Canadian Safety Reporter

PUBLISHED BY CANADIAN HR REPORTER www.safety-reporter.com THE WORKPLACE SAFETY SOURCE FOR OHS MANAGERS AND HR PROFESSIONALS Abestos, anxiety and 9 years' pay back Safety supervisor at school board awarded job back after being diagnosed with PTSD | BY MELISSA MANCINI | her previous position, she could not accept the risks of any other supervisory job because every supervisor AFTER A DECADE-LONG dispute over was responsible for health and safety. whether an employee's anxiety In February 2012, an adjudicator should be accommodated, the ruled that the school board had disOntario Human Rights Tribunal has criminated based on disability and in ordered an Ontario school board to March 2013, the tribunal ruled Fair give Sharon Fair her job back — should be reinstated, along with pay. along with nine years of lost pay and The decision is being appealed by compensation totaling $480,000. the board, which means Fair will not The ruling is the largest award receive compensation or return to ever received for back pay in a Canawork until the case is heard. dian human rights case. The tribunal's decision is out of Fair, an occupational health and the ordinary for numerous reasons, safety supervisor for the Hamiltonsaid David ElenWentworth Disbaas, co-chair of trict School "There probably won't be the employment Board, developed another case and labour relaa generalized with such a lag time tions group at anxiety disorder McMillan in as a result of her between filing and decision Toronto. job, which includin the future." The first is ed asbestos that reinstating removal from the someone with a specific employer region's schools. Fair feared if she after such a long absence is certainly made a mistake, she could be held out of the ordinary. In most other personally liable under the Ontario cases where there's been a signifiHealth and Safety Act. cant absence, it would be hard to She was subsequently diagnosed establish a working relationship so with post-traumatic stress disorder the person would just be compensatand went on long-term disability ed financially for the loss of work. leave in 2001. "That's not what the tribunal chair Once Fair was able to return to did here," Elenbaas said. "She work in 2004, the school board failed to figured that even though the absence reinstate her, despite positions being was significantly long, because it's a available. The head of the board's plant services argued if Fair could not accept the health and safety risks of continued on page 6 JUNE 2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE PRE-START SAFETY REVIEWS Procedure beneficial to all employers, mandatory in Ontario, B.C. ....................3 NEWS BRIEFS Loblaw pledges to compensate families of Bangladesh collapse victims • Work most stressful part of day for many Canadians • Nova Scotia labour minister wants special workplace safety prosecutor • Making safety committees work ........................................................4 ASK AN EXPERT Proactive hazard and risk assessment in a safety management system ..............11 Hiring a private investigator? 'Broad' definition in legislation leaves questions | BY ZACHARY PEDERSEN | WHEN IT COMES to investigations into accidents and complaints of workplace harassment, employers will offer turn to an outside professional for help. But employers need to proceed with a bit of caution, according to Adrian Miedema, a lawyer at Dentons Canada. That's because in some jurisdictions, like Ontario, the employer could be breaching the law if they hire Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013 continued on page 2

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