The Health and Safety Executive, UK’s health and safety regulator, released their annual internal health and safety report, which outlines a 16 percent increase in workplace injuries and illness for the HSE and a failure to meet seven of of their 11 safety targets.

Of the 243 accidents and injuries in 2010/11 report, nine were reportable to the national database of industrial accidents.  This put the rate of reportable injuries and illnesses for the HSE well below that of similar employers.

“HSE consistently has a very low level of reportable incidents, which already puts it in the very best class of performers when compared with similar organisations.” A HSE spokesman told the Telegraph.

“Despite being a high performer, we seek continuous improvement across all fronts, irrespective of performance at one point in time against any annual target.”

The report details safety targets for HSE reflecting three priority areas: display screen equipment related ill health, driving for work and lone working, and work related stress.

Unfortunately, the organization failed to meet most of its safety goals, including  all of its goals related to reducing display screen equipment-related injuries and illness.

HSE reports an average rate of 6.8 working days lost per staff member for sickness, a slight increase from the previous year.

British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Richard Goepel sentenced Arthur Moore to 60 days in jail for violating a restraining order  calling for the demolition company owner to stop exposing workers as young as 14 to asbestos.

The judge stated during the hearing that Moore’s contempt in the case was “serious” and his “indifference” to the lives of his workers required a “severe response.”

The lawyer representing WorkSafeBC in the case was seeking jail sentence from six months to a year, but the judge said a sentence of that length was greater than warranted.

Goepel noted Moore had apologized and there was no evidence of a continuing breach of the court order.

“You deliberately flaunted for an extended time a court order that was intended to protect worker safety,” the judge told Moore. “You did so within a day of being served with the order. Such conduct cannot go unpunished.”

OSHA’s budget request for the coming 2013 federal fiscal year includes a proposal for increasing the budget of the whistle blower department by $4.8 million.

“The significant increase in OSHA whistleblower funding will help the agency address persistent backlogs and heavy and increasing caseloads for its whistleblower investigators,” OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels said in a Feb. 13 live web chat. “These increased resources are critical.”

While the government safety organization seeks to grow the whistle blower department, it has proposed combining several regional offices.

In total OSHA’s $565,468,000 budget request represents a $680,470 increase over OSHA’s 2012  budget.

The federal 2013 fiscal year begins Oct. 1 2012 and ends Sept. 20, 2013.

The United States Department of Occupational Health and Safety is extending the expiration date of a series of temporary enforcement measures designed to help roofers transition to a new fall protection initiative.

The temporary enforcement measures instruct OSHA inspectors who find residential roofers not complying with the new residential fall protection directive, but following the old directive (Plain Language Revision of OSHA Instruction STD 3.1, Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, STD 03-00-001), to do the following:

• Allow an additional good faith reduction in penalties of up to 10% for employers engaged in residential construction. In addition to the safety and health management system good faith determination in Chapter 6 of the Field Operations Manual, the Area Director shall consider examples of attempting to comply in good faith to include: requesting and scheduling an On-site Consultation visit, ordering protective fall equipment for its employees, or performing a documented evaluation of feasible means of abatement. This good faith reduction does not apply in cases of a fatality, catastrophe, or serious injury resulting from a fall during residential construction activities.

• Allow residential construction employers at least 30 days to correct fall protection violations identified under the new residential fall protection directive. During that time, if such employers are not in compliance at that site or another site, no additional citations or repeat citations shall be issued. This policy does not apply in cases of a fatality, catastrophe, or serious injury resulting from a fall during residential construction activities.

OSHA put these temporary enforcement measures in place Sept. 22, 2011 with an expiration date of March 15, 2012.

With this extension the expiration of these temporary enforcement measures is pushed back to Sep. 15, 2012.

The new regulations, 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13), require all workers engaged in residential construction over six (6) feet above the ground level are to be protected by conventional fall protection. For roofers, the 25 foot, ground to- eave height threshold no longer applies, nor do slide guards as an acceptable form of fall protection, regardless of the roof pitch or height of the roof eave.

These new requirements replaced the Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, Standard 03-00- 001 were in effect since 1995 and allowed residential builders to bypass fall protection requirements.

To help companies meet the fall protection imitative Safety Services Company offers affordable “Do-It-Yourself” fall protection training program. For more information call 877-848-3369.

The Nova Scotia government called for a renewed focus on workplace safety in the face of seven workplace deaths in a little more than a month.

An average of 25 workers died each year between 2007 and 2011 in the province, so the recent spate of deaths drew concern from Marilyn More, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Labour and Advanced Education. “This is a tragic start to 2012 and all of us must take immediate action to avoid further injuries, illnesses and deaths in our workplaces,” the minister said in a press release.

“Whether one works on a hectic shop floor or a seemingly safe office, we need to change our ‘I’ve done this a million times so it must be safe’ mindset.”

According to the ministry, almost half of workplace deaths were caused by chronic illness in recent years; however, this year only the most recent workplace death, a shipyard worker who died after a heart attack, is attributed to chronic illness. The rest were attributed to accidents.

Two truckers died in separate vehicle accidents; two fishermen drowned; a falling tree struck a 57-year old farm worker in the chest; and one worker was pinned while sandblasting the box of a truck.

Government is currently investigating all seven deaths.

“Employers and employees need to remain vigilant to the risks facing them at work,” said Jim LeBlanc, executive director, Occupational Health and Safety division. “In so many investigations, we find that most injuries could have been avoided if more consideration had been given to the task and how it was to be done.”

Gates Canada Inc., an Alberta automotive part manufacturer, was fined $55,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.

On April 12, 2010, workers were clearing pallets that had jammed on an assembly line. One worker had a hand on the conveyor of a machine when part of the machine cycled down, crushing the worker’s hand and causing muscle damage.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that the power to that part of the assembly line had been disconnected, but there was still residual energy in one of the machine’s cylinders, causing it to cycle.

Gates Canada Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the machine was blocked to prevent movement while it was being maintained.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Hugh Brown. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-percent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

The Saskatchewan Justice Dennis Ball ruled on Feb. 7 in favor of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, concerning two bills that effectively ended workers ability to strike, organize as a union and bargain collectively.

“No other essential services legislation in Canada comes close to prohibiting the right to strike as broadly, and as significantly, as the PSES Act. No other essential services legislation is as devoid of access to independent, effective dispute resolution processes … None have such significantly deleterious effects on protected rights,” Ball said.

The  Labour organization brought forth the challenge to Bills 5 and 6, stating that they violated the right to freedom of association contained in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms by restricting the right of workers to form unions, collectively bargain with their employers and engage in strike action.

Bill 5, included a definition of essential services so broad that practically any public service employee could be unilaterally designated essential by the government and therefore not allowed to exercise the right to strike. It was widely regarded as the most sweeping and heavy-handed essential services legislation in Canada.

Bill 6, An Act to amend the Trade Union Act, drastically reduced the rights of Saskatchewan workers by restricting the ability of working people to join unions and to engage in collective bargaining. It also left workers with less protection against unfair practices from employers.

Justice Ball found elements of Bill 5 unconstitutional because they violated the Charter under section 2 (d), Freedom of Association, by failing to provide an impartial and effective dispute resolution process through which the union can challenge the Saskatchewan government’s designation of ‘essential’ for certain positions and employees.

Bill 5 in its current form was also determined to exceed the minimum impairment found in every other Canadian province’s essential services legislation because it transferred “all of the power previously held by the unions to the public employers, who are backed by the considerable additional powers of the Legislature. Considered in its entirety, its provisions do not satisfy the minimal impairment requirement of s. 1 of the Charter.” (Citation 2012 SKQB 62 – Conclusion on Minimal Impairment [217].)

In a separate decision, Justice Ball upheld Bill 6, which amends the Trade Union Act to ensure that the threshold percentage of workers needed to trigger a vote has been raised from 25 to 45 per cent, and stipulates that voting must now be done by secret ballot.

“Our government remains committed to essential services legislation to ensure the health and safety of citizens is protected during a workplace dispute,” Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan said in a press release.

The California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health is launching la statewide Confined Space Special Emphasis Initiative to focus attention on preventing worker deaths and injuries in confined spaces in worksites across the state.

“Employers in California are responsible for identifying and mitigating risks in the workplace,” said Department of Industrial Relations Director Christine Baker.

Since confined spaces may be encountered in virtually any industry, their identification is the first step in preventing fatalities and injuries. The goals of the Confined Space Emphasis Initiative are to:

• Increase awareness of employees and employers of these hazards.
• Provide resources, online materials, training, and consultation to prevent injuries and deaths
• Increase enforcement efforts to ensure all employers have adequate confined space programs and training at their workplaces.

The initiative follows investigations of confined space deaths and injuries in California—in different industries and different situations. In 2011, seven workers were killed in confined space incidents in California, including two young brothers in Kern County overcome by toxic gases in a recycling drainage tunnel.

“Confined spaces can be deceptively dangerous.  It is even more tragic that over 60% of confined space worker deaths occur to would-be rescuers who attempt to save a worker who initially succumbs,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess.  “These confined space fatalities are preventable with proper programs in place. We are taking a comprehensive approach to reducing these deaths and injuries in California—through widespread education, enforcement, consultation as well as partnerships to help increase awareness and compliance.”

Cal/OSHA begins its yearlong campaign on confined space hazards in collaboration with partners in labor, industry, public safety agencies and other safety and health groups. The campaign stresses the importance of the requirement that businesses have plans in place to identify confined space at their workplaces, notify and train employees, and ensure that on-site rescue plans are in place.  These requirements include having a written confined space plan, procedures to test the air quality inside the space, proper employee and supervisor training prior to entering confined spaces and having effective rescue procedures in place which must be immediately available on site.

Common types of confined spaces include tanks, silos, pipelines, sewers, storage bins, drain tunnels, and vaults.  These are widespread in many industries, and also in non-industrial workplaces such as health care, education, retail and services.

For information on confined spaces solutions call 877-201-8923.

WorkSafeNB recently named long-time senior executive of New Brunswick’s Crown Corporation, Gerald Adams, as its president and CEO.

Adams, who will take his seat February 25, is a chartered accountant with more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive in a variety of sectors.

Most recently, he served as president and CEO of Credit Union Central of New Brunswick.

His appointment to the position was suggested WorkSafeNB’s board of directors and approved by cabinet.

Adams five-year term begins Feb. 27.

The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration levied penalties against three organizations after a 175-day investigation into the Aug. 13 stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair that resulted in the death of seven people and dozens of injuries.

The workplace safety agency cited Mid-America Sound Corp., the event production company that constructed the load-bearing roof structure for the stage, with three “knowing” violations, the most serious kind of violation. The total penalty for Mid-America Sound Corp. is $63,000. The other two organizations, Local 30 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees including Theatrical Payroll Services, and the Indiana State fair Commission also face fines for serious, but not willful, violations of workplace safety laws.

The safety order against Mid-America Sound Corporation indicates, among other violations, its failure to develop a risk assessment plan and failure to provide sufficient qualified supervision. Not only did the event production company fail to provide manufacturer-recommended cross-bracing, according to IOSHA, but it also failed to provide proper layout drawings and engineering documentation to ensure a safe structure.

“The evidence demonstrated that the Mid-America Sound Corporation was aware of the appropriate requirements and demonstrated a plain indifference to complying with those requirements,” said IOSHA Commissioner Lori Torres.

The State Fair Commission was fined $6,300 for failing to conduct a life safety evaluation, and the IATSE was fined $11,500 for failing to take soil conditions into consideration, insufficient personal protective equipment hazard assessment, insufficient fall protection, and failing to maintain OSHA injury logs.

“The State Fair Commission,” Torres noted during a Wednesday morning press conference, “failed to have conducted an adequate life safety evaluation and plan prior to the event. The commission simply did not establish and maintain conditions of work for its employees that were reasonably safe and free from recognized hazards.”

The union, meanwhile, argues it is being made a scapegoat.

“Local 30 is not an employer,” Groth told WTHR-TV. ” They’re a labor organization, a union.” However, IOSHA contends that in fact, the union clearly acted as an employer and was remains responsible.

The stage was being set up for country music duo Sugarland when windy weather precipitated the stage’s collapse.