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• Opening case: Lakeland Sawmill Explosion in Prince George, BC in April 2012.
• The sawmill explosion killed 2 workers and injured over 20.
• Injuries included severe burns, injuries, missing fingers, and loss of limbs.
• Explosion cause: Sawmill processed large amounts of dry wood which turns into highly fine + combustible dust.
• There were previous complaints to ER about dust issues + 5 dust-related fires in the months prior to the explosion but nothing ever addressed the issue.
• Overheated fan shaft with dust-laden air caused the explosion.

Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

• Workplace injury is any form of ill-health that arises due to employment (i.e. physical or mental injury or illness), not just acute physical injuries due to obvious physical causes.
• Types of injuries include:
  • Minor and temporary (i.e., slight burn)
  • Permanent (i.e., amputation)
  • Life-threatening (i.e., cancer)
  • Acute/Severe (i.e., laceration)
  • Chronic (will take years to manifest)-> (i.e., silicosis)
• Occupational illness refers to an abnormal condition/disorder caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment.

Types of Injuries/Illnesses by Compensation Claims

• Lost time injuries: Workplace injury that causes a loss of time from work, i.e., one shift to multiple weeks.
• Medical aid injuries: Medical care for work-related illness + doctor submits it to the WSIB.
• First aid injuries are not serious at the time, such as putting a band-aid on it.
• WSIA is the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
• WSIB is the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
• WCA is Worker's Compensation Act.
• AWCBC is Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada

Workplace Hazards

• Workplace hazards: any source of potential injury/illness in a workplace.
• Types of hazards:
  • Physical: Transfer of energy results in injury.
  • Ergonomic: Interaction of work design + the human body.
  • Biological: Organisms or their products harm human health
  • Chemical: Cause harm to human tissue/interfere with physiological functioning.
  • Psychosocial: Social environment/psychological factors that affect human health & safety.
• All forms of hazards must be assessed even if they are not foreseeable.

Injury Causation

• Proximate causes are events immediately responsible for the injury (most visible/immediate cause).
• Root causes are the underlying or "real" cause of an injury, caused the proximate cause to occur.

Historic development of OHS

• Ancient Egypt stonemasons and potters suffered respiratory problems.
• The Industrial Revolution led to new industries and occupations, resulting in new OHS-related problems.

Previous perspectives of risk and liability:

• Volenti non fit injuria: Voluntary assumption of risk.
• Accident proneness: Inherent likelihood to be involved in accidents.
• Late 19th Century Ontario legislation established standards (machine guards).
• Early 20th Century: Legislation passed regulating factory safety elements.
• 1889 Royal Commission on Relations of Capital & Labour in Canada improved Health and Safety by establishing standards and mandating regular inspections.

Royal Commission on the health and safety of Workers in Mines

• The 3 principal rights of workers first articulated in 1974:
  • Right to know about hazards in the workplace.
  • Right to refuse dangerous work without penalty.
  • Right to participate in identifying + correcting H&S problems.
• Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC)- reps of Employees and the Employer to address workplace safety.
• WHMIS legislation was passed in 1988 and revised in 2018.
• Changes to the Criminal Code allowed for charges for OH&S violations in 2004.
• OH&S now incorporates physical and mental health.
• Economic considerations for OH&S: cost-benefit analysis (shareholder's interest).
• Legal considerations for OH&S: due diligence (a defense to OHS charges).
• Moral/social considerations for OH&S: conscience, what society can accept.

Cost Benefit Analysis of Injuries

• ERs use a cost benefit approach since perfect safety is unattainable
• Safety should only be improved when it costs less to prevent.
• Risk of injury classified as minimal, unavoidable, or acceptable.
• Every workplace activity has risk; reducing it is expensive and workplace injury is not inevitable or uncontrollable; it results from ER decisions to maximize profitability, shifting the cost of workplace injuries onto EE's

OHS Stakeholders

• Government:
  • Legislation: OHSA, WSIA
  • Federally: Canada Labour Code II
  • Provincial: 1867 Constitution Act
• Employer policies - safe equipment, supervision.
• Workers - Work safely, use PPE, report defects.
• Organizational labour - JHSC, collective agreements that affect safety.

Barriers to Healthcare/Accident Prevention

• Employers who value production over safety.
• Employers who focus on safety when they feel like they should (i.e., upcoming safety inspections).
• Employers may be uninformed/lack confidence about safety concerns.

The role of OHS professionals

• Broad array of backgrounds suitable for OH&S careers, i.e. industrial hygiene, occupational medicine.
• Safety certifications (CRSP) help firms identify individuals with relevant OHS training.
• Companies may delegate OHS responsibilities to HR generalist or contract out services to third parties.

WEEK 2: THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK OF INJURY PREVENTION AND COMPENSATION

Opening Case

• Jayesh Prajapti was killed in September 2012 while trying to stop a customer who left without paying a gas bill.
• Widow claimed ER required him to cover gas-and-dash losses.
• Deborah Pommer had to pay a $65 gas bill or would be fired.

Implications

• Workplace laws often go unenforced -> limits protections.
• Workers prioritize safety, while ERs prioritize profits.

Jurisdiction & Legislation

• Beginning in the 1970's federal + provincial + territorial governments have enacted OH&S legislation
• The jurisdiction of powers under the Canadian constitution creates 14 jurisdictions.
• OHS provisions in the federal government's Labour Code II cover 10% of the workforce.

OHS and the law

• Each jurisdiction has its own amalgam of acts, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
• Act: Federal, provincial, or territorial law in each jurisdiction that sets out a broad framework around OH&S.
• Regulation: Set out how the Act will be applied in various circumstances.
• Guidelines and Policies: rules that are more specific about OH&S.

Standards and Codes

• Set standards that affect the design of work and provide practical guidance.
• Standards and Codes may be incorporated into OHS Acts/Regulations.
• There are also codes/standards established by various nongovernmental bodies.
• The exact arrangement within each jurisdiction differs.

The Scope of OHS Legislation

• All OHS Legislation includes the following elements:
  • An Act.
  • Powers of enforcement.
  • Workers can refuse to do unsafe work.
  • Protection of workers from reprisals.
  • Responsibilities assigned to employers and others.

Internal Responsibility System

• Primary responsibility rests with workplace stakeholders, not government regulations.
• ERs are obligated to ensure that the workplace is as safe as reasonably possible.
• Meeting the reasonably practicable standard involves taking suitable/rational precautions" that are not only possible, but also, given the circumstances

Due Diligence

• It is assesses using the 3 part test (FPC):
  • Foreseeability: reasonable ERs are expected to know the hazards of their business.
  • Preventability: reasonable ERs are expected to take steps to prevent injury via normal steps.
  • Control: reasonable ERs are expected to take action on hazards they can control.

General Duties of Employers

• Take every possible precaution to ensure EE safety.
• Appoint a competent supervisor.
• Inform supervisors and workers of possible hazards.
• Prepare and maintain an H&S policy and review it annually.
• Prepare policies regarding workplace violence and harassment.

Duties and responsibilities of Supervisors

• Includes ensuring that a workplace is safe + has authority over a worker.
• An OHS may include a general duty provision for supervisors to ensure workers' safety under their supervision.

Duties and responsibilities of Workers

• Take reasonable precautions to ensure their own + others' safety.

3 Worker Safety Rights

• Right to know: Hazardous materials information systems provide workers with information about hazards and their safe handling
• Right to participate: In workplace health & safety activities thru joint health and safety committees (JHSCs).
• Right to refuse: Workers can disobey their employer when refusing unsafe work, but it is rarely used. A refusal requires employers to investigate the unsafe work and fix the matter

Joint health and safety committees (JHSC)

• They are an important mechanism that workers can participate

• Compromise ER + EE that will regularly discuss OHS issues: Combining the EE and ER provides a good insight to identify and resolve problems

• The legal requirements for JHSC can vary on jurisdiction

• Tasks done by JHSC: hazard assessment, providing the education/training, and investigating the incidents.

• While the JHSC can propose hazard mitigation, ER can determine how to control anything that is hazardous

• Stop unsafe work.

• Be more effective in larger/unionized workplaces. Mobilizing participation increases the effectiveness of their involvement.

JHSC Requirements

• Have 3 conditions:
  • 20+ employees must be regularly employed
  • The minister has put down in writing that the company has to set up the JHSC

Work Refusal

• Workers have the right to refuse unsafe work without reprisal or harm

Limits

• They can't refuse working if that's a normal act for the work
• Working to refuse another person's life in place of their own

Stop Work Provision

• Some do have a provision to just stop the work as is
• It prevents a danger that it already is an unsafe act

Types of work stoppages

• Unilateral and Bilateral
• If the JHSC member in good standing can ask a supervisor to investigate the stop action

Workplace Hazardous Materials

• Labels to alert workers about containing potential hazardous products
• Data sheets that outline more about the product's contents and potentially hazardous ingredients, and safe handling procedures
• Employees get training

Liability Under the Criminal Code

• Bill 45 or Westray Legislation made company executives more accountable when workers are killed in the result of negligence
• Also brought up "corporate homicide" for the first time.

New Additions to the Criminal Code of Canada include:

• Section 217.1: Authority for workers to have reasonable steps to the lives of others that can be harmful
• 219- This can be criminally negligent to others