February 27, 2007

Health and Safety

Cancer study wake-up call for industry

WSIB says it is focusing on occupational diseases

BRIAN BAKER

staff writer

Responding to a study reported in yesterday’s edition of Daily Commercial News, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) says it is focusing on linking prevention and occupational disease to combat the rising trend in work-related cancers.

The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) raised concerns about the link between exposure to carcinogens and development of cancer in the construction trades.

Based on the study, OHCOW is calling on the industry to provide more disease prevention.

The WSIB says it takes a proactive approach to the threat of occupational disease. Fatality claims from occupational related diseases have been on an upward trend in the past 10 years, with 259 in 2005.

Aaron Wrixon, spokesperson with WSIB, says illness often does not occur until many years after work exposure.

“The WSIB considers occupational disease adjudication to be a high priority, and is developing a continuous improvement plan,” he says.

The plan is expected to focus on “enhancing timely and quality support” to workers and their families, and on strengthening WSIB accountability and results through efficient and effective processes, says Wrixon.

Working relationships with current industry organizations such as Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA) and the Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO) will play a vital role in combating occupational disease.

“Those partnerships are of vital importance in keeping Ontario’s quarter-million construction workers safe from work-related injuries and occupational diseases,” says Wrixon.

The Ministry of Labour (MOL) has the power to reverse construction industry exemptions on Regulation 833, regarding control of exposure to biological and chemical agents.

"WSIB ... is developing a continuous improvement plan."

Aaron Wrixon

WSIB

However, the MOL disputes OHCOW’s call for occupational exposure limits (OEL), saying reliable samples from construction workplaces are negligible because construction workplaces are often in open air and transient in nature.

“Regulation 833 respecting control of exposure to biological and chemical agents does not apply to the construction sector,” says spokesperson Belinda Sutton. “The designated substance regulations also do not apply, with the exception of the regulation respecting asbestos on construction projects and in buildings and repair operations.”

Construction employers are required under Section 25(2) (h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.

The act also demands owners of the development to determine whether there are any designated substances present at the site.

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