a conveyor guard may have saved his life - Workplace Safety North

SPRING 2011
EVERY WORKER
HEALTH AND SAFETY MAGAZINE PREMIER ISSUE
A CONVEYOR GUARD
MAY HAVE SAVED
HIS LIFE
BILL WHELAN SHARES
HIS STORY
IN THIS ISSUE:
MACHINE GUARDING
SERVING ONTARIO'S NORTH
BONUS:
MACHINE GUARDING POSTER
HAZARD ALERTS

EVERY WORKER MAGAZINE SPRING 2011 VOLUME 1 NO. 1
4
A conveyor guard may have
saved his life
BY JOHN LEVESQUE
2 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
FEATURES
6 Beyond compliance: safe guarding at
Norampac
BY KELLY ANN SMITH
10 Expert panel calls for improvements to
workplace safety system
BY HEALTH AND SAFETY ONTARIO
12 Research study tackles leading indicators
BY INSTITUTE FOR WORK AND HEALTH
14 Team work for a safer North
BY HEALTH AND SAFETY ONTARIO
14 Hearst is leading the way
BY JEAN BÉLEC
PLUS...
9 Paper, printing and converting sector hazard alert
11 Mining sector hazard alert
13 Forestry sector hazard alert
Contents

President’s Message
Welcome to Every Worker
The magazine you’re holding in your hands,
or reading on-line, is another milestone in
Workplace Safety North’s development –
it’s a tangible symbol of new beginnings and
offerings from your new health and safety
association.
Last year we unveiled our new organization’s
vision: Every worker, home safe and
healthy, and this magazine is one medium
we’ll leverage to make this vision a reality,
through education and knowledge exchange.
We believe our Every Worker vision is not
only ours, but is shared by you and every
conscientious employer and worker in the
province. Fittingly, Every Worker magazine has been designed to provide
WSN’s membership, and every worker who reads it, with access to vital health
and safety information and tools to eliminate workplace illness, injury and
death. It will connect every reader to perspectives and experiences from across
the diverse sectors and communities we serve, with the goal of improving
health and safety within every workplace.
In this issue we tackle machinery hazards from a number of angles. Did you
know that between 2005 and 2009, 825 people in our sectors were either
caught in or compressed by machinery, and were injured badly enough to need
time off work? You’ll meet Bill Whelan who lost his arm in a conveyor, and
you’ll learn the steps to dealing with guarding hazards on your site.
You can expect more great things from WSN down the road: the next issue of
Every Worker will focus on another critical hazard: motor vehicle incidents
and mobile equipment. You will see more exciting new products, enhanced
access to the services you want and need, and unrivaled expertise. The best
way to stay informed about new services and everything else that WSN can
do for you is by subscribing to our free e-updates. To sign up, send a message
with your name and email address to First2Know@workplacesafetynorth.ca.
We hope you enjoy our inaugural issue of Every Worker. We put tremendous
value on our member relationship, and we welcome your feedback. Drop me a
line and let me know what you think about this first issue.
President & CEO
candysballangermichaud@workplacesafetynorth.ca
EVERY WORKER
Home Safe and Healthy
EDITOR
Susan Haldane
susanhaldane@workplacesafetynorth.ca
CONTRIBUTORS
John Levesque
johnlevesque@workplacesafetynorth.ca
Kelly Ann Smith
kellyannsmith@workplacesafetynorth.ca
Ken Sitter
kensitter@workplacesafetynorth.ca
PHOTOGRAPHY
Neil Brown
neilbrown@workplacesafetynorth.ca
TRANSLATION
Jean Bélec
jeanbelec@workplacesafetynorth.ca
DESIGN
Brant Schewe
brantschewe@workplacesafetynorth.ca
PRINTED BY
Creative Impressions
www.creativeimpressions.ca
For another copy of Every Worker or for
the French version, call us
Toll free: 1-888-730-7821(Ontario only)
email: brantschewe@workplacesafetynorth.ca
If you would like to receive this
magazine electronically
email: First2Know@workplacesafetynorth.ca
WORKPLACE SAFETY NORTH
690 McKeown Avenue, P.O. Box 2050,
Stn. Main
North Bay, ON P1B 9P1
Toll free: 1-888-730-7821(Ontario only)
Fax: 705 472 5800
workplacesafetynorth.ca
The information in this publication is accurate to the best
of our knowledge. WSN assumes no responsibility or
liability for the accuracy or sufficiency of this information,
nor does it endorse any product mentioned herein with the
exception of those produced by WSN.
www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
3

FEATURE
4 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
A conveyor guard may
have saved his life
BY JOHN LEVESQUE, WORKPLACE SAFETY NORTH
We know the victims of workplace incidents mainly as
numbers. Every injury, from minor cuts and bruises to
amputations and deaths, eventually joins the pool of statistics
that make up WSIB injury claims, premium rates and general
workplace injury trends.
But very little is known about the people those numbers
represent – the women and men, young and old, whose lives
are changed by a workplace incident. The numbers don’t tell
us what was going through their mind when they were injured
or killed, or how it affected their family and friends. If they
were permanently disabled, the numbers don’t tell us how they
adjusted to life afterward.
Meet Bill Whelan. He’s 31 years old, married to Tricia and father
of a two-year-old son named Liam. It’s September 1999. Bill is
doing a routine circuit check on the night shift at a Timmins
mining company’s crushing plant. He happens to notice a piece
of screening that’s tangled in the conveyor belt. As he always
does when he sees that sort of thing, he reaches in to remove
it. Except this time the piece of screening is larger than he
thought, part of it is hanging under the conveyor, it snares his
right hand, draws it along the belt into the pulley and tears off
his arm at the shoulder.
“By the time I realized it was happening it was over,” says Bill,
now 42. “I had to make a decision then and there: Do I fight, or
do I lay down and die.”
Photo of Bill Whelan by Neil Brown

“You do things a certain way and eventually you
forget there’s any danger involved. A lot of times
I’ve asked myself what does it take to get the
message through to people?"
He decided to fight. He somehow got to his feet, reached inside
his clothes to try to stop the bleeding and started walking back
down the conveyor way for help. He managed to make it all
the way to the mill, some 400 metres from the incident scene.
“The first person I saw couldn’t handle it – he turned around
and screamed and basically ran away from me. Shawn, the
lead hand on our shift, was the one who started the first aid
and got everything rolling.”
Bill and Shawn were both volunteer firefighters – Bill in
Timmins, Shawn in nearby Schumacher. As part of their
firefighter duties they had taken a first responder’s course
a month prior to the incident. “Shawn knew from the course
that it was really important to stay calm,” Bill says. “He kept
talking to me while we waited for the ambulance and that
kept me calm.”
Bill spent close to eight hours in surgery that night. Doctors
tried to reattach his right arm, but his chest, back and neck
were too badly mangled. When he awoke from the surgery
he saw that his arm wasn’t there. The thought swirling in his
mind was: “What have I done to my family?”
That first surgery was followed by six months of shuttling
between Timmins and Toronto as doctors worked to rebuild
Bill’s devastated right side. It was during this period that Bill
went into an emotional tailspin.
“Once everything calmed down and I knew I was going to
survive, I guess you could say the novelty wore off,” he says.
“I was disabled. Everything I was used to doing I couldn’t do
anymore. The hardest part for me was admitting to myself that
I had made a big mistake that night. I really beat myself up for
having done such a stupid thing.”
Bill gets emotional when he talks about how his wife stood
by him through the long period of physical and emotional
recovery. “She was there for me when I hit bottom. She was
there to see me through it all. The strength of my family and
friends is what pulled me through. Even now if I have a hard
day, my family is there for me.”
Bill’s son Liam is 13 now, and his younger son, Tyler, is nine.
The only dad they know is the one with a missing arm – the
one who placed second in the above-elbow amputee category
at the Canadian Amputee Golf Association National Open
in London in the summer of 2009. “I’ve learned to be very
stubborn,” Bill chuckles about his one-armed golfing prowess.
“I shoot in the mid-80s all the time.” That same attitude has
helped him in his overall adjustment. He hasn’t worn his
prosthetic arm for more than four years.
Looking back on that September night in 1999, Bill is certain
about one thing: If the guards had not been on the conveyor,
his entire upper body would have been pulled in, his head
would have been crushed and he would have died instantly.
Even with the guards in place, if his left hand had been snared
instead of his right, his heart would probably have been torn
out of his chest.
There was nothing exceptional about the mistake Bill made
that night. He had been taking the same chances around the
conveyor throughout the three and a half years he worked at
the mining company. The odds simply caught up with him,
and in a dangerous work environment even a small mistake
can be lethal.
The lesson Bill learned is a complicated one that continues
to ripple through his life, but the message he wants to
communicate is very simple: “Complacency kills,” he says.
“You do things a certain way and eventually you forget there’s
any danger involved. A lot of times I’ve asked myself what
does it take to get the message through to people? Lock out the
conveyors before you work on them. Take a look first, because
complacency kills.”
These days Bill visits local high schools to talk to students about
dangers in the workplace. He urges them to ask questions at
work if they’re unsure about how to do something or if they
think it might not be safe. His present job as a designer/
draftsman at the Timmins office of J.L. Richards & Associate,
an engineering firm with offices across Ontario, takes him to
a lot of mine sites where he is sometimes asked to have a chat
with the workers.
“When they see me and I tell them about what happened to me,
they pay attention,” Bill says. “I figure if I can reach out and get
one person to stop and think – if I can prevent one person from
going through what I went through – it’s worth all the effort.”
www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
5

Beyond compliance:
safe guarding at Norampac
6 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
BY KELLY ANN SMITH, WORKPLACE SAFETY NORTH.
What does it mean to be compliant
with guarding legislation? Simon
Fridlyand, P. Eng. with S.A.F.E. Engineering
in Toronto recommends looking to safety
first. Compliance, he says, means the work
process is “a safe process, which is compliant
to current and applicable standards.”
But how does a company make sure a work
process complies with those standards?
Marshall Greensides, Corporate Health
and Safety Coordinator with Norampac,
the largest producer of containerboard
in Canada, says his company’s approach
is to “identify the hazards, perform a risk
analysis to prioritize A, B and C risks, define
corrective measures and create an action
plan, and then measure to make sure you’ve
had the appropriate impact.” While legal
Norampac employees packing boxes using a tilt table. Photo by Jerry Traer
requirements are set out in the Occupational
Health and Safety Act and the regulations,
companies in Ontario have to determine how
to apply those requirements. Greensides
states “at Norampac, we believe that a risk
assessment process involving workplace
parties is critical to ensuring a better level of
safety is achieved across the operations.”
Norampac uses a seven-step process when
dealing with a guarding-related hazard.
1. Identify the hazards using a companywide
internal risk analysis.
2. Once hazards have been identified, each
Norampac plant must decide on which
hazard has the highest potential for a
severe consequence (an “A” risk), which
is handled first. The safety facilitator or

champion within each facility involves
maintenance people, supervisors and
operators as well as joint health and safety
committee members in finding solutions to
the guarding-related hazard.
S.A.F.E. Engineer’s Fridlyand agrees that
communicating with all the people who
interact with the machine is very important.
“Some people just put a box (around the
hazard) and it’s absolutely safe, meets all
the standards, no problem, but you cannot
operate this machine or this machine
becomes unproductive. And what happens?
If this is a production machine, and it
hampers production, people remove guards.”
3. At Norampac, the next step is to call in a
pre-qualified engineering firm to review the
situation based on the internal risk analysis,
production process, materials being used,
lockout capabilities, equipment limitations,
and the current mechanical or electrical
guarding systems of the machine.
4. Norampac reviews the initial engineering
report with the engineering firm to make sure
all of the bases are covered. Out of that review,
a final engineering report is created which
is also reviewed by plant staff to make sure
nothing was missed. Equipment efficiency
is also a key component that needs to be
addressed. The way in which plant personnel
interact with the machine will change, so new
safe work procedures must be developed. It is
Marshall Greensides, Health and Safety Coordinator
for Norampac, Mississauga
also important to ensure new hazards have
not been created as a result of the changes.
5. The next step is the secondary engineering
review, this time involving the company that
will be installing the new guarding system.
Once the final design is confirmed with plant
staff, including maintenance and operations,
the new safety system is then installed.
6. After installation, the machine is
commissioned and the critical piece in
the process happens: validation. Both
operators and maintenance personnel are
trained during this step.
“Then there’s a stage where we go live,”
Greensides says. “At that point, typically
the engineer is on site, the key person
from the integration (installation) point
of view is on site, and whoever the key
project person is from the plant is on
site.” The important question is: does
the build match the design? “It’s like a
design build check,” says Greensides,
“and then they also test the functionality
of each of the systems.” And over the next
few weeks, the employees are watching
the machine and reporting anything that
seems off to their supervisor. Any changes
or modifications that need to be made are
done in consultation with the engineer.
7. The last phase in the process is the final
engineering review. This is a report from
the engineer, stating that the machine is
now compliant with current and applicable
standards. A copy of that report is then given
to the joint health and safety committee and
kept in a file in the plant.
Greensides believes this guarding process,
among many other initiatives to improve
the safety and organization of the work
environment, has paid off for Norampac,
and has contributed to the decline
in injuries. “We’ve seen a consistent
reduction in our accident frequency over
the last six years.”
S.A.F.E. Engineering’s Simon Fridlyand
can also attest to the benefits of making the
investment in a guarding program over the
long term.
“What’s absolutely important is to provide
safe operation for all people and also to stay
competitive and productive. And those two
goals are easily achievable if you structure
your process in a certain way. So you spend
your money upgrading your equipment
because you need to be compliant, and
transfer liabilities. But if you do this correctly,
there is a payback and if there is a payback, it
pays for all your efforts and continues paying
on and on and on. The most important thing
is that nobody gets hurt. But also because
it’s a productive production machine, you
manage to stay competitive.”
Norampac and S.A.F.E. Engineering are not connected, and this article does not indicate either firm’s
endorsement of the other.
"We’ve seen a consistent
reduction in our accident
frequency over the last
six years.”
www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
7

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
Resources related to machine guarding:
1) Basic Machine Safety – Paper, Printing and Converting Certification Part 2
This half-day module is part of the suite of workplace-specific hazard training for pulp and
paper operations. It provides certified members with the knowledge and skills to recognize,
assess and control the most prevalent hazards in their workplaces.
2) Machine Guarding in Forestry Workplaces
This half-day training program provides important information about recognizing, assessing
and guarding mechanical motion hazards that workers are exposed to when operating or
conducting maintenance, repairs or troubleshooting on typical machines, equipment and
work processes in forestry operations.
Information
- Safe Methods for Machine Guarding booklet – mining; Basic Machine Safety booklet
– pulp and paper -- Visit http://www.workplacesafetynorth.ca/products.html.
- CCOHS OSH Answers Conveyor Safety
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/conveyor_safety.html
- Worksafe BC Machine Guarding checklist
http://www2.worksafebc.com/PDFs/manufacturing/Safeguarding_infoflip1.pdf
- Worksafe BC Machine Safeguarding Machinery and Equipment 100 page document
http://www.worksafebc.ca/publications/health_and_safety/by_topic/assets/pdf/
safeguarding_machinery.pdf
- OSHA Concepts and Techniques of Machine Safeguarding
http://www.osha.gov/Publications/Mach_SafeGuard/toc.html
- NIOSH Machine Safety
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/machine/
For more information regarding these and other Workplace Safety North programs or
products call us toll free at 1-888-730-7821 or visit www.workplacesafetynorth.ca/training.
Basic Machine Safety
Paper, Printing and Converting Sector
www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
8 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
Safe Methods for
Machine Guarding
Mining Sector
www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
MACHINERY: A
CRITICAL WORKPLACE
HAZARD
In almost every type of workplace,
workers are suffering serious
injuries getting caught, squeezed,
pinched, crushed and compressed
by machinery. Machinery hazards
are one of the top four sources of
injury across Ontario, prompting a
Ministry of Labour inspection blitz
late in 2010.
The forestry, mining, paper and
printing industries are no exception:
from 2005 to 2009 inclusive,
Workplace Safety North clients
reported 825 lost-time injuries
due to workers being caught in
or compressed by equipment or
objects.
Though printing equipment was
involved in almost 18 per cent of
all reported incidents, and paper
production equipment almost 11
per cent, the remaining 70 per cent
involved a wide range of machinery
in various sectors including mine
drilling equipment, logging and
wood processing equipment, both
powered and gravity conveyors,
and stationary sawing equipment –
none of which accounted for more
than four per cent on their own.
Of the workers involved in the
incidents:
- 17 per cent suffered an
amputation
- 25 per cent suffered a fracture
- 20 per cent suffered cuts and
lacerations
- 15 per cent suffered bruises and
contusions
- 24 per cent suffered a range of
injuries such as burns, sprains,
strains, dislocations, etc. . .
Proper machine guarding and
specific lockout procedures are key
to preventing machinery-related
incidents and injuries.

HAZARD ALERT!
PAPER, PRINTING AND CONVERTING SECTOR
Worker's foot crushed by lowering
of winder table
WHAT HAPPENED?
A worker was preparing to tape a paper roll on the winder table. The table had
been lowered to within six inches of the floor. After a few minutes, another
worker standing at the control panel lowered the table all the way to the floor.
The worker taping the roll had his foot positioned under the table. His foot was
crushed between the table and floor, resulting in a fractured toe and removal
of the toenail. The worker would have sustained more serious injuries had he
not been wearing steel-toed safety boots, or had he positioned his foot further
under the table.
WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
Holding the table slightly above the floor is common practice in the taping of small
rolls. The practice relies on effective communication between operator and worker,
and does not prevent unintentional lowering of the table to the floor.
HOW COULD IT BE PREVENTED?
One solution would be to install presence-sensing mats at points of operation (e.g.
where the operator stands to tape the roll) or the addition of guards to prevent the
foot being placed under the suspended table.
Paper production
equipment accounts
for close to 11%
of contact with
machinery injuries
among WSN's clients
(see page 8)
call us toll free:1-888-730-7821 (Ontario only) www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
This alert is based on an actual incident. If you have an incident you’d like to share, please email info@workplacesafetynorth.ca. The description of
circumstances does not reflect legal commentary, nor is it meant to assign legal responsibility to any person or firm.

Expert panel calls for improvements
to workplace health and safety
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY ONTARIO
On Thursday, December 16th, an Expert Advisory Panel on The recommendations include:
Health and Safety, led by Tony Dean, released a series of
- The establishment of a new prevention organization, housed in the
recommendations which are being called the most substantial
Ministry of Labour, and an associated council of stakeholders. The
change to health and safety in Ontario since the Occupational
health and safety associations would align with this new entity.
Health and Safety Act came into force in 1979.
- A strong emphasis on training, including mandatory awareness
Commissioned following the death of four workers who fell training for workers, supervisors, and health and safety
from a swing stage in December 2009, the panel included representatives.
representatives from government, industry and academia.
- A special focus on high-risk work, vulnerable workers, and
Over the course of its work, the panel asked a wide variety
small business.
of stakeholders for their views about how to improve the
prevention system. The panel has now made substantial - New efforts to combat the underground economy.
recommendations for improving both the structure of the - Tougher penalties for willful violators.
system and its work. You can read the announcement as well
as the full report at www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/eap/
The last of the 46 recommendations lays out the next steps for a
report/index.php.
smooth transition to a new prevention organization and health
and safety requirements.
“The recommendations support the work of Workplace Safety
North and its partners,” said WSN CEO Candys Ballanger-
The Minister of Labour accepted the recommendations, and
Michaud. “We welcome the release of the panel’s report, and
pledged to begin work toward implementing them.
we’re pleased that the announcement itself has raised public “We look forward to being part of this new step forward for
awareness about the need to enhance health and safety in Ontario’s workers and employers,” said Ballanger-Michaud. “As
Ontario’s workplaces. We are encouraged by how the panel has this transition takes place, our focus will be on continuing to deliver
amplified the call to action to prevent workplace tragedies.” excellent health and safety service to our clients across the province.”
“Take every precaution reasonable” to protect the health and safety of workers.
DUE DILIGENCE AND IRS
a supervisor's guide
10 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
This half-day program is designed as an orientation in the requirements of the Occupational
Health and Safety Act and Regulations relating to management’s responsibility to “take
every precaution reasonable” to protect the health and safety of workers. The course puts
the concepts of due diligence and the internal responsibility system into practice as the
core component of a company’s health and safety program.
toll free: 1-888-730-7821 (Ontario only) web: www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
call us toll free: 1-888-730-7821 (Ontario Only) www.workplacesafetynorth.ca

HAZARD ALERT!
MINING SECTOR
Removal of guard leads to pinch
point injury
WHAT HAPPENED?
Two miners at an Ontario mine were installing ventilation tubing from the deck
of a scissor lift being operated by a third miner at the controls. A hydraulic hose
which passed through the deck of the lift was protected from damage by a cover
made of angle-iron. The cover on this particular machine did not pass all the way
through the opening in the deck. With the deck in the down position, there was a
space of several inches between the bottom edge of the angle-iron and the deck
surface. When they were ready to start the installation, one of the miners on the
deck instructed the operator to raise the deck. He didn’t realize the toe of his boot
was in the space between the deck and the guard. As the deck began to rise, the
miners’ toe was trapped and squeezed before they could reverse the deck and
release his foot. Fortunately, the miner only received minor injury to his toes. The
steel toe guard in his boot and the quick action of the lift operator in lowering the
deck probably saved the worker from a much more serious injury.
WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
It was found that the guard had been removed to service the hydraulic line during a
preventive maintenance overhaul of the scissor lift. Upon inspection of the scissor
lift and as a result of the investigation, it was noted that the guard was shortened for
reasons unknown. This condition resulted in the creation of the pinch point hazard.
HOW COULD IT BE PREVENTED?
The company ordered inspections for all the rest of the scissor lifts but none were
found to have the guard improperly installed. A new maintenance procedure was
developed for removal and replacement of the hose guard.
The steel toe guard
in his boot and the
quick action of the lift
operator... probably
saved the worker
from a much more
serious injury.
call us toll free:1-888-730-7821 (Ontario only) www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
This alert is based on an actual incident. If you have an incident you’d like to share, please email info@workplacesafetynorth.ca. The description of
circumstances does not reflect legal commentary, nor is it meant to assign legal responsibility to any person or firm.

Research study tackles leading
indicators
BY ANITA DUBEY, INSTITUTE FOR WORK & HEALTH
One of the largest workplace prevention studies ever undertaken
in Ontario will be launched this spring. Four health and safety
associations are joining forces with the Institute for Work & Health, a
research organization, to recruit 5,000 businesses to participate.
The “5,000 Firm Study,” as it’s informally known, is focused on
understanding how businesses’ health, safety and disability policies
and practices are related to injuries and illness. The 5,000 firms
will be randomly selected from the Workplace Safety and Insurance
Board’s (WSIB’s) database. Some firms will initially be contacted by
Workplace Safety North, while the others will be recruited by their
respective associations.
“This is a groundbreaking project, which could potentially have huge
implications for Ontario’s prevention system, and beyond,” says Dr.
Ben Amick, IWH’s scientific director and the project lead. “A project
of this magnitude is only possible with the strong commitment to
safety and support for research across Ontario’s prevention system.”
In a web-based questionnaire, businesses will be asked questions
about their safety culture, occupational health and safety management
systems, joint health and safety committees, and organizational
Workplace Safety North
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
WEDNESDAY APRIL 20, 2011 2:00 p.m.
12 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
policies and practices. This survey will help to identify “leading
organizational indicators.” A leading indicator provides a sense of an
organization’s ongoing health and safety initiatives, and the potential
for injuries or illnesses before they occur.
Each firm’s responses about its management or organizational safety
measures will be linked to its claim rate records – with all information
being maintained in strict confidence by IWH. By making this linkage,
the researchers will be able to see if there are relationships between
specific measures and injury or illness claims.
At the end, the goal is to have a set of accurate leading indicators that
all workplaces can use to assess their safety performance.
Each participating firm will receive a report showing how it compares
with other firms in its sector. Collectively, the information will create a
huge knowledge base for Ontario, which can be used as a benchmark
by any business.
For more information about this study, please contact Colette
Severin, the project coordinator at IWH, at cseverin@iwh.on.ca or
416 927-2027 ext. 2126.
You are invited to WSN’s 1st Annual General Meeting. Mark your calendar and
plan to attend. The meeting will take place during the Mining Health and Safety
Conference (see back cover for more information).
Holiday Inn Hotel
1696 Regent St.
Sudbury, ON P3E 3Z8
(705) 522-3000
www.workplacesafetynorth.ca www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
Workplace Safety North
690 McKeown Avenue
North Bay, ON P1B 9P1
TF: 1-888-730-7821
F: 705-472-5800

HAZARD ALERT!
FORESTRY SECTOR
Vehicle carrying tree-thinning crew
narrowly escapes collision with
float truck
WHAT HAPPENED?
A tree-thinning crew was driving on a secondary logging road at the end of the day.
It was wintertime, daylight was fading, 10 cm of fresh snow was on the ground and
more was falling. The crew’s driver, who was on his first day in the cutting area, was
not familiar with the road. His vehicle was travelling at about 40 km per hour.
Without being aware of it, the driver reached an intersection with a primary logging
road. A fast-moving truck suddenly came into view on his right. The driver braked
hard as the float truck passed in front of him. His vehicle skidded into the intersection
and narrowly missed the rear of the trailer. No one was injured.
WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
When the company inspected the incident site, it realized that there was no sign
warning of the intersection. Because of the time of day, poor weather and the driver’s
unfamiliarity with the route, it was difficult for him to know where the intersection
was. Vegetation had grown in considerably on either side of the approach to the
intersection, further hampering visibility. Another secondary road on the far side of
the intersection made it look like the road continued beyond the intersection. Only
the driver’s moderate speed prevented a devastating collision from happening.
HOW COULD IT BE PREVENTED?
Many serious incidents in forestry operations in recent years have involved collisions
on logging roads. The sheer variety of types of vehicles used on these roads increases
the hazards for everyone who drives on them. The condition of the roads further adds
to the risk.
Because of the seriousness of these hazards, Sections 114 to 119 of Regulation 851 for
Industrial Establishments contain detailed requirements concerning logging roads
and the vehicles that are driven on them. For example, Section 117(c)(ii) requires that
all haul roads “have signs warning of the approach to every bridge, crossroad, blind
curve, steep grade, and railway crossing”.
Defensive driving practices are essential at all times on logging roads. Employers
have a responsibility to ensure that logging roads are well-maintained, including the
brushing of vegetation to improve sightlines. If a driver is unfamiliar with the road,
special care needs to be taken, especially in bad weather and poor lighting. Two-way
radios with which drivers communicate their position on logging roads are another
important tool to prevent collisions.
Defensive driving
practices are
essential at all times
on logging roads.
call us toll free:1-888-730-7821 (Ontario only) www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
This alert is based on an actual incident. If you have an incident you’d like to share, please email info@workplacesafetynorth.ca. The description of
circumstances does not reflect legal commentary, nor is it meant to assign legal responsibility to any person or firm.

Teamwork for a safer North
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY ONTARIO
Starting in 2011, northern Ontario will benefit from improved
coordination between the province’s four occupational
health and safety associations.
The benefits include
- easier access to training and consulting services
- more frequent training offered closer to your home
- a larger pool of industry consultants available to help you
- access to a variety of specialized, sector-specific and ergonomic
resources
- training and support from local experts who understand your
part of Ontario.
Working together to serve you
A year ago, Ontario’s health and safety associations came
together to form four leaner, more efficient associations: the
Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA), the Public
Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA), Workplace Safety
North (WSN), and Workplace Safety & Prevention Services
(WSPS). Together, these four groups make up Health & Safety
Ontario, your authoritative source of expertise on preventing
injury and illness in your workplace.
The purpose of this change was to pool resources and avoid
Hearst is leading the way
BY JEAN BÉLEC, WORKPLACE SAFETY NORTH
For Gilles Boisvert, WSN consultant-trainer in Hearst, the
lines that define his district are no longer sector-specific but
simply geographic. As early as 2009, through agreements entered
with the former Ontario Service Sector Alliance, now falling under
Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, Gilles started working
with clients not traditionally served by him as a consultant-trainer
with the former Ontario Forestry Safe Workplace Association.
The traditional approach to serving an area like Hearst was for
each health and safety association to focus solely on the firms
that fall within the WSIB rate groups assigned to it, and for which
it is funded. Since the restructuring of the 12 associations into
four, each association’s clients have been able to benefit from
the availability of what to them are new consultant-trainers. The
newly formed associations have also reached agreements for
a more seamless delivery of service. This more flexible model
allows WSN to benefit from the full spectrum of work experience
possessed by its employees. Among other things, Gilles’
knowledge and experience as a former business owner can now
be leveraged in servicing WSN clients.
In the Hearst area this means that firms like financial institutions,
14 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
duplication to give you more and better front-line service. That’s
exactly what you’ll get from our new collaboration in the North.
Right now, the health and safety associations have dozens of field
consultants with diverse industry backgrounds and expertise
working in the North. We can now make this range of expertise
available for the benefit of all industries in the North. As we
collaborate, the health and safety associations will continue to
operate as separate organizations. Serving our specific industries
remains our priority. At the same time, you can look forward to
these benefits of our teamwork.
Benefits coming in 2011
- Easier shopping for training: You’ll be able to view a joint training
calendar on www.healthandsafetyontario.ca, and register for the
four associations’ courses on www.workplacesafetynorth.ca.
- A better Safety Group experience: In areas with large populations,
such as Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Timmins,
and Sudbury, several associations host Safety Groups.We will
combine the meetings, resulting in greater opportunities for
collaboration and networking. The Safety Groups themselves,
however, will continue to operate as separate groups.
- Partners in Prevention conferences and workshops in the
North, with events in Thunder Bay, Timmins, North Bay,
Sudbury, and Sault Ste. Marie.
railway companies, social services agencies, motels, school boards,
drilling companies, gas stations, hospitals, retail stores, pharmacies,
pulp and paper companies, municipalities, car dealerships, the
University of Hearst and even the Tim Hortons in Hearst are receiving
health and safety consulting and training services from Gilles.
Because of staffing issues, tight budgets and geographical
challenges, the North as a whole has been under-serviced in the
past. First contact with firms is sometimes awkward because of
their lack of knowledge about the health and safety system. The
new alignment has opened doors for Gilles and his colleagues
in the North — a welcome change from the recent challenges
the forest industry has been facing. By reaching a wider range
of industries, the safety message is making its way through
the community much faster. By communicating WSN’s safety
message to a broader variety of firms, Gilles and his northern
colleagues are becoming the go-to people for health and safety in
their respective communities, which happens to be another long-
term goal of the health and safety system realignment. There
are still many obstacles to the system partners reaching a fully
aligned delivery system, but we are on our way.

YOUR LIFE IS
IN YOUR HANDS.
GUARD IT.
You might not be aware of the benefit of a machine guard until you come into contact
with the moving parts of a machine that was supposed to be guarded. But by then
it’s too late. Occupational health and safety law in Ontario requires the guarding of
any mechanical motion that creates a hazard for workers. Make sure the equipment
you’re working around is appropriately guarded. If it isn’t, don’t approach it until it is.
toll free: 1-888-730-7821 (Ontario only) web: www.workplacesafetynorth.ca www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
15

Mining
Health and Safety Conference
2011
April 19 -21, 2011 Sudbury ON
CHANGING MINDS, CHANGING SAFETY
Conference highlights:
- Dr. Joe MacInnis – Deep Leadership: Lessons from Inside the Ocean – Dr. MacInnis has spent a
lifetime exploring the dynamics of leadership and teamwork in lethal environments. He brings stories
from deep-sea exploration including one of the first expeditions to the Titanic and work in the Gulf of
Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
- Dan Comiskey – Safety Leadership – Dan “The Safety Man” Comiskey learned about leadership and
behaviour change in his 14 years playing in the CFL. But it was a close personal experience that made
him dedicate his career to safety. Dan will discuss how to change our personal habits and beliefs.
- John VanderDoelen – The New Shape of Health and Safety in Ontario – Following the release of the
Tony Dean report late in 2010, John VanderDoelen is leading the transition for Ontario’s health and
safety system.
- Other topics: MSDs, guarding, ground control, vehicle safety and more!
For more information or to register, visit www.workplacesafetynorth.ca/conference2011
16 www.healthandsafetyontario.ca
toll free: 1-888-730-7821 (Ontario only) web: www.workplacesafetynorth.ca
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