Canadian Safety Reporter

January 2019

Focuses on occupational health and safety issues at a strategic level. Designed for employers, HR managers and OHS professionals, it features news, case studies on best practices and practical tips to ensure the safest possible working environment.

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Safety Reporter Canadian www.safety-reporter.com January 2019 Clean-up procedure needed to be cleaned up: Arbitrator Inconsistency with safety regulations deemed partial cause of non-compliance BY BRIAN LECLAIR A NEW BRUNSWICK lumber mill employee was reinstated when the arbitrator determined that a safety violation committed during a clean-up procedure was not serious enough to fall within the "zero tolerance" codes newly instituted by the province. Twin Rivers Paper Co. has two main operations in New Bruns- wick. Andy Jenkins started working for Twin Rivers in 1997 as a stu- dent and became a full-time employee in 2001. He returned when the mill reopened in 2014 as a "labourer sticker picker" in the soft- wood lumber mill in Plaster Rock. The responsibilities of the position included removing and dispos- ing of broken stickers or strapping used to bind lumber, and gener- ally maintaining a safe working environment by making sure that guards preventing entry to the area near the machinery "are not to be removed when equipment is operating unless equipment has been locked out." There was a three-step procedure — Lock out tag out (LOTO) — including "lock" (placing a lock on a machine), "tag" (identify as lock placer), and "try" (attempt to turn on the machine) Worker's stress from legitimate employment decisions, not earlier attacks Bus driver returned to work without any issues following incidents with passengers; Didn't start reporting mental health issues until disciplinary incident and investigation BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ONTARIO transit worker's claim for traumatic mental stress benefits has been denied because the stress was the result of his employer's actions related to his employment, not a sudden or unexpected traumatic event at work, the Ontario Divisional Court has ruled. Aston Reid was hired by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1979 to be a bus driver. For much of his tenure, the bus route Reid drove was in a rough part of Toronto, which contrib- uted to several disputes with passengers who may have been looking for trouble. A JOINT DECISION After the legalization of recreational cannabis, employers need to understand the legalities of testing, while new technologies promise better ways to measure impairment pg. 5 AGONY OF DEFEAT TURNS TO ENTITLEMENT VICTORY FOR WORKER WITH SORE FEET Worker had predisposition to development of plantar fasciitis but job duties were also a likely contributor: Tribunal pg. 6 INSIDE NEWS BRIEF Returned > pg. 4 Credit: Shutterstock/Roy Harris Worker believed > pg. 2 PM #40065782 NASA TO REVIEW WORKPLACE SAFETY CULTURE AT SPACEX, BOEING U.S. space agency NASA said on Nov. 20 it would review the workplace safety culture at SpaceX and Boeing Co., as the two companies gear up to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. The National Aero- nautics and Space Administration said it would conduct a "cultural as- sessment study" of the companies, "including the adherence to a drug- free environment," prior to crew test flights scheduled to take place in the coming months. WORK REFUSALS FOR IMMEDIATE DANGER ONLY: TRIBUNAL Correctional officers claimed reduction of managers on duty would increase response time in emergencies, but no past incidents and mitigation plan reduced risk pg. 3

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