HAZARDOUS WORKPLACES

Keeping your employees safe through proper training.

David Killham, of the Workers Health & Safety Centre, breaks down the importance of workplace safety, taking a deeper look at the whys and hows of safety for all.

Behave or else.” Sounds like something frustrated parents might say to their child. But is this message appropriate in a workplace setting? Believe it or not, workers are often on the receiving end of this kind of threat. They are told, “Work safe. Fail to do so, and face discipline or worse.” Conversely, they are told, “Work safe, and prizes and bonuses will be your reward.” Such are the hallmark messages of behaviour-based safety systems popular in many Ontario workplaces. By behaviour-based safety (BBS), I refer to a wide range of programs designed to effectively blame workers for work-related disability, disease, and death. Absent from this approach is any appreciation of the fact that hazardous exposures, not careless worker behaviours, are the cause of worker suffering.

The real cause of worker suffering

Experience of the workplace and much evidence tell us this victim blaming is misplaced at best. For instance, workers suffer musculoskeletal disorders because of several factors, including how the work is organized, the tools and work stations they are given to do the job and the pace at which they are expected to work. Among other things, work-related disease is caused by exposures to asbestos, diesel exhaust, noise, and a host of toxic chemicals. Moreover, workers are all too often killed because risk factors that give rise to workplace violence go unassessed and unaddressed, proper fall protection equipment is not supplied, and confined space entry procedures are not developed. And the common thread in all these circumstances? Workers have virtually no control over the hazards they face.

A comprehensive U.S. House of Representatives report titled Hidden-Tragedy: Underreporting of Work

place Injuries and Illnesses came to a similar conclusion. Rejecting the “careless worker” theory, it states, “In order for an accident to happen, an unsafe condition must be present. … Human error is almost never one of the root causes.”

Here in Ontario, the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) has also weighed in on the issue of BBS systems. While they acknowledge BBS as having a “long tradition,” they recommend occupational health and safety management systems should have “a dominant commitment to control and eliminate workplace hazards under the hierarchy of control principle.”

The hierarchy of control begins with the premise that hazards are best dealt with at their source, eliminating them from the workplace. Controls along the path attempt to limit exposure between the hazard source and the worker. Controlling a hazard at the worker level, for example with personal protective equipment (PPE), is often least effective. Most health and safety laws in Ontario and Canada acknowledge PPE should be used only in special circumstances and for limited periods of time.

Supporting Ontario workplaces

For these reasons and more, Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) training is predicated on a hazard-based approach. Our training supports workplaces in their efforts to identify, assess and control, or better yet eliminate, hazardous working conditions. Our offerings include: • Hundreds of existing hazard-specific and

industry-specific training programs • Mandated certification training for Joint

Health and Safety Committees (JHSC) • Programs for legally required worker training such as Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), working at heights, confined space entry, workplace violence, and powered lift trucks • Training on common issues such as stress,

ergonomics, and indoor air quality • Customized training on a fee-for-service basis

WHSC has lent this kind of support to workers, their representatives and employers in thousands of Ontario workplaces, regardless of sector, size, location, or union status for over 30 years.

As Ontario’s designated health and safety training centre, we are dedicated to helping to ensure workers are provided safe (and healthy) work, instead of wrong-headedly insisting they need only work safe.

“Workers have virtually no control over the hazards they face.”