Canadian Safety Reporter

7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 News | January 2015 | CSR WOMEN'S ADVOCATES < pg. 2 OFL REPORT < pg. 1 Advocates also 'change workplace for the better' WSIB disputes OFL's accuracy, denounces report women's shelter, said White. "So when a woman comes to our advocate, she can talk to her about the services that are avail- able at the women's shelter and really have the personal experi- ence of going into the shelter, where the intake workers will walk our advocates through what a woman will experience when she knocks on the door of that shelter," she said. Advocates are also trained on communication skills — and on self-care and protecting their own safety. "It's a really tough job to be an advocate because, first of all, you're hearing some pretty traumatic things, often, that are happening in the lives of our members and sometimes their children… so we talk to them about how they take care of themselves, and their safety," said White. "Often people, when they're hearing these things, they just want to get in there and help, they want to remove women from the situation. Sometimes they want to take them into their own home, so we talk to them about how that's not something they should be doing — they need to take care of themselves in those situations. "It's about keeping themselves safe and also keeping the women and often their families safe." Changing culture The Women's Advocate Pro- gram isn't just about providing support for individual women — it's also about changing work- place culture for the better, said White. "That's a byproduct of the women's advocate program," she said. "We've often had men who've gone to the women's ad- vocate, looking for support for their daughters, their mothers, their friends, their co-workers. But also, sometimes they've reached out because they are the perpetrators and they know that the advocate has those re- sources." The program encourages women to report and communi- cate about instances of violence or harassment because there is a clearly identified advocate for them to approach. "We've heard of accusa- tions (of sexual harassment) in the House of Commons, in the CBC, so I think that really speaks to how important it is for us to have designated people in workplaces when situations are happening, that people can turn to for help without worry- ing about repercussions," said White. "We've heard in some of these situations that women were ner- vous about reporting it because they were concerned about their advancement in the workplace and how that might impact their careers. So by changing the culture in the workplace to make employers and employees and union reps understand that we've got an obligation to ensure that workplaces are healthy and safe, and providing those desig- nated people in the workplaces will go a long way." Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). Rewarding Offenders points to millions of dollars handed out in workers' compensation rebates to companies that have been found guilty of health and safety offences. Between 2011 and 2013, 135 companies that had been pre- viously convicted of offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act were granted rebates on their premiums by the WSIB's experience rating system, according to the OFL report. That evidence points to claims suppression and per- functory health and safety mea- sures that essentially lead to the WSIB paying the fines it initially slapped on those employers, said Sid Ryan, president of the labour federation. "In essence, what we're doing is paying the fines for these bad employers. If you get a fine, you get a rebate," he said, adding that the experience rating program is the wrong way to measure and improve health and safety moni- tors. For instance, 78 of those 135 dangerous employers received almost $15 million in rebates in the same year they committed the offences, said the report. And in some cases, the rebates ex- ceeded the fines levied. Take gold producers Gold- corp, which was paid a net re- bate of $2.7 million for 2013, two years after a 57-year-old electrician was killed when he was run over by a scoop tram. The company pleaded guilty to failing to implement adequate safety procedures and was fined $350,000. "The system, as it stands right now, is saying to employers that, 'You can kill workers, you can maim workers, but don't wor- ry about it. If you have a good safety record the following year, we're going to give you a rebate, regardless of the fact that your health and safety system com- pletely broke down the year be- fore,'" Ryan said. WSIB disputes report's accuracy But the WSIB disputed the OFL's accuracy, denouncing its report as flawed and littered with mis- leading information. The federation of labour's re- searchers did not consult with the WSIB during the course of its investigation, said Christine Arnott, a spokesperson for the board. "(Rewarding Offenders) inac- curately states that numerous rebates were paid to employers when, in fact, they were not," she said. "In four examples, the report inaccurately states that rebates ranging from $675,000 to $2.7 million were paid to these em- ployers. In fact, all four of these rebates were cancelled under the WSIB's fatal claims adjust- ment policy and were never paid out." Under the board's fatal claims adjustment policy, a company found responsible for an em- ployee's workplace death will not be eligible for a rebate dur- ing the same year in which the fatality occurred. "We recognize that more can always be done to improve workplace safety," Arnott said, "In four examples, the report inaccurately states that rebates ranging from $675,000 to $2.7 million were paid to employers. In fact, all four were cancelled under the WSIB's data claims adjustment policy." "We've often had men who've gone to the women's advocate, looking for support for their daughters, their mothers, their friends, their co-workers." NEVER > pg. 8

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