Supervisors looking to enhance their communication skills can register for a free course that covers leading meetings, sharing information, and more. “Communicating is and always will be a key part of being a good and effective supervisor,” says Cherie Whelan, director of SAFE Companies with the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC). She says that communicating […]
See how a woodworking firm uses incident statistics to educate staff and focus the prevention efforts of their health and safety committee. Dennis Trill is the production manager at Towne Millwork — an architectural woodworking firm that creates custom designs for hospitals, banks, schools, stadiums, and other commercial buildings throughout North America. In 2004, Dennis […]
Learn these five factors and consider them in your workplace to reduce the risk of incidents involving mobile equipment. Workers being struck by vehicles and mobile equipment (also known as “struck-by incidents”) are one of the most common serious injury claims in B.C. (You can see WorkSafeBC serious injury claims by incident type in WorkSafeBC […]
Employers must ensure that non-qualified workers and their materials, equipment, and machinery remain at least 3 metres (10 feet) away from high-voltage sources. Power lines overhead and underground pose a risk of electric shock to workers in many different industries. For example, this summer in B.C., a landscaping worker sustained an electric shock during tree-falling […]
If you work with spray foam insulation or finish coatings, you may be exposed to isocyanates, and should know the health effects of working with them. Exposure to isocyanates — chemicals released into the air by varnishes, paints, coatings, and insulating spray foams — is often a silent exposure. Recently, I noticed on Twitter that […]
X-ray technology is increasingly being used by employers to inspect the safety and quality of products. They need to know its impact on worker safety. X-ray machines are not new. For many decades, we’ve seen them used for medical, dental, and veterinary diagnostics. All of these machines are used by highly trained people and are […]
Learn how managing risk and involving workers in safety planning are keys to safety for conveyor systems in manufacturing and other industries. A worker at a B.C. wood products manufacturing plant was adjusting a waste conveyor after clearing the equipment of debris. The worker became entangled in the tails pool of the moving conveyor and […]
Process safety management is a practice used in high-hazard industries like pulp and paper mills to help protect workers and the surrounding community. You may not know what process safety is. “In a simple way, it’s keeping the stuff that’s supposed to be in the tanks and pipes in the tanks and pipes,” says Tony […]
WorkSafeBC and industry groups are working to ensure COVID-19 health and safety in food processing plants. Industry sectors most affected by COVID-19 are being supported to minimize the spread of the virus. One high-risk sector is food processing. B.C. food processing employers are working hard to update their COVID-19 safety plans and improve protocols for […]
A local manufacturing company shares its approach to well-organized workspaces that reduce the risk of slips, trips, and falls in the workplace. Recently I spoke about maintaining safe workspaces with Roger Hall, health and safety manager at RIMEX’s 200,000-square-foot production plant in Agassiz, B.C. The company manufactures wheels and rims for large industrial vehicles, and […]
