December 2008

ON THE MOL & WSIB RADAR

Your Health and Safety Services Are About to Get Better
All hands on deck to achieve Road to Zero

In the fall edition of The Advocate, we told you how your company will need to reduce its injury rate by 7% for each of the next five years—just to break even on your premium rates. It’s all part of a system-wide challenge to achieve zero workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses, as outlined in the WSIB’s five-year strategic plan, called the Road to Zero. In this edition, we’ll tell you what other changes are in the works—including the WSIB’s New service delivery model, and a redesigned prevention system.

The Road to Zero is driving changes in how the WSIB and prevention system does business, with a goal of helping workplaces achieve their 7% annual reductions in injury rates. Here’s a high-level look at what’s coming down the pipe, and how it will affect you.

Role of WSIB introducing a new service delivery model:

The WSIB is changing how it delivers services to Ontario businesses. The new model will be implemented in phases, starting with Ottawa in September 2008, with the rest of Ontario following by mid 2009. The goal: to help businesses drive down “persistency”: the proportion of all your organization’s lost-time days this year that occurred from health and safety incidents in previous years.

What you’re going to see is a “triage” approach to service. Think of a hospital emergency ward, where an intake coordinator assesses patients’ needs and streams them to the appropriate service or specialist. Firms with an injured worker will go through a similar process.

WSIB specialists, each with a different area of focus, will be assigned to collaborate with workplaces, as needed, to determine:

•	Eligibility of the claim;
•	A customized plan to help the injured employee return to work;
•	Medical and health care interventions that will help injured workers recover;
•	Revenue decision-making services that would help firms minimize their costs;
•	What new or improved prevention, disability management and compliance programs are needed.

Role of the prevention system: streamlining operations

The WSIB is also looking externally for improvements. Today, 14 WSIB-designated health and safety associations provide prevention services to Ontario’s various business sectors. The OSSA, for example, focuses on the service sector.

Soon, this part of Ontario’s prevention system will look different, and in a way that’s better for business. The goal: to align our efforts in a way that will allow us to reach more of you, and help you drive down lost-time incidents and manage risk.

Consultations with individuals and groups across the system are still underway, and final decisions have not yet been made. However, what we can share right now is that the new system will be smaller and better integrated, with fewer, distinct associations and a renewed focus on the “customers” of the system: workers and workplaces.

A transformed prevention system would:

•	Increase the resources and expertise available to your workplace;
•	Simplify access to system resources by consolidating points of contact;
•	Focus resources on areas with greatest need;
•	Improve access to services for more remote locations.

Role of the business sector: three things you can do

1. Know your numbers. Review your WSIB reports, or call your WSIB representative, to determine your:

•	Injury trends: are your trends coming down by 7% or more each year?
•	Rate group average: how do your LTIs compare to the rate group that your premium rate is set for?
•	Persistency rates: Are you getting injured workers back to work quickly, and within the same year?

2. Make a plan to achieve your 7% reduction year over year:

•	Call OSSA for a consultation;
•	Join in an OSSA Safety Group;
•	Review the story in this edition of The Advocate on how the gaming industry is addressing its health and safety issues.

3. Be an advocate for change by asking questions, voicing concerns and offering solutions: make sure that what you valued in the old system, migrates effectively to the new system:

•	Call your WSIB representative or OSSA contact.

What’s driving these changes

On average, every week in Ontario:

•	Two people die from a workplace incident
•	Five people acquire an occupational disease
•	1,600 injuries cause lost time from work

That’s a tragic human cost to the injured, their families and communities. And it’s an enormous financial cost, as well—to workers, employers and society—especially when injured workers do not return to work, and recover, as quickly as possible. Indeed, fixing your return to work program represents your most effective short-term way of saving money, allowing you to channel your savings into improving your prevention program. At a time when resources and finances are constrained, you can make your health and safety program an asset on your balance sheet.

How many companies are losing money:

•	Ontario’s frequency and total number of injuries has been coming down by about 5% per year since 1997.
•	But “persistency”—old claims that have never been resolved—is rising steadily.
•	That means more and more claims are persisting for longer periods of time, representing a hit to the bottom line for both WSIB and business.
•	For many companies, the bulk of their costs come from claims that happened a year or more ago and were never properly resolved.

Here’s the bottom line

Everything—from the WSIB’s new service delivery model, to Workwell, to incentive programs like NEER, to how the health and safety associations will be organized—will be aligned to help workplaces achieve the new performance standards (annual 7% reduction in injuries), and return injured employees to work as quickly as possible.

For more information:

Call your WSIB contact or OSSA with your questions.

What to expect
Inspectors will likely be looking for evidence that:

•	Workers that operate lift trucks are adequately trained on the specific class of equipment they are operating;
•	Supervisors are trained and competent to supervise fork lift operations;
•	Temp workers are being held to the same strict standards as permanent employees; • See “Beware the training certificate pitfall,” in this story, below; • See also the “Train your temps” section in the “The Latest Health & Safety Violations” story in this newsletter.
•	Appropriate personal protective equipment is being used for changing and charging batteries, exchanging propane cylinders, refueling lift trucks, etc.;
•	Safety equipment, such as seat belts are in use and in good working order;
•	Correct fire extinguishers are in place, given the recent changes in the Ontario Fire Code;
•	Pre-shift inspection and recording procedures are in place;
•	The manufacturer’s maintenance and inspection procedures are rigorously followed for all models of fork lift trucks (any lifting mechanism has to be inspected every year at a minimum, more often if you’re running back-to-back shifts);
•	Pedestrian safety guidelines are in place and implemented.

Beware the training certificate pitfall
MOL inspectors will be looking for proof of adequate training. Here’s the rub: just because a new hire presents a certificate, doesn’t mean that person has had adequate training. Unfortunately, many trainers offer programs that consist of nothing more than a light touch; e.g. a quickie seminar, a video, and no operating tests. What inspectors may require is evidence of thorough training, including program content and copies of written and operating exams. Also, in the event you do have an incident, they’ll expect immediate access to your complete set of records.

A note about your bottom line
Almost all damage to all facility and product is caused by the misuse of lift trucks. As employers know only too well, putting even a small dent in a racking system can cost thousands of dollars, given that minor damage to, say, the critical bottom sections could mean replacement of that section, and more serious damage could cause a complete system collapse. Other costs include those associated with terminating repeat offenders, and recruiting and training new operators. Hiring qualified operators from the get-go, and implementing rigorous refresher training programs, are strategies that will save money in the long run.  

For more information
OSSA has the experience and expertise to:

•	Perform a hazards check on your fork lift operations;
•	Provide a confidential assessment of the authenticity of your records;
•	Help you assess your performance against the Health and Safety Act and CSA standards
•	Connect you with a reputable trainer—Safe-Tech Training—with whom OSSA has a referral relationship.

Call now to get your ducks in a row before the February blitz.


 

LEARNING FROM OTHERS

Sobeys, Kitchener, was fined $85,000 for a violation that resulted in the injury of a worker who fell from a ladder. The employer had contravened a regulation that requires material to be removed from a storage area, pile or rack, in a manner that will not endanger the safety of workers.

Ganz, a Newmarket company that distributes stuffed novelties for carnivals and the toy industry, was fined $20,000 for a violation that resulted in the death of a temporary worker who fell and died when stacking boxes on a racking system. The worker was not wearing a safety belt or harness, and had not received appropriate training.

The point is…both of these incidents involved non-routine activities—tasks that occur inconsistently, and are therefore not top of mind. Taking storage racks down, putting seasonal decorations up—these and many other tasks fall into this category. What tends to happen is that firms fail to apply the proper resources to do the job properly, in spite of the protocol for using ladders and racking systems being clearly spelled out in the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The lesson learned from Sobeys and Ganz is to make sure you have processes and procedures for non-routine work. Ask, what activities occur infrequently, say six times a year or less, and do the people who are tasked know how to handle the job properly? (See also “Train your temps,” below.)

Think of gravity as a form of energy

Presvac Systems, a custom truck maker and repair shop in Burlington, was fined $54,000 for a violation that resulted in the injury of a worker who was adjusting a bumper’s position when the welds failed and the assembly fell, breaking the worker’s leg. The bumper had not been securely and solidly blocked to prevent it from falling.

The point is…whenever employees are doing repairs, you must disengage the energy to prevent a potential injury from happening. What people sometimes forget is that gravity, as in this case, is a form of energy.

Train your temps!

Toronto Personnel Inc., a temporary placement agency (known as Winters Technical Staffing), and Cam Tool & Die Ltd., an automotive stamping plant, both in Newmarket, were fined $40,000, and $120,000, respectively, for a violation causing the death of a temporary worker caught between the safety sensor and the pressing mechanism of a power press when another worker activated the machine. Both organizations failed to provide training and supervision to the worker.

The point is…the individual who died was a contract worker, yet the organization who hired this individual was just as responsible for providing training (and personal protective equipment, by the way) as they are for their regular workers. Contract and temporary workers are particularly vulnerable: they’re often new to the work environment and don’t have built-in knowledge of the hazards. For example, warehouses that hire temp agency employees and provide them with minimal fork lift training, will be held liable by the MOL (see “Fork Lift Blitz Slated for February 2008”).

Asbestos safety applies to all service sector employers

The City of Kingston was fined $60,000 for a violation after workers were exposed to asbestos during renovation of the city’s public utilities building. The employer had failed to determine the presence of asbestos in the building and/or to advise prospective constructors before requesting tenders for the project. In addition, the personal protective equipment worn by the workers would not have met safety requirements for asbestos.

The point is…whenever you undertake renovations, construction, deconstruction or even small repairs in your facility—especially facilities built prior to 1973—you need to determine, prior to the work, if asbestos is in the building material. If so, you may need an abatement program prior to the work. Some common places to look are the ceiling, wall or pipe insulation, and floor tiles.