Construction Safety Association of Ontario saluted for pioneering role in provincial health and safety

A tribute to the Construction Safety Association of Ontario was a major highlight of the Council of Ontario Construction Associations’ recent annual general meeting.

Dan Padden, a former CSAO field consultant who now heads his own consulting business, traced the 80-year-old history of the safety association from its early beginnings at the start of the Depression to its recent amalgamation into the new Infrastructure Health and Safety Association.

Officially launched on Jan. 1 through the merger of the CSAO, the Electrical & Utilities Safety Association of Ontario and the Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario, the expanded IHSA serves the aggregates, construction, electrical, pipelines, ready-mix concrete, transportation, and utilities industries.

While partially a goodbye to the now-defunct CSAO, the tribute was more than just a trip down memory lane for the audience. There were more than a few references to the safety association’s long list of achievements in promoting workplace safety within the construction industry and lobbying efforts to strengthen safety legislation.

The association was established by four charter members in 1929 just as the Great Depression was starting.

In 1938 the group received more than $10,000 in funding from the Workmen’s Compensation Board. During the 1930s and 1940s it also began hiring inspectors, said Padden.

“They played a double role helping the WCB track down premium evaders and inspecting jobsites for the Department of Labour.”

Construction boomed after the Depression and during the Second World War, the construction industry was busy building airports, coastal defences and the Alaska Highway. It was also an active time for the CSAO, which produced the first-ever Supervisor’s Accident Report in 1945.

The boom continued throughout the 1950s with the start of the St. Lawrence Seaway project, Ontario Hydro developments in Northwestern Ontario, the launch of the 400 series of highways and the historic start of the Yonge Street subway in Ontario.

And that start was matched by an equally important safety mandate by the Toronto Transit Commission. Each contractor’s safety engineer had to be approved by the project’s overall structural engineer.

“This was a first, building safety into the subway system right from the start,” Padden said.

But a low point for construction safety occurred in the 1960s when two major accidents claimed a total of 14 lives. Five immigrant workers constructing a tunnel on the Toronto subway were killed, while nine workers were killed and 55 others were injured with the collapse of the Heron Bridge in Ottawa. The deaths sparked public awareness about safety and the need for stricter standards, he said.

With the enactment of the Construction Safety Act in 1962 the role of the association was more clearly defined as an educator and the enforcement of the Act’s provisions was left to the Ministry of Labour.

To meet that educator’s role, general manager Gil Samson implemented a mass media advertising campaign, a number of training programs and films were produced, and the CSAO also purchased a mobile unit to take safety instruction to the work site.

Throughout the 1970s, the association continued to develop and deliver safety programs, including a highly popular three-part interactive one. It was near the end of that decade — in 1978 — that the Occupational Health and Safety Act was passed, said Padden.

A major development during the 1980s was introduction of the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) in 1988.

Training became mandatory for all workers, with the CSAO providing initial five- to eight-hour training for construction members. By1989 more than 30,000 industry workers were trained.

A collective agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the formation of a Construction Health and Safety Unit were some of the milestones of the 1990s. As well, the association continued its research and the publication of timely information bulletins.

In the 1990s, CSAO moved to new headquarters in Etobicoke, Ont. and general manager Len Sylvester retired after 27 years of service. He was replaced by Don Dickie, who in turn, was succeeded by Roy O’Rourke in 2005.

With the dawn of the new millennium, however, there was no let-up in training demands. An example of the CSAO’s work here was the creation of a Construction Health and Safety Officer certificate and its massive “Tie Off” campaign to stem the tragic number accidents and deaths due to falls.