September 2008

ON THE MOL & WSIB RADAR

Your rate group improved its health and safety performance... but 2009 premiums still went up
How the rules have changed under the WSIB’s Road to Zero

The WSIB introduced its five-year strategic plan -Road to Zero- in 2008. The plan sets a goal of zero fatalities and a 7% reduction in injury rates from 2007 levels for each of the next five years, starting in 2008. It used to be that if your rate group maintained the status quo in terms of its health and safety performance year over year, premium rates would do the same. Not any more. Here’s what’s going to happen.

Your premium rates for 2009 were based on several assumptions, the two most important of which are that:

•	your rate group will achieve at least a 7% reduction in injury rates in 2008;
•	your rate group will achieve an annual reduction in claim costs and persistency (how long a claim continues to be open, measured in months).

These same assumptions apply for 2010 through 2013, when the WSIB will launch its next five-year strategic plan.


Here’s what it means to you:

•	If your rate group maintains the same injury rates it is currently experiencing year over year, premiums will go up year over year;
•	You will only break even if you achieve a 7% reduction each year, over the next five years.
•	Therefore, if your rate group: ∅ Achieves a 7% reduction in injury rates: your premium rate will stay the same; ∅ Exceeds the minimum 7% reduction: your premium rate will go down; ∅ Does not achieve a 7% reduction: your premium rate will go up.

How is Ontario’s service sector affected in 2009?

The WSIB has announced that there’s a net “no change” on premium rates for all rate groups in 2009, which means the premium rates for some rate groups will go up and for others they will go down. Next year, premium rates for 13 of the 19 service sector rate groups will go up by 4% or more.

Kudos to the six service sector rate groups that did not go up:

•	Beer stores (premium rate is down);
•	Vehicle services and repairs;
•	Restaurants and catering;
•	Hotels, motels and camping;
•	Personal services;
•	Advertising and entertainment.

What can you do?

First, be informed:

•	Check out the WSIB letter to employers, news release and Q&A;
•	Eliminate surprises by estimating your 2009 premium using the WSIB’s calculator

Second, take steps to further reduce your injury rates, claim costs and claim persistency:

•	Are decision-makers in your organization aware of the factors driving future premium rates for your rate group and your firm?
•	What systems, programs, resources and tools do you have in place to drive down—and keep driving down—these performance numbers?
•	Get help; for example, participate in OSSA’s two-part “Getting Started” program, specifically for organization owners and general managers, to be held in easy-to-access locations across Ontario.

Sign up for OSSA’s two-part “Getting Started” program of workshops

A. OSSA Risk Assessment workshops

•	A three-hour session (several have been scheduled over the summer and fall).
•	You will walk away with:
•	Therefore, if your rate group: ∅ The business case for health and safety; ∅ An evaluation of your company’s performance against regulations; ∅ The inside track on how Ontario’s prevention system functions, and how it can add value to your operations; ∅ A better understanding of your legal obligations under the Occupational Health & Safety Act; ∅ An action plan relevant to your firm to get you started.
•	Cost: $99 per person

B. OSSA Group Consulting workshops

•	A half-day session (just two have been scheduled for fall).
•	You will walk away with a better understanding of workplace compliance and hazards.
•	Cost: $99 per person for those who attended the Risk Assessment workshops; or $198 per person for those attending the Group Consulting workshops only.

At the end of the workshops, the business owner will have a solid grasp of the health and safety fundamentals needed to develop a health and safety program designed to reduce injuries and illnesses.

Other OSSA interventions you can ask for:

•	Enrollment in an OSSA Safety Group (now recruiting for 2009);
•	Certification training;
•	Many health and safety awareness courses, such as Safe Lifting, Ergonomics, Early & Safe Return to Work;
•	A compliance checklist that will walk you through the regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act;
•	A professional review of your Joint Health & Safety Committee; health and safety policy and program; hazards; and orientation training—find out what MOL inspectors typically look for;
•	A Practice Workwell Audit: be prepared by voluntarily stepping through the process.

Contact OSSA for more information.

MOL launches its September blitz
Targets firms at risk for slips, trips and falls

We alerted our readers in the last edition of The Advocate that, as part of its enforcement strategy, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) is launching a series of blitzes that targets firms at greatest risk for specific hazards. On the radar for September: slips, trips and falls. Find out how this hazard hits your firm’s bottom line - and what you can do before MOL inspectors come calling.


Let the numbers do the talking

Here are a few statistics to help put this hazard in perspective:

•	60,000 Canadian workers are injured from slips, trips and falls each year—that’s about 15% of all lost-time injuries across the country (CCOHS: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety);
•	In 2007, almost 19% of all workplace injuries in the service sector (3,445 lost-time injuries) were caused by slips and falls—each one preventable (WSIB data, 2007);
•	For retail and wholesale, the new claim cost per lost-time injury is $16,110; in all other service sectors, it’s $13,893 (see WSIB’s 2008 Premium Rate Manual, page 565).

With numbers like these, clearly slips, trips and falls represent a hazard that demands extra attention—especially considering that risks are even higher for the service sector; e.g. kitchens, retail outlets, vehicle repair shops and tourism workplaces.


Anticipating what MOL inspectors are looking for
For insight on what MOL inspectors will be looking for (and why), and for checklists that will help you strengthen your workplace control, check out OSSA’s slips, trips and falls check sheet, and print off a copy of “Don’t Fall For Workplace Injuries: Awareness is the Best Strategy.” Attention restaurants and service sector firms with kitchens: in November, MOL inspectors will be blitzing electrical hazards in industrial workplaces.

Expanding our view to include all vulnerable workers
Young, old, new: all need protecting

Human Resources and Social Development Canada published a report in July 2008 called “Supporting and Engaging Older Workers in the New Economy.” The report is useful on a couple of levels: one, for the insight it provides to employers in a challenging job market and the prospect of staffing shortages; and two, for the reminder that seniors are as vulnerable as young and new workers when it comes to certain health and safety hazards.

Contrary to common belief, older workers actually have fewer accidents than younger workers. However, when they have accidents, their injuries tend to be more severe, in part because of long time exposure to physical, chemical or environmental factors in the workplace.

While older workers have a lot to offer, they also exhibit declining capabilities in a number of areas; for example, it’s possible that older workers:

•	Are experiencing a deterioration in physical strength, vision and hearing;
•	Are becoming more vulnerable to chemicals;
•	Don’t tolerate heat or cold temperatures as well as when they were younger;
•	Are more susceptible to musculoskeletal injuries because their body loses some flexibility and range of motion;
•	Tire more easily.

Declining capabilities may require you to adapt performance demands and/or introduce work accommodations to help the workers prevent potential injuries; for example, by:

•	Adjusting the lighting, temperature and noise levels in the workplace to address declining vision and greater sensitivity to temperatures and to noise by older workers;
•	Adjusting working stations, tools and procedures to make them easier, more comfortable and safer;
•	Allowing flexible working hours;
•	Providing job-sharing, part-time and/or work from home options;
•	Providing access to fitness programs, employee assistance, nutrition and other wellness programs.

The bonus: implementing these measures are bound to make the workplace healthier and safer for all employees.

Watch for an increasing focus on this vulnerable workforce, and OSSA’s soon-to-be-published resource, in the coming months.

Can you afford not to help your franchise owners?
Why helping your owners with health and safety is good for business

Some franchisors support their franchise owners with health and safety tools, resources and direction. Others—citing concerns around liability, franchisee overload and prohibitive costs—do not. Why do some step in where others fear to tread? Find out what successful franchise corporations know.


Myth #1: If we help our franchisee locations with health and safety and there’s an injury, won’t the corporate office be liable?

•	Many franchise operators sign agreements with their owners relating to the obligation of owners to abide by the laws of the land, such as employment standards. The Occupational Health & Safety Act is another such law.
•	Corporations typically help their franchisees manage risk in such areas as customer service, food handling, environmental challenges, and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points programs. How, then, would a corporation defend itself in the event of a serious health and safety violation, given that the prosecution could point to the support being offered in these other areas?
•	Few would dispute that an injury at a franchisee location affects corporate image; however, for customers accustomed to brand consistency, it may also injure the reputation of sister locations.

Myth #2: But corporations already put too many demands on their franchise owners—health and safety takes it over the top.

•	The obligation to meet health and safety requirements belongs to the franchisee—whether the corporation helps or not.
•	Support from the corporation helps, through the setting of expectations, to build a positive, employee-centred culture, at both the corporate office and franchisee location.
•	It’s true: business owners wear many hats and lead busy lives, and health and safety is a complex undertaking. This is precisely why most owners embrace help in understanding their legal obligations and how to implement a health and safety system in a cost-effective way.

Myth #3: Sorry, corporate can’t afford to help.

•	Some corporations believe they can’t afford not to, and see their support as an investment and a win-win for both franchisor and franchisee.
•	Providing corporate assistance minimizes the costly duplication of effort involved when franchisees must individually get up to speed on legislative requirements.
•	It also leverages the opportunity to share knowledge, and profit from leading, cost-effective practices.

For an up close and personal look at how TDL Group manages health and safety with its more than 3,000 Tim Hortons stores across Ontario, see OSSA’s fall edition of Safety Mosaic magazine: available online in October, or contact us for a free subscription.

Information alerts affecting lift devices
What workplaces with warehouses or back rooms can learn from others

The Ministry of Labour has alerted the OSSA about two safety hazards that affect service sector workplaces with a warehouse or back room. Both alerts address lift devices, one a Battery Bull battery lifting device, and the other narrow aisle lift trucks. Here’s what you need to know.


Battery Bull battery lifting device
In the first information alert involving the Battery Bull device, a worker was fatally injured after being pinned between the moving “bridge” (used to position the battery positioning magnet) and the frame of the battery compartment. The Battery Bull is defined in the regulations as a lifting device. Here are two key regulations to keep in mind:

•	Equipment must be guarded to prevent access to a moving part or pinch point;
•	Barriers, warning signs and other safeguards must be used where vehicle or pedestrian traffic may endanger worker safety—noting that the operator’s view may be impeded, and the machine is quiet when in operation, which may prevent pedestrians from hearing it.
•	It also leverages the opportunity to share knowledge, and profit from leading, cost-effective practices.

Narrow aisle lift trucks
In the second alert, the MOL draws attention to the number of fatal incidents (as well as critical and non-critical injuries) that have occurred within the last few years where operators of electric narrow aisle lift trucks, commonly known as reach trucks—defined as Class II lift trucks by CSA B335-04 Safety Standard for Lift Trucks—have struck racking components during the operation of these devices.
Reach truck operators must be trained on the particulars of this equipment-specific hazard. Extra caution must be used when working in and around certain racking system setups and precautions should be taken to minimize risk to the operator; for example:

•	Fit the reach truck with rear guard posts to prevent objects such as racking components from entering the operator’s compartment (if posts are fitted as after market accessories, they must be fitted by the original manufacturer, his agent, or under the direction of a professional engineer);
•	Adjust cross-beam heights such that they prevent the reach truck from driving under them. Install the first cross beam at a height that causes the main body of the reach truck to contact the beam, rather than allowing the cross beam to enter the operator’s compartment in the event of a rearward collision or side-swipe.

If you have this equipment, contact OSSA for an assessment to make sure you’re implementing risk management controls that meet legislative requirements.