Partners Continue To Promote Workplace Safety

Most Nova Scotians expect they will return home from work safe and sound. While this is true for most, 21 people died at work in 2010.

That is fewer than in 2009, when there were 32 workplace deaths in the province.

To reduce deaths and workplace injuries, the Department of Labour and Workforce Development and its safety partners, are working with employers and employees.

"Almost every workplace death, injury or illness can be avoided and we all have a role to play in making that happen," said Department of Labour and Workforce Development Minister Marilyn More. "My department is using a mix of education and enforcement to make workplaces safer and healthier."

Based on Workers' Compensation Board information, injury rates are down about 16.5 per cent since January 2008. The decline reflects education and enforcement by the Workplace Safety and Insurance System, and the efforts of employers, employees, and other safety partners.

The Workplace Safety and Insurance System which includes Labour and Workforce Development, Workers' Compensation Board, Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal, Workers' Advisers Program, and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, uses education tools to promote workplace safety. It is also doing research to improve how joint occupational health and safety committees and safety representatives operate.

"Education and enforcement go hand in hand, and different people respond to different approaches," said Jim LeBlanc, executive director of Labour and Workforce Development's Occupational Health and Safety Division.

Where those efforts fail, there could be charges and fines. On the enforcement front, Labour and Workforce Development had 20 occupational health and safety prosecutions before the courts at the end of 2010. Cases involving workplace deaths at Rotor Mechanical Services Ltd., Sepracor Canada (Nova Scotia) Limited, and Maritime Steel and Foundries Ltd. are underway.

The other cases involve charges that range from failing to provide information to an occupational health and safety officer to not taking reasonable measures to ensure a safe and healthy workplace.

In January 2010, the department introduced administrative penalties to reinforce the shared responsibility of employers and employees to keep workplaces safe. When a provincial health and safety officer issues orders, an administrator determines whether a fine should be imposed. The fine reflects the level of authority the person holds on the work site, past convictions or penalties, and the potential for injury.

As of Dec. 15, there were 902 administrative penalties issued, ranging from $100 to $2000. Of those, 857 penalties were levied against employers, 22 against employees, and 23 against owners, supervisors, self-employed people, and service providers. The penalties followed a review of 3,356 orders since Jan. 15, 2010.