[Healthandsafety] News April 7-08

["Barry Doyle" <bdoyle@cupe.ca>]

>From Ontario . .  .

Workplace safety under review; WSIB chair vows to cut on-the-job injuries and deaths by changing safety rebate program
Waterloo Region Record 
Mon 07 Apr 2008 
Page: A3 
Section: Front 
Byline: Moira Welsh and David Bruser 
Source: Record news services 

On-the-job injuries and deaths will drop as a result of a sweeping review of Ontario's multimillion-dollar workplace safety rebate program, the head of the safety agency vows. 

Workplace Safety and Insurance Board chair Steve Mahoney said he is looking for a better way to reward safe companies and bring into line those where workers are killed. 

A series by the Toronto Star revealed that one arm of the provincial government has been giving financial rewards to companies that have been prosecuted for worker deaths by another arm of the government. 

"I didn't realize that we were paying out those kinds of bonuses to companies that are breaking the law, and when I saw that, I said 'This is nonsense.' There has to be accountability," Mahoney said. 

Labour Minister Brad Duguid said clearly the system is "in need of reform." 

But labour groups say changes will be an uphill battle, predicting that the business lobby will balk at losing the rebates. 

"The companies have a huge influence," said Wayne Samuelson, head of the Ontario Federation of Labour, which represents 700,0000 workers. 

"They will try to delay changes, or if that doesn't work, they will complain to the Ministry of Labour or the premier's office." 

The Star interviewed two WSIB workers who echoed Samuelson's comments but would not go on the record because they both work in the system and fear retribution. 

Mahoney, who is now working on a solution, said he is getting some pushback from business groups, but change must prevail. 

The Star investigation has found that the workplace insurance agency has given at least tens of millions of dollars in rebates to companies that have been prosecuted by the provincial government and found guilty of safety violations leading to deaths, amputations and other gruesome injuries. 

The investigation examined whether rebates were issued in the year following the accident and the year of the guilty plea. That analysis led to 75 instances since 2001 that most dramatically illustrate the problem. These offending companies were fined a total of $14 million by the province yet received payouts totalling $42 million from the WSIB. 

Mahoney's moratorium on financial rebates for deaths was announced in mid-March, after the Star asked a series of questions about rebate payouts that Ontario companies received, despite worker deaths. 

Mahoney said that the current internal review will span 12 months. 

The Star's investigation found a provincial safety system that is at odds with itself. The Labour Ministry takes a hard legal stance against unsafe companies and the WSIB insures them against lawsuits from injured workers. But the two systems do not speak to each other. 

When labour lawyers take unsafe companies to court after a death or a serious accident, they often win a powerful court decision and a fine. Yet the WSIB's system does not pay attention. 

Despite its mandate to protect the rights of injured workers when it was created in 1915, the WSIB does not factor in the findings of the courts when a company is convicted of dangerous work practices. And, as the Star investigation found, those court decisions often have no impact on rebates. 

Mahoney said he believes that the principle of providing an incentive to companies to reduce their injuries should stay. But, he mused that the system should redirect its incentive program away from the cost of injuries and deaths incurred by each company and instead, focus on the number of injuries and deaths. 

Samuelson said that time is of the essence -- a better system will help reduce deaths and injuries. 

He worries that business groups will try to delay changes, saying the WSIB needs to meet its deadline or "they will talk for years and years." 

Industry experts say the big problem is the disconnect between the provincial Labour Ministry, which prosecutes wayward companies, and the WSIB, which runs the insurance program. 

In British Columbia, for example, the worker safety agency takes a "holistic" approach, essentially combining the ministry and the insurance system, said Terry Bogyo, spokesperson for WorkSafe BC. 

© 2008 Torstar Corporation


Idnumber: 200804070009 
Edition: Final 
Story Type: NEWS 
Length: 671 words 





>From the U.K. . . . 

Corporate killing law does not go far enough, says union
The Herald (Glasgow, UK)) 
Mon 07 Apr 2008 
Page: 10 
Section: News 
Byline: CAROLYN CHURCHILL 

UNION leaders have expressed concern that a new law designed to make it easier to prosecute employers for negligently causing a death does not go far enough. 

They said the families of workers who have been killed have been let down because the corporate homicide legislation, which came into force yesterday, only allows for the prosecution of companies, not individuals. 

The act will apply where senior managers failed to take proper safety steps. Firms found guilty could be hit with much larger fines than any previously handed out by courts for health and safety offences. Companies could have to pay up to 10per cent of their annual turnover, or even more in the very worst cases. 

However, Grahame Smith, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said the new law was a "fudge". "It is clear the governments in Westminster and in Holyrood have let down the families of workers killed by their employers, " he said. 

"This legislation will not allow for prosecution of individuals, but only of the company. Even then, only if the failures of a senior manager can be identified." 

Privatised gas utility Transco became the first company in Scotland to be prosecuted under the common law crime of culpable homicide following a gas explosion which killed a family of four in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, in 1999. Andrew Findlay, 34, his wife Janette, 36, and their children Stacey, 13, and Daryl, 11, died in the blast at their house. 

However, the charge of culpable homicide was later dismissed because the Crown could not identify a "controlling mind" who could be held responsible for the neglect. 

Transco was later fined GBP15m - the largest health and safety fine to date in the UK. 

A total of 31 workers were killed in Scotland in 2006/07, while a further 2702 were seriously injured, according to the Health and Safety Executive. 



Idnumber: 200804070022 
Length: 311 words 


>From B.C. . . . 

Enderby to get new elementary school; Aging M.V. Beattie school, built in 1914, to be replaced
The Daily Courier (Vernon) 
Mon 07 Apr 2008 
Page: A1 / FRONT 
Section: News 
Source: The Vernon Daily Courier 

Approximately $10 million will be spent on a new school in Enderby. 

The provincial government is accelerating plans to replace aging M.V. Beattie Elementary after years of pushing from the district. 

"This is tremendous news for the board and school district," said North Okanagan-Shuswap board chairwoman Teresa Hebert. "The replacement of the original brick building has been a top priority. . . . Replacing the school will provide the community of Enderby with a new, environmentally friendly, healthy learning environment, which will assist us in preparing students to reach their full potential." 

The first stage of a the replacement is a feasibility study to review options and cost, which the province iscontributing $100,000 to. 

The oldest part of M.V. Beattie was built in 1914, with additions constructed in 1965 and 1970. A replacement for the school is estimated to cost approximately $10 million. 

"The Ministry of Education and the government consider M.V. Beattie Elementary to be a high priority for replacement," said Shuswap MLA George Abbott while visiting the school Friday. 

Despite complaints from parents who felt the school was unsafe for their children due to mould and asbestos, it was deemed safe by a number of inspections earlier this year, including a visual on-site inspection conducted by WorkSafe B.C. No health hazards were raised in the inspection report. 

The district also hired independent consultants to conduct a mould and air-quality test. After reviewing that report and making its own on-site inspection, the Interior Health Authority concluded that preliminary results indicate no health risks. 

"Because of the age of M.V. Beattie Elementary, the province will accelerate the process for replacement of the school," said Education Minister Shirley Bond. 

"The feasibility study is the first step in ensuring that student and community needs are met in North Okanagan-Shuswap in the years ahead." 

Since 2001-02, four capital projects worth $9.2 million have been completed in the North Okanagan-Shuswap district. 



Idnumber: 200804070004 
Edition: Final 
Story Type: News 
Length: 317 words 



>From the U.S. . . . 

$3 Billion Asbestos Deal Reached by W.R.Grace Company to Pay Asbestos Victims
PR NEWSWIRE US 
Mon 07 Apr 2008 
Dateline: CHICAGO, April 7, 2008 

CHICAGO, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Principals announced today a $3 billion dollar agreement to resolve current and future asbestos claims with chemical manufacturer 

W.R.Grace & Co. and related entities, which will eventually allow the multinational corporation to emerge from bankruptcy with no further obligations for asbestos injury liability. Grace manufactured asbestos containing products from 1938 until the 1970's. 

Terms of the agreement will require Grace to make cash payments over a period of time into a trust fund for asbestos victims. Additional cash contributions will be paid to the trust by Sealed Air Corporation, and Fresenius Medical Corporation, both formerly affiliated with Grace. Grace agreed that all of its remaining insurance coverage shall be used for the benefit of the asbestos victims. Grace also agreed that the trust fund shall receive warrants for its stock shares at an agreed price. The total value of the payments and equity is approximately $3 billion dollars. "The victims of asbestos poisoning and asbestos cancer have walked a long path to reach justice. Certainly nothing can replace the family members who have been lost as a result of their exposure to asbestos, but today's settlement represents a fair resolution for both the victims and Grace," said 

John D. Cooney of the Chicago law firm of Cooney and Conway. "It is appropriate at this time to remember that countless lives were lost and families damaged because of the needless use of asbestos products for many decades." 

Mr. Cooney is a member of the negotiating committee for the settlement, as well as a member of the official Asbestos Creditors Committee appointed by the United States Trustee after Grace filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2001. At the time it filed for bankruptcy protection Grace stated that it had been named in 325,000 asbestos personal injury claims. Cooney, whose law firm represents asbestos plaintiffs, noted that many individuals had been diagnosed with asbestos disease since that time. "Workers and their families were unknowingly exposed to asbestos for most of the last century. Thousands of those people will be diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer, in the future as a result of this exposure. By structuring this settlement as a trust fund, both present and future victims will be able to receive just compensation, " Cooney stated. 

The announcement of the settlement was made at a scheduled bankruptcy hearing before Judge 

Judith Fitzgerald in Pittsburgh this morning. It is expected that Judge Fitzgerald will set the matter for an additional hearing later this month. 

SOURCE Cooney & Conway 



Idnumber: 200804070395 
Story Type: Press Release 
Length: 421 words 
Company: W R GRACE & CO; SEALED AIR CORP 
Distributor: Newstex



Barry Doyle
Senior Officer, Health and Safety
Canadian Union of Public Employees
1375 St. Laurent Blvd.
Ottawa, ON  K1G 0Z7
o.613-237-1590 x289
c.613-294-9424
f. 613-237-5508
bdoyle@cupe.ca
www.cupe.ca