Posts Categorized As: Nova Scotia health and safety

Blog Post #98 – Health & Safety Outside Canada

I have had the honour of suggesting changes in the Ontario, as well as the rest of Canada, health and safety legislation. The previous 99 blogs deal with Canadian content, specifically those in Ontario.

I thought it appropriate to complete the 100th blog with a recent example of an accident in the Galveston , Texas area. It just goes to show that health and safety is a 24/7 responsibility and occupational accidents have no borders.

I do not know the legislation and what laws are broken and it is my hope that someone from the great state of Texas will fill our readers in. Is it covered under Federal or State law? If I receive any follow-up on this particular incident I will forward it to the readers.

Thank you all for the dedicated readership during the first 100 blogs. The comments number over 6,900 as of today’s date, June 26, 2011 and it is my sincere wish to continue to provide quality blogs on health and safety for a long time to come.

Daniel L. Beal
Senior Trainer for HRS Group Inc.
Vice President

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Blog Post #92 – Heat Stress & the Law

The first thing every employer needs to understand is that there is, without question, a legal duty to safeguard workers against the risks of heat stress. Seven provinces/territories (BC, NB, NL, PE, QC, SK and YT) include in their OHS regulations specific measures that employers must take to protect workers against heat stress. For example, Part 7 of the B.C. OHS Regulation requires employers to:

– Limit workers’ exposure to excessive heat;
– Conduct heat stress assessments to determine workers’ risks of hazardous exposure;
– Put into place a heat stress exposure control plan; and
– Implement engineering and administrative controls.https://hrsgroup.com/blog/heat-stress-the-law/

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Blog Post #11 – Halifax Car Dealership Fined $38,000

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Excerpt from the OH&S Canada magazine

A Halifax-area auto dealership has been fined $38,750 for failing to ensure a safe workplace in connection with an explosion and fire that killed an employee in 2008. The fine imposed Wednesday on O’Regan Chevrolet Cadillac Ltd. was well below the $150,000 requested by the Crown during sentencing arguments in October. Provincial court Judge Pam Williams said there was no evidence that the company’s infractions caused the death of Kyle Hickey. The 22-year-old from Timberlea was badly burned in a fire in an O’Regan’s body shop in Dartmouth on March 13, 2008. He died in hospital the next day.

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Blog Post #7 – Sawmill Worker’s Foot Amputated by Driveshaft

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Two injuries, including a foot amputation, struck a Truro, Nova Scotia sawmill on August 4, 2010.

The first incident at the JD Irving, Ltd.-owned Truro Sawmill occurred just before 8 a.m. while a 46-year-old employee was adjusting a barrier on a moving conveyor, reports Kevin Finch, a spokesman for the Dept. Of Labour and Workforce Development in Halifax which is investigating the two accidents. The wrench that he was using slipped, and that pinched his left middle finger between the tool and the moving belt. The result was that he had a pinch injury to the finger, which moved the flesh just below the nail, Finch adds. The worker was taken to the hospital for the non-critical injury. The Labour Department ordered the conveyor be locked out until inspectors could determine that an adequate lockout procedure is in place.

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