Safety Reporter
Canadian
www.safety-reporter.com
August 2018
Worker loses age discrimination
complaint against WorkSafeBC
Workers' compensation authority denied proposal to attend post-secondary
program because it wasn't necessary to find appropriate work
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
A BRITISH COLUMBIA worker
has lost his claim that the prov-
ince's workers' compensation
board discriminated against
him because of his age when it
refused to support his desire to
attend a comprehensive voca-
tional training program usually
approved for workers with less
experience.
Shawn McLaren, 40, was a
marble mason installer in Van-
couver, whose job entailed cut-
ting and setting marble tiles in
various construction and reno-
vation locations. On Sept. 23,
2015, he injured his left shoulder
at work and filed a claim with
Worker wins more benefits
for psychological issues,
chronic back pain
Ongoing back injury prevented worker from completing
job retraining and worsened his depression and isolation
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
AN ONTARIO worker has won his appeal for ongoing benefits for
chronic back pain and an increase in his award for a psychological
impairment, all stemming from a workplace accident.
The 45-year-old worker – who immigrated to Canada in 2001 at
the age of 28 – was employed with an Ontario temporary agency,
which assigned him to a temporary position as a racker at an auto-
motive parts manufacturer in March 2004, when he was 31 years
MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOUND TO BE UNDUE
HARDSHIP IN SAFETY SENSITIVE POSITIONS
Inability to test for residual impairment hours
after consumption made employer unable to
determine fitness for safety sensitive work pg. 5
AVOID THE TEMPTATION
Workers hired through temporary staffing
agencies are less educated on workplace
safety, more afraid to speak up pg. 3
PSYCHOTRAUMATIC DISABILITY
FROM CAR ACCIDENT, NOT
EARLIER WORKPLACE INJURY
Worker opted for civil lawsuit instead
of entitlement to benefits pg. 6
INSIDE
NEWS BRIEF
Experience > pg. 4
Credit:
Shutterstock/Den
Rise
Return > pg. 2
PM
#40065782
TURKISH COURT
JAILS EXECUTIVES
OVER 2014 MINE DISASTER
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish
court sentenced five mining ex-
ecutives to up to 22 years in jail for
their role in the coal mine disaster
in May 2014 that killed 301 peo-
ple, the ruling showed.
The deaths were caused by a
fire that swept through the mine in
the town of Soma, 480 km south of
Istanbul. It was Turkey's worst indus-
trial disaster and the world's biggest
mining disaster this century. Critics
said the accident, which triggered
mass protests, showed the gov-
ernment was too close to industry
bosses and was insensitive, after
prime minister Tayyip Erdogan said
the disaster was part of the profes-
sion's "destiny."
Mine operator Soma Hold-
ing denied negligence, while the
government said existing mining
safety regulations were sound.
Soma Holding's general man-
ager and technical manager were
jailed for 22 years in prison. Two
other company officials were jailed
for nearly 19 years and the chair-
man sentenced to 15 years.
The Turkish government tight-
ened work safety rules and im-
posed tougher penalties in 2014,
six months after the Soma disaster.
