Canadian Safety Reporter

Published 12 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $129 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 E-mail: carswell.customerrelations @thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher John Hobel Managing Editor Todd Humber Contributing Editors Liz Foster (416) 298 5129 liz.foster@thomsonreuters.com Sabrina Nanji (416) 649-9348 sabrina.nanji@thomsonreuters.com Marketing Manager Mohammad Ali mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com (416) 609-5866 Circulation Co-ordinator Travis Chan travis.chan@thomsonreuters.com (416) 609-5872 Safety Reporter Canadian www.safetyreporter.com ©2014 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business). Canadian Safety Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications: • Canadian HR Reporter — www.hrreporter.com • Canadian Occupational Safety magazine — www.cos-mag.com • Canadian Payroll Reporter — www.payroll-reporter.com • Canadian Employment Law Today — www.employmentlawtoday.com • Canadian Labour Reporter — www.labour-reporter.com See carswell.com for information CSR | June 2014 | News site and began working directly with officers from the Fish & Wildlife department of Alberta Environment Sustainable Re- source Development to increase surveillance and provide further bear safety measures. Occupa- tional Health and Safety — along with Fish & Wildlife — continues to investigate the incident. Fatal bear attacks rare Fatal black bear attacks are rare — there were 59 reported inci- dents between 1900 and 2009 — but no matter how unlikely an incident may be, employers are required to mitigate the risks that come with remote work- places. "It may be a remote possibil- ity, but it's a possibility," said Sari Sairanen, Unifor's director of health, safety and environment. The more geographically re- mote the workplace, the more employees are exposed to the dangers of wildlife, weather and the emotional toll of isolation. Complicating matters is a physi- cal removal from the medical care readily available in more populated areas. The most effective thing em- ployers can do, according to Sairanen, is engage employees in the assessment of workplace risk and in the implementation of safety procedures. "Many employers have had to deal with wildlife in their back- yard and so we've learned les- sons. There are best practices out there," she said. "It's up to the employer to find out what those best practices are and to adapt them to their particular needs and location. You have to engage the worker in all of these decisions. They're the ones who will rely on these policies, so you have to engage them in the pro- cess." And while it is positive that employers are re-evaluating their safety programs in light of recent events, Sairanen said, it is important that emergency preparedness plans are consid- ered through the lens of hazard and risk assessments and not re- jigged based on knee-jerk reac- tions. "Wildlife attacks are rare," said Carolyn Campbell, a conserva- tion specialist with the Alberta Wildlife Association. So while it is natural for employers to think offensively in the wake of a seri- ous incident, it is often the most common-sense measures that do the most to protect workers. "Having wildlife awareness and safety training would be important for all operators in remote areas," Campbell said. "In the overwhelming number of incidents involving aggressive black bears… there was some kind of food or edible garbage attractant that they approached. Bears are really food-centered, so being strict about anything that looks like food — including edible garbage — is really impor- tant." Wildlife just one risk of many for remote workers In the wake of an attack such as the one that took place at Sun- cor, it is crucial employers don't let focus on one area of safety be to the detriment of overall safety. "People in remote areas could be injured or get lost," Camp- bell said. "Hazardous materials around the workplace would probably be far more of a con- cern to workers than wildlife." Kari Jefford — president of Unifor Local 229 — is respon- sible for 3,500 members, the majority of whom are located in remote workplaces in education and health care. "We see a gamut of issues," Jef- ford said. "A huge issue is the lack of proper support. Workers can't access any kind of supports with- in their communities, and really there is no support in those com- munities. It's a huge barrier for my members and for their com- munities as a whole. Something as simple as a broken bone or a sprained back snowballs into this huge negative mess." Isolation Contributing to that snowball factor is the added stress of iso- lation, she said. "We have seen a huge increase in mental health issues. The isolation… is a real big barrier for our folks to be made whole again," Jefford said. "Our work- ers are working harder, with less support, in more dangerous situations. It's becoming over- whelming for everyone but more so for our members that are in smaller communities and are father away and don't have that support. It's really getting scary." Jefford said a renewed focus on prevention — rather than a "pick-up-the-pieces-and-move- on" model — is moving things in the right direction. Often in remote workplaces, employees become accustomed to precarious situations and eventually accept hazards as part of their everyday routine. By focusing on common-sense, everyday preventative measures in addition to addressing hot- button issues, employers can protect workers against even the most unpredictable elements, Sairanen said. "Remote areas have some re- ally precarious situation they have to deal with — it's all about prevention." Bear attack < pg. 1 Isolation drives mental health issues for remote staff "People in remote areas could be injured or get lost. Hazardous materials around the workplace would probably be far more of a concern to workers than wildllife." Online bonus Did you know your subscription to Canadian Safety Reporter comes with unlimited access to the online archive on www. safety-reporter.com? It features more than 1,100 articles from past issues and online web posts. Go to www.safety-reporter.com/ onlineaccess to set up your online profi le today.

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