDEOGRAPHER Alexia Kapralos ART DIRECTOR Steve Maver PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Pamela Menezes pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9298 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Nicholas Cholodny nicholas.cholodny@thomsonreuters.com 647-537-4705 MANAGER, MEDIA PRODUCTION Lisa Drummond lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com MARKETING MANAGER Robert Symes rob.symes@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com 416-649-9585 COLUMNISTS Legal Cheryl A. Edwards and Norm Keith Training Glyn Jones Workers' Compensation David Marchione and Maurice Dransfeld 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 Contents of Canadian Occupational Safety are copyright © 2016 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. 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AMANDA SILLIKER FROM THE EDITOR Canadian Occupational Safety's Editorial Advisory Board Dave Gouthro, CRSP, CHSC, CHSO Occupational Health & Safety Consulting David Johnston, CRSP Director, EHS, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. Eldeen Pozniak Director, Pozniak Safety Associates Inc. Guy Chenard, CRSP, C.E.T. Safety Consultant Maureen Shaw President, Act Three Consulting Dr. Ron Saunders Director of Knowledge Transfer & Exchange Institute for Work & Health cos-mag.com visit us online More videos at www.cos-mag.com/video.html coming up online latest videos RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 2075 KENNEDY RD., TORONTO, ONT. M1T 3V4 In awe T his year's Canada's Safest Employers winners are truly awe inspiring. Even in the face of widespread budget cuts and economic turmoil (such as in the oil and gas industry), they still make employee health and safety number 1. It truly is a testament to the hard work of safety professionals when their executives understand that safety has to be more important than profi ts and, as a result, they have an award-winning safety program. I was incredibly impressed when I interviewed NB Power for its Canada's Best Health + Safety Culture award win (see page 28) and Gaëtan Thomas, president and CEO, was speaking about how he is personally accountable for very single worker's safety at the utility. The director of health and safety, Duff Boyd, piped up that no, he was the one who was responsible for safety and the two of them riffed back and forth about who ultimately had this responsibility. They agreed to disagree and told me this was a common back and forth between them. I joked that if this was their biggest problem, they were clearly doing pretty well. It made me think about all those companies out there where people are passing the buck for safety, not fi ghting to have it under their purview. Or for those safety manages who feel like they are bashing their heads against a brick wall when trying to convince their CEO of the importance of safety. The relationship between Thomas and Boyd is clearly unique and their camaraderie is just one reason why the company excels in health and safety. Safety ultimately comes from the top down and it is very refreshing to see a CEO giving the health and safety manager such respect. A huge congratulations is in order for all 41 winners. You can read about the gold winners starting on page 16 and you can see videos of their exceptional health and safety programs in action on www.cos-mag.com. And I would like to give a special shout-out to the silver winners too. While they don't get as much pomp and circumstance as the gold winners, they really are phenomenal companies that, in many cases, just missed the gold by a hair. It is astounding how close some of the scores are (our judges have very hard jobs), so please make sure to take a look at the win- ners in the little silver octagons, too. That brings me to a big thanks to all our judges. They are experts in their fi eld from all across Canada who graciously volunteer their time to this cause. See them all at www.safestemployers.com/ judging-panel. They put in a lot of time slogging through all the nominations and we could not do it without them. This year, our strategic partner for the culture award, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, fl ew across Canada to the three fi nalists' workplaces to audit their safety programs. This was a huge undertaking and I wanted to personally thank them for the passion, dedication and expertise that they bring to this award process. When I read about an exploding vacuum truck from an Enform alert earlier this year, I was completely shocked. Is this something that happens often? Aren't vacuum trucks commonplace, especially in the oil and gas industry? This concern led me to send our trusty journalist, Linda Johnson, on the hunt for more information about the hazard. Read her article on page 34 if you ever encounter vacuum trucks in your line of work. Hearing conservation is something that needs to be taken seriously in all workplaces. Whether it be excessively loud music in an aerobics studio or a manufacturing plant with loud machines, hearing loss can result from any environment. Worse than hearing loss, in my opinion, is tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears. This is something my grandmother suffers from and it is very debilitating. At almost 90 (her birthday is Nov. 8) it causes her to miss what her loved ones are saying, disrupts her sleep and is extremely annoying, to say the least. Imagine hearing a constant ringing in your ear in the workplace and how that would impact your communication and safety. (Read more on page 38.) A recent study looked at what occupations are the most at risk and some of the fi ndings were not what you might expect. Amanda Silliker, Editor amanda.silliker@thomsonreuters.com

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