Canadian Safety Reporter

4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 CSR | November 2014 | News that has to be properly man- aged... for the most part, they have asbestos management pro- grams in place." While injury rates, serious injury rates and work-related deaths are all decreasing in the province, the occupational dis- ease death rate is going in the opposite direction, said John- son. "Deaths related to occupa- tional disease, predominantly disease from exposure to as- bestos, is increasing," he said. "they are typically more senior in their age and they were a pip- efitter, a carpenter, a painter, an insulator, who all were exposed to asbestos 30, 40 years ago, so we're still fighting that increase in disease we expect to continue just because of the latency pe- riod of disease." Raising awareness saskatchewan now requires mandatory asbestos reporting for Crown corporations, school districts, health regions and fa- cilities and provincial govern- ment buildings. the registry is meant to ensure employers are meeting the regulatory require- ments of occupational health and safety regulations in terms of identifying ACM within their workplaces, recording the con- dition and location of the mate- rials and ensuring it is safe and no one operating there is under a risk of exposure, said Mike Carr, deputy minister of labour relations and workplace safety in saskatchewan's Ministry of Labour relations and Work- place safety in regina. the registry has been benefi- cial in encouraging employers to remember they have a re- sponsibility in ensure a safe and healthy workplace, he said, and tracking the information now will help with claims down the road. "one of the questions that always arises whenever there's a claim that deals with a work- place exposure is really gather- ing the information and the evi- dence around that exposure, so one of the benefits of the regula- tions that have been in place in saskatchewan since 1971 and the subsequent amendments we made here in 2014 has been that we do have a very clear oppor- tunity to identify asbestos-con- taining materials, employers fully understand and appreciate it is their responsibility to do so. that then creates a record that workers may rely on if they are subject to anything related to asbestos exposure." Most of the asbestos expo- sure occurred in industrial oc- cupations or construction, said Carr, and since about 1985, buildings constructed and activities undertaken in new building construction have seen the elimination of ACM. how- ever, there can still be concerns today," he said. For example, firefighters have to be careful when exposed to old buildings with the materi- als, he said. "Anything we can do to bring greater awareness to workplace hazards is a positive, and we certainly feel that the registry is going to be a benefit." there is no requirement to remove the ACM — that's a decision individual building owners and workplace owners make, said Carr, and, generally, the response has been positive. "We've found some work- places that are having a chal- lenge because where previously they just had the knowledge of the asbestos-containing mate- rials, they now have a specific set of things they must do to identify the location, to re- port on the condition of that asbestos-containing material and provide regular updates if they are doing work in the area that would cause any interfer- ence with their disruption of that asbestos-containing mate- rial," he said, adding the chal- lenge is finding professional services to deal with the issues as there are a limited number of resources available in the com- munity. While it's still early days to know how much of an impact the registry is having, the gov- ernment continues to improve the registry. "We are moving… to stan- dardized reporting, so we've made a template available on the website for all employers and we've asked that they re- consider what they may have previously submitted in or- der to ensure they're meet- ing the new standard that we expect them to comply with," said Carr. he added the registry is also becoming more user-friendly in terms of searchability. Governments track location, exposure ASBESTOS < pg. 2 as a boxer." therefore, the video surveillance should not be taken over the "specific and significant medical evidence," said the arbi- trator. While it wasn't unreason- able for natrel to be suspicious of Dolce given his absenteeism problem and threat of taking stress leave, it had two medical notes advising sedentary work or time off. these notes trig- gered natrel's duty to investigate accommodation options to the point of undue hardship, which it didn't follow. Dolce was ca- pable of working with sedentary duties, but natrel didn't investi- gate whether this was possible. "Faced with (the doctor's) note, natrel was legally obliged to take some action," said the arbitrator. "it could not, in these circumstances, totally ignore the doctor's note which, i determine was a quest for accommodation and was also a relevant factor in the exercise of its discretion to determine whether there was just cause to terminate (Dolce)." however, the arbitrator found Dolce wasn't truthful about his activities when confronted with the video and exaggerated his condition. it also turned out he was untruthful about his edu- cation level when he applied to natrel and about his reason for termination on his employment insurance application. this showed a tendency to "game every situation he is in either to seek some advantage or because he perceives he might be disad- vantaged," said the arbitrator. natrel was ordered to rein- state Dolce to his position. how- ever, the arbitrator found Dolce's dishonesty "played a significant role in the company's response to his conduct," so a three-month suspension was placed on his re- cord along with a warning that similar behaviour in the future could lead to dismissal. For more information see: • Agropur, Division Natrel and Bread Drivers, Dairy Employees Caterers and Allied Employees, Local 647 (Dolce), Re, 2014 Carswellont 12532 (ont. Arb.). Doctor note enough DISHONESTY < pg. 3 The now-closed Carey asbestos mine in Quebec. Many buildings were built decades ago without awareness of the dangers of asbestos-containing construction materials. Credit: Mathieu Belanger (Reuters)

• Cover