September 2006

Sprains and Strains: Both Prevalent and Preventable
New guidelines and hazard assessment criteria vetted by workplace


It's been a busy summer for the Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Prevention Strategy --a new and far-reaching initiative designed by Ontario's prevention system to eliminate injuries that affect muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Service-sector firms in particular need to be tuned in to developments on this topic. The repetitive, forceful or awkward movements so prevalent in your workplaces, make soft-tissue disorders your number-one injury. The new guidelines, once finalized, are sure to affect the way you operate. Here are two things you need to know:

1:

A series of open consultation sessions took place during the summer to provide stakeholder input on draft MSD prevention guidelines to be used to develop hazard risk assessments and tools for Ontario employers. The consultations conclude at the end of September, and involved government, business, labour and health and safety associations. The extensiveness of the consultations underlines what is becoming a ubiquitous message throughout Ontario's prevention system: that injuries and illnesses are neither inevitable nor unpredictable, and that even soft-tissue injuries are entirely preventable. Involving stakeholders widely in the planning process will leave no excuses for non-compliance when the guidelines become enforceable in late 2006.

2:

The initiative supports vigorous efforts launched in the past year by both the Ministry of Labour, which introduced a Pain and Strains Campaign and made MSD risk factors a priority in MOL inspection criteria; and by the WSIB, which has made a CD-ROM, fact sheets and other tools available to employers to help build health and safety programs to prevent MSDs.

Bottom line, prevention partners have MSDs in their sights, and the service sector will soon feel the effects of that focus. The OSSA will keep you informed about outcomes and how they will affect you. Watch future issues of The Advocate and ossa.com for more information.

The Road to Safer Highways
"Roadsafe" initiative reaches out to promote better driving habits


On any given day, two people will die in traffic accidents on Ontario roads. More than 200 will be seriously injured. Between 2000 and 2005, vehicle crashes are estimated to have been responsible for 199 work-related deaths, accounting for more than 30% of all work-related traumatic fatalities.

Motor vehicle accidents are the cause of most fatalities in the service sector. Who among us hasn't thought, enough already! The "Roadsafe--Road Safety Partners of Ontario" is a cross-jurisdictional alliance of organizations that has stepped forward to do something about it. Its goal: to implement a coordinated three-year plan that will reduce by 30% the number of people killed or seriously injured on Ontario roads. Areas of focus include aggressive, distracted and drowsy driving; sharing the road safely with trucks; workplace road safety management; the use of seatbelts; and young/new drivers' road safety awareness and skills. Don't wait to be touched by tragedy on the road before you take action:

•	Check out the RoadSafe web site, and use the data to generate awareness with your employees, and round out your health and safety programs.
•	Contact the OSSA for help with using relevant research knowledge in planning road safety initiatives for your organization; see OSSA's Certification Part II Driving Hazards Training product as an example.

Are Your Employees Required to Enter Confined Spaces?
New guidelines may apply...


Some service-sector workplaces will be affected by new requirements, announced by the Ministry of Labour on August 29, for workers who are required to enter, or work in or near, confined spaces. Confined spaces are defined as "an enclosed space that is not designed for continuous human occupancy and can have a build-up of gasses or dust, or lack of oxygen, that can put workers at risk of injury, or even death." Examples include: elevator rooms, mechanical rooms, chlorine rooms, crawl spaces near a compressor, ovens, tank-like compartments with a manhole for entry. The requirements go into effect and are enforceable on September 30. The Ontario Service Safety Alliance (OSSA) invited Advocate subscribers to the consultation table in August, and was there itself to bring a service sector perspective to the draft guidelines. Check out the guidelines for more information; in particular, section 4. entitled "Confined Spaces," on page 6 and 7 could be useful to help you determine the implications for your firm. More information available in the MOL's backgrounder, as well as via an OSSA awareness session that is being developed to help clients recognize threats, and understand and translate regulation requirements for their workplaces. Call OSSA for details.

More Ways to be Selected for a WorkWell Audit
Criteria now includes those employers served with MOL orders


As of August 21, more employers face a possible WorkWell audit with the introduction of additional selection criteria. WorkWell still identifies employers with poor accident records and or high accident costs compared with their rate group, or who have a history of non-compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act. And now, a WorkWell visit could also be triggered by the number, type and severity of Ministry of Labour workplace orders that have been issued, and the degree of compliance with those orders... including orders related to employers who have failed to report injuries. The move shows a greater cooperation between the MOL and the WSIB, and willingness to share data. See the amended WorkWell program policy, or call OSSA for help if you're facing MOL orders, want to know more about WorkWell audits, or are considering a practice audit.

Check Out Your Premium Rates for 2007
WSIB "holds the line" in 2007


The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) says it will "hold the line" on aggregate premium rates for 2007 over 2006 at $2.25 per $100 of insurable earnings. Check out your preliminary rates by rate group. The WSIB Board will approve the final rates at the end of September before mailing them to employers in early November. You'll want to note two important points:

•

One, the word "aggregate" means, of course, that premiums for some rate groups (23%) will decrease, and increase for others (42%). The rest (35%) will hold the line. For Ontario's service sector, this translates into increases of up to 10% in many of the rate groups, particularly some of the retail, hotel and motel, and personal services sectors.

•

And two, in a letter to Ontario businesses, WSIB Chair Steven Mahoney simultaneously praised Ontario employers for good results, and presented a challenge. "The WSIB's decision to hold the line on the aggregate premium rates assumes that significant progress will continue on key issues of concern to Ontario's workers--such as safer workplaces, and improved return to work outcomes for injured workers," he says. His message is clear: that employers will share accountability for the direction premium rates take in the future, and that he "assumes" the progress made to date will not abate in significance.

Advocate Past Issues

•	June 29, 2006 Issue.
•	February 14, 2006 Issue.
•	October 4, 2005 Issue.
•	July 20, 2005 Issue.
•	March 30, 2005 Issue.
•	December 7, 2004 Issue.