Ontario’s Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) is producing five new videos with the twin goals of highlighting major workplace hazards and taking stock of the broader human toll associated with workplace tragedies.
The videos are being created in collaboration with the Threads of Life program.
The IHSA, designated by the Ontario government as a primary delivery agent for occupational health and safety (OHS) programs for the construction and select other sectors, has supported Threads of Life for many years but the new venture represents the first time it has worked with the victim-support agency in video storytelling.
The family members appearing in the videos are drawn from the Threads of Life speakers bureau. The videos will explore how the families of victims of workplace injuries dealt with the tragedies and also deliver direct OHS messages based on each workplace mishap.
Helping with healing
“It does a couple of things,” explained Jennifer McKenzie, director of stakeholder engagement who developed the concept of the film series after attending two coroner’s inquests before and after Christmas last year.
“It helps the Threads speaker, the individual that lost their loved one, tell their story. It helps with their healing and them feeling like they’re helping the industry, hopefully, and making a change, even if it’s in one person’s mind about how to work safely.”
Threads of Life was launched in 2003 to address a gap in OHS systems — there was no voice for the family within the investigation or legal process. Today there is varied programming to help participants tell their stories and deliver workplace safety messages.
The IHSA has broad programming but it does not formally support families after the fact, said Ken Rayner, IHSA vice-president of market development.
“That’s not anything that we provide,” he remarked.
“These speakers, they get out and they tell the stories in terms of, we don’t ever want this to happen to someone else, and it’s tough.”
See Something, Say Something
Filming of the videos began July 9 with interviews of family members, and there was to be additional footage shot at workplaces.
McKenzie said the hope is to have the five finished products ready for viewing in the fall, when she will be spearheading a new IHSA campaign called See Something, Say Something.
“It’s that intent of, ‘hey, we’re all responsible for each other,’” said Rayner of the new awareness program. “When you’re on a worksite, that’s the way it should be. Even if it’s not something that’s within your scope of responsibility or authority, but you know somebody is doing something that could put themselves in jeopardy, say something, speak up, do something about it.”
One of the videos will tell the story of Dean Maguire, a sheet metal worker who fell to his death while working on a project at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto. His employer was later found guilty of offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
McKenzie said Maguire’s death fits into the See Something, Say Something narrative.
“The unfortunate event happened where somebody saw Dean working in a manner that was life-threatening and chose not to say something because Dean wasn’t part of the crew that he was with, so he didn’t feel the need or the reason to speak up,” she said.
“The next time somebody goes to tie up with an SRL, after they hear that, we’re hoping that they’re going to remember that story and remember, ‘oh, hold on a second, let me go back and make sure I did this correctly.’”
Other video topics include the story of one roofer who slipped and fell from the top of a ladder, dying six days later; of a worker in the trucking industry working to attach two 53-foot trailers who fell under the wheels; of a dump truck driver taking aggregate out of a gravel pit who arrived at a rail crossing and failed to hear the train whistles or see the oncoming train; and of a plumber and steamfitter who died after career exposure to asbestos.
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