A Quebec judge has fined a paving-stone manufacturer $110,000 for criminal negligence in the death of a worker, in what was said to be the country’s first criminal conviction and sentencing of a company involving a workplace death.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Heath and Safety (CCOHS) has developed a web survey aimed at getting feedback from Canadians on health and safety issues related to the changing workplace.

Four years ago on Christmas day, an employee working for a company that recycles lead from used batteries paid dearly for failing to wear personal protective equipment.

He had just finished moving a container pot filled with molten metal from a furnace to a cooling area when the pot suddenly exploded just as he was reversing his forklift truck. The molten metal, also known as slag, splashed the worker. When the worker jumped out of the forklift truck to go to an emergency shower wash station, more misfortune struck. He slipped on the slag, and ended up receiving third degree burns to both legs, second degree burns to the back of his neck, and third degree burns on his left palm.

When Canadian brick manufacturer Brampton Brick decided to invest in automated external defibrillators (AEDs), it did so with the health and safety of its aging workforce in mind.

“Our employee turnover rate is next to zero,” says Nick Bartzis, health and safety coordinator for Brampton Brick. “People that come to (work at) Brampton Brick usually retire at Brampton Brick.”

We all have safety meetings and discussions. These discussions are a chance to focus our thoughts and actions on those important things we need to do to work safely. The trouble is that if we have a lot of safety meetings then they tend to get pretty repetitious and stale. Chances are that the last safety meeting you attended went on much too long, didn’t include enough discussion and even worse, felt like a waste of time to many who were there.

Let’s think about making your next safety discussion: effective, efficient, meaningful and, dare I suggest, engaging and encouraging? Wow! That’s no small order. Here are some quick ideas for making your next safety discussion a lot more interesting and a ton more effective. These approaches really work!

A multi-year project on arc flash research recently got a boost with a US$500,000 sponsorship contribution from Schneider Electric, adding more resources to the estimated US$6.5 million joint research initiative by the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

The Court of Appeal for Ontario recently rendered a decision in a prosecution under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) that has broad implications for employers.

The decision in R. v. Dofasco is very important for OHS professionals and all managers responsible for the health and safety of workers to understand and apply in setting and enforcing safe work procedures. An initial reading of the Court of Appeal’s decision may be discouraging. How, ask many employers, can we ever prove the defence of due diligence? That and other issues and implications will be reviewed as we ask, rhetorically, is R. v. Dofasco the death of due diligence?

Canadian Occupational Safety magazine, Manufacturing Automation magazine, and a new online resource www.SaferMachines.com are creating a special machine automation safety pavilion and exhibit area at the Health and Safety Canada 2008 event, held by the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) and attended by more than 8,000 delegates. 

A new bill has been introduced in the Ontario Legislature that sought to amend the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act to include provisions dealing with workplace harassment and violence.

Andrea Horwath, MPP for Hamilton Centre, filed the proposed legislation following the release of the recommendations from an inquiry into the death of Lori Dupont, a Windsor, Ont. nurse reportedly killed by an ex-boyfriend who is a doctor at the same hospital where Dupont worked.

Safety managers have been urged to revisit their roles and responsibilities within their company in light of what is seemingly an increasing trend among prosecutors to pursue personal charges against safety managers in workplace health and safety-related cases. 

The caution came from Toronto lawyer Cheryl Edwards, partner with Heenan Blaikie and leader of the firm’s national occupational health and safety (OHS) and WSIB practice group. Edwards was among the speakers at the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering’s Education Day event held in Toronto this week.