August 31, 2010

Plenty of work ahead as Ontario construction-site safety blitz ends

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Though Ontario’s construction safety awareness campaign ends today, there is still plenty of work ahead to improve health and safety practice across the province, industry stakeholders say.

“The real challenge is to create a culture of safety on every work site in the province and that will always be a continuing work in progress,” said Ian Cunningham, president of the Council of Ontario Construction Associations.

“Through the current Tony Dean (workplace safety system) review many construction interests have made some recommendations on improving safety practices across Ontario construction, I’m sure there will be recommendations for the province to consider.”

Peter Fonseca, Ontario’s labour minister, launched a construction workplace safety awareness campaign in July aimed at starting “a culture shift” to improve industry worker safety. The campaign is set to end today.

It included safety tips concerning fall prevention, in print at construction sites and on the labour ministry website, in languages including Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Polish and Chinese.

A workplace safety toll-free phone number (1-877-202-0008) that the public and workers can call to report labour practices or work conditions that appear unsafe was also launched.

“Everywhere in the world, including Ontario, on-the-job safety of construction workers is proving a tough nut to crack,” Fonseca said in a recent statement.

The 2009 Toronto Christmas Eve construction tragedy that claimed four workers’ lives when their swing stage came apart, plunging them 13 storeys to their deaths, has been the catalyst for a major workplace safety review and increasing health and safety awareness in Ontario.

During the awareness campaign, the labour ministry brought 61 Occupational Health and Safety Act charges against Metron Construction Corp., Swing “N” Scaff Inc. the directors of both companies (Joel Swartz and Patrick Deschamps) and Metron supervisor Vadim Kazenelson, in connection with the 2009 swing-stage tragedy.

Though the lost-time injury rate of Ontario’s construction workers is among the lowest in Canada, at 1.37 per 100 workers, between 2005 and 2009, almost 40 per cent of Ontario workers who died in work-related incidents were construction workers.

Fonseca said the province’s inspectors have responded, especially after safety blitz results earlier this year revealed that 63 per cent of the almost 3,000 construction sites visited had fall-related hazards.

“We continue to target repeat offenders and shut down construction projects when workers’ lives are in danger,” said Fonseca. “And, during inspections, we are increasing our focus on training and worker supervision.”

Clive Thurston, president of the Ontario General Contractors Association, said ICI construction continues to be a strong example of owners taking their safety responsibilities seriously and though they “may not be perfect” they have consistently shown a commitment to work at it.

The Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) has been working with system partners and industry stakeholders to develop a new Working at Heights training standard and program during this year.

The program is a one-day, in-class session that will address fall hazard identification and the hierarchy of controls (i.e., choosing the best fall-protection method for the situation). It will also include a hands-on component dealing with personal protective equipment and basic applications.

IHSA’s new Working at Heights training program is scheduled to be completed in the fall and will replace the in-class Basics of Fall Protection program that currently offers.

In addition, IHSA continues to offer its three-day Suspended Access Equipment course as well as its half-day Suspended Access Equipment Users’ Hazard Awareness course. The latter is intended for those who use swing-stages but do not rig or install them. For workers who are involved in set up and installation, IHSA recommend the full three-day course.

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