August 24, 2010

‘Education over prosecution,’ Construction Industry Task Force urges

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

To kick-start a change in Ontario’s safety culture, a combination of prevention and responsibility improvements coupled with mandatory entry-level training are needed, says the Construction Industry Task Force.

“We need to cut down on the bureaucracy and a major theme we believe in is education over prosecution,” said Clive Thurston, task force chair and Ontario General Contractors Association president.

“There’s been far too much use of the stick, which does nothing to change the culture of safety in this province.”

The task force recently presented its recommendations and concerns to Ontario’s occupational health and safety review. Tony Dean, Chair of the Workplace Safety System Review, has guided the review to consultative stops from Thunder Bay to Toronto, hearing from over 100 groups, including the task force.

“Management and labour are agreed on mandatory entry-level training, for both workers and supervisors,” said Thurston.

“This is not something new and has been well supported in the past. The trouble is how you implement it and what does it involve?”

The task force noted that expansion of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board coverage in the construction industry, through Bill 119, will add about 91,000 new companies, “many with little knowledge of safe practices and their rights and responsibilities.”

“A strategy and program must be developed now to educate independent operators,” stated the task force. “Independent operators have had very little formal OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) training and without it, a spike in claims and, possibly, fatalities, will occur.”

The biggest gap in the OHS prevention delivery system, according to the task force, is between the formal system and Ontario’s workplaces. Employers need to be engaged in implementing an internal responsibility system (IRS) to improve a commitment to prevention among employers, contractors and workers.

The task force believes a new focus on training and the IRS will expand the culture of prevention in construction and encourage improved performance.

Thurston said the task force is concerned with allegations that experience rating programs cause employers to under-report and place workers in meaningless jobs. Incentives under an accreditation program for employers are important, the task force told the review.

“Employers will invest in performance beyond the legal requirements when the incentive is used to grab their attention. Once involved in the program, they will embrace a commitment to the IRS and their own performance,” said the task force.

The implementation of a three-member tribunal system, to replace the judicial process, was also recommended. The panel would consist of OHS experts, one member each from the employer and worker sides and a neutral chair. This tribunal would settle disputes between “employers (and workers if they are charged) and the Ministry of Labour over violations of the Ontario OHSA.”

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