Employer and Supervisor fined after Co-op Student Injured

News Release

CRS Specialties Inc. and Supervisor Fined $59,000 After Co-op Student Injured

April 9, 2013 4:20 pm  Ministry of Labour

St. Catharines, ON - CRS Specialties Inc., a Welland manufacturer of rebar bending equipment, was fined $55,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a student, working there as a co-operative education placement, was injured. A further fine of $4,000 was imposed on a supervisor for a similar violation of the act during the investigation of the incident.

On March 23, 2011, at the company's Welland workplace, the student was taking apart a fan and washing it in a Varsol bath. When finished, the student was told to start a welding task. When beginning the task, the young worker was wearing a polyester-blend sweatshirt over overalls. Polyester materials are susceptible to ignition and should not be worn while welding. The student was not supplied with a welding jacket, welding sleeves, neck shroud or flame-retardant clothing. The supervisor did not intervene to make sure the student removed the sweatshirt and had sufficient apparel to prevent injury.

While the student was welding, the sweatshirt ignited and caught fire. The student suffered second degree burns.

Later, on March 28, 2011, while the Ministry of Labour was investigating that incident, an inspector saw another worker in the same workplace not wearing apparel sufficient to prevent injury while welding. The worker was wearing a polyester-blend sweatshirt and only one welding sleeve.

CRS Specialties Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a competent person was appointed as supervisor.

Supervisor Chad Corriveau pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a worker was wearing apparel sufficient to protect the worker from injury while welding.


The fines were imposed by Justice of the Peace B. Phillips. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.


Court Information at a Glance

Location:                      Ontario Court of Justice
                                      71 King St.
                                      St. Catharines, ON

Judge:                          Justice of the Peace B. Phillips

Date of Sentencing:     April 4, 2013

Defendant:                   CRS Specialties Inc.

Matter:                         Occupational Health and Safety

Conviction:                  Ontario Regulation 851, Section 84
                                      Occupational Health and Safety Act,
                                      Section 25(2)(c), Section 27(1)(a)

Crown Counsel:           Daniel Kleiman

New Ontario Requirement as of January 1, 2014: Provide Safety Awareness Training Using Ministry's Materials or Equivalent

New Ontario Requirement as of January 1, 2014: Provide Safety Awareness Training Using Ministry's Materials or Equivalent

By Adrian Miedema, partner, and Saba Zia, associate. © Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, Toronto, www.fmc-law.com.

Ontario's new mandatory safety awareness requirement is set to come into effect on January 1, 2014. This is a "do nothing and you will be in violation" obligation; employers who fail to take the active step of ensuring that all new and current workers receive the safety awareness training — using the Ministry of Labour's new materials or equivalent — will be in violation and will be subject to compliance orders, charges, and fines.

The government has said that it intends to file a regulation on or before July 1, 2013 making the safety awareness training mandatory and imposing the January 1, 2014 deadline.

Mandatory for all Workplaces Covered by OHSA

At this point, it appears that almost all Ontario workplaces will be affected. The Ontario Ministry of Labour says, on its website, that the training will be mandatory for all workplaces currently covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act ("OHSA"), regardless of sector, including industrial establishments, construction projects, health care and residential facilities, mines and mining plants, and farming operations. Even employees in jobs that are thought to have a low safety risk — such as many office jobs — must be given the safety orientation.

New Employees

The regulation will also require that any new employees receive the worker safety training as soon as practicable after commencing work duties, and that new supervisors complete the supervisory safety awareness training within the first week of commencing supervisory duties. New employees or supervisors who can prove that they received the safety awareness training at a previous employer will not be required to retake that training.

Ministry's Worker Training Materials

The Ministry has finalized and released worker safety awareness training materials that employers can use. The materials include a worker workbook, "Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps", and an employer guide to that workbook. Employers who train workers using the Ministry materials will automatically comply with the new mandatory safety awareness training requirement. Note that the new requirement is for basic safety awareness training only; employers will, depending on the employee's job, also be required to provide additional safety training, developed by the employer, tailored to the job.

Ministry's Supervisor Training Materials

The Ministry's supervisor safety awareness training materials have not yet been finalized. A version of the supervisor training materials is being piloted, along with an employer guide to the supervisor training program. The final version should be released shortly.

Required Content of Training

Employers who opt to use their own training materials instead of the Ministry's must, according to the Ministry, ensure that the training covers, at a minimum, the following topics:

Worker Awareness Training

• Rights and responsibilities of workers and supervisors under the OHSA.
• Roles of workplace parties, health and safety representatives, and joint health and safety committees.
• Roles of the Ministry of Labour, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and Health and safety partners.
• Hazard recognition.
• Right to be informed of hazards.
• Reference to an employer's obligations to provide information and instruction to workers about controlled products as required under Regulation 860 (WHMIS) of the OHSA.
• Latency and illness related to occupational disease.

Supervisor Awareness Training

• Rights and responsibilities of workers and supervisors under the OHSA.
• Roles of workplace parties, health and safety representatives, and joint health and safety committees.
• Roles of the Ministry of Labour, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and health and safety partners.
• Recognition, assessment, control, and evaluation of hazards.
• Where resources and assistance are available.

Previous Training May Not Be Sufficient

Although many employers will have already provided safety awareness training to workers and supervisors, if that training did not include all of the above topics and was not "equivalent" to the training program developed by the Ministry, then the training will not meet the new legal requirement.

What if you Miss the Deadline?

Employers who fail to ensure that all employees receive the safety awareness training before January 1, 2014 could be ordered by a Ministry inspector to comply — meaning, they will have to scramble to complete the training in short order — or, in a worst-case scenario, they could be charged and fined.

 

What Should Employers Do

Ontario employers should, in the near future, do the following:

• Review existing worker and supervisor safety awareness and orientation programs and consider whether they contain the content required by the Ministry's "Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps" and "Supervisor Health and Safety Awareness in 5 Steps".
• If there are training gaps — that is, if your company's current program is missing content required by the new Ministry requirements — the company must ensure that the gaps are filled by the end of 2013. Occupational health and safety legal counsel can assist in determining whether there are gaps.
• Decide how the training will be provided: in person, by webinar, etc. The Ministry says that it intends to make an e-learning program available, at no charge, for employers to use.
• Review your existing training documentation: are you able to prove that your employees have received the safety awareness or orientation training that you have already done?
• Consider how you will document that employees and supervisors have received the new mandatory training. If the training is not properly documented, or you cannot adequately prove that a person received the training, the Ministry could still lay orders or charges.

The new requirement of safety awareness training is a sweeping requirement that all Ontario employers must be aware of. Ministry inspectors who visit an employer's workplace in 2013 may ask whether the employer is making progress towards completing the training. In 2014, inspectors will want to see proof that the training has been completed.

Original Article web-link

February 4, 2013

Proactive Employment Standards Inspections

Proactive may be another way of saying "without a complaint".  Ministry of Labour Officers often used to be reactive NOT proactive. For instance, if an employee made a complaint about an employer the MOL would come and investigate. The Chief Prevention Officer wants to change that. By hiring and training more officers; putting out more public warnings; using social media to repeat the warnings and make sure all those "unknown" employers comply.

If you are in business it is time to make it your business to find out what your employer obligations demand of you with regards to the understanding of your employees' rights and safety.

Ontario will help ensure fairness in the workplace by enhancing the enforcement of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) through proactive inspections. Each year, employment standards officers visit employers to ensure compliance with core ESA standards such as posting the ES poster, wage statements, unauthorized deductions, record keeping, hours of work, eating periods, overtime pay, minimum wage, public holidays, vacation with pay and in the case of temporary help agencies, providing required information to assignment employees and charging employees fees.

Inspections are also aimed at educating employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities under the ESA, and helping them to find more information. If violations are found during an inspection, officers may issue a range of compliance tools, including compliance orders, orders to pay wages/fees, or Part I Notices of Offence ("tickets"). In some cases, prosecution may be considered, and employers may also be re-inspected at a later date.

Chief Prevention Officer, George Gritziotis, wants complete compliance from all Ontario employers and businesses according to his talk to the CME-EAC last fall.

We are ALL responsible — employers, supervisors and workers — for preventing workplace illness and injury. Get involved now! Your search for workplace health and safety information starts right here…or here.

 

Stacey Electric Company Limited Fined $150,000 After Worker Killed

November 21, 2012 1:10 pm

 

Ministry of Labour

Toronto, ON - Stacey Electric Company Limited, a Toronto company, was fined $150,000 on November 19, 2012, for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after one worker was killed and another worker was injured.

On December 23, 2010, two Stacey Electric workers were repairing a broken beacon at a railway underpass on Bathurst St. near Dupont St. in Toronto. The beacon was on a cement median between four lanes of traffic. One worker was in the bucket of a boom truck that had been extended over a lane of traffic next to the median. The other worker was standing on the median assisting the worker in the bucket. There were no traffic control measures such as signs or traffic cones in place. While the workers were repairing the beacon, a bus struck the boom attached to the bucket holding one of the workers. The worker on the median was struck and killed by the bus and the bucket as it fell to the ground. The other worker was also injured.

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that there was no traffic protection plan in place during the repair operation.

Stacey Electric Company Limited plead guilty to failing to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that their workers prepare a traffic protection plan for their protection.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Donald Buchanan. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Court Information at a Glance

Location:                    Ontario Court of Justice
                                    1530 Markham Rd.
                                    Toronto, ON

Judge:                         Justice of the Peace Donald Buchanan

Date of Sentencing:    November 19, 2012

Defendant:                  Stacey Electric Company Limited

Matter:                        Occupational Health and Safety

Convictions:                Occupational Health and Safety Act, Section 25(2)(h)

Crown Counsel:          Mike Nicol

Director Jailed and Companies Fined After Failing to Pay Employees

News Release November 8, 2012 McGuinty Government Reaffirms Commitment to Protecting Workers The Ontario Court of Justice  has sentenced Steven Blondin, a director of six Ontario companies, to 90 days in jail for violations of the Employment Standards Act after failing to pay employees. Between March 2007 and October 2009, 61 employees from six companies, operated by Blondin filed claims with the Ministry of Labour for unpaid wages.  An investigation by the ministry found that wages were owed to all 61 employees.  Between February 2008 and April 2010, an employment standards officer issued 113 orders to the six companies and Blondin to pay over $125,000. None of the orders were paid. Blondin and each company pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the ministry's orders. In addition to the jail term and fines totaling   $280,000, Blondin and his companies were ordered to pay the wages owing to the employees along with a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. Protecting workers on the job is part of the McGuinty government's continued commitment to ensuring all Ontarians are treated fairly, while creating jobs.

QUICK FACTS

• The six companies owned and operated by Blondin include Steven’s Inc. of Orangeville, Axcea International Inc. of Toronto, Automotive Containment Solutions Inc. of Concord, Automotive CSI Inc. of Richmond Hill, Automotive CSI – Alliston Inc., and Automotive CSI – Newmarket Inc.
• The sentences were imposed by Justice of the Peace Vladimir Bubrin in Toronto.
• Since 2004, the Ministry’s Employment Standards Program has recovered more than $90 million in wages and other monies owed to employees through inspections, claims and collections.
• The Ministry of Labour prosecutes persons, including corporations, for violations of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and its regulations to ensure compliance.
• A victim fine surcharge is required under the Provincial Offences Act and contributes to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Safety is ultimately employer’s responsibility, not committee’s: Arbitrator

This is an interesting decision - the union grieved extra PPE protection for its' members.

Joint health and safety committee had power to prescribe safety equipment but employer could still do so without committee’s recommendation

November 2, 2012

The health and safety of employees is ultimately the responsibility of the employer and can’t be delegated to a joint health and safety committee, an Ontario arbitrator has ruled.

Gerdau Ameristeel, a steel manufacturing company, introduced a policy in its Whitby, Ont., plant requiring employees to wear chin straps on their safety headgear. The union grieved the policy, noting that the collective agreement required Gerdau to take all reasonable precautions for the safety of employees — in line with health and safety legislation — and to provide all personal protective equipment prescribed by the joint health and safety committee. The union argued this gave the power to approve safety equipment to the joint committee, not the company.

The arbitrator found that the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act placed the main responsibility for employee health and safety with the employer, including the assigning of personal protective equipment. This legal responsibility did not diminish with the existence of a joint health and safety committee and a collective agreement allowing the committee to recommend safety equipment, said the arbitrator. If the employer didn’t have the ability to dictate equipment, then it would be susceptible to being charged and prosecuted for safety conditions over which it had no control.

The arbitrator ruled that Gerdau was entitled to prescribe personal protective equipment for employees, independent of the joint health and safety committee, regardless of the collective agreement provision giving the committee a say in prescribing equipment. The greivance was dimissed.

“Although I do not doubt this union’s commitment to the safety of its members, I do not believe that the employer can avoid its legal obligation, even when acting in good faith, to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for theprotection of a worker,” said the arbitrator.

For more information see:

•Gerdau Ameristeel v. U.S.W., Local 6571, 2012 CarswellOnt 9066 (Ont. Arb. Bd.).

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