1.4 Summary

At the end of the investigation into the Lakeland mill explosion, the company was fined $724,000—a fine the owners are appealing at the time of writing. The decision of a coroner’s jury that the explosion was an “accident”—the outcome of unintended or unexpected events—outraged families of the dead workers. The BC government had earlier decided not to proceed with criminal charges. Throughout this text, we will explore workplace hazards, assessments and controls that may help employers eliminate or reduce the likelihood of occupational injuries.

Discussion Questions

  1. Explain the meaning of a workplace injury and discuss workplace injuries you have been involved in.
  2. Identify 5 categories of hazards that cause that cause of workplace injuries and provide an example of each.
  3. Explain the importance of accurately reporting injury statistics, including lost-time incidents.

Notes

  1. Hoekstra, G., & Carman, T. (2012, April 25). Two dead, 22 injured after massive explosion destroys Prince George sawmill. Vancouver Sun. http:// www.vancouversun.com/dead+injured+after+massive+explosion+destroys+Prince+George+sawmill/6506952/story.html
  2. You can read the full incident investigation report here: https://www2. worksafebc.com/PDFs/investigations/IIR2012136900086.pdf
  3. AWCBC. (2014). National work injury, disease and fatality statistics 2010–2012. Ottawa: Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Barnetson, B., & Foster, J. (2015). If it bleeds, it leads: The construction of workplace injury in Canadian newspapers, 2009–2014. International  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 21(3), 258–265. doi: 10.1179/ 2049396715Y.0000000003 . This study extends the analysis of coverage in newspapers, Gawley, T., & Dixon, S. (2015). “One Side of the Story: Examining newspaper coverage of workplace injury and fatality in Ontario, 2007–2012.” Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabition, 53 (1), 205–18.
  6. Dembe, A. (1996). Occupation and disease: How social factors affect the conception of work-related disorders. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  7. McDiarmid, M., Oliver, M., Ruser, J., & Gucer, P. (2000). Male and female rate differences in carpal tunnel syndrome injuries: Personal characteristics of job tasks? Environmental Research, 83(1), 23–32.
  8. Vosko, L. (2006). Precarious employment: Towards an improved understanding of labour market insecurity. In L. Vosko (Ed.), Precarious employment: Understanding labour market insecurity in Canada. Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, p. 4.
  9. Lewchuk, W., Clarke, M., & de Wolfe, A. (2011). Working without commitments: The health effects of precarious employment. Montréal: McGillQueen’s University Press.
  10. Rennie, R. (2006). “All part of the game”: The recognition of and response to an industrial disaster at the Fluorspar mines, St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, 1933–1978. In E. Tucker (Ed.), Working disasters: The politics of recognition and response (pp. 77–102). Amityville: Baywood.
  11. Hilgartner, S. (1985). The political language of risk: Defining occupational health. In D. Nelkin (Ed.), The language of risk: Conflicting perspectives on occupational health (pp. 25–65). Beverly Hills: Sage.
  12. Tucker, E. (1983–84). The determination of occupational health and safety standards in Ontario, 1860–1982. McGill Law Journal, 29, 260–311.
  13. Ashford, N. (1976). Crisis in the workplace: Occupational disease and injury. Cambridge: MIT Press.
  14. Kirsh, B., Slack, T., & King, C. (2012). The nature and impact of stigma towards injured workers. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 22(2), 143–154.
  15. Graebner, W. (1984). Doing the world’s unhealthy work: The fiction of free choice. The Hastings Center Report, 14(4), 28–37.
  16. Alberta Cancer Board and Alberta Cancer Foundation. (2005). Cancer and the workplace: An overview for workers and employers. Edmonton: Authors.
  17. Draper, E. (2000). Competing conceptions of safety: High-risk workers or high-risk work? In S. Kroll-Smith, P. Brown, & V. Gunter (Eds.), Illness and the environment: A reader in contested medicine (pp. 217–234). New York: New York University Press.
  18. Tucker, E. (1990). Administering danger in the workplace: The law and politics of occupational health and safety regulation in Ontario, 1850–1914. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
  19. AWCBC. (2014).
  20. Shannon, H., & Lowe, G. (2002). How many injured workers do not file claims for workers’ compensation benefits? American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 42(6), 467–473.
  21. Barnetson, B. (2012). The validity of Alberta safety statistics. Just Labour, 19, 1–21.
  22. Petrie, P. (2014). Fair compensation review: A review of the impact of the Manitoba WCB assessment rate model on fair compensation for workers and fair assessments for employers. Winnipeg: Minister of Family Services and Labour, p. 35.

 

 

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