Canadian Occupational Safety

16 Canadian Occupational Safety | www.cos-mag.com detaches from it. The Cana- dian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) recommends removing the sting by scraping sideways with a fi ngernail or a credit card. Calamine lotion or ice packs can be applied to stop the itching, and over-the-counter pain relievers can help decrease discomfort. Timber- West workers have Benadryl in their personal fi rst-aid kits that they wear in the fi eld and in their vehicle kits. Generally, most stings will only result in temporary pain, swelling and skin redness around the affected area. But sometimes the effects can be more severe. If a worker is stung in the neck, it may cause edema (swell- ing caused by fl uid build-up in the tissues) around the throat and may make it diffi cult to breathe, accord- ing to CCOHS. If a worker is stung, his co-workers should be made aware so they can monitor him for any adverse effects. The main concern with stinging insects is an allergic reaction, says Gerard Messier, training and program development advisor for the BC Forest Safety Council in Nanaimo, B.C. Ana- phylactic shock might set in, which is life threatening. Symptoms include diffi culty breathing, swollen eyelids, hives, wheezing, hoarse voice, dizzi- ness, shock or cardiac arrest. According to CCOHS, of those who die from a severe allergic reaction to a sting, one-half die within 30 minutes and three-quarters within 45 minutes. While many allergic workers will know they are at risk and carry an EpiPen with them, others might not know how they are going to react to a wasp or bee sting, says Messier. "People might think 'I don't have an allergy, I will be fi ne. I have been stung by a bee or bitten by a wasp before and I was okay.' But you never know how you are going to react because it might depend where it stings you. If it stings you on the face or neck, that might be different than if it stung you on the leg," he says. If the worker has an anaphylactic reaction, he needs to be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. TimberWest requires all allergic employees notify their co-workers, says Dodd. All fi eld workers have fi rst-aid training and they know how to recognize the symptoms of an ana- phylactic occurrence, he adds. "We insist if you are anaphylactic and you are packing an EpiPen you do talk to your work partner and say 'Hey, I am anaphylactic; it is an issue' and that they do share with their partners how to apply, how to administer an EpiPen if it does become necessary," Dodd says. There is a wide variety of technology available to assist workers in the event of an emergency. For example, work- ers can be armed with panic alarms where they simply hit a button to activate the compa- ny's emergency response plan. TimberWest's engineers have this type of button. "For a lot of our foresters and engi- neers who are typically working by themselves or even if they have a partner, they could be anywhere in a 40 hectare block, you go this way, I go that way, we meet at lunch type of thing… If everything is okay I can push one button, if I am in trouble but it's not a dire emergency, I need help, I can push another button and if it's a 911, you can push a third button and there's coverage where you can initiate a search and rescue type organization to come looking for you," says Dodd. Lone worker check-in systems are also useful because if the worker does not call-in when he is supposed to, the employer or a third party service provider will activate the company's emergency response procedures. More advanced lone worker moni- toring systems are enabled with "man-down" detection. Built-in accelerometers can tell if a worker is no longer moving and a GPS identifi es the worker's location. This informa- tion can then be relayed in real-time to the employer or the service pro- vider to initiate emergency response. Mosquitos can also transmit diseases to outdoor workers, such as West Nile virus. At its peak in 2007, West Nile virus was confi rmed in 2,215 individuals across Canada. In 2015, just 80 cases of West Nile were reported. Prevention is of course the best bet, so workers should be wearing long sleeves and long pants tucked into their work boots, says Swift. In some cases, workers may want to wear a net over their heads as well. "When we have fi eld workers that are out a little more remotely and will be out there for the day, we will encourage them to wear something that also provides that protective bar- rier around the head," she says. Workers should be using an insect repellent with at least 20 per cent DEET. The employer will often supply workers with bug spray. "In essence, it's a form of personal protective equipment, if you think about it — it's an administrative control," says Little. "You would not only be looking to have provision of the right equipment, which would include clothing, safety hard hats and all that sort of good stuff, as well as those sorts of preventative chemicals." The concern posed by insect bites or stings is not just the health effects it can have on the worker, but the dis- traction it poses. "Anything that has potential to sting you, it has potential to cause issues with the worker, whether that just ends up being a tender spot on their arm that takes their mind off task or whether it ends up being an annoy- ance that causes them to lose focus on what they're doing," says Swift. A big challenge safety managers face when they have outdoor work- ers is that the environment is always changing. They need to train and educate their workers on the differ- ent risks they may face throughout the seasons, says Messier. "It's not an environment where you can say 'Here is the procedure. If you follow this procedure, everything will be fi ne because the environment changes so often," he says. "It's very challenging, very different from an environment where you are in a saw mill or a manufacturing facility where things are pretty consistent on a day- to-day basis." Safety managers may also need a gentle reminder to consider the chronic illnesses that can be caused by ticks or insects. Little suggests combining the occupational health, wellness and safety teams to ensure all aspects of the worker are taken care of — and don't forget to make sure all systems are in place for medical care, short-term disability and long-term disability, too. "Typically, occupational health and safety focuses on the immedi- ate hazard and incident occurring but you also have to be aware of the longer term effects of exposure, whether that be plants, environment or Lyme disease." Little says. "You need to be thinking of that." detaches from it. The Cana- dian Centre for Occupational MSA XTIRPA™ Manhole Guard System for Confined Space Entry To learn more about MSA's complete line of safety solutions or request a FREE, no obligation safety evaluation, visit MSAsafety.com/safetyevaluation.

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