Let’s Talk: A guide to resolving workplace conflicts (pdf 3807 KB)

“Anybody who loses focus for a moment is at risk of making a mistake on the job, and our young workers heading into the work force are the most vulnerable,” said Hector Goudreau, Minister of Employment and Immigration.

The campaign focuses on specific questions young workers should ask their employers to avoid a workplace injury or death.  Based on extensive research and testing, the campaign focuses on 15 to 19-year-olds and emphasises that workplace incidents can be very real with lasting consequences. It includes transit ads, video productions for movie theatres, posters, Internet banner ads – all of which encourage young workers to visit www.bloodylucky.ca.

“We find that every workplace incident uncovers several unfortunate choices that were made that led to the tragedy; there are no accidents,” says Dr. Michael Alpern of the Job Safety Skills Society, a member of the Young Worker Provincial Advisory Committee. “Research shows that young workers have a higher injury rate than their workplace peers. We see it first hand and we endorse any program that might save a life or limb.”

The campaign is part of Work Safe Alberta, a unique partnership between industry, labour and government. An integral part of the initiative is promoting workplace safety by increasing public awareness.

The videos can also be found at Bloody Lucky’s YouTube Video channel. (Warning: some of the content is graphic.)

Alberta courts sent a strong message to Alberta companies in 2008 that workplace health and safety must not be compromised. Penalties totalling more than $5 million against 22 companies surpass the 2007 total of $1.72 million against 12 companies.

“This government will continue working with industry, labour and safety associations to ensure our workplaces remain healthy and safe,” said Hector Goudreau, Minister of Employment and Immigration. “However, when all else fails and the law is broken, the courts take over and send the ultimate message. These sentences should remind employers that there will be consequences when they don’t meet their safety responsibilities.”

The percentage of penalties collected as alternate sentences has also increased. In 2007, 74 per cent of penalties were paid to safety organisations to provide training or to organisations that assist injured workers. To date in 2008, more than 88 per cent of the fines, nearly $4.5 million, are in alternate sentences with the largest awards going to the University of Alberta Engineering Safety and Risk Management Program ($345,000), Lakeland College ($300,000) and the Red Deer College/City of Red Deer ($300,000).

• Approximately 7,600 young workers aged 15-24 report on-the-job injuries each year.
• On average, each year 5 workers aged 15-24 die in workplace incidents and an additional 5 die in work-related motor vehicle incidents.
• Over 50% of young workers reported they had not received training before starting a new task.
• Young workers get hurt when they:

• do jobs they aren’t trained to do
• don’t have adequate supervision
• work with hazardous equipment

Employers can be subject to a fine of up to $500,000 and/or a jail term if they don’t comply with Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act and regulations.

Creating a safe workplace takes more than a handout or a video clip at your monthly staff meeting. It’s an everyday commitment. Here are 10 ways to make health and safety a priority in the workplace:

1. Spend ample time training young and new workers.
2. Provide regular safety training for your supervisors.
3. Lead by example – demonstrate safe work habits.
4. Regularly check that your company’s safety procedures are followed.
5. Provide protective equipment and devices.
6. Teach workers to report illnesses and injuries immediately.
7. Teach workers to report anything that could be hazardous.
8. Keep your workplace health and safety programs up-to-date.
9. Stay aware of the hazards in your workplace and how to handle them.
10. Respond promptly to all health and safety concerns.

HAMILTON, ON – April 22, 2008 – The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has developed a web-based Occupational Health and Safety Management Service called “OSH Works”, designed to help organizations in establishing, maintaining and/or improving health and safety programs that can help them meet their legislative responsibilities.

The vast majority of companies in Canada are not in compliance with occupational health and safety legislation. OSH Works can help them achieve compliance by providing a framework that promotes a systematic approach to meeting defined objectives and integrating the health and safety of workers into the everyday management of the business. It provides guidance information and is enriched with audits, tools, checklists, training and expertise from the comprehensive CCOHS knowledge base. A fully customizable service, OSH Works assists organizations of every size, in establishing a health and safety program and then adopting a continuous improvement process to meet their health and safety responsibilities and regulatory requirements.

OSH Works follows the methodology known as “Plan, Do, Check, and Act” (PDCA cycle) used in national and international Occupational Health and Safety Management System standards, such as CSA Z1000-06 or OHSAS 18001-2007. The service can enable organizations to achieve certification by the occupational health and safety management system standard of their choice.

“With OSH Works we set out to provide a powerful tool that would make it easy and affordable for companies to first establish programs that could help them succeed in a compliance audit – and then go beyond to help them improve their health and safety performance to gain numerous benefits,” commented Dr. P.K. Abeytunga, CCOHS Vice President and Director General. “We want to equip people with the tools and resources they need to reduce and, ultimately, eliminate workplace illness and injury – so that all may be healthy and safe.”

More information about the OSH Works service, and a guided tour is available on the CCOHS Web site at www.ccohs.ca/products/oshworks/.

The numbers are staggering. In Canada, some 786 employees die from work-related incidents each year, averaging more than 2 deaths every day. From 1993 to 2006, 11,002 people lost their lives due to workplace incidents. Another 900,000 per year are injured or become ill.

Making workplaces safer is, or should be, a daily effort. But April 28 has been singled out to offer employees and employers the opportunity to remember the dead, injured and ill as well as publicly renew their commitment to improve health and safety in the workplace.

The National Day of Mourning, held annually on April 28, was officially recognized by the federal government in 1991, eight years after the day of remembrance was launched by the Canadian Labour Congress. The Day of Mourning has since spread to about 80 countries around the world and has been adopted by the AFL-CIO and the International Confederation of Free Trade.

The Canadian flag on Parliament Hill will fly at half-mast. Workers will light candles, don ribbons and black arm bands and observe moments of silence. Businesses are asked to participate by declaring April 28 a Day of Mourning and to strive to prevent workplace deaths, illnesses and injuries.

CCOHS hopes that the annual observance of this day will strengthen the resolve to establish safe conditions in the workplace for all. It is as much a day to remember the dead as it is a call to protect the living.

HAMILTON, ON (Feb 14, 2008) – The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is inviting Canadians to take their web survey and weigh in on the issues emerging from changing workplaces.

The workplace and the workforce are changing. The workforce is aging and now includes more women and more ethnically diverse workers. Today’s workplace includes more “precarious employment” – contracting, self-employment, part-time or temporary positions, and more workers who have multiple jobs. These changes present gaps in worker protection, highlight technological challenges, and raise the question of who is accountable and responsible for health and safety in the workplace.

In September 2007, CCOHS hosted a national tripartite forum in Vancouver, with leading experts and 200 representatives from employers, labour and government, that focused on these very issues. During workshop sessions, delegates discussed these issues in greater detail, highlighting their own experiences with precarious workplaces, identifying key concerns, and outlining possible solutions and strategies.

And now CCOHS is inviting Canadians to help continue the dialogue by taking the survey on changing workplaces and providing feedback on this critical, rapidly developing area of workplace health and safety.

CCOHS will share the survey results and highlights from Forum07, with all Canadians this spring.

Take the survey on changing workplaces.

Read the highlights from Forum07. (PDF)

Talking corpses who had been electrocuted, impaled by steel rods or lacerated by broken glass didn’t get the message across. Now, an even more graphic series of ads is spotlighting workplace safety in Ontario and grabbing attention well beyond the province’s borders.

One TV spot features an exploding gas canister that blows a construction worker off the side of a building. Another shows a young chef slipping on grease and dumping a vat of boiling water on herself, leaving her writhing on the kitchen floor while her skin peels off in bloody ribbons. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board says they toned down the actress’s screams in editing because they worried they were too upsetting.

Click link to read the whole story: Explicit worker safety ads attract praise, criticism

Here are four ads, with a warning, they are graphic:

• a step-by-step guide to planning workplace physical activity
• practical suggestions for making physical activity possible in your workplace
• success stories from Alberta companies
• tools, resources and research findings (for example, a personal Activity Tracker and videos entitled Yoga @ Your Desk and Stretching @ Your Desk)

The Alberta Centre for Active Living is a provincial, non-profit research and education centre affiliated with the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta. The centre is supported by the Government of Alberta and the Alberta Sports, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation.