One reader went to sea in a Zodiac and boarded a huge ship – not part of his usual duties as a federal public service manager.
Author Archives: Susan
“I almost killed a guy,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous. “I tipped a 500-lb motor off the top of the rack with the forklift and it landed about a foot away from my coworker.”
Asbestos may be a silent killer, but this man affected by it was anything but silent. Paul Douglas was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given three to six months to live. But he survived another 11 years and worked hard to raise awareness about his illness.
New safety posters shout their messages from the sides of buildings, fencing, guardrails, and magnets on equipment. They’re part of a joint WorkSafeBC–Preventable Construction Signage Pilot Project.
This eight-minute drama made me so nervous as I watched the young dad cutting down trees in a dangerous part of the logging block. See what happens when safety is sacrificed.
Chefs at Mongolie Grill in Whistler, BC, Canada are wearing non-slip shoes you might not expect. All kitchen staff have been wearing the same kind of non-slip shoes for nearly a year: the Crocs Bistro Kitchen Chef Work Shoe – designed for folks in the restaurant, food service, hospitality, and health care industries.
The barista at the coffee shop was wearing sharps-resistant gloves while handling a clear garbage bag that she had already scanned for sharps. She held it away from her body. Then the bag swung and bumped against the wall and the needle, of unknown origin, went into her unprotected knee.
Once there was a boss who had a plan for fooling safety inspectors. One of his former employees told me about it. He was given a broom and told to pretend he was cleaning up if any safety inspectors drove up to their construction site.
Within a single week in May 2011, three workers in BC died after falling from ladders. All fell from relatively low heights. WorkSafeBC reports 13 fatalities and 4,214 serious injury claims from 2001 to 2010 due to falls from ladders.
OSHA reports that 30 workers die each year in the US from heat-related illness, and that thousands more get very sick. To combat this, OSHA has launched a Campaign to Prevent Heat Illness in Outdoor Workers, including a video and other resources (also available in Spanish).
