Canadian Occupational Safety

6 Canadian Occupational Safety | www.cos-mag.com WORKPLACE NEWS Alberta installing power lifts in ambulances to reduce paramedic injuries M ore than 350 Alberta Health Services (AHS) ground ambulances will be equipped with power stretchers and load systems. The stretchers use a battery-powered hydraulic system to lift up to 700 pounds safely and without physical strain. Alberta Health Services installed electronic lifts in eight inter-facility transfer vehicles in 2015 as part of a pilot project. During that time, not a single lift-related injury was reported by staff using the new equipment. Over that same 18-month period, 84 patient-handling injuries were reported amongst EMS staff working on vehicles without the lifts. "Repetitive lifting is one of the leading causes of injuries to EMS practitioners. The new power stretchers and lift system will reduce the frequency of front-line crews having to physically lift patients in and out of ambulances, reducing the risk of injuries," said Darren Sandbeck, EMS chief paramedic, Alberta Health Services. The government is investing $20 million to retrofi t AHS ground ambulances with the power stretchers and load systems. The equipment will also be standard issue in all new AHS ground ambulances. Installation of the new equipment is currently underway on ambulances across the province, with the work anticipated to be complete by spring 2018. The Health Sciences Association of Alberta, the labour union that represents paramedics, welcomes the new power-lift technology. "This is a great start. Our members work hard to help and heal patients. Far too often they become patients because of unnecessary injuries they suffer at work," said Mike Parker, HSAA president. Parker said the association had been asking for this type of technology for a long time. He also pointed out it will bring cost-savings for employers. "This investment in power-lifting equipment will prevent injuries and save money in the long run because it's always much cheaper to keep workers healthy and on the job than to have them off work and needing treatment," he said, pointing to a disabling injury rate for paramedics of fi ve times the rate for other health-care workers in Alberta. Parker would like to see the program extended beyond AHS ambulances to include all those vehicles operated by private contractors. "There is no reason why patients and workers in rural areas, where most private emergency service providers operate, should not have the same level of care and protection that the rest of Albertans have," he said. "In fact, this type of equipment needs to become standard in all areas of health care where patients have to be lifted." Impact of workplace cancers widely underestimated: Speaker By Amanda Silliker O ccupational cancer is the number 1 cause of workplace death, a fact that many people don't realize, delegates heard at the American Society of Safety Engineers' conference on June 20. "We focus very heavily on back-over accidents, trench collapses, confi ned space death, but workplace cancers are the number 1 cause of occupational death and where's the outcry? Where are the campaigns? Where are the efforts to try to stem the tide?" said Connie Muncy, senior health and safety administrator at AES Corporation, speaking at the conference in Denver. Muncy ran through a sobering list of how workers can get cancer from the workplace, including exposure to 1-bromo- propane (1-BP), welding fumes, Roundup, biocides, carcinogens and radiation. She also showed a laundry list of types of cancers, such as skin, kidney, liver, bladder and lung, and paired them up with their known workplace associations, such as arsenic, coke production, infections with hepatitis B and C, dyes and beryllium, respectively. Muncy also referred to a table from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) that identifi es occupations and their carcinogen exposures. One carcinogen that employers and workers may not know about is wood dust. "We have wooden furniture, we have trees that don't hurt us, but a lot of people that work with wood have no clue that many of these are carcinogenic, including walnut, beech, mahogany, ash and several others. So, if you have woodworking activities in the workplace, this is something you want to pay attention to," she said. Muncy also pointed out that shift work is associated with developing cancer and that stress is a promoter of cancer. The International Labour Organization says 13 per cent of all cancers in devel- oped countries are the result of "preventable, predictable workplace exposure," accounting for 600,000 deaths per year — or one death every 52 seconds. "So in the 60 minutes that you are kind enough to sit here and listen to my presentation, 60 people will have died from exactly what we talking about here today," Muncy told the delegates in the room. In Canada, occupational cancer has become the leading cause of compensated work-related deaths, most notably in Ontario where occupational cancer deaths surpass those of traumatic injury two to one, Muncy said, citing the Occupational Cancer Research Centre and Cancer Care Ontario. The most common types of occupational cancers are lung cancer, bladder cancer and mesothelioma, accord- ing to CCOHS. On the same day of Muncy's session, the Canadian Cancer Society released a report that said nearly one in two Canadians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. It also found one in four Canadians will die of cancer. In Great Britain, the majority of occupational cancer cases are found in the construction industry. The primary exposures are asbestos, respirable crystalline silica, solar radiation and diesel exhaust emissions. But long-term latent illnesses caused by exposure to carcinogens are diffi cult to relate to the workplace and are not adequately recognized and reported, said Muncy. One reason for this is that many cancer cases develop decades after exposure when the worker is already retired. "It's almost always impossible to link the specifi c instance of cancer with a specifi c exposure to a cancer-causing substance, very hard. When a fatality occurs in the workplace, it's very visible — someone is backed-over by a vehicle or is electrocuted — but most people who are killed by cancer, it's not visible. They die at home or in the hospital. Out of sight, out of mind," Muncy said. Another reason for the notable lack of action around workplace cancer is that tens of thousands of workers generally have to die before scientifi c studies identify a workplace problem, Muncy said. Only one per cent of the 100,000 chemicals used in the workplace have been thoroughly tested for health risks. Many employers also wrongfully believe that government occupational expo- sure limits (OELs) are helpful in reducing occupational cancer. "There is no safe level of exposure to any carcinogens. Even the government agencies around the world that set the OELs will come right out and tell you in writing 'We don't think these are adequate and you need to do more,'" said Muncy, citing the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists as examples. To reduce the instances of occupational cancer, Muncy said all stakeholders need to work together. "Physicians, researchers, epidemiologists, employers, government, unions and individuals all need to get on to the same page and we need to look at this like the real threat that it is and not bury our heads in the sand." Impact of workplace cancers widely underestimated: Speaker By Amanda Silliker O ccupational cancer is the number 1 cause of workplace death, a fact that many people don't realize, delegates heard at the American Society of Safety Engineers' conference on June 20. "We focus very heavily on back-over accidents, trench collapses, confi ned space death, but workplace cancers are the number 1 cause of occupational death and where's the outcry? Where are the campaigns? Where are the efforts to try to stem the tide?" said Connie Muncy, senior health and safety administrator at AES Corporation, speaking at the conference in Denver. Muncy ran through a sobering list of how workers can get cancer from the workplace, including exposure to 1-bromo- propane (1-BP), welding fumes, Roundup, biocides, carcinogens and radiation. She also showed a laundry list of types of cancers, such as skin, Federal government revises exposure limit for asbestos T he government of Canada is amending the Canada Labour Code to lower the exposure to airborne chrysotile asbestos to as close to zero as possible. Now, the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for all forms of airborne asbestos fi bre is not to exceed the value adopted by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), which is currently 0.1 fi bre per cubic centimetre. Previously, the government's OEL was 1 fi bre per cubic centimetre. "Every employee has the right to a safe workplace. I'm proud to be announcing these long overdue regulatory changes on asbestos," said Minister of Employ- ment, Workforce Development and Labour Patty Hajdu. This regulatory change came into force July 12, along with the requirement for an asbestos exposure management program, which requires employers to provide education and training for employees involved in asbestos-related work activities, such as handling, removal, repair or disturbance of asbestos- containing materials. These changes will signifi cantly lower the risk of workers coming into contact with asbestos in the workplace, while ensuring consistency with most provincial and territorial regulations for airborne asbestos fi bre, the government said. The broader government of Canada strategy to ban asbestos and asbestos- containing products by 2018 introduces new regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, updates national building codes to prohibit the use of asbestos in new construction and renovation projects and supports list- ing chrysotile asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention as a hazardous material.

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