NEWS BRIEF
Safety Reporter
Canadian
www.safetyreporter.com
September 2015
Lack > pg. 6
ACCOMMODATING INJURIES
Quebec Court of Appeal changes rules regarding the
determination, in a right-to-return-to-work situation,
of a suitable employment by saying the Charter
of Human Rights and Freedoms applies. pg. 3
C-SUITE MEDICINE pg. 7
Executive health assessments can not
only help leaders better deal with their
health, they also help companies like
Deloitte get a better sense of potential
problem areas, and potential solutions
MEN BEING HARASSED
Most people think of women when
it comes to sexual harassment, but
many men suffer too — and it can be a
different kind of harassment, very often
dealing with gender steretypes pg. 2
INSIDE
Worker burnout creates hidden hazards
Communication breakdown among major safety risks of stressed, cynical employees
BY LIZ BERNIER
IT'S PRETTY EVIDENT that
burned-out, overworked em-
ployees won't be working at peak
productivity. That level of stress
can cause all sorts of issues —
presenteeism, increased sick
time, even disability leaves.
But it's not just a question of
mental health — employee burn-
out can also create very real safety
risks for the workplace. And
some are subtler than others.
"It's a big issue, especially in
a 24-7, 'Do more with less' (cul-
ture)," said Mark Gorkin, clinical
social worker and stress expert
in Washington, D.C.
Organizations are increas-
ingly compelled to reduce work-
force sizes, but not workloads
— which can create a stress epi-
demic among workers.
"Most people who do grapple
with burnout have a history of
ONTARIO TAKES ACTION
TO BETTER PROTECT
HEALTH-CARE WORKERS
Ontario is establishing a work-
place violence prevention leader-
ship table in health care to better
protect professionals on the job.
They face a number of hazards in
the workplace including exposure
to infectious diseases, ergonomic
hazards, slips, trips and falls, as
well as violence.
Workplace violence in the
health-care sector costs the
health-care system about $23.8
million annually for hospitals alone
and violence claims make up 10
per cent of the lost-time injuries in
hospitals, said the government.
The leadership table will bring
together key stakeholders and
experts, including patient advo-
cates, to provide advice on how
to reduce and prevent workplace
violence.
Based on the advice of the lead-
ership table, Ontario will develop a
plan to:
•make hospitals safer
•reduce incidents of workplace
violence in hospitals and the
broader health-care sector
•change attitudes toward
workplace violence and improve
workplace safety culture
regarding violence.
Addictions counsellors
in the spotlight
Nova Scotia arbitration highlights role,
responsibilities of EAP professionals
BY SARAH DOBSON
A RECENT arbitration in Nova
Scotia involving an EAP coun-
sellor puts the spotlight on the
role and responsibilities of these
professionals — and their rela-
tionship with employers.
From an EAP point of view,
employers trust the people
whom they retain, but these
professionals may not be as
competent as they otherwise
ought to be, said Ronald Pink, a
lawyer at Pink Larkin in Halifax
who appeared for the union in
Credit:
Piotr
Marcinski
/Shutterstock
Cognitive > pg. 4
