Canadian HR Reporter

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All rights reserved. WorkPerks ® is a registered trade-mark of Venngo Inc. All other trade-marks are the property of their respective owners. V1_20151116 Contact us for a demo and to learn more... workperks the original perks company TM by 20151116_hrReporter_Nov20_001.indd 1 2015-11-16 10:51 AM Budget cuts undermine safety: CCPA Group says 1.2 million federal workers vulnerable, more safety inspectors needed BY SABRINA NANJI OTTAWA'S BUDGET CUTS are undermining the health and safety of federally regulated work- places, according to a study. Waiting to Happen, the study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), said a lack of resources — including funding and safety inspection staff — are putting nearly 1.2 million workers in the federal government at risk. In 2005, for instance, there were 151 inspectors overseeing health and safety in federally regulated sectors (such as banking, commu- nications, broadcasting, postal, road, air and rail transportation and government). Today, there are somewhere between 67 and 100. "e overall situation is a recipe for both potentially dangerous oc- cupational health and safety issues and injuries," said John Anderson, the CCPA researcher who wrote the 60-page paper. "Inspection is absent or so highly limited it cannot create the safe workplace environment that is surely every- body's goal and wish." e result is federal workplaces are becoming less safe than previ- ous years, compared to other prov- inces, according to the report. In the 12 years of data (up until 2013), 684 employees died as a result of a workplace injury — an average of 57 deaths per year. In 2013 alone, there were 58 fatalities. Budget cuts and employment growth in the federal sector have all but diminished health and safe- ty resources, said Anderson. "e ratio of workers to inspec- tors in the federally regulated sec- tor has therefore increased sub- stantially… With this kind of ratio, it is physically impossible for in- spectors to do the regular inspec- tion work required," he said. "Hu- man resources are so strained that when multiple crises happen at the same time, inspectors have to be brought in from other regions." However, according to Em- ployment and Social Develop- ment Canada (ESDC), the current number of active health and safety officers is 92, and the department said it plans to up that number to 100 "in the near future." "The number of health and safety officers may fluctuate from year to year as a result of normal turnover, such as retirements and departures," said a spokesperson for the department, adding that explicitly includes enforcers of part two of the Canada Labour Code. "(eir) mandate is to help prevent accidents, encourage compliance and improve overall health and safety in federally regu- lated workplaces across Canada." Also, there are 162 trained of- ficers for specific federal transpor- tation sectors such as rail, aviation and marine, as well as oil and gas, which fall under the purview of Transport Canada and the Na- tional Energy Board, ESDC said. But a lack of presence in terms of inspectors tends to lead to a lack of urgency, and too often employers let occupational safety simmer on the backburner, said Denis St-Jean, national health and safety officer at the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). "e federal inspectors are al- most like a myth," said St-Jean, adding the provinces are much better at following up on health and safety legislation. For in- stance, only 60 per cent of em- ployers regularly send in the department's required reports — rendering the reporting system a voluntary one, he said. "When employers know some- thing like this, the incentive to do prevention, the incentive to actu- ally invest in health and safety, in training, in awareness sessions, in how to manage the risk — the business case is just that much more difficult to do," he said. "You need resources, you need a presence in the workplace." Recommendations e report made 10 recommen- dations, including raising staffing levels to 2005 levels when there were 151 inspectors. at means attracting and retaining staffers, which should be done by fixing the pay gap. Currently, health and safety officers make $3,000 less than their Transport Canada counterparts, and $10,000 less than their provincial peers in On- tario, according to the CCPA. Other recommendations in- clude repealing changes to the Canada Labour Code that came about in 2013, particularly bol- stering the role of officers and reaffirming the definition of "danger." e report also advised inspec- tors should conduct more field and followup inspections, target- ing high-risk sectors through "un- advertised blitzes." Improvements to training and data collection and transparency were also noted. e report also urged strategies be developed to handle First Na- tions employers, with whom there exists no working relationship and where the health and safety situ- ation has worsened since 2010, when fire inspectors were elimi- nated from Crown corporations, Aboriginal reserves and federal departments. CCPA also recom- mended bringing fire protection services back.

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