A spike in workplace incidents in Newfoundland this construction season prompted a provincewide safety stand-down, spearheaded by the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Safety Association (NLCSA).
“For our small province, we have had a pretty tragic construction season,” says Jackie Manuel, CEO of the NLCSA. “We have had a number of workplace fatalities, terrible near misses and workers have suffered very serious, life-altering injuries.”
A stand-down is a voluntary event where employers and their workers break from normal production to discuss safety practices.
Manuel says among the incidents this year was a fatal fall for a worker on a 13-storey building under construction. Another worker was crushed by a structural steel element and a heavy equipment operator was run over by his own vehicle. A building in an industrial park in St. John’s also exploded.
“Something is terribly wrong. We wanted to reach out to the industry with a wake-up call,” says Manuel. “We saw this as an opportunity to remind employers and workers that you need to take a step back sometimes because you don’t want to be the next terrible accident that we’re hearing about in the media.”
About 40 organizations, including some from other industries, representing about 4,000 workers registered with the NLCSA for the mid-August safety event, she says, adding she is pleased “and a bit surprised” by the high level of participation.
A number of the participants were not members of the NLCSA, such as the CNIB and two mining companies.
“Newfoundland Power participated,” she adds. “They are not a construction company, but they are very much involved in the construction industry.”
Manuel says while many companies presented safety talks covering specific hazards, controls and company policies and procedures, others focused on serious workplace injuries.
“One company did a safety perception survey to get feedback from all of its workers,” she says.
Heddle Marine, a marine repair contractor, held a video conference stand-down with its office in Hamilton, Ont., she says.
The official safety stand-down day was Aug. 14. Some stand-downs were as long as a half-day.
Manuel says companies that have taken safety seriously all along took an extra step for the stand-down.
“Either they brought their whole company together or they did something extraordinary.”
The stand-down was organized in a “short time,” taking about four weeks.
“We didn’t want to wait until sites were winding down in October,” she adds.
The NLCSA’s initiative was done in conjunction with the association’s social media startup.
“Through our (Twitter) posts…we probably reached about 10,000 people,” Manuel explains. “We think that the messaging will influence the behaviour of some of the companies that didn’t have stand-downs.”
Manuel says in organizing the event the association gathered information from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Association.
“They have had national stand-downs.”
Manuel, who is this year’s chair of the Canadian Federation of Construction Safety Associations, says she plans on working towards a national safety stand-down event in 2019.
“It is something that has never been done.”
For more information on the stand-down, see the NLCSA’s website.
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