Accident Prevention e-News July 2006	Volume 1/Issue2/July 2006
In this Issue: Steel Storage Racking CME Award Confined Space New Emergency Act Newsmakers

Rack Collapse: no more “not my problem”

“Who installed the racking” is one of the first questions IAPA consultant Chuck Leon asks when visiting a warehouse or storage facility for the first time.

Don’t know? How about the drawings: can you find them?

Answer no, and you could be in trouble on a number of accounts. Ministry of Labour inspectors won’t be happy. Worse, your workplace could be at risk for injuries and property loss.

“If you don’t have the paperwork and drawings to show that a racking system was built and installed according to the manufacturer’s specifications,” says Leon, “you’ll need a Pre-Start Health and Safety Review conducted by an engineer. If you have modified a racking system, you’ll need an engineer’s report on the racking system.

“A lot of people don’t realize this,” says Leon. “They think it’s a grandfathered thing: “The racks were here before I started so I must be exempt.”

Well, you’re not. “The law says that the company must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers,” notes Leon. “If a rack collapses, the inspector is going to ask questions. Who installed it? Was it installed by the manufacturer according to the manufacturer’s specifications? Do you have drawings of the racking systems?”

One company’s experience

A 2003 fatality that resulted from damaged racking in a food warehouse highlights the hidden dangers of damaged or inadequate racking.

In August 2003, a shipping/receiving worker was crushed under twisted metal shelving and frozen food when several steel racks suddenly collapsed. Shortly after a roof caved in and a wall buckled outwards. The collapse and cave-in left a huge pile-up of twisted metal and tons of frozen food so that recovering the worker’s body took three days of concerted efforts by emergency officials and a private contractor. Heavy demolition equipment had to be brought in to remove the debris.

The employer, a company with 24 facilities in North America that provide refrigeration storage space for food processors and distributors and retailers, was fined $240,000.

Don’t wait for the inspector

“In the past month,” warns Leon, “I’ve had six phone calls from clients who received work orders from the Ministry of Labour regarding their racking.”

Leon notes that the new CSA Standard A344.2 and CSA User Guide A344.1 provide practical, accessible information specifically targetted to a Canadian audience. “We never had a standard before, so this is all new to many people.”

Seeking Innovative H&S Performers

Has your company developed innovative health and safety practices? Then apply today for the new Canadian Innovation Award for Promotion and Practice of Health & Safety Practices in the Workplace. Deadline for applications: August 16, 2006.

Sponsored by IAPA, the award was officially launched this month under the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) Canadian Innovation Awards program. The program highlights best practices to encourage innovation and competitiveness. The competition is open to all Canadian-based companies and divisions within a company that excel in promoting health and safety.

CME launched the innovation awards program in 2001, adding a health and safety component in partnership with IAPA this year. “Health and safety is a big industrial issue,” says Treena Adhikari, CME’s manager, international trade and development. “Awarding innovative companies who are already leading edge thinkers in health and safety is an excellent way to raise its profile.”

CME’s mandate is to promote the competitiveness of Canadian manufacturers and enable the success of Canadian goods and services exporters in markets around the world. Increasingly Canadian companies are recognizing health and safety as a contributor to overall business performance. Ron Blondeau, a consultant with IAPA’s Strategic Alliances group, believes the new award allows both CME and IAPA to reach a national audience with this message.

CME’s award complements IAPA’s own Health and Safety Achievement Award program, launched in 2002. IAPA’s program recognizes and promotes a systematic, dedicated approach to health and safety management. Since 2002 more than 40 companies have earned an IAPA achievement award. A progressive award, it acknowledges three levels of performance. Of the 40 award winners, six have earned the top award (Level III).

Countdown to New Confined Space Rules

As of September 30, Ontario workplaces must follow stringent new requirements for protecting workers.

The changes update regulations for the industrial, construction, mining, and health care sectors, and aim to reduce risks by requiring workplaces to conduct significant advance preparations.

Among the new requirements:

• a written hazard assessment
• a procedural plan identifying hazard controls and how work will be done safely
• training on confined space hazards and safety precautions
• an entry permit identifying hazards and precautions, which must be issued and available to people before entering or working around a confined space
• rescue procedures and equipment that are in place and ready for immediate use, and
• other precautions to control potentially dangerous substances and situations.

Under the law, a confined space is “a fully or partially enclosed space

1. that is not designed and constructed for continuous human occupancy, and
2. in which atmospheric hazards may occur because of its construction, location or contents of because of the work that is done in it.”

By definition a confined space has limited openings for entry and exit, and unfavourable natural ventilation. Such spaces are not designed for continuous worker occupancy. They can take the form of boilers, cupolas, degreasers, furnaces, pipelines, pits, pumping stations, reaction or process vessels, septic tanks, sewage digesters, sewers, silos, storage tanks, ships' holds, utility vaults, vats and other similar enclosures.

These spaces are complicated environments that carry a high risk of injury or fatality if the right preventative measures are not in place. According to Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) records, from 1998 to 2002 17 workers died in confined spaces. In the same period 280 non-fatal claims were tagged in the category of “Tight Environment.”

Confined space incidents often involve more than one worker because after someone goes down, others may impulsively rush to his or her aid without taking precautions. Case in point: Click to view recent court conviction

The structure of and uses for these spaces can pose a number of hazards. For instance, the atmosphere can be

• oxygen deficient
• flammable, or
• toxic.

In addition to atmospheric hazards there are possible physical hazards, such as

• extreme temperatures
• engulfment hazards, such as loose, granular material that can engulf and suffocate a worker
• noise, which can affect communication and cause hearing loss
• slick/wet surfaces, which can cause injuries as well as electric shock in areas where electrical circuits, equipment and tools are used, and
• falling objects, particularly from topside entry openings, which can cause serious injury.

A confined space program is the cornerstone of an injury-free work environment. Without a comprehensive and practiced program, workers are at high risk of making potentially life-threatening mistakes, adding danger to an already uncomfortable work environment.

How the New Emergency Act Affects You

Ontario legislation that gives additional powers to authorities during an emergency could affect you and your workplace.

Emergency Management Statute Law Amendment Act, 2006, proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor on June 30, 2006 and in effect immediately, clarifies the conditions under which the province can declare an emergency. It also provides Cabinet and the government with authority to

• restrict travel or order evacuations
• establish emergency shelters and hospitals
• set prices for necessary goods, services and resources, and prohibit price gouging, and
• widen job protection for people who are unable to work due to declared emergencies.

These powers can affect businesses in several ways. For instance, the government could issue orders that

• disrupt the flow of people and goods within an affected area, or
• disrupt or redirect production through the procurement of necessary resources (including people), as well as goods and services.

How likely is this to happen? Hard to say, says IAPA consultant Scott Hood. He believes that the initial impact of an emergency would be on the public sector (e.g., municipalities, hospitals) rather than the private sector. “For instance,” says Hood, “the government may say, ‘We need 10 TTC buses up in Timmins,’ or ‘We need Mississauga to send two firetrucks and one hazmat unit to Windsor,’ or ‘We need three doctors, 10 doctors and two lab technicians sent from this hospital to that hospital.’

“As for the industrial sector,” continues Hood, “the impact of an emergency order may be less an issue of requisitioning resources, and more an issue of business continuity. For instance: ‘How can I continue to manufacture widgets? Can I get my staff to work if public transit is restricted, or roadways are closed off?’ ”

How prepared are businesses for this? “Many may not be as prepared as they think,” suggests Hood. “What if half of a company’s workforce is sick at the same time, or a medical officer of health orders a lock-down in your part of town and there’s no movement of people or goods. What if your employees are healthy, but stay home to look after family members? If you’re dependent on just-in-time delivery, what happens if your suppliers can’t make deliveries? If you’ve already started cross-training employees, is the training extensive enough to compensate for high absenteeism? If you identify employees who can work from home, have you provided them with the tools to do their jobs? I’m not convinced many companies have taken these concerns.

Newsmakers

“I need 911….I think I’m cut in two.”

US railway worker Truman Duncan, 36, speaking on his cell phone to an operator after he was run over by a train. According to media coverage of the June 25 incident, Truman was trying to connect railcars when he was hit by a train or fell between two moving cars. It took rescuers an hour to locate him and deploy air bags before they could disentangle him from a railcar’s wheels and brakes. Truman’s employer, Oregon-based Gunderson Southwest, repairs and refurbishes railcars. "We have assured ourselves that he is getting the best of medical care and that he is attended by his loved ones," Gretchen Brask, an attorney for Greenbriar Leasing Corp., said in a written statement.