Canadian Safety Reporter

May 2015

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 May 2015 NEWS BRIEF Recommendations > pg. 6 IS OBESITY A DISABILITY? Lawyer looks at recent cases in British Columbia and Ontario to show challenges for employers around definitions, accommodation pg. 3 MEDICAL TRAVEL EXPENSES pg. 7 Why did an arbitrator say a B.C. employer had to compensate a coal mine employee for medical travel expenses when he drove out of "the immediate area" to see a specialist? AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR Sometimes it's not the aggressive behaviour itself that constitutes a threat but actions and emotions that follow which can make or break a case, declares Ontario arbitrator pg. 8 INSIDE Credit: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri Programs > pg. 4 Workplace suicides on the rise Protective services, soldiers at highest risk, finds U.S. study, but employers can help BY LIZ BERNIER SUICIDES IN THE workplace have been on the rise since 2003, according to a recent study — and some occupations are at higher risk than others. Workers in certain sectors tend to have the highest risk for workplace suicide, according to a U.S. study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. "Those tend to be protective services, which include police, firefighters. The second group are those in farming, fishing and forestry occupations. And then the third group, which was a unique finding, are those in au- tomotive or maintenance and repair occupations," said Hope Tiesman, West-Virginia-based research epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupa- tional Safety and Health and the study's author. People hug outside a Home Depot store following a shooting in New York on Jan. 25, 2015. Two people were killed after a shooting in the store in what appears to be a murder-suicide, two New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesmen said. BANGLADESH GARMENT WORKERS STILL FACE ABUSE: RIGHTS GROUP DHAKA — Two years after the deadly collapse of the Rana Plaza complex, employees in Bangladesh's garment sector still face exploitative and dan - gerous working conditions, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said recently. While the government and global brands have made progress in im - proving safety conditions, many still contend with abuse at work, delayed wages and threats when they try to form a union, an HRW report said. "Dangerous working conditions are linked to the failure to respect workers' rights, including their right to form unions which can help them to collectively bargain for im - proved safety," said Phil Robertson, HRW's Asia deputy director. The Bangladeshi government de- nied that factory workers are facing difficulties in trying to unionize. "If we receive any complaints from the trade union leaders that they are facing harassment or obstruction for forming trade unions, we immedi - ately take stern action," Labour and Employment Ministry secretary Mi- kail Shipar, told Reuters. The government has filed more than 100 cases against factory own- ers or managers since the law was amended, he said. Report highlights troubled CBC culture BY SARAH DOBSON THE RECENTLY RELEASED report on former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi is filled with examples of a workplace challenged by bad behaviour, lack of trust, inept leadership, egoism and faulty processes. And while this case might seem extreme, there are definite parallels — and lessons that can be applied — to other employers. "My biggest concern is it will be written off as a unique situa- tion because it is obviously ex- treme, it takes place in a some- what rarified environment and it doesn't represent every work- place — you don't have a radio star in every workplace. But many, many workplaces have their own kind of stars, wheth- er that is a high-performing

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