M A G A Z I N E

O C C U P A T I O N A L

V O L U M E 2 6 • N U M B E R 1 • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3

Understanding Allergic ReactionWorkplace Health & Safety Web site: www.whs.gov.ab.ca

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P e r s p e c t i v e

by Edward (Chic) Thomas

F or more than ten years I have been talking to anybodywho would listen about how important it is for ourworkers (the International Brotherhood of

Boilermakers) to have a full understanding of their rightsand responsibilities under the Alberta Occupational Health andSafety Act. There have been many ups and downs along theway, but I am proud to tell you that, at last — with the helpof Wally Baer and his staff at Workplace Health and Safety —we now provide all our workers with a copy of thelegislation. We have produced a pocket-sized booklet thatincludes all the same information as the copy of the Actpublished by the government, but in a morefunctional format. We have also highlighted thesections that are most relevant to our people.

It all started one day in the spring of 1992. I was in a meeting with several other people who had concerns about safety on the job site.There were safety people, owners and employers,Workers’ Compensation Board - Alberta (WCB)representatives, labour people, representatives of safety associations and government people.We all shared a common goal: to reduce both thenumber and severity of incidents. I remembertalking to Dr. Hugh Walker, then managingdirector of Alberta Occupational Health andSafety (OH&S), about the lack of formal educationour workers receive, either on the job or before they getthere. The concern was echoed throughout the meeting.

I told the group that we had one of the best safety trainingprograms in the country right there in that room. “Just lookat the Occupational Health and Safety Act in front of you,” I said.“If this Act and its regulations were applied on all job sites,and if the workers had access to the information it provides,then we would all see a great reduction in claims and thecost of claims.” They all agreed. But the idea went nowhere.

I did manage to achieve one of my objectives. Dr. Walker introduced me to Keith Stanley, a seniorofficer with OH&S, who agreed to come to the union hallwith other occupational health and safety officers to talkabout workers’ rights and obligations under the Act andits regulations. At first the workers were skeptical of thegovernment and its motives. But as time passed andmore training sessions were held, the workers started togain an insight into their role in maintaining a safe worksite. Although the training was well received and ourincident rates had started to decline, this activity was

shut down because of changes in government programsand policy.

A couple of years later, in 1994, I attended a meeting oflabour people with Stockwell Day, then minister of labourresponsible for OH&S. This was a very important meeting, asit was held at the AlPac mill just after the job site hadrecorded another fatality. There had been numerousincidents while the mill was under construction, and theworkers were angry and scared. They wanted, and demanded,

action by the employer and the government.Again I referred to the great safety program

embedded in the Alberta Occupational Health andSafety Act. I spoke about how important safetytraining is in achieving a safe workingenvironment, and how important it is forworkers to understand that they have the rightto work in a safe environment. AlPac agreed tochange a few things, and the governmentagreed to help, but the type of safety training Iwas suggesting still did not occur.

By this time, the local had become veryfrustrated about the continuing lack of safetytraining and the climbing incident rates, alongwith employers’ lack of understanding of these

frustrations. We therefore embarked on a standard safetytraining program of our own design and making. Today weare using CBT (computer-based training) to provide all ourmembers with 25 different safety-related programs. Themembers have accepted this style of training with greatenthusiasm. Also, all members must upgrade their safetytickets every three years. We have a strict policy: “NO safetytickets, NO work order.”

We are confident that our emphasis on safety traininghas a lot to do with the fact that our members areexperiencing a huge reduction in lost-time claims andlower WCB costs per claim. And we are particularly proudof our pocketbook version of the legislation. We have plansto produce additional books of this kind soon, for example,books on the regulations, the Chemical Hazards Regulationand the Alberta WCB system.

Ed (Chic) Thomas is the director of health and safety at theInternational Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Lodge 14, and has been amember of the local for 28 years. He is also an addictions counsellorand the creator and administrator of the Membership Assistance Program.

If this Act and itsregulations wereapplied on all jobsites, and if theworkers had accessto the informationit provides, thenwe would all see agreat reduction inclaims and thecost of claims.”

“

Keep Talking Safetyfor Tangible Results

O C C U P A T I O N A L H E A L T H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 3

M A G A Z I N E

O C C U P A T I O N A L

An Alberta Human Resources and Employment publication

Managing Editor – Wally BaerEditor – Juliet Kershaw

Assistant Editor – Anita Jenkins

Occupational Health & Safety Magazine is published three times a year, in January, Mayand September. Magazine policy is guided by the Occupational Health & Safety MagazineAdvisory Board consisting of industry and government representatives.

Membership on the Occupational Health & Safety Magazine Advisory Board is open toany resident of Alberta with knowledge and experience in the field of health and safety,and an interest in communicating health and safety information to the public. Any individual interested in joining the Board should submit a letter of application to themanaging editor of the magazine (See below: How to contact us). The Board meets threetimes a year in Edmonton. Board members do not receive remuneration or reimbursementfor expenses related to meetings.

Occupational Health & Safety Magazine Advisory Board members:Chris Chodan Alberta Human Resources and Employment Communications

Bob Cunningham Propane Gas Association GroupRick Ennis Christensen and McLean Roofing

Dianne Paulson Alberta Construction Safety AssociationLloyd Harman Alberta Forest Products AssociationAlain Langlais Alberta Human Resources and Employment

Workplace Health and SafetyTerry Penney Protective Services, Vulcan County

Corinne Pohlmann Canadian Federation of Independent BusinessJames Wilson Workers’ Compensation Board - Alberta

On occasion, this publication refers to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. In the event of a discrepancy between statements in this publication and theAct or regulations, the Act or regulations take precedence. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy ofAlberta Human Resources and Employment or the Government of Alberta.

Subscriptions to Occupational Health & Safety Magazine are available without charge by calling (780) 415-9948. When notifying us of a change of address, send an address labelor subscription number with the new address.Letters to the editor We welcome response to articles or information published in thismagazine, as well as suggestions for future articles. We will print letters to the editor asspace permits. The editor reserves the right to edit letters.Copyright is held by the Government of Alberta. Reproduction of articles in their entiretyis permitted. A reproduced article must include: the author’s name; title of the article; fullname of the magazine; the date, volume and issue number of the magazine. The magazineis available as a PDF file on the Internet at: www3.gov.ab.ca/hre/whs/publications/ohsmag.htm. For permission to reproduce excerpts of any article, please contact the magazine’s administration office at (780) 415-9948 or whs@gov.ab.ca.

How to contact usOccupational Health & Safety MagazineAlberta Human Resources and Employment Workplace Health and Safety and Employment Standards Compliance10th Floor, 7th Street Plaza - South Tower10030 - 107 StreetEdmonton, Alberta T5J 3E4

(780) 415-9948 (780) 427-0999 (For toll-free connection within Alberta dial 310-0000 before the number)whs@gov.ab.ca

How to get more occupational health and safety information

Look up the Workplace Health and Safety Web site at www.whs.gov.ab.caContact the Workplace Health and Safety Call Centre at 1-866-415-8690

Design and layout by McRobbie Design Group Inc.Printing by Quebecor World EdmontonPublication Mail Agreement No. 1528572ISSN 0705-6052 © 2003

contentsP e r s p e c t i v e

2 Keep Talking Safety by Edward (Chic) Thomas

S t o r i e s

6 Setting Health and SafetyStandards for Contractorsby Bill Corbett

8 Warehouse Worker: Beware!by Allan Sheppard

11 Workplace Safety 2.0 Initiativeby Clint Dunford

12 Understanding Allergic Reactionby Norma Ramage

16 Effective Safety Meetingsby Rose Ann McGinty

E r g o t i p s

19 How to Use Wrist Restsby Ray Cislo

P r o f i l e

20 Safety Moves in Residential Construction by Anita Jenkins

M u c h M o r e

4 News & Notes

11 Workplace Health & Safety (WHS)

14 Web Watcher

15 Partnerships in Health and Safety

22 Real World Solutions

22 Workplace Fatalities

O C C U P A T I O N A L H E A L T H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 34

N e w s & N o t e s

are encouraged to examine their own behaviours andattitudes to risk management.

The PARTY program was founded at the SunnybrookTrauma Centre in Toronto in 1986 and took shape inEdmonton at the Misericordia Hospital. Since December1997, 8,650 Edmonton-and-area students have participated.Another 14,000 have attended the program’s outreachcomponent, which consists of a school visit by a PARTYcoordinator and injury survivor.

For more information about Edmonton’s PARTY Program, contactCarrie Chamberland at (780) 930-5890 or cchamber @cha.ab.ca.

Working Towards an Injury-free Alberta“Alberta injury-free 24/7!” came as the resounding cheerfrom the delegates of the November 2002 Alberta InjuryControl Strategy Summit, which brought together Albertansinvolved in injury control. Over 80 invited participantsreviewed and discussed the information gleaned through aprovincial consultation process held in October 2002. Theconsultation saw over 300 Albertans in six locations acrossthe province provide input into the principles, challengesand priority areas for injury control.

The Honourable Lois Hole, Lieutenant Governor ofAlberta, opened the summit, and Mr. Craig DeCecco, aninjury survivor, presented the human face behind thestatistics that represent the injury problem in the province.Minister of Human Resources and Employment, ClintDunford, wished the delegates well in their deliberationsand highlighted his ministry’s new initiative to addressworkplace injuries, Workplace Safety 2.0.

Priority areas that the Alberta Injury Control Strategy willaddress are suicide, motor vehicle collisions and falls amongseniors and children. Other areas of high concern are injuriesassociated with: agricultural and rural settings; aboriginaland youth groups; and interpersonal and family violence.

It’s an ongoing dilemma: how to get health and safetymessages across to teenagers — those most vulnerable toinjury and death through high-risk behaviour.Educational specialists believe you start early, withyoung teens. You demonstrate how important it is forthem to make good decisions in situations where theirhealth or safety is at risk.

Edmonton’s PARTY (Prevent Alcohol and Risk RelatedTrauma in Youth) program does just that, by shockingyoung teens into awareness. The program is in the finalyear of gathering statistics for a 10-year study. Themidpoint results are impressive, indicating a significantreduction in injury and death in those students thatattend the program. As well, the students are asked tocomplete an evaluation of the program. Some studentswrite personal letters indicating the effect this programhas had on them.

PARTY is an injury prevention and health promotionprogram targeted at teens, specifically grade nine studentsin Edmonton and surrounding areas. The programpromotes personal responsibility through realityeducation, which enables teenagers to make informedchoices about activities and behaviours like drinking anddriving, or seat-belt use.

Twice each week, a class of 35 students arrives at theMisericordia hospital at 8:45 a.m. to participate in the in-house PARTY program. Students are accompanied byteachers and interested parents. In the next six hours, theteenagers tour the emergency department — where theywitness a trauma simulation, visit an operating room,experience being a patient in an ambulance and gothrough a Checkstop unit. They are given demonstrationsby emergency and operating room nurses, physicians,police officers and paramedics, who talk about theirroles, experiences and frustrations. Disabled injurysurvivors talk with the teens about their struggles, andthe students are each given a device (neck collar, splint,special glasses) to wear as they eat lunch, so they canexperience, for a short time, the daily challenges forsomeone with a disability. At the end of the day, students

PARTY participantslearn first-hand how a

Breathalyzer works.

Party on?Not for PARTY-goers

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N e w s & N o t e s

If you are interested in participating in one of thework groups developing plans for the strategy, pleasecontact the Alberta Centre for Injury Control andResearch at (780) 492-6019 or BearingPoint at (780) 429-5863.

For more information on the Alberta Injury Control Strategy, see www.med.ualberta.ca/acicr.

Release of New OHSRegulation and Code DelayedRelease of Alberta’s revised occupational health andsafety rules has been delayed. Eleven existing regulationshave been consolidated into a single volume that willbe split into the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)Regulation and Occupational Health and Safety Code. The OHSRegulation deals with administrative processes andgeneral safety topics such as worker protection,equipment and training. The OHS Code lists all thedetailed, technical requirements that previouslyappeared in the 11 regulations.

The OHS Regulation is to be enacted in February 2003.The OHS Code is to be released in September 2003, with a six-month implementation period before strictenforcement. The consolidated OHS Regulation and Code,still in draft form, can be found at www.whs.gov.ab.ca.

Farm Safety Is Not a GameTwo entrepreneurial women from the Stony PlainMulticultural Centre are making headway in farmsafety with rural children, alerting them to thedangers of living on farms and acreages. Two yearsago, program coordinator, Judy Kesanko, andagricultural programmer, Jeanette Smith, designed a90-minute farm safety program for grades 4, 5 and 6,and it’s a hit.

“We see about 2,000 students a year,” says Kesanko.It’s been so successful that the Heritage AgriculturalSociety of Stony Plain (better known as the Stony PlainMulticultural Centre) has been funded to develop asimilar programfor grades 7, 8and 9.

FacilitatorsKesanko andSmith hopetheir programwill reduce thenumber offarming injuriesand deaths inAlberta. Of the18 farm-relateddeaths in 2001,five were of

children under nine. Another 1,660 farm injuries werereported in that year.

Kesanko and Smith take the program to ruralschools whose students live in farming communitiesin Alberta. They introduce the elementary schoolprogram with safety demonstrations, a video anddiscussion, and then bring out the game, “FarmSafety Is Not a Game.” Kesanko says the kids playenergetically, showing they have learned the safetylessons discussed earlier. The game is modelled afterJeopardy, with the students competing to “keep theirmascots safe and not go broke.” When there’s anincident, Band-aids are applied to the mascot, andcash is handed back to the facilitators to reflect realinjury-related costs. After the game, the kids talkabout what they’ve seen and experienced. Inevitably,Kesanko notes, they mention first that they didn’tknow how fast incidents can happen.

Not long ago in central Alberta, two boys, aged eightand 11, fell into a bailer and were suffocated by theflowing grain. Using a toy gravity wagon and canola,Kesanko demonstrates the speed with which injuriesand death can occur. This is a good lesson for rural farmkids, who, as she says, “are out doing the work.” Shenotes that “we have run into nine- and 10-year olds thathave been operating farm equipment.”

For more information or to book the program for your community, contact:

Jeanette Smith or Judy Kesanko at (780) 963-2777jmsmith@psd70.ab.cajkesanko@psd70.ab.ca

CorrectionOccupational Health & Safety Magazine would like to correct an error reported in the article“Oxygen-Deficient Atmospheres,” published inthe September 2002 issue of the magazine. Thearticle stated: “Two Alberta children died afterentering a root cellar where rotting vegetableshad consumed most of the oxygen.” The CanadianGround Water Association (CGWA), whichcontributed its expertise to the investigation intothe deaths, wrote to us with the information that“the two teenagers died after entering a waterwell pit, not a root cellar.” They died “by the lackof oxygen attributed to high nitrogen levels inthe water well pit due to a phenomenon knownas a breathing well.” In a breathing well,nitrogen-rich air is forced from the ground upinto the water well, displacing oxygen from thepit. This phenomenon is explained in detail inarticles available on the CGWA’s Web site,www.cgwa.org/breathing.htm.

by Bill Corbett

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bunch of contractors on a work site independentlyfollow their own health and safety programs,without any coordination.

Assessing a contractor’s health and safety qualificationsThe solution to the first problem is to check acontractor’s health and safety qualifications. “An employer should ask potential contractorswhether they have safety training programs toensure their employees are competent to performa task properly and safely,” says Dennis Bolger,president of Calgary-based consulting firmBenchmark Safety. “They should also make surethey conduct a pre-job safety meeting and have inplace adequate controls such as work proceduresand personal protective equipment. These are

things that companies should have as a minimum.”One way to check a contractor’s credentials is to ask if

the company has a Certificate of Recognition, issued byAlberta Human Resources and Employment. To receivethis certificate, companies must have developed acomprehensive health and safety management systemthat must be audited regularly.

“A Certificate of Recognition is not a silver bullet. Butit does indicate a company has developed an ongoing

safety program to a known standard,” saysMurray Sunstrum, executive director of theCanadian Petroleum Safety Council, notingthat approximately 80 per cent of Albertadrilling contractors are now certified. Somemajor oil companies are beginning todemand that service companies have thiscertificate to qualify for work-bid lists.

Coordinating health and safety for multiple contractorsStill, there is considerable risk of confusion if

multiple contractors are on a work site, each with their ownsafety programs. Here, it makes sense for a single party,known as a prime contractor, to coordinate the activities forthe entire work site. Indeed, any work site with two or morecompanies working at the same time must, by law, have asingle prime contractor (see www3.gov.ab.ca/hre/whs/publications/ pdf/li018.pdf).

The prime contractor has overall responsibility forhealth and safety at the work site and must ensure that allparties comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act

Employers are accustomed to asking contractors for proofof Workers’ Compensation Board coverage and liabilityinsurance before hiring them to do work. They should

consider adding a third basic requirement: that contractorshave adequate health and safety programs in place.

Too often, contractors, especially small companies,haven’t developed safety manuals and ongoing programsof health and safety training, inspections and meetings.Even companies that do have safety programsmay find themselves at odds with the practicesof the employer or the prime contractor on aparticular job.

Either scenario can result in an unsafe worksite with the potential for injuries, damagedfacilities and equipment, or costly shutdowns.The best way to avoid these pitfalls is tooutline and clearly communicate what healthand safety measures are expected of allcontractors on a work site, and to do so beforeany work begins.

Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Actsays each company at a work site is independentlyresponsible for the health and safety of its workers. But foremployers to sit back and let every work-site contractor takecare of health and safety responsibilities individually is arisky strategy. Taking this approach does not absolve theemployer from liability for any incidents that might occur.

First, this thinking incorrectly assumes all contractors arecompetent to handle these responsibilities. Second, itignores the chaos and increased risk that can arise when a

For employers tosit back and letevery work-sitecontractor take careof health and safetyresponsibilitiesindividually is arisky strategy.

Setting Health

and associated regulations. The Act, for example, requiresthe prime contractor to establish and maintain a system,such as an effective health and safety plan, that ensurescompliance. The prime contractor is also responsible forensuring that first aid services, equipment and suppliesare available at the work site.

Work-site owners can choose to be their ownprime contractor but should do so only if theyhave sufficient resources and qualifications tomeet their responsibilities. An owner who fails,through oversight or ignorance, to assignprime contractor duties to another party, canunwittingly end up as the prime contractor.

Usually, it works well to transfer primecontractor responsibilities to another person or company (preferably in writing). Here, theowner should be certain the other party is capableof fulfilling health and safety duties, since primecontractor responsibilities originate with the owner.

Work-site owners should take care in choosing a primecontractor. “Often the owner wants the project manageror engineer to be the prime contractor,” says Bill Tremain,manager of the Alberta Construction Safety Association’sCalgary office. “But if it’s a small company, it doesn’tmake sense, because it probably doesn’t have theresources or system in place to oversee a largeconstruction site.”

It’s also important to choose prime contractors whoclearly understand their role. “The prime contractor’s jobis to be a facilitator and a communicator for health andsafety at the workplace,” says Rick Ennis, constructionsafety officer with Edmonton-based Christensen andMcLean Roofing. “When he does that, he reduces theopportunity for incidents to occur and minimizes thechances of putting workers in compromising positions.Occasionally, we get into a multi-trade situation where theprime contractor doesn’t understand his responsibility tocommunicate, and at times this results in tradespeopleunknowingly entering the danger zone, for example, of ahot-tar roofing application.”

Choosing the work site’s health and safety programOnce satisfied with the subcontractors’ qualifications,the prime contractor has to decide whether to let thesubcontractors follow their own safety programs or theprogram the prime contractor has established for theentire work site. Sometimes, it’s a mix of both. Forexample, the prime contractor might defer to the

expertise of the subcontractor in the way the latterhandles certain risks.

“Standards can vary so much from site to site, so it’simportant that workers understand what’s expected ofthem,” says Ennis. “When we are the assigned prime

contractor, we’re considered pretty rigid bysubcontractors who are not up to speed withour responsibilities. From the outset, we sitdown with the subcontractor and go over thesite-specific requirements to ensure we haveclarity on safety expectations.”

Bolger was the head of safety, overseeing 700companies and 3,000 workers, during theconstruction of Shell Canada’s massiveCaroline gas-processing plant. “All thecontractors on that construction site had to beoriented to our safety program to work on thatsite,” he recalls. “If you let everyone do their

own thing on a big site like that, it can be dangerous.”Proper coordination of various contractors can alsoeliminate the risk of, say, one company moving heavyequipment or pouring concrete while other tradespeopleare working below.

The bottom line: the owners or prime contractors areultimately in charge of the health and safety of the worksite. It’s important they set adequate safety standards, layout a well-orchestrated game plan and communicate theirexpectations with subcontractors before the job begins.It’s a proven formula for a safer and more efficient work site.

Bill Corbett is a Calgary writer.

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It’s particularlyimportant on largeprojects for theprime contractorto carefullyorchestrate theactivities of the varioussubcontractors.

R e s o u r c e s

WEB LINKS

www.teamster.org/sh/FactSheets/contractors.pdfContractors’ safety and health responsibilities,International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

www.ohscanada.com/LawFile/doomed.aspSupervisory due diligence, “Doomed If You Don’t,” by Peter Strahlendorf.

www.civil.ist.utl.pt/~mtcurado/miguel/W99lisb/CIB99.htmlIntegrating quality and safety in construction companies.

and Safety Standards for CONTRACTORS

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One or two Albertans die each yearin warehouse incidents. Othersare disabled. Many are injured.

Those racks, stacks and pallets that fill the workspace from end toend and floor to ceiling containmany hazards. Some are hidden.Others are obvious.

Some warehouse equipment isinherently dangerous. The risks can beincreased by lack of training, poormaintenance, and lack of protectiveguards and safety procedures.

Warehouse work may involve heavylifting and carrying, with frequentrepetitions. Some warehouse worktakes place in hazardous locations andmay involve hazardous materials. Fireis a common concern, complicated insome cases by the presence offlammable materials and packaging.

Air quality can be a silent, ofteninvisible, hazard in some warehouses.Exhausts from internal combustionmotors on forklifts and on vehiclesleft idling at loading docks, gasesvented from batteries and batterychargers for electric-poweredforklifts, dust and gases shed and

vented from materials in storage andtheir packaging are all potentiallydangerous. Some gases, like carbonmonoxide, are poisonous; others maycause cancers or aggravate allergies.

A few warehouses are also retailstores. These environments presentmany challenges, but they also setexcellent examples. The designs, plansand operating procedures used insuch establishments must allow forthe fact that customer behaviour isunpredictable and hard to control.Extraordinary measures help ensurecustomer and worker safety.

Home Depot Canada has close to 90retail stores and four distributioncentres, says director of safety, AndréSt.-Pierre. “We have to be 50 times moreconscious of safety in our retail storescompared to our distribution centres.

“We follow all occupational healthand safety regulations wherever weoperate,” St.-Pierre adds, “but we takeextra precautions when the public isinvolved, because you can't controlwho comes into the store or whatthey will do.” Such high standardsmay not be practical or necessary

where access is restricted, but thereare lessons to be learned from retailstore procedures.

What to doThe Warehouse Workers Safety Guide, putout by the Canadian Centre forOccupational Health and Safety(CCOHS), is a handy reference for thatpurpose. The pocket-sized bookletcontains many checklists to helpwarehouse workers identify andeliminate hazards.

Mike Mills recommends frequentsafety assessments and regular safetyreviews and inspections. Mills is anoccupational health and safety officerat Workplace Health and Safety.

Mills' first concern is consistencyand compatibility in racking andshelving. “I've seen places with threeor four kinds of racking on the samefloor,” says Mills. “People go toauctions and buy what they think is agood deal.” Nothing wrong with that,says Mills, until operators try tocombine “mismatched bits and pieces”from different manufacturers. Or untilthey try to use inappropriate shelving

by Allan Sheppard

Warehouse Worker, Beware!

for the racks — wood or plywoodwhere the manufacturer intendedmetal, for example.

Aside from instability whenstructural members or fastenersdon’t line up and mate properly,substituting non-standard componentsand materials affects load ratings inunpredictable ways. “You always haveto be aware of load calculations,”says Mills. You need to know howmuch each rack and shelf can holdbefore you place anythingon it. Using non-standardequipment and materialscomplicates thecalculations or makesthem impossible.

Mills also recommendsputting the heaviest andlargest items at lower levels on racks.That advice is common sense, but itmay have to be balanced with anothercommon-sense recommendation:Put frequently used items in themost accessible locations, and makesure you don't have to move large orheavy material to get at the items youneed regularly.

In “pick” operations, such as retailgrocery warehouses, supervisors andmanagers should carefully locatepopular goods — sale items, forexample — to minimize congestionpoints as forklift or pallet-jackoperators move around the floor togather material for orders.

Forklifts are obvious hazards,especially when several work togetherin the same area. Forklift safety iscovered in detail in a previous issue

of Occupational Health &Safety Magazine (“Forklifts:Deceptive and Dangerous,”January 2002).

Hazardous materialsoffer another set of risks inwarehouses. The WorkplaceHazardous Materials

Information System (WHMIS) identifiessix classes of hazardous material.Shippers are required by law tolabel hazardous shipments andpackages using approved universalsymbols; warehouse workers shouldbe familiar with the symbols andthe procedures required for the safehandling of each. Workers should also

Air quality can bea silent, ofteninvisible, hazard insome warehouses.

• slips and falls from slippery orcluttered floors

• falls and other incidents due toinadequate lighting, includingemergency lighting

• slips or falls from ladders

• injuries from falling objects, racks orrack components

• crushing injuries and trauma frommaterials-handling equipment andprocesses

• cuts and amputations from knives,cutters, saws, packaging tools andmaterials

• burns from electrical conductors orhot equipment

• back pain from lifting heavy orawkward loads or using awkwardpostures

• allergies and skin disorders fromcontact with metals andcontaminated packages, inhalationof dusts and plant materials

• illness due to exposure to chemicalsand pesticides, or contact withinfectious materials

• carbon monoxide poisoning fromlift-truck exhausts

• battery-charging hazards

• soreness and/or loss of function inwrists and arms from repeatedawkward movements or vibration

• fire, frequently complicated by thepresence of hazardous andflammable materials and flammablepackaging

1Adapted from Warehouse Workers Safety Guide(Second Edition), DSS Catalogue Numbercc273-2/99-8E, Canadian Centre forOccupational Health and Safety, CCOHS,Hamilton, Ontario, 1999 (available from theAlberta Government Library – LabourBuilding). This guide identifies additionalrisks and recommends procedures forpreventing and responding to incidents.

Checklist of commonwarehouse hazards1

Health and injury risks forwarehouse workers

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know how to deal withmore than one class ofhazardous material in thesame category, and whatto do in emergencysituations involving spills,fire and mixing ofmaterials. MSDS — MaterialSafety Data Sheets — areimportant sources ofinformation.

Fire is a serious risk insome warehouses,sometimes complicatedby the flammability ofstored items and theirpackaging. “Somewarehouses couldbecome fire traps shoulda fire get started and notbe controlled by sprinklersystems,” says Mills. Forthat reason, warehousesshould be non-smoking areas, and warehouse workersshould be trained in the use of fire extinguishers, Millsadds. Maintenance of emergency lighting is very important,and escape aisles should be clearly marked and kept free ofclutter. “In a dark, smoky environment, workers need to beable to escape.”

Housekeeping is critically important at all times, not justin case of fire. Many injuries result from simple falls — slippingor tripping on objects and spills that should have been pickedup, cleaned up, moved or identified and marked for safety.

Falls can also occur through improper use of ladders, or theuse of an inappropriate ladder for the job at hand.

Much warehouse work is still done the old-fashioned way — byhand, using the power of the human body. This puts workers atrisk for muscle and joint injuries from heavy or awkward workthat may also be prolonged and repetitive.

“Pay attention to ergonomics,” says Mills. Use equipmentand clothing designed for the task, and use proper form andtechnique for lifting, carrying and moving heavy objects, andfor pushing or pulling carts, jacks and dollies. (For moreinformation on back care and lifting, refer to the followingbulletins on the Workplace Health and Safety Web site,www.whs.gov.ab.ca: BCL001 through BCL005, ERG013 andERG014 and PH003).

Most warehouse workers are familiar with the hazards of theirwork and the necessary preventive measures. The challengefor them and their managers is to guard against the kind offamiliarity that brings carelessness or false confidence.

Allan Sheppard is a freelance writer and researcher. He lives in Edmonton.

R e s o u r c e s

WEB LINKS

www.ccohs.ca/products/publications/warehouse.htmlCanadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety summaryof Warehouse Workers Safety Guide (offered for sale).

www.ehresources.co.uk/eh_health_and_safety_1.htmWarehouse training case studies.

www.hseni.gov.uk/pdfs/warehouses.PDFSafety in Warehouses.

www.ahealthyme.com/topic/warehousetipsWarehouse Workers: 12 Safety Tips.

www.worksafesask.ca/files/ont_tsao/ whse2.htmlA Warehouse/Dock Safety Analysis checklist fromTransportation Safety Association of Ontario.

IN THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT LIBRARY – LABOUR BUILDING

BooksWarehouse Safety: A Practical Guide to PreventingWarehouse Incidents and Injuriesby George SwartzRockville, Md.: Government Institutes, 1999(TS 189.6 S83 1998)

Warehouse Workers Safety GuideHamilton, Ont.: Canadian Centre for Occupational Healthand Safety, 1998(HD 7261 W37 1998)

VideoWarehouse Safety: It’s No Mystery, 22 min. Introduces warehouse hazards and safety precautions.(VC0297)

Wo r k p l a c e H e a l t h& S a f e t y ( W H S )

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The Workplace Safety 2.0 Initiative

Clint Dunford,Minister of AlbertaHuman Resourcesand Employment

Are you doing EVERYTHING to make sure your staff and friends go home safely at the end of the day?

Iam encouraged by the progress on workplace safety that has been madein Alberta. Between 1991 and 2001 the provincial rate for lost-timeclaims (injuries severe enough for a worker to miss more than the day of

the incident) fell from 4.1 injuries per 100 person-years worked, to 3.2 per100. In the same period, the workforce grew from 1 million to 1.7 million.

I believe we can do more. The Workplace Safety 2.0 initiative has a targetfor reducing our lost-time claim rate to 2.0 by the end of 2004. That is a 40per cent reduction, which will mean 15,000 fewer injured workers each year.

Last spring I set up a working group with 15 representatives of industry,labour and safety associations and asked them to develop a strategic planto hit the target. Then more than 150 people reviewed the plan andbrought forward even more ideas at the Minister’s Forum on WorkplaceHealth and Safety. It is now up to government, industry, safety associations,unions and workers to make Workplace Safety 2.0 happen on work sitesacross the province.

To make more information available to Alberta employers and workers,Alberta Human Resources and Employment has already begun expanding itsWeb site, www.whs.gov.ab.ca, and opened a toll-free call centre, 1-866-415-8690.Also, the ministry has recently tripled the annual number of work-siteinspections and increased the number of prosecutions for safety violations.

The government passed legislation on December 3, 2001, to make thefollowing amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act:

• Increasing the maximum fine for an OHS offence from $150,000 to $500,000.

• Introducing penalties other than fines or incarceration for OHSoffences, such as providing safety programs or education programs.

• Streamlining the process for updating OHS rules by allowing thecreation of an Occupational Health and Safety Code to govern the codes ofpractice for work-site safety.

• Allowing the use of administrative fines similar to those used for trafficviolations. The introduction of these fines will depend upon a review ofthese fines in other jurisdictions to determine their effectiveness.

• Publishing the names of employers with the best and worst safetyperformance in the province.

But, in the final analysis, government cannot be everywhere. We caneducate, inspect and prosecute, but only people on the job site, like you,can prevent injuries and fatalities.

As government and industry move to reduce work-site injuries across theprovince, your work site will be asked to move workers’ health and safety tothe forefront of operational decisions. I encourage you to visit our Web siteto learn more about Workplace Safety 2.0 and how it will affect you.

It’s time to develop a new approach to workplace safety, by making safetythe new bottom line.

Clint Dunford, Minister of Alberta Human Resources and Employment.

The WORKPLACE SAFETY 2.0 initiative aims to reduce the rate of workplace injuryby 40% by the year 2004. It will mean 15,000 fewer injured workers each year.

The government will be working with employers, workers, safety associations andunions to make safety the new bottom line for Alberta’s 1.7 million workers.

Watch www.whs.gov.ab.ca/ws2point0 for updates.

Contact WHS anytime...For occupational health and safetyinformation and assistance, phone theCall Centre 1-866-415-8690 or go to theWHS Web site www.whs.gov.ab.ca.

Sign up for WHS newsYou will be notified by email of all newWHS Web site postings when you sign upfor this FREE subscription servicethrough www.whs.gov.ab.ca.

OHS materials in the Alberta Government Library –Labour BuildingThe URL for the library iswww.gov.ab.ca/hre/library.

Access the library catalogue atdraweb.library.ualberta.ca.

The library houses a large selection ofoccupational health and safetyinformation materials. You can searchthe library catalogue over the Webthrough draweb.library.ualberta.ca.

To borrow materials, please contact yourlocal library and make your requeststhrough the inter-library loan process,or visit the library at:

3rd floor, 10808-99 AvenueEdmonton, Alberta T5K 0G5

S (780) 427-8533 or toll-free, 310-0000T (780) 422-0084

How to order Workplace Healthand Safety publicationsWorkplace Health and Safetypublications are available from theWHS Web site, www.whs.gov.ab.ca, orthe WHS Call Centre, 1-866-415-8690.

WHS is a division of Alberta HumanResources and Employment and falls underthe jurisdiction of Minister Clint Dunford.

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T here’s an old joke that says theproblem with some people is thatthey’re allergic to work.

A not-so-funny reality is that manypeople are allergic to their workplace or,more specifically, to substances theyencounter in that workplace.

There have been numerous mediastories about “sick building syndrome”and health professionals’ allergicreactions to latex gloves. These areonly the well-documented tip of theiceberg. The truth is that anyone,whether or not they are alreadyallergy sufferers, can develop anallergic sensitivity to a substance.

What causes an allergic reaction?Simply put, some individuals’ immunesystems perceive a substance enteringthe body as harmful. The body’s whiteblood cells, the internal army thatfights bacteria, produce antibodies thatcombine with the allergen, releasingchemicals throughout the body. One ofthese chemicals is histamine, whichproduces many of the common allergicside effects such as hivesand skin rashes.

Dr. Ken Corbet, aspecialist in occupationalmedicine and a clinicalassociate professor at theUniversity of Calgary,describes an allergicreaction as a signal mix-up. “The immunesystem views thesubstance as an invasive or infectiousagent, when it’s not really.”

Allergens can be present in anyworkplace. Office workers may beaffected by felt-tip markers, correctionfluid, toner for photocopiers and

printers, or mould or dust mitespresent in buildings.

Workers in the food industrycan be sensitized by exposure toflours, grains, shellfish or sulphites.Veterinarians, animal handlersand agricultural workers may beaffected by animal dander, fur,saliva or urine. Health workers canbe allergic to latex, constructionworkers to chemicals in paint.Hairdressers can become allergicto shampoos, conditioners andcolourants. The list of potentialallergens is virtually endless.

Allergic substances can enter thebody in four ways: injection,inhalation, ingestion or through theskin. However, in the workplace,allergens generally enter the bodythrough the skin or by inhalation.Each method produces a distinct setof symptoms, explains Dr. Corbet.“Inhaled allergens typically cause eyeand nasal problems similar to hayfever, such as a runny nose and redeyes. They can also cause breathing

problems such as wheezing,shortness of breath andchest tightness. Allergensthat enter the bodythrough the skin cause acontact dermatitis thatlooks like eczema.”

It’s a commonmisconception that allergiesare caused by exposure tosomething new. In fact, the

opposite is true. The process ofdeveloping an allergy is calledsensitization and, depending on thesubstance and the individual, that cantake weeks, months and sometimesyears. Dr. Sammy Youakim, an

occupational medicine physician withHealthserv, an occupational healthand safety medical clinic inEdmonton, says that over time theimmune system becomes sensitized toa substance it recognizes as harmfuland “becomes primed and ready toattack. What happens then is actuallyan overreaction by the immunesystem, causing allergic symptoms.”

Once a person is sensitized to anallergen, says Dr. Youakim, even aminute amount can trigger a reaction.For example, in cases of latex gloveallergy, latex molecules in the air havetriggered symptoms; the persondoesn’t actually have to wear thegloves. Once a person is sensitized,symptoms can crescendo, withcontinued exposure provokingincreasingly more severe responses.

Who can develop an allergy?Virtually anyone, says Dr. Corbet. A family history of allergies is a strongfactor when it comes to developingsensitivities to organic allergens, suchas pollens. It’s also true that smokersmay be more likely to develop allergic

by Norma Ramage

It’s a commonmisconception thatallergies arecaused by exposureto something new.In fact, theopposite is true.

Understanding

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breathing problems, and someone withchronic dry skin may be more prone toallergic dermatitis. However, when itcomes to chemical allergens, Dr. Corbetsays, “most people are at equivalentrisk,” whether or not they have apersonal or family history of allergies.

Robin Churchill, a Ph.D. student atGuelph University, had no familyhistory of allergies, but she developedan allergic dermatitis to crab,although she had previously eaten theseafood with no problems. Afterseveral weeks of analyzing rawcrabmeat, she developed itchy,bleeding hands. “Handling crab wasthe only thing I was doing differentlyfrom a few weeks before,” she recalls,“so I started wearing vinyl gloves.”Unfortunately, the vinyl gloves madeher eczema even more painful. “Idon’t know if I was allergic to thevinyl or the powder inside it,” shesays, but when she switched topowderless latex gloves, her skinproblems vanished. Interestingly,Churchill has now discovered thateating crab causes a swelling andredness around her mouth.

What substances cause allergic reactions?Some substances have beenidentified as more likely to besensitizers, including latex, platinummetal, formaldehyde, red cedar, theisocyanates found in automotivepaint, flour, mould and dust mites,but virtually any substance cancreate an allergic reaction insomebody. The literature on allergiesincludes examples like the loggerwho was allergic to moss on treesand the paperboy who reacted tonewspaper ink. “It’s hard to predictwho’s going to be allergic toanything,” says Dr. Youakim.

Given that the range of allergensin the workplace can be immense,identifying the particular substancean individual is reacting to cansometimes be a puzzle worthy ofSherlock Holmes. Dr. Youakim saysindividuals who suspect they havean allergy should keep a diaryindicating when they started to feelunwell, what they were doing at thetime and where they were doing it.“As doctors, we need a concise and

very specific history. We need apattern. If the diary shows theyexperienced symptoms in room Aand not in room B, that gives usvaluable information.”

Once the sensitizer is discovered,what’s the next step?“We have to balance the allergicreaction against a person’s need towork,” says Dr. Corbet. The exposurecan often be managed, as in the caseof allergic contact dermatitis wherewearing gloves can solve the problem.Masks and protective clothing mayalso help manage some allergies. Moreefficient air circulation and air cleaningsystems can also limit exposure. Butsometimes, says Dr. Corbet, the sensitiveindividual must leave the offendingwork environment.

It seems obvious that one way ofpreventing allergic reactions in theworkplace would be to set exposurestandards, similar to those in place forcarcinogens and other toxic materials.The problem, says Dr. Youakim, is thatonce a person is sensitized to an allergen“there is no safe level of exposure.”

AllergicReaction

Here are morenot-for-profit sites,which are good candidates foryour favourites list:

Health Canada, Office of LaboratorySecurity (MSDS Source)www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/msds-ftss/index.html

Human Resources Development Canada, Occupational Health and Safety(Labour Operations)info.load-otea.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/~oshweb/homeen.shtml

Human Resources Development Canada,Federal Labour Legislation, CanadaLabour Code, Part I (Parts II and III canalso be accessed)info.load-otea.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/federal_legislation/part1/part1.htm

CANOSH (Canada’s NationalOccupational Health and Safety Web site)www.canoshweb.org/en/

Canadian Auto Workers, Health Safety & Environmentwww.caw.ca/whatwedo/health&safety/index.asp

Department of Justice Canada (Canada Labour Code)laws.justice.gc.ca/en/L-2/

Communications, Energy andPaperworkers Union of Canada, Health,Safety and Environmentwww.cep.ca/health_safety/health_e.html

St. John Ambulance Canada, Health andSafety Trainingwww.sja.ca/english/health_safety_training/index.asp

I.W.A. Canada, Health and Safety Web pagewww.iwa.ca/WEBSITE/h&s-contents.html

CLC – Health & Safety, Day of MourningApril 28thwww.clc-ctc.ca/health-safety/mourning.html

Workinfonet.ca, Workplace Issues andSupports, Occupational Health andSafety (a Web site list of Web sites)www.workinfonet.ca/cwn/english/index.cfm?cat=6&sub=69

Workers Health and Safety Centre,Ontario, Canadawww.whsc.on.ca/

Workplace Health and Safety Division,Manitoba Labour and Immigrationwww.gov.mb.ca/labour/safety/

Yukon Workers’ Compensation Healthand Safety Boardwww.wcb.yk.ca/

Nova Scotia Environment and LabourOccupational Health and Safety Divisionwww.gov.ns.ca/enla/ohs/

Workers’ Compensation Board of BC,WorkSafe onlineregulation.healthandsafetycentre.org/s/HazardousProductsAct.asp

Workers’ Compensation Board ofPrince Edward Islandwww.wcb.pe.ca/

Society of Petroleum Engineers, HealthSafety and Environmentwww.spe.org/spe/cda/views/general/speDisciplineHome/0,1481,1648_2342,00.html

Bob Christie is a partner at ChristieCommunications Ltd., a multimediadevelopment company in Edmonton. Bob supplies most of the Web link resourcesfor the articles in this magazine.

W e b W a t c h e r

In this issue I am completing the list of Web sites produced by not-for-profitorganizations with a national mandate. Here I should add that while Ithink many private companies’ sites are as worthwhile as not-for-profit

sites, the former are in the business of building business. They inevitablyreflect the company’s bias and include some form of self-promotion. Infact, some of these sites are nothing but advertising. These I tend todiscount, since the Web should be about more than advertising.

For the next issue I will select national sites with a profit perspective,but which also provide real content.

by Bob Christie

The matter is further complicated bythe fact that a level that may sensitizeone person may have no effect on theemployee working next to him.However, says Dr. Youakim, peoplestriving to set guidelines can usecommon sense. “If the sensitizationlevel at one plant with a certainexposure level is three per cent, andthe sensitization rate at a secondplant, where the exposure level ishigher, is five per cent, you mightconclude that levels at the first plantare safer in terms of causing allergies.”

However, since everyone is different,says Dr. Youakim, “It’s rare to have aspecified level below which allergieswon’t be set up.”

People who are concerned that theyhave an allergic reaction should go to adoctor, says Dr. Corbet. Since allergiesare difficult to diagnose, even for trainedprofessionals, Dr. Corbet cautionsagainst trying to diagnose yourself.

Norma Ramage is a freelance writer andcommunications consultant living in Calgary.

R e s o u r c e s

WEB LINKS

www.clearbreathing.com/disease/cascade.asp The Allergic Cascade.

www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/7945/8218/174513.html?d=dmtContent What Are Allergies And Who Is At Risk?

www.ncchem.com/accommod.htm Accommodating the Allergic Employee in theWorkplace.

www.hooked-on-nails.com/overexposure.html An article about sensitization due to overuse ofchemicals used during nail decoration and care.

IN THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT LIBRARY – LABOUR BUILDING

Books“Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: IdeopathicEnvironmental Intolerance”State of the Art Reviews, Occupational Medicinevol. 15, no. 3.Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, 2000 (RB 152 M84 2000)

“Workers with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities”State of the Art Reviews. Occupational Medicine. vol. 2, no. 4.Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, 1987(RA 1229 W674 1987)

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Certificate of Recognition Holders Reduce Their Lost-time Claim (LTC) Rates *

Industry Sector LTC Rate for LTC Rate forCOR Holders Non-COR Holders

Petroleum 2.3 3.4

Wood Products 1.7 6.9

Steel and Metal Fabrication 6.5 10.0

Alberta Construction 3.1 5.0Safety Assoc. Industries

Selected Health Industries 3.8 4.5

Alberta Municipal Health 3.1 3.5and Safety Association

* Source: Alberta Human Resources and Employment, 2001 data.

The Partnerships Program hasundergone unprecedented growthover the past five years. In 1997, 1,000employers held valid Certificates ofRecognition (CORs) in Alberta. Todaythere are 4,134 COR holdersrepresenting between 30 and 40 percent of the Alberta payroll.

Interest in the program fromoutside Alberta is also growing.Partnerships staff have givenpresentations to interestedrepresentatives of other provinces.Ontario has developed a Partnershipsprogram of its own, and BritishColumbia, which has historicallyfocused on a strict regulatoryapproach to health and safety, isdeveloping a program based onAlberta’s. The intention is to haveCORs accepted in both Alberta andB.C. by the end of 2003. The Yukon,New Brunswick and Newfoundlandhave also expressed interest inPartnerships. The program has evenhad an effect on the other side of theglobe, as Australia has developed aprogram based on Partnerships, andChina is floating a pilot project andhas requested additional information.

For more information about the Partnershipsprogram, call (780) 427-8842 or toll-free 310-0000.

What is Parnerships?

Partnerships in Health and Safety is aprovince-wide injury prevention programsponsored co-operatively by government,labour and industry.

For more information about thePartnerships program, call (780) 427-8842or toll-free 310-0000.

PartnershipsGoes Global!

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working well. In short, you want toprovide opportunities for regulartwo-way communication betweenmanagement and staff.

Health and safety programsincorporate safety meetings becauseresearch shows that good, open,regular communication about healthand safety issues is a criticalcomponent in preventing injuriesand illnesses, and in improvinghealth, safety and wellness at thesite. And if you don’t actively work onmaintaining communication, iteventually slips. We often talk aboutthe need to manage health and safety(it doesn’t look after itself). Well, thesame is true for communication.Don’t work on it, and it eventuallybecomes miscommunication, gossipor hearsay.

WHAT to talk aboutWhat do we talk about at thesemeetings? The content is critical. Whatdo you want to tell your staff? What doyou want them to think about and

safety program requirements”? If so,then I’d ask you to think some more.

Saying you hold safety meetingsbecause you have to is like saying youput up guardrails for workers workingabove a certain height because the

regulations say you haveto. The answer isn’texactly wrong; it’s just notthe best answer. The betterreason for putting upguardrails is because youdon’t want workers tofall and become injured.(The regulations wereimplemented as a result of

all the falls that were happening.)In the same vein, you should be

holding safety meetings because youwant to make sure that everyone ison the same page when it comes tothe safe and efficient running ofyour organization. You want to shareinformation and you want to getinformation. You want to know ifthere are problems in the workplace,and you want to know what is

Effective Safety MeetA great way to get everyone on the same page

M ention safety meetings andyou’ll likely get one of tworesponses: fear, if you’re

leading the meeting; apathy ordisdain if you have to attend.

The meeting leader thinks, “Willanyone show up (and do Ireally want them to)? Willthey laugh at me, listen,fall asleep, work onsomething else . . . ?”

And the otherparticipants think, “Whata waste of time; I have agazillion things to do. Butat least they have gooddoughnuts. Oh wait, I’m on a diet;this meeting will make me gain 10pounds. What a stupid meeting.”

WHY hold a safety meeting?If safety meetings are so painful, whythe heck do we have them? Maybe thisis something we need to think moreabout. Are you holding safetymeetings “because we have to” or“because it’s one of the health and

by Rose Ann McGinty

You want to provideopportunities forregular two-waycommunicationbetween managementand staff.

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ingsincidents provide a greatopportunity to review the systemsin place to protect workers and tofind out if they are working aswell as they should.

Some organizations have troubleidentifying issues for officestaff to discuss, partlybecause they have troubleidentifying the hazards.Musculoskeletal injuriesare often a significantissue for office staff whoperform repetitive motionsand heavy lifting or workin static postures. Stresscan be a significant factor.Again, get the staff to identify concerns.Some issues raised might not betraditional health and safety concerns,but anything that impacts the well-being of staff is fair game for discussion.

HOW to hold a safety meetingYour meetings may be formal (withtables and chairs, agendas and props)

learn? What information do youwant from them? (You don’t want tolecture; you want to look for ideasand solutions from the staff.)

The meetings can be trainingsessions when, for example, you have anew piece of equipment or are startingon a new project. Or they can beworking meetings that focus on areassuch as reviewing safe work proceduresor identifying the hazards in a job.

Other topics might include:

• Seasonal concerns — bothweather-related issues (sunprotection, working in the cold)and the types of jobs underway(paving stops in winter, butChristmas lights need to go up).

• Results of recent inspections —things that are working well andneed to be celebrated, as well asproblems that need to be discussed.

• Incidents — not only the seriousones, but also the minor ones andnear misses. Discussions of

or informal, held right in the workarea (hence the terms “toolbox” or“tailgate” meetings).

The structure of your meetings willdepend on the content and goals, as wellas on what your organization is like.

What is the culture? Howdeveloped is the healthand safety program? Howextensive is the workers’knowledge of andinvolvement in theprogram? What are thespecific job requirements?What other methods ofcommunication are inplace? What other healthand safety-related

meetings does your organization hold(for example, a joint health and safetycommittee, senior management healthand safety meetings)?

Try to think about your messagefrom the point of view of theparticipants. Does this make sense?Is it relevant, timely, etc.? Whatwould be the best way to ensure

Some issues raisedmight not betraditional health and safety concerns,but anything thatimpacts the well-beingof staff is fair gamefor discussion.

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R e s o u r c e s

WEB LINKS

www.eig.com/smodex.html#accidents The index to several hundred safety meeting outlines and support materials.

www.webworldinc.com/wes-con/safety2.html-ssi#topics Tail Gate Safety Meeting Topics.

www.osh.net/articles/archive/OSH_Basics_2002_Jan30.htmThe anatomy of a safety meeting.

safety.army.mil/pages/training/trainmeet.htm Hundreds of topics and resources for safety and tailgate meetings.

www.hanford.gov/fire/Fire_Prevention_Month/Planning.htmPlanning a safety meeting.

IN THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT LIBRARY – LABOUR BUILDING

BooksWorld’s Greatest Safety Meeting Idea Bookby Art FettigBattle Creek, Michigan: Art Fettig’s Growth Unlimited Inc., 1990 (HD 6962 F473 1990)

More Great Safety Meeting Ideasby Art FettigBattle Creek, Michigan: Art Fettig’s Growth Unlimited Inc., 1991(HD 6962 F471 1991)

VideosHow To Conduct a Safety Meeting: A Part of Your Job, 15 min.Provides line supervisors and managers with essential points for planningand conducting safety meetings. (VC0166)

Safety Meetings: Give ’em What They Want, 15 min.Shows managers, supervisors and team leaders how to conduct safetymeetings. (VC0327)

that participants absorb and understandthe message?

Also consider the best time of day andthe day of week to hold the meetings, theimpact of shift work on attendance andwhether to bring in workers who work inremote areas.

Even when you’re all fired up andhave a plan, consider:

• Demands on the workers’ time.Matters like production and customerservice can fight for workers’attention. You have to think of safetymeetings as an investment in time.While you can’t find more hours inthe day, effective health and safetymeetings contribute to improvedproduction and customer service.

• Ways to keep the workers interested.Show them how the discussions arerelevant. Don’t hold a meeting just because the healthand safety coordinator says you have to. Figure outwhat the issues are — what sorts of incidents havebeen happening, especially the minor stuff that neverreally gets dealt with. What has been showing up ininspections? What are workers talking about? Whatnew jobs are being introduced? Have you had a healthand safety audit recently? If so, is there anything therethat should be discussed?

• How to encourage participation. Assuming the topic isrelevant, getting the participants involved will lookafter itself to some degree. Take into considerationpersonality types: some people prefer to sit back andobserve, while others tend to take over any discussion.Workers need to know that they won’t be laughed at,or shot down if they volunteer ideas and comments.

If safety meetings are well thought out, withmeaningful content, and if everyone is invited toactively participate, the meetings will be effective andthe workers’ knowledge and skills will improve as aresult. This is time well invested, as time savings willshow up down the road. A more efficient and effectiveorganization — which is a safer and healthierorganization — can get the work done with fewerinterruptions, incidents and customer complaints.

Rose Ann McGinty is the program services coordinator with theAlberta Municipal Health and Safety Association. She has a diplomain industrial hygiene technology and has over 15 years’ experiencein the field of health and safety. Before taking on her current job,she was an occupational health and safety coordinator in privateindustry and an occupational health and safety officer with theprovincial government.

Wrist rests for computer keyboards and mice havebecome commonplace “ergonomic” accessories. Softto the touch and comfortable for the hand and

wrist, they seem to provide the natural answer for avoidinghand, forearm and shoulder pain.

How useful are they really? Like most tools, they have thepotential to help or harm you, depending on whether youuse them as intended. If you are going to use a wrist rest,make sure you know how to use it correctly.

A wrist rest is typically a strip of cushioning materialthat sits in front of a keyboard, mouse, or other inputdevice. It can be made from padded plastic, foam, gel orother similar materials. Wrist rests come in various shapesand degrees of softness.

The use of wrist rests need not be limited to computersand keyboards. Wrist rests can also be used to providecushioning and prevent injury during small parts assemblyand laboratory activities, for example.

The purpose of the wrist rest is to keep the wrist straightduring keyboard use (not bent up or down), provide paddingthat a table or desk can’t, and help relieve some of thetension in the arms that comes from keyboarding.

Use proper keyboard techniquePersons trained to use a keyboard are taught to keep theirwrists straight and have their hands float over the keys.However, many of us never received this training and, notknowing any better, drop our wrists to the desk surface. Thiscauses our hands to bend upwards, hyperextending thewrists and increasing the risk of injury to the nerves andtendons of our hands and forearms due to awkwardpostures (see Figure 1).

This position also means that our wrists sit on the desk’shard surface or a sharp edge, putting unwanted pressure onthe heels of our hands and the nerves, tendons and bloodvessels passing through the wrist. Some keyboard usersplace their keyboard at the edge of the desk, forcing themto float their hands over the keys, since there is no desk onwhich to rest the hands.

Use the wrist rest only between periods of typingThe wrists should only rest on the wrist rest between periodsof typing, not all the time. Some users hold their wrists tothe rest in a fixed position, rarely or never moving them.With their wrists fixed in this position, these users thendepend on extended fingers and sideways wrist motion toreach the keys (see Figure 2). These repetitive, unnaturalmotions can lead to injury. The whole arm, starting withthe shoulder, should be used to reach keys far from thehome row. Avoid having the wrists and fingers reachingfrom one end of the keyboard to the other.

Constantly leaning or pressing the wrists into the wristrest can also put excessive pressure on the nerves, tendonsand blood vessels passing through the wrist. This leaning or

pressing can increase the risk of injury — one of theproblems that using the wrist rest was supposed to correctin the first place.

Are wrist rests for everyone?No. In the end their use is a matter of personal preference.If a wrist rest helps, use it, as long as you understand whatit’s supposed to do and use it as intended.

Ray Cislo, P.Eng., B.Sc., (H.K.) is a safety engineering specialist atWorkplace Policy and Standards.

E r g o t i p s

Wrist Rests

To avoid injury

Choosing a wrist rest• It should be free of sharp edges.

• It should provide a soft, comfortable support thattakes the shape of the wrist and heel of the hand.

• Its height should be approximately level with thekeyboard’s front edge.

• It should run the entire width of the keyboard ormousing area.

How to Use

Figure 1 DON’T type with your hand flexed.

Figure 2 DON’T type with your hand bent sideways.

by Ray Cislo

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B urke Perry believes it’s time for change — time for residentialconstruction to make safety a priority. In May 2002 thepresident of the Alberta Home Builders' Association (AHBA)

wrote to association members, “As busy as the industry is in Alberta,we can ill afford to lose any workers to any kind of lost time injury.”Perry is one of the drivers behind a new province-wide initiative toimprove safety at residential construction work sites. A joint safetycommittee of AHBA and Alberta Construction Safety Association(ACSA) members launched the initiative with the hiring of two safetyadvisors to work exclusively with small businesses and focus onresidential construction companies.

These safety advisors are participating in a “ride-along program,”as ACSA executive director Gary Wagar describes it. They will travelto housing sites with the project supervisors and point out thehazards they see during their visits, as well as offering safety-relatedinformation to the subtrades. “The AHBA has asked us to be morevisible,” Wagar says, “so we are planning to drive around in greenvans with yellow markings.”

“The idea,” Perry says, “is not to emphasizepolicing or fining so much as education andtraining about safe ways of working.” Thisapproach, says AHBA executive director GrantAinsley, is more likely to get buy-in frombuilders and tradespeople.

This new program is “a definite change indirection for our members,” Ainsley says. “Theresidential construction industry has had a lotof challenges over the years when it comes tosafety programs.” For example, most companies are quite small — theytypically construct fewer than ten homes a year. Of the AHBA’s 1,100member companies, only one that Ainsley is aware of (Homes by Avi inCalgary) has a designated safety director — and even that person also hasduties on the construction side of the operation.

in Residential Construction S A F E T Y M O V

Alberta Housing Starts in 2002 • There were 28,511 housing starts in Alberta

between January 1 and September 30, 2002.Almost 11,000 of these were in Calgary, andalmost 9,000 in Edmonton.

• The province-wide housing start figures atthe end of the third quarter were 37.2%higher than a year ago (an increase of 58.6%in Edmonton, 31.1% in Calgary, 26.0% inGrande Prairie and 22.0% in Red Deer).

• At the end of the third quarter, 2002 waspromising to be the second biggest ever forhousing starts in Alberta.

Between June and September 2002, 5 ofAlberta’s 8 occupational fatalities involvedconstruction-related falls.

Lost-Time Claim (LTC) Rate by Size of Employer(Alberta Construction)

P r o f i l e

by Anita Jenkins

As busy as theindustry is inAlberta, we can ill afford to loseany workers to any kind of losttime injury.

Size of Lost-TimeEmployer Claim Rate

(Person Years) (%)

1 – 9 5.3

10 – 19 5.0

20 – 39 5.0

40 – 99 4.3

100 or more 3.0

Average LTC Rate: 4.3

Source: Alberta Human Resources and Employment, Occupational Injuries and Diseases in Alberta, Construction, 1997 – 2002: Alberta Construction SafetyAssociation Industries, July 2002.

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In many cases these days, Ainsley observes, companies thatwant to bid on jobs in commercial and industrial projects arerequired to have a certificate from SECORP (the Albertagovernment’s Small Employer Certificate ofRecognition Program). “But that never happensin residential construction,” he says. “Thecustomers almost never ask about your safetyrecord. For this reason, along with others, therehasn’t been the need, the pressure and the driveto do better in this respect.”

Wagar agrees that residential constructionsafety is an area that needs attention. He quotes the figuresshowing a higher-than-average lost-time claim rate in thewhole construction sector and an even higher rate whenlooking only at companies that are small.

Provincial health and safety inspector, Alain Langlais,confirms the assessments provided by Ainsley and Wagar.At the same time, however, he is guardedly optimistic aboutrecent improvements he has been seeing in this area.

Langlais believes that an increaseover the past three years in thenumber of governmentinspections done at residentialconstruction sites is starting toshow some results. “There ismovement,” he says. “Moreoperators have the appropriatesafety equipment. Now we justhave to get to the next stage,which is ensuring that they usethat equipment regularly.”

Momentum for change, asLanglais points out, has begun topick up throughout Alberta.Indeed, it was the determinationof several associations to improvesafety levels in residentialconstruction that propelled theformation of the joint AHBA/ACSASafety Advisory Committee andits new safety program. In late2001 the Calgary Region HomeBuilders' Association had set up asafety committee and discussedhiring a safety inspector oradvisor to work with theirbuilders’ direct employees andtrades to create a safer workenvironment. Not long after, theGreater Edmonton HomeBuilders' Association also startedlooking at safety initiatives.“Then we thought,” says AHBA’sAinsley, “why not have thisactivity throughout theprovince?” Since a portion of theWorkers’ Compensation Board –Alberta (WCB) fee paid by AHBA

members goes to the ACSA, it madesense to work directly with the ACSA. That led to theinception of the joint safety committee and ACSA’scommitment to hiring the safety advisors.

In the fall of 2002, the joint safety committee,which includes representatives of the provincialgovernment’s Workplace Health and Safety officeand the WCB, hired the advisors, one for northernAlberta and one for the southern part of theprovince, including Red Deer.

Perhaps the time for greater attention to safetyin residential construction has come. Burke Perry

knows a greater emphasis on safety will save time, delays,paperwork, stress, money and preserve workers’ health andhappiness. He’s proud of the new initiative and the backingit’s received from the industry. “We’re doing it because it isthe right thing to do,” he says, “and it has big, big, supportfrom the builders.”

Anita Jenkins is a freelance writer and editor living in Edmonton.

E S

This initiativehas big, big,support from the builders.

W o r k p l a c e F a t a l i t i e s

O C C U P A T I O N A L H E A L T H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 322

Occupational Health & Safety Magazine publishes WorkplaceFatalities to remind readers of the importance of workplacehealth and safety.

The information is not a final investigation report. Inmany cases investigations are continuing. Final investigationreports are filed at the Alberta Government Library – LabourBuilding Site and can be reviewed there or on theWorkplace Health and Safety Web site at www.whs.gov.ab.caunder Fatalities.

An occupational fatality refers to the death of a workercaused by a work-related incident or exposure.

To protect personal privacy, the fatality descriptions do notinclude the names of the deceased.

Work-related incident fatalitiesJune 2002 - September 2002Most work-related incident fatalities that fall underprovincial jurisdiction are investigated by WorkplaceHealth and Safety. In general, highway traffic, farm,disease or heart attack fatalities are not investigated.

The following fatalities have been or are being investigated.

A 50-year-old worker was approaching a movingtractor-trailer to retrieve his lunch pail, when one ofthe trailer’s right dual wheels pinned the worker’s rightfoot. He was forced to the ground and subsequently runover by the four right sets of trailer wheels.

A 20-year-old flag person was standing on the shoulderof the highway when she was struck by a cube van.Vehicles were slowly passing her in the driving laneadjacent to the shoulder, when a van drove onto theshoulder after colliding with one of the vehicles in thedriving lane. The van then struck the flag person.

A 53-year-old roofer was crouched at the edge of a roof,preparing to start shingling, when he fell 2.26 metresonto a concrete driveway. The worker was taken tohospital, where he later died of his injuries.

A 50-year-old welder was working outside on top of agymnasium under construction. He was securing the lastof five tie-in points between two metal roof joists whentwo other workers climbed onto the joist that wassupporting him. This destabilized the joist and dislodgedit from the wall. The joist and all three workers fellapproximately 9 metres to the ground. Two were injured,and the welder died.

A 57-year-old boom-truck operator was working as partof a utility crew on a construction site. The three-mancrew was taking a voltage reading on a recently installedpad-mount (ground) transformer. The crew mistakenlyattempted to take the reading from the high-voltage(25,000-volt) side of the transformer instead of from thelow-voltage (600-volt) side. As one worker began to attachthe voltage meter leads to the live electrical phases, a25,000-volt electrical current arced from the transformer,

R e a l W o r l d S o l u t i o n s

What improvements have you made at your workplace?Real World Solutions is a regular column that suggestssimple, inexpensive ways to improve employee safety andhealth through adjustments to the workplace. If you’vefound a solution worth sharing, please send it toray.cislo@gov.ab.ca.

Pouring liquids

The ProblemLarge-volume containersfilled with liquids can bedifficult to pour. The liquidcan move about and be asignificant hazard if it’s hot,like soup or molten metal,or because of the chemicalsit contains.

A SolutionUse pouring containers that tilt. You should be able toreach the tilt handle or mechanism without bending.The tilt handle or mechanism should make controllingthe weight of the container and liquid easy for the worker.

BenefitAvoids possible injury by eliminating the need to liftand carry containers filled with liquids. Reduces risk ofspills and burns, speeds the process and reduces waste.

Reaching into a deep sink

The ProblemCleaning small objects in deep sinks can requireexcessive bending andstooping. If done for long periods of time, low-back and shoulderpain may result.

A SolutionTry artificially raising the bottom of the sink. Raise thework surface by placing a basin or tray in the bottom ofthe sink.

BenefitAvoids back and shoulder pain.Avoids having to replace the sink with a shallower model.

killing one worker and causing minorburns to another.

A 20-year-old framer died when hefell from the roof trusses of a single-storey house under construction.He and his supervisor were standingon the trusses as a crane lifted abundle of oriented strandboard (OSB)sheathing onto the trusses. As thecrane lifted the 910-kilogram load, itslipped off the forks of the crane andfell onto the trusses, whichcollapsed. The supervisor and framerfell 3.35 metres to the concrete floor,with the trusses. The framer diedfrom his injuries.

An 18-year-old construction workerwas climbing to the fourth level of apartially completed scaffold tocontinue building the scaffold. Whenhe stepped onto an unsecured scaffoldplank, the plank slipped and theworker fell 7.8 metres onto theconcrete floor. The worker died frommassive injuries.

An 80-year-old volunteer workerand his helper were removing andreplacing temporary roof-truss bracingwith permanent bracing on previouslyinstalled roof trusses. The worker andhis helper climbed onto the roof-trussstructure and began removing some ofthe temporary bracing. As the bracingwas removed, the recently placed rooftrusses collapsed. The worker fell 3.7metres to the ground and severaltrusses fell on top of him. He suffereda fractured femur and sternum anddied in hospital due to complicationsfrom his injuries.

Occupational diseasefatalities accepted June - August 2002Disease fatalities represent claims thathave been accepted by the Workers’Compensation Board (WCB) – Alberta forcompensation. They are counted in the year they are accepted.

Occupational disease fatalities consistmostly of deaths caused by recognizedoccupational disease, meaning diseaseknown to be primarily or exclusively work-related (for example, asbestosis,black lung disease). Occupational diseasesare frequently diagnosed many years afterthe initial or crucial exposure to the toxic

23O C C U P A T I O N A L H E A L T H & S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3

substance, and it can often be verydifficult to determine when the fatalexposure occurred.

Occupational disease also includes heartattacks suffered on the job. The mostfrequent occupational disease fatalitiesaccepted by the WCB in recent yearsconcern exposure to asbestos fibres.

In 2000, 28 per cent of the total WCB-accepted fatalities resulted fromoccupational disease.

The following workers died fromexposure to asbestos.

A 47-year-old electrician, who wasexposed to asbestos for the last 30years while working in power plantsand construction sites. He contractedlung cancer as a direct result of hisasbestos exposure.

A 59-year-old insulator, who wasexposed to asbestos through his workin the 1960s.

A 67-year-old electrician, who wasexposed to asbestos at variousconstruction and industrial plantwork sites between 1959 and 1982.

A 73-year-old plasterer, who wasexposed to asbestos in the workplaceover a period of more than 30 years.

A 75-year-old tower operator, whowas exposed to asbestos over aprolonged period while involved inthe processing of nitric andsulphuric acid.

A 76-year-old painter, who wasexposed to asbestos while applyingfireproofing spray paint.

A 77-year-old maintenance worker, who was exposed to asbestos in the1960s while insulating pipe andtanks in a pulp and paper mill.Asbestos-related medical problemsdeveloped over time, resulting inrespiratory failure.

An 80-year-old plasterer, who wasexposed to asbestos over a period oftime prior to the 1980s. He developedasbestos-related lung disease.

An 81-year-old mechanic, who wasexposed to asbestos throughout hisemployment from 1946 to 1975,developed asbestos-related

occupational illness. He died fromrespiratory arrest and heart failure.

The following workers died from otheroccupational diseases.

A 78-year-old labourer, who worked as acoal miner from 1939 to 1965. Theworker’s exposure to coal dust over a26-year period caused pulmonary fibrosisthat resulted in respiratory failure.

A 40-year-old labourer, who sufferedsevere long-term disability fromextensive burns, shock and cardiacarrest sustained in a work-site incident.He died from latent onset of respiratorycomplications related to his injury.

A 45-year-old truck driver, whosuffered permanent disability afterfalling from his vehicle. He died ofcomplications related to his injury.

A 39-year-old pressure welder, whowas exposed to dust and fumes fromgalvanized metal, which aggravatedhis asthma and ultimately causedrespiratory failure.

A 50-year-old truck driver, whosuffered post-traumatic-stress disorderafter his involvement in a multi-vehicle crash. He died fromcomplications related to his injury.

A 57-year-old truck driver, whosuffered a leg injury while mounting ahigh hitch on his truck. He died froma series of infections andcomplications related to his injury.

A 68-year-old truck driver, who wasstruck across the back of his legs by theblade of a bulldozer in April 1998 andsustained injuries to his shoulderand both legs. The injuries led tocomplications, resulting in vascularobstructions in his lower limbs. He diedfrom a brain hemorrhage.

A 65-year-old serviceman, whosustained second- and third-degreeburns to 50 per cent of his body in1957. Later surgeries related to theburn injuries caused complicationsand resulted in respiratory failure.

A 77-year-old forestry worker, who wasstruck by a falling tree in February1981, suffered a severe back injury andthoracic paraplegia as a result.Complications from his injuries andlongstanding paraplegia led topneumonia and acute respiratory failure.

the new bottom line

Workplace Safety 2.0 means 40%fewer occupational injuries by 2004.

It means each year 15,000 fewer peoplewill be injured on Alberta work sites.

Workplace Safety 2.0 is a challenge,a strategy, and a forum. Find out what it means to you:www3.gov.ab.ca/hre/whs/ws2point0

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