View Cart View Cart    Items: 0    Subtotal: $0.00

Accident Prevention e-News
May 2008
Volume 3/Issue 5/May 2008


In this Issue:

accidentprevention.ca

Warehouse safety and organizational performance
By Robert Lee

Warehouse safety and organizational performance Safety in every department has a direct impact on the success of the whole organization. It’s what safety experts have been saying for years. So it’s not surprising that the importance of safety is magnified in the storeroom, warehouse or distribution centre, where up to hundreds of people may work closely with hundreds of machines to handle inventory.

Brian Devereaux, vice-president of the Canadian Materials Handling & Distribution Society, believes warehouse safety culture impacts directly on an organization’s performance on two basic levels. “A true safety culture,” he says, “demonstrates to employees that they are valued in the company. On a dollars and cents level, a solid safety program reduces injuries, which reduces compensation premiums [and other costs associated with injuries].”

When asked to visit a warehouse and make suggestions for improvement, he says, “One of the first things I point out is housekeeping. Good housekeeping removes trip hazards and other hazards, but it also starts to change staff perceptions. A sloppy warehouse brings sloppy work habits and sloppy safety and promotes injuries.”

Devereaux tells people his priorities are safety and doing the job well, in that order. “I figure if I’ve got people thinking about those two things, I shouldn’t worry too much about productivity. They will meet productivity expectations 80 percent of the time. And the amount of time saved by not having to call somebody off on an injury sort of makes up for the other 20 percent.”

Safety at SEM

SEM, a third-party logistics provider, handles all freight for Wal-Mart stores from its three facilities, each about 1.4 million square feet, located in Mississauga, Cornwall and Calgary. SEM receives many visitors from Canada and the US wanting to see its state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

A solid safety program is a big source of pride at SEM. But in August 2006, the unexpected happened: a worker was killed on the job. “It was a huge blow,” says Clayton Collins, loss prevention and safety manager for SEM’s Mississauga facility. “You think you have a solid program… but unfortunate circumstances led to an unfortunate outcome.”

After the incident, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) flagged SEM for a Workwell audit, which Collins says he went into with too much confidence. “Given all the time I’d spent on our safety program, I thought it would be 100 percent. But we failed, with a score of 51 percent. You need 75 percent to pass.”

The WSIB gave SEM another six months to shape up before doing another audit. SEM conducted a physical demands analysis in all areas, identified the risks in each position, addressing them one by one, and revamped procedures on all three sites. “That next audit we passed with 87 percent,” Collins says.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has a 120,000 square foot service centre in Mississauga that services 1,800 licensee clients in the Greater Toronto Area. Dennis MacDonald, the general manager, commercial customer services, is also president of the Material Handling and Management Society of Ontario. He says no business can afford a poor safety record in its warehouse or storeroom. “Safety has become an integral part of doing business. It is a core value just like the values of service or quality. A business that can’t ‘deliver’ safely is going to have significant problems moving forward.”

MacDonald says people can sense a strong safety culture when they walk through the service centre. Opening in 2002, the ensuing five years of developing a safety climate led to a 60 percent reduction in lost-time injuries. He credits this improvement largely to management not allowing safety’s priority status to wane.

Imagine the pressure of being safe at a health and safety association. At IAPA, the warehouse has to serve as a model for the industry. So, Paul Kett, manager of materials production, makes sure worker training is above and beyond what’s required by law.

“We send every operator on a full course on racking which is taught from an engineering perspective,” he says. “They may not need to know all of it, yet knowledge is key, and I’d rather they had too much information than not enough of it.”

In an environment that’s a microcosm of workplace hazards—the potential for everything from sharp box-cutters, trip hazards underfoot, stacks of inventory overhead, and heavy machinery at ground level—having a strong safety culture is essential. The danger in any warehouse, Kett says, is having an attitude that’s too casual. He says that during peak seasons a lot of busy warehouses hire temporary staff through agencies that may not give them adequate safety training.

“Temporary workers are tremendously at risk. They’re not used to forklifts whipping around certain corners. Some managers might say, ‘Here are your safety shoes, fill this box,’ and that’s it… ”

Conversely, workers with the most experience may be complacent, especially if they’ve gotten away with working in a potentially unsafe way but have never been injured. “You can get varying levels of attention paid to health and safety,” Kett says. “You always have to be on guard against letting your guard down.”

Building a strong culture

When IAPA’s warehouse was created, it had the advantage of being built from scratch in the shell of a new building. Management supervisor Paul Duncan and warehouse staff met to discuss traffic flow and where to situate doors, walls, loading doors and windows. The warehouse team contributed ideas, and the result is a warehouse anyone would recognize as having an ideal layout. Safety is much more than that, however. IAPA’s Paul Kett says the safety culture really shows when visitors learn no one is exempt from the rules.

As different truck drivers arrive at the loading docks, front-line warehouse staff insist the drivers take a few seconds to chock their wheels and turn their engines off. “We’ve instructed them, if the driver won’t chock it, tell him to leave and don’t unload the truck,” says Kett.

Staff also made compulsory a rule that everyone who enters the warehouse must wear foot protection. “We expect all visitors to put safety shoes on. Someone from head office might come in for only a minute or two and the staff have asked if we could let that go, but it’s a slippery slope. Whether it’s for a few minutes or half an hour, we could get into trouble, not to mention the poor person who gets injured. So the warehouse staff are the guardians who prevent this from happening.”

Kett adds that when IAPA president and CEO Maureen Shaw came in, she set an example and put toecaps on right away. “So I said to the guys, ‘See, the CEO is doing it so everyone must do it.’ ”

SEM, too, makes its safety culture known to visitors. “The minute you walk in, you’ll see our company’s health and safety policy posted, and it’s in a huge font. And you’ll be stopped by someone who will go over the safety rules with you,” says Collins. For people coming in to see the high-tech equipment, this process includes a lvideo esson on the two-tier alarm system. Visitors are escorted 100 percent of the time.

Workers, too, receive a strong message, but in a different way than before the audit.
Collins says that while SEM’s loss prevention department has always strictly enforced safety and disciplined workers who didn’t comply, management has a new approach that focuses on education.

He mentions an experienced worker who was recently observed operating a mobile picking unit. As the worker approached a stop sign, he rolled through, honked, and kept on driving. “So we had a conversation, asked him why he didn’t stop. He said, ‘I’m having an off day, but check my safety record, this is out of character for me.’ ”

Management suggested he attend the next general meeting and talk to the team members about the importance of stopping at stop signs. “He thought that was a great idea,” Collins says. “So now we have an additional salesperson for health and safety.”

Yes, he laughs, the safety rep’s job is a sales job. “That gentleman will be standing up at the annual general meeting and talking to 350 people. This isn’t to put him on the spot, but he needs to sell what I’m selling.”

Be safe from all angles

A warehouse is a busy, fast-paced environment that contains almost every conceivable workplace hazard under one roof. The following are just some of the hazards around which you could build targeted prevention programs.

  • Slips, trips and falls. The various types of floor surfaces and levels in a warehouse make it easy to lose your balance or stumble over an out-of-place item.
  • Falling objects, particularly where items aren’t carefully stacked on floors, shelves and other surfaces.
  • Equipment such as conveyors, lift trucks and hand trucks, though they take much of the physical burden off employees, pose their own hazards. Workers have been hit, crushed, or had limbs or digits pinched or even amputated. The equipment used to load, pack and unpack—such as skids, pallets, strapping, and cutting tools—have also caused injuries.
  • Housekeeping is one of the most important aspects of warehouse safety. Clutter on the ground presents a tripping hazard. Water, oil or other liquid is a slipping hazard. Poorly packed inventory can fall on someone. Protruding nails and other sharp objects can puncture or cut.
  • Hazardous materials require special training and care for workers. A warehouse that stores hazardous substances or flammable or combustible materials has special requirements under WHMIS.
  • Ladders are a familiar yet dangerous piece of equipment. If they’re not rated for the task, not in good condition or not used properly, someone could fall and get seriously injured.
  • Loading docks are hazardous when wet or icy. Workers must also be careful not to fall off the loading dock, and should never jump off.
  • Indoor traffic. Pedestrians in a warehouse must always be alert for lift trucks and other mobile equipment. Staying safe in a high traffic environment starts with proper training. The workplace needs to develop floor plans, to make sure traffic patterns are logical and safe, and determine safe walkways and parking areas for machinery.
  • Racking that stores a company’s inventory must be sturdy, and properly built and installed. Loose or defective racking has caused considerable harm to workers and damage to inventory.

Robert Lee is an independent journalist who specializes in industrial subjects. Read an expanded version of Lee’s article in the May/June issue of Accident Prevention magazine.

How IAPA can help

Ontario achieves 4-year safety goal

Ontario achieves 4-year safety goal “I’m pleased and proud to announce that, working together with you, we have realized our goal of a 20 percent reduction [in lost-time injuries] over four years,” Ontario Labour Minister Brad Duguid told delegates attending the opening ceremonies of Health & Safety Canada 2008, IAPA’s national conference and trade show. “That works out to 50,000 fewer injured workers.”

The April 21-23 event, which attracted 6,000 delegates, offered more than 130 sessions and several hundred exhibits.

Safe workplaces are a key factor in overcoming the economic challenges facing Ontario employers, continued Duguid. The high Canadian dollar, rising fuel costs, and the faltering economy of our largest trading partner are all taking their toll, “but our best assets in responding to these challenges are the skills and productivity of our people.”

Although the province has achieved the injury reduction goal it set in 2005, Duguid advised that with 715 injuries still occurring every day “we have more work to do.” (See “10 ‘Point to Zero’ tips for employers” for a new 5-year goal set by the WSIB.)

“Businesses can’t be at their best when being drained by the costs of workplace injuries. Safety is smart business.”

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board estimates that the average compensable injury costs the workplace $98,000. Based on this figure, Duguid calculated that preventing 50,000 injuries saved Ontario employers roughly $5 billion.

IAPA president and CEO Maureen Shaw, sharing the platform with Duguid, reinforced the need to build on existing efforts to achieve a true health and safety breakthrough, even though Ontario workplaces are their safest ever. Shaw identified a number of factors that would contribute to a breakthrough.

“We need leaders who see health and safety not as a cost but an investment that offers a positive return for the company’s workforce, for performance and quality, for the bottom line, and for the communities we operate in.” Furthermore, said Shaw, “the health and safety of our workers and our communities must be a core business value, as important to businesses as the money they make.

Shaw also encouraged adopting an integrated, holistic view of healthy workplaces that incorporates traditional occupational health and safety, personal health practices, and overall organizational culture. The entire workforce has a role to play, said Shaw. “It can’t be merely the responsibility of designated personnel or managers. It must be ingrained so that everyone is accountable, owns the process, and has a stake in the outcomes.”

Looking beyond internal partnerships, Shaw advised tapping into the expertise and resources of health and safety system partners. “Building healthy and safe workplaces requires widespread participation and engagement. We share similar hopes and dreams, so we too can share in the efforts needed to get there.”

2008 trade show the biggest ever

Already the country’s largest and longest-running health and safety event, this year’s trade show broke records for the number of exhibitors and the amount of floor space. Highlights this year included new features and previous favourites:

  • co-location with CANECT 2008, the Canadian Environmental Conference and Tradeshow
  • co-location with the first-ever Machine Automation Safety Congress. The MASC 2008 pavilion and exhibit area featured hands-on demonstrations, where machine automation safety and safeguarding suppliers showcased product innovations.
  • Human motion simulator, supplied by Ford, and located in Action Alley. Ford uses human modeling software and advanced motion capture technology—seen in animated movies and digital games—to design jobs that are less physically stressful on workers. Allison Stephens, a Ford ergonomics technical specialist, says the process offers many benefits, including fewer injuries, lower cost of tooling changes, higher quality, and faster time to market. “We're seeing improvement in every one of those metrics, and our virtual technology is a factor," said Stephens in a recent media interview.
  • expanded Health and Wellness Pavilion, sponsored by Health Canada, that brought all health and wellness exhibitors together at the heart of the trade show.
  • three safety shoe mobile units. These suppliers on wheels are typically on the road visiting workplaces. Now they came to delegates at Health & Safety Canada 2008.

Michael Kirby signs on for 2009

The Honourable Michael Kirby will be honourary chair of Health & Safety Canada 2009, taking place April 20 to 22, 2009.

"The Honourable Michael Kirby is a leading advocate of mental health reform in Canada who continues to be on the forefront of bringing mental health issues to Canadians," says Maureen Shaw, IAPA’s president and CEO. "The theme of Health & Safety Canada 2009 is Imagine. Innovate. Inspire, and given his exceptional work in mental health, I can't think of a better individual who exemplifies this than Senator Kirby."

"I join Maureen Shaw in urging you to put mental health on the health and safety agenda of Canada," says Kirby. "You will save enormous costs, increase productive capacity in an economy increasingly dependent on brain skills in the workforce, reduce suffering among millions of breadwinners, and save lives. Yes, save lives. See you in 2009."

Mental health is an emerging workplace health and safety issue. Almost half a million Canadians experience depression and say the symptoms affect their ability to work. Health Canada also estimates that more than $30 billion is lost to the Canadian economy every year because of mental health and addiction problems.

Michael Kirby is the chair of the federal government's Mental Health Commission of Canada. He's also the special ministerial advisor on mental health. Kirby served as a member of the Senate from 1984 to 2006. He was chairman of the standing senate committee on social affairs, science, and technology, which studied Canada’s health care system. His work produced the 2002 report, The Health State of Canadians—the Federal Role. His committee also produced Canada's first report on mental health, mental illness and addiction, Out of the Shadows at Last.

IAPA offers regional conferences throughout Ontario. Learn more about upcoming events in your area. For more coverage of Health & Safety Canada 2008, see “10 ‘Point to Zero’ tips” and “A conversation with young workers.” See also the May/June issue of Accident Prevention magazine.

10 “Point to Zero” tips for employers

10 “Point to Zero” tips for employers Achieving the sweeping cultural shift called for by the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)’s recently released five-year prevention strategy, Road to Zero, requires support from all stakeholders, says Tom Beegan, the WSIB’s chief prevention officer. This includes employers.

The strategy’s vision: zero fatalities by 2012, and seven percent annual reduction in injury rates for each of the five years covered by the strategy (2008-2012). The WSIB has set even higher expectations for itself: zero injuries in the prevention division starting this year, and zero injuries across the organization by 2014.

It is possible, said Beegan. Many workplaces have already done it. Of the 225,000 firms registered with the WSIB, 85,000 have filed no claims in the last five years.

“We’re aiming for a fundamental change in attitudes, perceptions and behaviours… Every person in every role in every workplace will embody the vision of zero injuries, illness and fatalities.”

To help employers step up to the challenge, the WSIB has drafted 10 tips. But first, some remarks made by Beegan during a session he led on Road to Zero, at IAPA’s Health & Safety Canada 2008.

Implementing the strategy requires the commitment and proactive involvement of what the strategy describes as “all workplace influencers,” not just the health and safety system’s core partners, the WSIB, Ministry of Labour, and health and safety associations.

Change is a key component, not just in attitudes but in action. Beegan noted that the WSIB will be “providing leadership” to align health and safety system partner efforts. “Clarification of system roles and responsibilities will accompany a new [health and safety association] governance model, including measuring system efficiency and effectiveness.”

The WSIB has already been meeting with system partners, and in June leaders of the health and safety associations will gather to examine opportunities for collaboration and support, and eliminate duplication and fragmentation of existing efforts.

Anticipate changes at the WSIB, as well. “We’re prepared to change, and change fundamentally, to make the [Road to Zero] vision a reality,” said Beegan.

Why change is needed

Statistics quoted by Beegan reveal the reality behind the vision:

  • 27 Ontario fatalities in 2008, as of April 21
  • 2 deaths per week from traumatic injuries
  • 5 deaths from occupational disease
  • 1400 claims per day registered with the WSIB
  • average 13.8 days off work for a lost-time injury
  • a $15 billion cost to the economy.

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” said Beegan. “It’s within the power and control of the workplace.”

Beegan encouraged workplaces to

  • re-assess their current approach to health and safety
  • understand the reality of running an enterprise
  • understand the site-specific risks
  • determine the best approach and create a value-added approach for each place of employment
  • run a safer and more profitable enterprise.

In response to one delegate’s comment about the challenge of getting senior management to support injury reduction efforts, Beegan sympathized but then asked, rhetorically, “What number would be acceptable? If it’s one or two injuries, which workers in your workplace are you prepared [to let suffer]?” Equating injury statistics with the people actually working in front of you, said Beegan, is a powerful way to sell safety.

10 tips on the Road to Zero

Use these tips to accelerate your firm’s performance on the Road to Zero.

  1. Align with the Road to Zero: take positive action by aligning your health and safety programs with the Road to Zero and setting your own targets for reducing lost-time injuries.
  2. Compliance: make sure that your company and every company you do business with is properly registered with the WSIB.
  3. Celebrate success: document the number of working hours you’ve gone without a lost-time injury, and reward employees for working safely.
  4. JHSCs: make sure that your joint health and safety committees are working the way they’re supposed to. Committee members must be certified, and they should meet regularly and communicate directly with your CEOs.
  5. Leadership: make sure CEOs know exactly how many injuries are taking place in your company—and how much those injuries are taking away from your bottom line.
  6. Once is enough: learn from every injury and close call. Find out what happened and make the changes that will ensure it doesn’t happen again.
  7. RTW: create a flexible program that supports and accommodates early and safe return to work.
  8. Best practices: make contact with other employers and share best practices in health and safety within your industry and across industry sectors.
  9. Invest: how much do you spend on prevention in your workplace every year? Find out who has a budget line for health and safety in your organization and make sure they use it.
  10. Help from HSAs: find out what your industry’s health and safety association can do to help your company become a stellar health and safety performer.

To view a copy of the Road to Zero strategy document visit www.wsib.on.ca.

A conversation with young workers
By Suzan Butyn

A conversation with young workersDuring Health & Safety Canada 2008, IAPA’s national conference and trade show, CBC Television broadcaster, journalist and author Evan Solomon moderated a panel of young workers who shared their expectations, beliefs, and suggestions on how workplaces can encourage their contributions.

Solomon opened the session by describing two experiences of his own. “When I was 18, I was the foreman of a tree-planting company with 28 people working for me. I had two pick-ups and a van, and one guy rolled the van. It was absolute mayhem. There was zero regard for safety. Nobody even had a question about it.”

Solomon suggests there’s a lot more awareness now, but young people still have an injury rate out of proportion to other age groups. Many young workers are part-time, seasonal or casual workers, and change jobs often. These workers often lack experience, and don’t know their rights.

The three panelists, invited to shed light on young worker health and safety issues, included:

  • Brad Hoffman, a 24-year-old electrical control technician. He’s worked for OPG and BC Hydro, and now works for Levitt Safety in a co-op program. He’s been in the workforce for three years.
  • Sarah Wheelan, 28, who has degrees in OHS studies and environmental sciences and biology, and has spent one year in the work force. Wheelan lost her brother Lewis to complications from a life-altering workplace injury in 2001.
  • Reid MacDonald, who is in his third year of Fire Sciences studies, and intends to become a fire fighter.

Transitioning to work

What do youth expect when transitioning from school? More formalized training, says Hoffman. “When you’re used to completing certain courses on time, you expect a course like that in safety.” Wheelan expects proper safety orientation that covers all the risks. In an industrial environment, “you feel like it will take you a year to learn how to not hurt yourself.”

Returns on investment

All the panelists felt strongly that they had invested in themselves by pursuing a post-secondary education, and consequently felt employers should respect this investment by providing loyalty, reasonable financial compensation, and benefits. Says Hoffman, “You want to feel valued at your job. We’re working to live but want to find a company to invest in my job and me personally.” Cash is still king as students strive to pay off student loans. However, the panelists would settle for a lower salary if benefits were attached.

Small firm challenges

All panelists have worked for small companies, and felt that safety training was non-existent. When MacDonald was 13 years old, he was asked to crawl along the top of a beam in a microbrewery and did so willingly, particularly because there was another worker ahead of him and behind him. “It was a race.” Hoffman, at age 14, was asked to climb on top of meat freezers and he did as he was told. When Wheelan was 23, she worked in a butcher shop and was expected to clean the meat blade while it was running. As naïve as she was then about health and safety, this still sent off warning bells. She mustered the courage to tell the butcher she couldn’t do it. “He made me cry and I quit my job because I couldn’t deal with the confrontation.”

Attracting and keeping young workers

What can employers do to attract youth? The session panelists suggest

  • a proper and realistic job description, so they know exactly what they’re getting into
  • work alongside someone who is open to new ideas from a young worker
  • establishing mentorships. Says Hoffman, “You need someone who’s done the job to show how to take care of yourself. You need the relationship.”

All three panelists say that today they would avoid unsafe employers, and expect safety to be part of the company culture. Says Hoffman, “production isn’t paramount, safety is… We’re more likely to leave after we’re hired because of poor health and safety.”

Suzan Butyn is a regular contributor to Accident Prevention magazine; sbutyn@fifthwavecommunications.com.

How IAPA can help

Ministry of Labour spokesperson Bruce Skeaff notes that young worker health and safety is “absolutely a priority for the ministry and the minister.” Implication: it’s also a priority for ministry inspectors.

IAPA offers a number of resources that can help all workplace parties, as well as young workers’ parents, reduce the risk of injury and illness among this group of workers:

In the News

IAPA recognizes OHS reporting

CBC journalist Kellie Hudson and former Canadian Occupational Safety magazine editor Michelle Morra are the first recipients of the IAPA Russ Ramsay Media Awards for Excellence in Health and Safety Reporting. The awards were presented yesterday during the opening ceremonies.

Kellie Hudson, based out of Thunder Bay, received her award in the Consumer Media: Excellence in Radio Feature Reporting category. Her winning piece, “It’s All in Your Head,” focuses on workers who fell ill while working at the Weyerhauser pulp mill in Thunder Bay. Airing over one week in March 2007, the radio broadcasts covered work-related illness from the perspective of the affected workers, their families, their employer, the Ministry of Labour, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Michelle Morra earned her award in the Trade Media: Excellence in Print Feature Reporting category with a timely article discussing the oil and gas industry in Alberta. “Are booms a bust for safety” appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of Canadian Occupational Safety.

IAPA established the awards to honour outstanding journalism that enhances the public awareness and understanding of OHS issues in Ontario. Russ Ramsay was IAPA’s executive vice-president and general manager from 1987 to 1995, a health and safety advocate, former Ontario Minister of Labour, and member of the broadcasting industry for over 30 years.

Both award winning pieces are available on IAPA’s website.

Threads of Life founder honoured

Shirley Hickman, the founder and executive director of a support network for families dealing with workplace tragedy, was presented with the 2008 IAPA-CME Health & Safety Leadership Award.

The award recognizes outstanding individuals who have contributed to the innovation and advancement of health and safety in the workplace and/or community. In 2003, Hickman founded the Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support – Threads of Life, a national charity that now supports 700 Canadian families living with the outcome of workplace tragedy. Through the organization, family members and friends who have been victim to workplace tragedies provide peer support and referral to help others cope during similar situations.

In accepting her award, Hickman encouraged delegates to “dare to dream. If you dare to dream you can make a dream come true.”

Hickman acknowledged that Threads of Life didn’t start with a dream. “It started with a nightmare,” a phone call advising that her 21-year-old son Tim had been badly injured at work. After his death, her family struggled to find resources to navigate them through workplace investigations, inquests, and available support services. Out of these struggles came Threads of Life. “I had a burning need to do something productive… to prevent this from ever happening to someone else.”