Accident Prevention e-News October 2007	Volume 2/Issue 10/October 2007
In this Issue: Aging and ergonomics Celebrating Small Business Week with Sulco WHMIS: you asked, we answer Healthy Workplace Week: what are you doing? In the News

Aging and ergonomics

By Karen Tiels

Your workforce is aging faster than you think. Can you recognize the risk factors that will keep them happy and healthy longer?

You know that ergonomics can assist in identifying risk factors for your general working population, to reduce musculoskeletal injuries, high force traumas, and eyestrain. But did you know a good, sound understanding of ergonomics relative to the nature of how people age can assist in retaining one of the highest skilled groups in your workplace?

There are few guarantees in life; taxes and dying. Or, for the purposes of this article “aging.” The Department of Medical Oncology, University of Newcastle defines aging as “the gradual changes in the structure and function of humans and animals that occur with the passage of time that do not result from disease or other gross accidents and that eventually lead to the increased probability of death as the person or animal grows older.” According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, an “older worker” may be considered as someone as young as 45 years of age.

According to Statistics Canada**, there are over 12.7 million Ontarians, and close to 2.7 million that can be defined as older workers. In 2001**, there were more than 300,000 Canadians aged 65 or older employed, or one in 12 employees. In 1999, the average age of retirement for workers was 61 years, with the trend moving from 61.1 to 62 years of age from 2000 to 2005.

What this means to you as an employer, manager, supervisor or safety committee member is a trend of people working longer to a riper old age, and a trend toward more older workers in the workplace. So it is important to recognize what happens to our bodies and how physical stressors affect us more.

Changes to our bodies

We are made up of a series and combination of different tissues, which function in different ways and change with time. The function of the tissues and their changes dictate the risk factors we must be aware of in the workplace.

So what do I look for?

We in the ergonomics world know there are basic categories of factors that increase the risk of injury: posture, repetition/duration and force. There is a pattern of those risk factors that tends more to having specific injury relationships with parts of the older body:

• neck and back—greater strength requirements, static work postures and severe awkward postures for the neck
• knees—longer periods and repetition of kneeling and squatting, climbing stairs and heavy lifting from a squat or kneeling position
• hips—heavy lifting and stair climbing.

Your bones are more susceptible to fractures from trips, falls and impact hazards or sharp edges. Whole body vibration may contribute to demineralization of the bony tissue. Our tendons and ligaments are vulnerable to injury from awkward, sustained and repetitive postures due to loss of moisture and flexibility. Our muscles do not like to be in one position or repeat positions, and we cannot lift/carry/push/pull as effectively as we used to. We cannot respond as quickly or for as long as we used to, and therefore repetition and duration of tasks challenge our bodies and senses.

What can be done?

The first line of defense is to have a proactive musculoskeletal disorder prevention program that addresses basic risk factors for all employees. Start before you get old:

• address future bone-related concerns by reducing trip/fall hazards company-wide
• look at the condition and substance of the flooring, grasping materials and equipment, which may be generating whole body vibration
• allow the soft tissues enough recovery time, build in micro breaks more frequently, and reduce or eliminate awkward postures
• reduce strength requirements by providing material handling equipment
• reduce the size of loads, and
• address flooring to ensure smooth even surfaces for walking.

For our older senses,

• have an odour control program in the environment
• provide fume detectors, audio and visual alarms along with heat sensors due to our poor sense of smell, altered hearing, visual and temperature perception.
• give us extensive colour contrast for required visual read outs and control glare, but provide enough light to see.

Encourage a healthy lifestyle outside the workplace, including smoking cessation education and support. Promote weight control and exercise. Encompass mentally stimulating activities into the daily routine of work.

Is it worth it?

Older workers are not frail, and chronological age does not forecast a worker’s physical and mental ability. In fact, older workers score higher on job loyalty, job skills and reliability. Your mature workers compensate for age-related changes by working smarter, and are more safety conscious. We tend to be more accurate and make more correct decisions faster. So yes, your older workers are worth it because they bring a skill level and quality of work to their jobs you will not get anywhere else.

Body parts and their changes

The table below identifies the effects of age on various body parts and senses.

** Research is out on whether age related or as a result of environmental and lifestyle factors.
+ At age 65 we have only about 70% of the strength we had when we were 25-30.

How IAPA can help

• Download the Ontario MSD guideline, resource manual and toolkit here.

IAPA also offers a number of resources that workplaces can draw on to address MSDs. For instance:

• learn more about Health & Safety Canada 2008, which will offer a long list of ergonomic sessions and exhibits.
• on-site ergonomics training sessions, workshops, guides, free downloads and other products
• ergonomics consulting

Karen Tiels, a ˜certified kinesiologist ˜with Crawford Healthcare Management ˜(St. Catharines/Hamilton), intends to maintain her own health and productivity well into old age. Contact info: KarenTiels@Crawco.ca; 1.866.840.3441/905.688.1011.

Celebrating Small Business Week with Sulco

October 14-20 is Small Business Week. Launched 28 years ago to celebrate Canadian entrepreneurs, the week presents a unique opportunity to network, exchange innovative ideas, learn, and explore.

As a tribute to Small Business Week, Accident Prevention e-News spoke with Ron Koniuch, general manager of Sulco Chemicals Limited. Located in Elmira, ON, Sulco employs 18 full-time equivalents. The firm manufactures sulphuric acid, oleum and sodium bisulphite, and packages various other corrosives.

On March 12, 2005, Sulco achieved 10 years without a lost-time incident. On April 17, 2007, Sulco received a President’s Award, IAPA’s top honour.

AP e-News asked Koniuch why Sulco applied for a President’s Award. Three reasons, says Koniuch. First, “it’s good to get outside verification of what you’re doing. The verification process also helps you find opportunities for improvement.” Second, “the President’s Award is really an employee award. You can’t earn it without everybody pushing in the same direction. So, when employees put a lot of time and effort into health and safety, receiving an award is very gratifying for everybody.” Third, when going out to customers and suppliers, the award helps differentiate you from the competition. Many companies indicate that they have a health and safety program, says Koniuch, but not everybody earns awards.

In addition to IAPA’s President’s Award, Sulco has earned

• repeated verification under the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association Responsible Care program. CCPA, whose members account for 90% of chemical manufacturing operations in Canada, describes the program as an “ethic” for safe and environmentally sound management of chemicals. It has been adopted in more than 50 countries.
• CN Safe Handling Awards for shipping error free. “We’ve received it for at least the last six out of seven years.”

When asked, Koniuch initially attributes the firm’s health and safety performance to a commitment from the Board of Directors and president. “At the same time, I think it also comes down to everyone having a self-interest. We have to push that you can get hurt here if you’re not doing things properly. You have to have a little bit of fear as well. It’s like driving a car. If you have no fear of getting hurt if you do things improperly, the odds are you will get hurt.” Respect for health and safety is a key attribute that Sulco looks for when hiring new employees. “If they’re not particularly health and safety conscious, they’re not likely to work at Sulco.”

Koniuch also extends this scrutiny to some customers. “We package hydrofluoric acid here. For this product every new customer has to pass a safety survey. I have to be certain that they know what they’re buying, how to handle it, and how to treat an exposure to it… A hydrofluoric acid burn the size of the palm of your hand can be fatal, so we want to make customers know what they’re dealing with. I reject probably half a dozen prospective customers a year [representing about 50% of prospective new customers]. It’s not in our best interest to be selling to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. We also have a bulk tank inspection program, under which bulk customers have a site inspection conducted by Sulco before their first delivery.”

Suppliers are easier, says Koniuch. “Many are in programs as we are. Our main raw material is molten sulphur, which comes from refineries, which have a high focus on health and safety.”

Although Sulco’s core business activities involve manufacturing and handling hazardous substances, the firm’s top health and safety concern lies elsewhere: wearing proper PPE during summer months. “For some of the work we do,” says Koniuch, “people have to wear PVC suits, gloves and goggles, and when it’s 30-35ºC out that becomes difficult. One of the ways we deal with it is by increasing breaks. We don’t want people to choose between doing something quickly and doing it safely.”

Overall, says Koniuch, health and safety is everyone’s responsibility. This includes holding each other to the same performance standards. “Probably the single most difficult thing to get across to people is that it’s okay to walk up to someone and say, ‘Is that how we agreed to do this?’” Such a situation actually happened to Koniuch. “This is a good thing.”

About IAPA awards

IAPA’s award program recognizes progressive achievement in health and safety with three distinct honours: Achievement Award, Safety Award and the President’s Award. The intent: to provide guidance and recognition to IAPA member firms in their quest towards occupational health and safety excellence.

• Learn more about IAPA awards

About IAPA and small business

IAPA’s online Small Business Centre helps firms with less than 50 employees understand and meet their health and safety obligations. Recent enhancements include

• a critical first steps checklist
• a business case for workplace health and safety, and
• updates to the “Control Hazards” and “Measure, Evaluate, and Improve” sections, as well as the statistical documents examining workplace accidents and injuries.

IAPA has also added a valuable new tool: the Small Business Calculator.

The calculator enables users to determine real, out-of-pocket expenses of injuries. You can choose from a number of injury scenarios and elements, including profit margins and industry wage rates, and then modify specific values to determine the real costs of your workplace’s most recent injury, or estimate the costs of a potential injury. The results can help you build a business case for injury prevention measures.

• Learn more about the Small Business Centre and the Small Business Calculator.

WHMIS: you asked, we answer

Since IAPA regularly receives questions from member firms regarding WHMIS, Accident Prevention e-News asked IAPA principal consultant Scott Hood to respond to some of the most common queries.

1. What is WHMIS?
   WHMIS stands for Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. It’s a national hazardous materials classification system designed to provide workplace standards for the control, handling, storage, and disposal of “controlled” products. The system has three components: labels, material safety data sheets (MSDSs), and worker education and training.
   
   Essentially, WHMIS helps keep workplaces and workers safe by delivering important information to anyone working with or near hazardous materials.
   
   
2. How do I know if I have products covered under WHMIS?
   Start by determining whether a workplace assessment has been done. These assessments determine if you have any controlled products—any product or ingredient that meets the criteria for one or more of the WHMIS hazard classes.
   
   If an assessment has been conducted, and you haven’t introduced any new hazardous materials into the workplace, perhaps by changing a work process, product formulation, or product line, then the assessment may still be valid. If changes have occurred, then it’s time to update the assessment. And possibly your material safety data sheets (MSDSs).
   
   
3. How are hazardous materials classified?
   They’re grouped into six different classes (many of which have divisions or subdivisions) according to the hazard posed to workers: compressed gas, flammable and combustible material, oxidizing material, poisonous and infectious material, corrosive material, and dangerously reactive material.
   
   All controlled products fall into one or more of the six classes. Products posing more than one hazard are placed into the class representing the greatest hazard. All applicable hazards are indicated by specific WHMIS symbols on containers or packaging labels. When the hazard symbols appear vertically, the most hazardous is at the top; when appearing horizontally, at the left.
   
   
4. How do I know who should be trained?
   According to section 6(1) of the WHMIS Regulation, any worker who works with or in proximity to a controlled substance must be informed on all hazard information provided by the supplier, or known by the employer.
   
   Training is also useful for joint health and safety committee members, supervisors, and employees who may be qualified to deliver WHMIS training in-house. Include WHMIS training in your orientation program for new employees.
   
   
5. Where can I get training?
   Many different companies and organizations offer WHMIS training in a variety of formats; in class, online, DVD, or in your own facilities. Training can also be customized to suit specific requirements. IAPA offers a variety of WHMIS training and products; for more information, see “How IAPA can help.”
   
   
6. How often does training have to be conducted?
   The WHMIS regulation does not explicitly state how often training should be conducted. However, under section 42 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, any worker education program such as WHMIS must be reviewed by the employer, in consultation with the joint health and safety committee, at least once a year or more often if new information on a controlled product becomes available, or if workplace conditions change. These reviews are intended to determine whether workers require retraining, and education programs require updating.
   
   
7. How do I set up a WHMIS program? Where do I start?
   Our guideline, Starting Your Health and Safety Program, offers advice on how to start a program, what is needed in a program, and how to implement it. The fact sheet functions as a checklist of what has to happen, and how to do it.
   
   
8. How can WHMIS training help me?
   It can make your life a lot easier. IAPA’s instructors, for example, have extensive experience delivering WHMIS training and helping firms implement a WHMIS program. This experience gives you a leg up—and will help you avoid missteps—with your own WHMIS program implementation and updating.

How IAPA can help

• Free downloads:
  • WHMIS General Information
  • WHMIS Training Requirements
  • WHMIS Inventory Form
• WHMIS poster, identifying eight WHMIS symbols, the risks they represent and applicable precautions.
• A User’s Guide to Material Safety Data Sheets, a practical, illustrated guide that explains the terms found on an MSDS and how to use this information to protect worker health and safety.
• WHMIS for Workers DVD or video-based training program. Consists of five self-study guides with quiz, administrator’s guide, 45-minute video, WHMIS poster, five certificates, and five wallet cards.
• WHMIS training (1 day), available in a classroom or on-site. Learn the intent of WHMIS legislation and legal responsibilities, the significance of material safety data sheets (MSDSs), supplier labels and hazardous symbols, as well as hazard classifications and health effects.
• Customized on-site WHMIS training, typically half day. Contact IAPA’s Customer Care Centre: 1.800.406.IAPA (4272)
• WHMIS: Train-the-Trainer (3 days). Have your own in-house WHMIS trainers ready to go as you need them.

For specific questions or on-site consultations, call your local IAPA consultant or IAPA’s Customer Care Centre: 1.800.406.IAPA (4272).

FAQs prepared with assistance from IAPA research specialist Kiran Kapoor and research assistant Kristina Jazvac.

Healthy Workplace Week: what are you doing?

It’s all about valuing people. That’s the theme for Healthy Workplace Week 2007 this October 22 – 28, seven days dedicated to increasing awareness of the positive connection between employee health and organizational productivity, profitability, and long-term success.

IAPA urges you to get serious about creating a healthy workplace because:

• 40% of employee turnover costs are due to stress-related issues
• in a 2005 study, 66% of CEOs and 71% of working Canadians surveyed cited stress, burnout, and other physical or mental health problems as the top issues that negatively affect productivity
• in 2006, a Canadian court awarded an employee nearly $1 million because of disrespect and harassment carried out by a supervisor on the job.

What can you do to make your workplace a healthier one? Here are seven tips:

1. Suggest that your company’s joint health and safety committee have a discussion about what makes a workplace healthy, in addition to the “usual” health and safety issues. Then, consider ways they can help make it happen.
   
   
2. Go for a walk at lunch—outside the building! It will not only refresh you physically, but mentally as well.
   
   
3. Always treat your fellow workers, and especially the people who report to you, with respect and fairness. Respect the job they do and their place as real people with roles and responsibilities outside the workplace.
   
   
4. Show appreciation to others and say a sincere “thank you” when someone does an especially good job at something or goes out of their way to help.
   
   
5. Workers often feel they have little or no control over the work they do. Give others in your work group the discretion they want to do their work in ways they prefer.
   
   
6. Expect from others only what is reasonable, in terms of workload, timeframes, and skill sets. Check your expectations with others to make sure they are reasonable.
   
   
7. Support your co-workers and direct reports when they are having difficulties—with work or with non-work issues.

How IAPA can help

• Free downloads:
  • The Business Case for a Healthy Workplace
  • Creating Healthy Workplaces
  • Healthy Workplaces: What? Why? How?
  • Psychosocial Risk Management: What Every Business Manager Should Know
  • Work-Life Balance: A Strategic Business Issue!
• On-site training and conference sessions, including:
  • Creating a Healthy Workplace,
  • Psychosocial Risk Management,
  • Work-Life Balance: A Strategic Business Issue.
• Healthy workplace program development. IAPA is the exclusive provider of the National Quality Institute PEP® Healthy Workplace Program.

For more information, call IAPA’s Customer Care Centre: 1.800-406-IAPA (4272).

In the News

NQI announces healthy workplace, wellness award winners

The National Quality Institute has bestowed an Order of Excellence—Healthy Workplace Award to Statistics Canada, Ottawa, ON and an Organizational Quality and Wellness Award—Silver level on Trillium Health Centre, Toronto, ON.

The independent, not-for-profit institute inspires organizations by promoting excellence and showcasing their success as role models. This year, 21 firms earned awards for outstanding achievements in quality, customer service, and a healthy workplace. “The award recipients represent outstanding role models of effectiveness and leadership,” says Kevin Dougherty, the institute’s Board chairman and president of Sun Life Financial, Canada.