2019 September MOL Report
From the Ministry of Labour
Construction Health and Safety Program
Report for the Labour-Management Network, September 2019
Reporting Month Statistics
|
Reporting Month |
Fatalities |
Critical Injuries |
Total |
|
June 1-30, 2019 |
2 |
31 |
33 |
|
June 1-30, 2018 |
3 |
22 |
25 |
|
Reporting Month |
Fatalities |
Critical Injuries |
Total |
|
July 1-31, 2019 |
0 |
22 |
22 |
|
July 1-31, 2018 |
3 |
32 |
35 |
Disclaimer: This information has been prepared to assist workplace parties in understanding their rights and duties under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations. This information does not constitute legal advice. To determine your rights and duties under OHSA, please contact your legal counsel or refer to the legislation.
Provincial Coordinator’s Comments
Healthy workers in healthy workplaces. That is what we would all like to see. So much so, that as summer vacations wrap up, the ministry has partnered once more with the various Health and Safety Associations, including IHSA to launch another cross-sector, provincial initiative from September 1st to December 27th. This time our focus is on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and protecting workers from respiratory hazards. In construction, this poses a unique challenge for us in that the ever-changing work environment calls for serious forethought, planning, monitoring, and control to effectively eliminate or mitigate these hazards. As is standard now, the first phase of the initiative will consist of compliance assistance in the form of outreach, education, and awareness. The second phase will be our focused inspection blitz.
With respect to the suspended access equipment initiative, on July 9th we participated in a public awareness webinar, which was well attended. Many thanks to our partners at the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association, who hosted the event. Phase 2, the focused inspections blitz, started on August 6th and continues until September 27th.
Below, you will find a link to the results of an initiative focusing on the IRS (Internal Responsibility System) in industrial sector small businesses. Although seemingly irrelevant to construction, I think the results of the initiative are telling about how unaware small employers are about their duties and responsibilities under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. During this initiative, 8,307 orders were issued for various contraventions of the OHSA, including 99 stop-work orders, while 2,335 workplaces were visited. This translates to an average of 3.6 orders per workplace visited. I imagine the results would be very similar if the same initiative was conducted with small businesses in the construction sector.
Finally, you will find 5 court bulletins highlighted in this report, some for critical and fatal injuries. I hope there will soon come a day when these reports will no longer form such a prominent feature of these communications.
Healthy Workers in Healthy Workplaces: Musculoskeletal disorders and respiratory hazards blitz
From September to December, the ministry will focus on musculoskeletal disorders and respiratory hazards. In the first phase, the ministry will work with its partners to educate employers on potential hazards. In the second phase, inspectors will visit workplaces in all sectors to ensure compliance. Learn more by visiting our website or by joining a webinar hosted by our health and safety partners.
Read more Sign up for a webinar focusing on the:
- industrial sector
- mining sector
- construction sector
- health care sector
Suspended access equipment blitz In January 2017, regulatory changes on the use of suspended access equipment came into effect. This summer, the ministry is checking on compliance with those changes, training requirements and whether equipment has been properly constructed, inspected, tested and maintained. The ministry is also partnering with the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association to raise awareness of these requirements. Read more
Download the full PDF for more articles including:
- Manual materials handling
- Results: New small business registrations and internal responsibility systems
- Court Bulletins
- Critical Injuries – Year-to-Date Overview – Construction Sector
- Total Year-to-Date Fatal Injuries: