Accident Prevention e-News
September/October 2010
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Volume 5/Issue 9/September/October 2010
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In this Issue:
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2-month ergo blitz starts now
By Don Patten
 From September 15 to November 15, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is conducting an inspection blitz on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Businesses may be visited by an inspector looking for hazards that put employees at risk for sprains and strains. This marks the second year that ministry inspectors have targeted MSDs.
Although awareness of MSDs has increased greatly over the past two decades, Ontario statistics suggest little progress in reducing the risk of injury:
- $640 million in direct claim costs, from 2003 to 2007, and 6 million days of lost time
- 43% of total lost-time injury (LTI) costs in 2008, up from 41% in 2003
- 43% of total LTIs in 2008, affecting 33,000 workers, up from 40% from 2003
MSDs can occur in any type of workplace. Inspectors are prioritizing workplaces with high frequencies of MSD injuries and hazards. In the month-long 2009 blitz, this translated into 4,500 work orders.
The bigger picture
Preventing MSDs means incorporating ergonomics into your prevention activities, and has implications beyond preventing injuries. Ergonomics can add value to a company’s business strategy since it contributes to many aspects of organizational performance, including productivity, quality (precision, fewer errors), reduced absenteeism, etc.
From a behaviour management perspective, preventing MSDs can also mean limiting the number of poor choices people can make, while offering them many safer alternatives.
The barriers
Despite the recognized costs of MSDs, and the availability of prevention solutions (see “How we can help”), MSDs remain Ontario’s #1 lost-time injury.
Barriers to injury prevention often exist at all levels of an organization, and may include:
- limited awareness of the injury risk associated with manual materials handling and certain job tasks, and ways of reducing the risk
- workforce norms and culture
- poor understanding of MSDs’ impact on the organization’s profit margin and operations
- competing demands on finances and resources (e.g., production schedules, other hazard control priorities)
- lack of risk management skills
- inadequate injury data collection and analysis
- lack of knowledge regarding
- fundamental ergonomics design principles and use of engineering controls
- ergonomics analysis tools
- solutions
- lack of worker input into identifying and solving problems
Overcoming barriers
On a strategic level, the Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Prevention Guideline for Ontario (see “How we can help”) recommends a number of steps on how to establish a prevention program, including:
- making MSD prevention a management priority
- establishing and communicating a process for identifying and controlling MSD hazards
- ensuring worker participation
- developing a culture of open communication, and reporting on MSD prevention efforts
- providing MSD prevention training for all workers
However clear this may be in concept, visualizing how a prevention program would play out on a daily basis may be more challenging. Recognizing where the problem exists is the key to MSD prevention. Start by focusing on the job tasks causing the most injuries.
Here’s a common scenario. You approach a box on the ground, and your task is to move that box from point A to point B. Many factors can influence the odds that an injury will occur, such as weight, shape, size, location, and ability to get a decent grip. Approach the task by determining which aspects of the task pose potential risk, and how the risk can be minimized. Breaking down a task into individual steps or stages can often lead to simple, cost-effective prevention solutions.
Possibilities include:
- designing the workplace so the box is closer to the worker
- educating workers on safe lifting techniques, as well as how to identify when a lift might be risky
- posting labels on boxes indicating their weight, so that workers and supervisors can determine the best approach without having to first lift the boxes
All these solutions can greatly increase the safety of this scenario, often at little or no cost. But ultimately we want to achieve a 100% safe situation. How? Put measures in place where employees don’t have to lift at all.
Since this is not always possible, the alternative is to design an environment where no matter what choice people make it’s a safe one. This is the ultimate in MSD prevention: designing an environment that we can work and play in that does not put us in a situation where injuries will occur.
How we can help
Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, the organization created by the amalgamation of IAPA with Ontario Service Safety Alliance (OSSA) and Farm Safety Association (FSA), has six ergonomists on staff to assist you with your MSD prevention efforts, including a free consultation.
A comprehensive list of courses and downloadable resources from WSPS, Prevention System partners, and others, is available online. Among the offerings:
- free downloads. Forms, publications, tools and other resources include:
- Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Prevention Series, featuring a guideline, resource manual, and toolbox
- ergonomic assessments, e.g., discomfort survey, hazard checklist, risk assessment and tool selection checklist
- hazard tip sheets
- publications, e.g., Manual Materials Handling, Safe Lifting and Carrying, and more
- training. WSPS provides a comprehensive portfolio, including:
- Back Safety 101 Self-Study Training Kit (DVD-based)
- Building an MSD Prevention Program (4 half-day modules)
- Manual Materials Handling (on-site)
- Nuts and Bolts of Implementing an MSD Prevention Program (1-day; also available on-site)
- Practical Office Ergonomics (on-site)
- Physical Demands Analysis (on-site)
- Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs): Awareness (free sample e-course)
- Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs): Prevention - available in English and French (e-course)
- Office Ergonomics in Ontario (e-course)
- Office Ergonomics - available in English and French (e-course)
Don Patten, an ergonomics specialist with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, is also president of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists; Tel: 905.614.4272, ext. 2520; dpatten@iapa.ca.
Safety Group 2011: supervisor competency, plus 4 other OHS essentials
 Are your supervisors competent as defined by Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act? Starting in January 2011, more than 700 firms — participants in the 2011 Safety Group — will commit to ensuring their supervisors meet or exceed the definition. These firms will also address 4 other essential health and safety topics of their choice.
In the process, most firms will earn significant rebates on workers compensation premiums. You can join them.
Injury reduction, rebates and more
Registration is now open for the 2011 Safety Group, one of Ontario’s most successful injury reduction programs ever. Most participating firms dramatically reduce their lost-time injury and severity rates, and earn a sizable premium rebate (see “Safety Group Results, 2004 - 2008” for details).
How the program works
Participating firms are assigned to one of more than 40 local chapters. In 2011, at least 700 firms are expected to take part. From a list of 20 health and safety topics, or “elements,” provided by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, each member firm selects four to initiate or improve upon in their workplace.
As well, all participating firms work on a fifth common element. For 2011, it’s supervisor competency. For 2010, it was compliance with new workplace violence and harassment obligations under Bill 168.
“The elements are all universal issues that firms everywhere are dealing with,” says Terry Elliott, manager of the 2010 Safety Group program. “Collectively, they can help firms develop a robust health and safety program.”
Throughout the year, chapter members work together to implement their selected safety elements, attending at least three out of five facilitated half-day meetings. Our consultants help out by facilitating the meetings, and helping members access resources. Support includes expert advice, as well as access to information, products, and services.
Why supervisor competency
“This was the number one choice among 2010 Safety Group members,” says Elliott. “Supervisors’ primary responsibility is to promote organizational excellence in all its forms, and informed supervisors recognize that achieving excellence begins with healthy, safe and productive workers.”
Program benefits
Most participating firms experience significantly fewer and less severe injuries, accompanied by a compensation premium rebate (see table below). In addition to these gains, Safety Group members can benefit from
- consulting — firms receive general consulting calls as well as expert support from WSPS consultants, including site visits, identification of potential improvements, and discussions with management and joint health and safety committees regarding proposed recommendations
- meetings — WSPS consultants host 5 meetings a year, during which members receive support and advice
- networking — firms can network at local Safety Group meetings or by email with participants across Ontario, sharing best practices, procedures, and opportunities to learn from and mentor other firms
- training — a wide array of training, workshops and consulting services are available outside of the Safety Group chapter meetings to support members through their health and safety program development
- resources — firms receive access to safety and claims management information, our Information Resource Centre, and a website developed exclusively for Safety Group members to share information
- discounts — firms receive 10% savings on certain training courses, Partners in Prevention conferences and trade shows, workshops, and on-site training including technical services such as ergonomics assessments and industrial hygiene testing
Safety Group Results, 2004 - 2008
Year |
Total Rebate |
# Member Firms Receiving Rebate |
Lost-Time Injury Rate Reduction (%)* |
Severity Rate Reduction (%)* |
| 2008 |
$5,625,956 |
732 |
8.67 |
3.36 |
| 2007 |
$7,063,478 |
734 |
16.2 |
14.9 |
| 2006 |
$3,076,623 |
584 |
32.67 |
28.02 |
| 2005 |
$2,124,845 |
304 |
26.67 |
28.89 |
| 2004 |
$895,621 |
104 |
22.22 |
21.07 |
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Find out more
Learn more online about the 2011 Safety Group. While online, take an interactive tour:
- get a snap-shot of the Safety Group program
- meet experienced Safety Group members and hear their stories
- listen to what CEOs have to say
- visit a Safety Group chapter meeting
- check out the tools and resources available to Safety Group members
Get a head start on supervisor competency
The following courses approach supervisor competency from a number of perspectives, and in various formats:
Also available: free downloads
Sector plans: help with your OHS homework
 How often did you wish your teacher would tip you off to questions in an upcoming exam? Fast forward to your workplace. Ministry of Labour sector and sub-sector plans, available online, can tell you what inspectors will look for during workplace inspections. But more than that, they can also serve as an effective OHS planning tool.
Before we tell you where to find them, consider what they contain and how you can apply the information to your health and safety efforts.
A boon for employers
Inspectors make thousands of visits annually to workplaces just like yours, collecting detailed information about sector-specific hazards as they go. The ministry summarizes the findings in annual sector-specific enforcement plans. These plans set out the ministry’s priorities for inspection blitzes and random visits.
The decision to share this information is a boon for industry. The information is
- written in plain language, so it’s easy to understand and put into action
- sub-sector specific, so it’s relevant and applicable to your workplace
- evidence-based, so it’s a valid and reliable source of data for your strategic planning
What you can learn from a sub-sector plan
The industrial sector plan for 2010-2011 contains individual plans for 29 sub-sectors. Say your facility manufactures resin and synthetic rubber. You belong to the chemical, rubber and plastics sub-sector (producers of organic and inorganic chemicals, synthetic resins, paints, varnishes, refined petroleum products, and rubber products).
According to the sub-sector plan, the most common hazards are machine entanglement, exposure to chemicals, slips and falls, and ergonomic issues. Two of these four — machine entanglement and ergonomics — are linked to inspection blitzes taking place this fall (read more about them elsewhere in this issue).
The plan can also tell you about the sub-sector’s
- 7 hazards that inspectors watch for at any time
- lost-time injury rate
- most costly injuries
- number of inspections between 2007 and 2009
- 5 most common orders
8 ways you can put the data to work
The plans reflect what the ministry believes are the high-priority hazards for your industry and sub-sector. Use these priorities to
- conduct annual and quarterly health and safety risk assessments, particularly for hazards that may not have been on your radar
- build a framework for your health and safety program and binders
- design your training agenda
- develop a daily safety talk checklist for supervisors that helps them improve worker awareness of hazards in their different areas of work
- design a checklist for new employees and young workers, reminding them about the safe procedures needed to head off common hazards
- shape your joint health and safety committee’s meeting agendas and inspection schedule
- benchmark your firm’s health and safety performance against that of your sub-sector
- strengthen your situational analysis within your business plan to support investments in your health and safety program
Where to find the online sub-sector plans
You can arrive there in three clicks:
How we can help
WSPS, the new organization created in January 2010 by the amalgamation of IAPA with Farm Safety Association (FSA) and Ontario Service Safety Alliance (OSSA), can help you take your existing health and safety program to the next step — and stay ahead of ministry inspectors.
Check out our range of training, consulting and information products and services, including free downloads and forms, or call us for more information: 905-614-1400; 1-877-494-WSPS (9777).
November-December blitz: conveyor guarding and lockout
 Common as conveyors may be in our workplaces, they pose tremendous hazards. Safety failures involving conveyors can cause catastrophic injuries.
On November 1, Ministry of Labour inspectors will begin a two-month sweep across the province, searching for conveyor related hazards and infractions.
What the records tell us
According to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s 2009 statistical report, lost-time claims for the agriculture, industrial and service sectors resulting from exposure to contact with machinery totalled 1,426, or 4.9% of the 29,345 claims accepted. Consider these recent prosecutions:
- a Canadian Linen and Uniform Service Co. worker sustained serious injuries after falling four metres to a concrete floor while trying to fix an overhead conveyor. Employer fine: $95,000, for failing to have a safe procedure to clear jammed overhead conveyors
- a worker at Ontario wine producer Vincor International injured both hands when trying to clear a jam on a conveyor belt. Employer fine: $50,000, for failing to ensure that control switches or other control mechanisms were locked out
- a Rich Products of Canada Limited worker removing dough residue from a belt drive sustained multiple fractures and skin loss to an arm when it was drawn in between the belt and a roll of paper under it. Employer fine: $80,000, for failing to ensure its conveyor belt setup had a guard to prevent access to a pinch point
- a worker for auto parts manufacturer Kitchener Frame Limited sustained a broken leg while clearing a jam on an overhead conveyor system. Once the jam was cleared, the conveyor moved, pinning his leg between two steel rails. Employer fine: $50,000, for failing to block movement
What to look for in your workplace
A particular challenge in conveyor system safety is the variety of workplace-specific applications. The solution: a rigorous assessment.
Ensure your risk assessment includes these questions:
- are there exposed hazards, such as in-running nip hazards or pinch points (e.g., motor with chain or belt drive mechanism)
- are the nip hazards and pinch points appropriately guarded: could clothing or a finger become entangled and pulled into the machine
- is the conveyor in good operating order? Has maintenance been performed on schedule, and have repairs been completed in a timely manner
- have workers been informed of all hazards
- are operators encouraged to report deficiencies to their supervisor
Need an incentive? Performing risk assessments can lead to greater productivity if the process reveals inconsistency in how or when workers perform everyday tasks.
Ask, “How can we defeat the guard?”
Assess whether a conveyor is guarded properly by using the “AUTO” method: can workers reach Around, Under, Through or Over the safeguards to access the hazard?
Employers have been known to say, “But our workers won’t do that; they know better.” It doesn’t matter why workers would reach around a guard. What matters is whether they can.
Preparing for an inspection
Get ready for ministry inspectors by
- familiarizing yourself with potential conveyor hazards, and proper guarding and lockout procedures in your workplace
- performing your own workplace audit, with worker input, using a tried and true workplace hazard analysis form
- having a well-documented safety program in place, and implementing conveyor-safety strategies, tools and training
- calling Workplace Safety & Prevention Services —— the new organization created in January 2010 by the amalgamation of IAPA with Farm Safety Association (FSA) and Ontario Service Safety Alliance (OSSA) — to review hazards before MOL inspectors come knocking (see “How we can help”)
What inspectors will look for
Ministry inspectors will perform an administrative review, which includes looking at your
- Internal Responsibility System: for example, is your joint health and safety committee performing monthly inspections, and do you have written health and safety policies in place
- documentation: have you kept records on any conveyor-related incidents
- written procedures and evidence of training on conveyor guarding and lockout procedures, signs, symptoms and controls
Inspectors may also tour your workplace to watch your staff at work and perform a physical review:
- do you have a health and safety bulletin board in place with all the required documentation
- are your conveyors in good repair and properly guarded
- does the conveyor have skirt boards
- does it have tail/head pulley guards
- is there access to hazards underneath the conveyor
- has fixed guarding been designed and installed so that a tool is needed to remove it
- are staff observing a comprehensive safety program in the safe operation of conveyors
- are conveyor drives shut down, de-energized and locked out before maintenance
If inspectors do show up at your door,
- cooperate: remember that inspectors have knocked on your door for a reason
- participate: answer questions fully and transparently
- demonstrate: describe any action plans you already have in place
- collaborate: call WSPS conveyor experts for help (see below)
What grocery stores and airports can teach us
Eliminating hazards during the design stage is probably the most effective strategy of all. Two well-known examples of conveyors guarded so effectively that the hazards are virtually eliminated, can be found at
- grocery stores, where customers place their groceries on a conveyor system with enclosed ends, sides and bottom, limiting access to hazardous motion
- airports, where travellers safely retrieve luggage from a conveyor whose drive mechanism has been concealed to restrict access to hazardous components
The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires the same design precautions for any workplace with a conveyor. Going to work should be no more risky than going to the grocery store or the airport.
How we can help you
WSPS offers the following machine safety resources
- consulting on
- machine safeguarding (e.g., use of barriers, fixed guards, manual pull-backs, pressure-sensitive protective devices, opto-electro protective devices, etc.)
- hazard assessments
- customized training
- free downloads
- training
- classroom
- self-study
- e-courses
- publication: Inspecting Physical Conditions, Guidelines for Setting Standards
In the News
Watch for our new name and identity
As Ontario’s prevention system proceeds with a revitalizing series of changes, Accident Prevention e-News is keeping pace with a new name, a new look, and a wider readership.
On January 1, 2010, Ontario’s 12 health and safety associations were streamlined into four new organizations, all working under the Health & Safety Ontario (HSO) banner. Together, the four organizations serve more than 236,000 Ontario businesses.
Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS), one of the four, was created by the amalgamation of IAPA with Farm Safety Association (FSA) and Ontario Service Safety Alliance (OSSA). WSPS has a mandate to meet the health and safety needs of 154,000 businesses in the agricultural, manufacturing and service industries, representing 3.8 million workers.
Our new publication will help put WSPS’s mandate into action. The first issue will be emailed in November; there will be no October issue of Accident Prevention e-News.
Whether you’re a dairy farmer or an office chairs manufacturer, a campground, a chemical processing plant or a restaurant chain, whether you design it, grow it, make it, ship it, sell it or serve it, we will continue providing you with timely, actionable coverage of OHS news, inspection blitz alerts, compliance updates, recent prosecutions, and links to WSPS resources.
The new publication is just one example of changes and enhancements taking place as a result of system amalgamations. Another visible example was the “Partners in Prevention 2010: Ontario Health & Safety Conference & Trade Show,” May 4-5 in Mississauga, ON. All four new health and safety organizations collaborated on the event, which drew 4800 attendees and 265 exhibitors.
Upcoming 2010 Partners in Prevention events
The Mississauga event was just one in a series of conferences taking place across Ontario in 2010. Here’s a list of upcoming locations and dates:
- Sudbury, October 5
- Ajax, October 7
- Kitchener, October 19
- Rama, October 26
- Ottawa, October 28
- Thunder Bay, November 2-3
- Burlington, November 10
- Windsor, November 16
How we can help you
The collective resources of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services’ three legacy associations, FSA, IAPA and OSSA, offer you easier access to cost-effective training, sector-specific products, services and expertise. Check us out by topic or call us for more information: 905-614-1400; 1-877-494-WSPS (9777).
October is Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month
This year’s theme is Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, Healthy Work... A Positive Workplace Works! Involve your workplace by taking part in a series of fun weekly challenges that highlight elements of a healthy workplace.
Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month (CHWM) is a function of the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council. The council consists of leading organizations and practitioners dedicated to promoting a comprehensive and integrated approach to workplace health.
CHWM’s website serves as a central hub. Participating organizations can track their results against other organizations, find helpful resources, and post stories and photos of their healthy workplace efforts. Learn more about Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month.
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