Every so often, I read about some tragic news in the health and safety arena. I know that it seems that worker deaths and serious injuries can tend to be inevitable, but forgive me if I am not very desensitized. I find all death to be a tragedy.
However, every once in a while I like to share these stories to serve as cautionary tales for others. It is bad enough when one of these incidents happens, but it’s valuable to turn that one incident into a learning opportunity in the hopes that there won’t be a second such incident.
[Image courtesy of Western Area Power via a Creative Commons license]While experienced workers like these get their share of safety training, the younger generation among us must be properly trained as well. There are too many stories of tragedy involving young workers from worksite situations that were needlessly hazardous because of lack of training or safety equipment.
Flagging Down Youth Tragedy
In Saskatchewan, a construction zone on Highway 6 claimed the lives of three teenagers and circialy injured a 21-year-old flagger upon a four-car collision in a construction zone. During a crack-sealing project on the highway, a tractor-trailer reared a car that had three teen passengers, pushing that car into a truck, which then hit the flagger. While the official cause was not indicated, it was implied in a statement by Nancy Heppner, Saskatchewan Minister of Highways and Infrastructure, that perhaps excessive speed might have been to blame in the accident. Drivers have a 60-kilometer-per-hour (about 37 mph) speed limit in construction zones, and they are usually encouraged to stay at the limit or below. (In the U.S., speeding fines are doubled in construction zones in many states.)
The three poor teenagers who were the helpless passengers in the car were dead at the scene, while the young flagger was sent to a hospital in Saskatoon with critical injuries.
Moral of the story: For goodness’ sake, slow down in a construction zone! And for extra safety, perhaps keep your flaggers in a safe place like near the shoulder of the road and/or behind some barrier so there is a layer of protection between the flagger and the oncoming vehicles.
No Corny Incident
Fortunately, this incident had a happy ending. A 20-year-old farm worker in Nova Scotia was cleaning an augur on a grain silo when he fell inside, being rescued just in time to avoid being buried in corn.
While there was no reports of any failure in safety mechanisms (which may suggest a lack of them), the worker did have the wherewithal to use his cell phone to call a co-worker, who then contacted emergency personnel to the scene. The worker was sent to the hospital for minor injuries and observation.
Moral of the story: Make sure workers have a way to keep from falling when doing work at heights – a tie-off with harness, a scaffold, a scissor lift, etc. So many ideas. A small investment considering the money and time spent rescuing this young man.
What is a “Micro-accident”? Ask Your Working Teen
It is a good question. It is a term that is not used very often at many worksites, mainly because many worksites have experienced workers who are safe in their thoughts and actions.
Teenagers see m to be the most prone to the “micro-accident,” which is a minor incident that results in no lost work time (a minor burn or a twisted ankle, for example). A recent study was published that showed that young people were more likely to suffer a “micro-accident” at work, but were less likely to report dangerous work situations to supervisors. The study revealed that about one-third of teenage workers had at least one “micro-accident” in the previous 30 days.
And here is a telling reveal – workers ages 15 to 18 in the study (conducted around 19,000 work-related incidents over a four-week period among workers aged 15 to 25) were more likely to have a micro-accident, were less likely to report dangerous work situations and more frequently neglected or ignored work safety rules. Interestingly, when broken down by gender, boys reported dangerous work situations more often than girls, but were neglecting safety rules more often while the micro-accident injury rate was even between the sexes.
Moral of the story: Micro-accidents may not be that serious, but the onus is on the supervisors to make sure that young workers are properly trained in safety, provided a safe work environment and to listen when feedback about risks are mentioned by these workers. A micro-accident could be a warning sign of something more serious if issues aren’t addressed. And just because many young worrkers are part-timers, they are still important to your workforce – they are there working for you, right? – so don’t take their training for granted.
Charges After Fall Death
It took 18 months for the investigation to conclude, but a Nova Scotia construction company faces charges and an supervisor at the company was individually charged after a 21-year-old construction worker fell to his death while doing some cleaning on the sixth floor of a building under construction.
The Nova Scotia Department of Labour filed the charges against Parkland Construction after investigating the death, in which the 21-year-old was cleaning debris off the sixth floor and fell off the edge. The company faced violations like failing to provide fall protection to an employee working at a height of 3 meters (10 feet) or higher; failure to have a safe work plan; failure to provide fall-protection training; and failure to provide a chute or other method by which to remove debris from a height.
The worker’s supervisor also had charges filed for such violations as failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect a worker, and failing to provide fall protection to a worker at a height of 3 meters or higher.
Moral of the story: Anyone working above your head needs to have fall-protection training and proper safety equipment, no matter how young or part-time he or shy might be. A fall does the same impact whether the workers is 21 years old or a 21-year veteran of construction sites.
Unpaid Worker Death, No One Pays the Price?
While the Occupational Heath and Safety Act has been vital in preserving and protecting many workers, there is a loophole that can have deadly consequences. And this loophole keeps companies from facing criminal liability.
But that loophole can also be exposed and lead to a call for reform of OSHA. That call was quickly launched when an investigation revealed that no criminal charges would be filed against an auto parts facility where a 17-year-old unpaid co-op student was crushed by a front-end loader on his first day on the job. Because OSHA did not apply in this case, the local police department headed the investigation instead of the provincial labour department. The police investigation revealed that the death was an accident.
In the wake of the results of the investigation,a push commenced to re-write the OSHA to account for training and safety of unpaid workers ust as much as those who are on the payroll.
Moral of the story: Even if OSHA isn’t changed to account for unpaid workers (though it makes sense to do it), you really should make safety a priority for everyone on your worksite, regardless of whether you give them money or just experience. While you may escape criminal charges without OSHA, the prublic-relations hit will be nightmatish enough.