100 Years WCB

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 3 YEARS FREE consulting services FOR MEMBERS Learn more at constructionsafety.ca 1913: A Historic Compromise The seeds of change were sown in 1913 when Ontario Chief Justice, Sir William Meredith, completed a three-year royal commission researching workers' compensation laws around the world. He crafted a made-in-Canada workers' compensation model designed to protect workers and employers alike, based on the key principles of no-fault compensation, security of benefits, collective liability, exclusive jurisdiction and administration by an independent board. Meredith's recommendations served as the basis for workers' compensation legislation across Canada. Under his plan, workers would be eligible for medical and wage loss benefits from a system funded entirely by employers. In exchange, the employers would be freed from legal liability. Meredith called it the "historic compromise." M anitoba's injury and illness prevention organization doesn't just want to improve the statistics around work- place fatalities and injuries. SAFE Work Manitoba wants to help change the culture around work and safety, says chief operating officer Jamie Hall. A cultural shift around workplace safety would be comparable to what happened in the 1980s around seatbelts, says Hall. If you're old enough to remember the 1970s, you may recall a time when car ashtrays got much more use than seatbelts did. Now, recent statistics show that about 96 per cent of people regularly belt up. And not surprisingly, the rate of motor vehicle fatalities in Canada has dropped steadily — from 24.5 deaths per 100,000 population in 1970 to 5.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2013. Change like that doesn't just happen through seatbelt laws or enforcement, says Hall. "Something has changed in our culture since the 1970s," Hall says, noting that today putting on a seatbelt is simply second nature. He envisions a similar cultural shift regarding workplace safety so that, "it's unacceptable to everybody to work on a roof without a har- ness or to work in a poorly ventilated area." "I really do believe that we are on the cusp of momentous improvements in preventing workplace injury and illness." But this improvement won't be imposed on the province or society by SAFE Work Manitoba. "SAFE Work Manitoba isn't going to make the province safer; we're going to build part- nerships to make the province safer." While any Manitoban with a television or Internet connection is familiar with the SAFE Work Manitoba advertisements that have been running for more than a decade, the organization is much more than just a marketing campaign. In 2013, when the Manitoba government issued its Five Year Plan for Workplace Injury and Illness Prevention, the first action item was to create a separate agency focused on the issue. SAFE Work Manitoba was established in 2014 as a separate arm of the Workers Compensation Board to promote and deliver services for workplace injury and illness prevention. Since then, SAFE Work Manitoba has part- nered with industry to develop three new in- dustry-specific safety programs, covering safety training, consulting and resources for the truck- ing, manufacturing and motor vehicle indus- tries. These new programs join two previously established industry-specific safety programs for the heavy construction industry (such as road building) and building construction. The importance of industry-specific train- ing, developed in partnership with the indus- try associations, is that it prepares workers to avoid the specific hazards of their workplaces and uses the terminology and scenarios they'll actually encounter on the job. It's far more ef- fective than generic presentations on wearing steel-toed boots and a hard hat. "The key to these industry-based programs is that industry has to support this," Hall says. SAFE Work Manitoba still conducts safety courses for workers in industries not covered by these programs, but hopes to see more specific programs developed over time. One way to bring that about is by offering incentives. Industries that have these pro- grams pay a levy on their Workers Compensa- tion Board premiums to fund them. And soon they'll be eligible for premium rebates in ex- change for their commitment. Hall likens that initiative to the good-driver discounts we're all eligible for if we keep our driving records clean, or to the home insur- ance discounts available to homeowners who don't have wood-burning fireplaces and do have properly functioning smoke detectors. While public education and partnerships with industry are the ideal way to encourage a culture of safety, too often it takes a tragedy to spark change. Hall cites the death in 2011 of Brittany Mur- ray, a young woman struck by a vehicle while working in traffic control at a roadwork site. Through a combination of public awareness campaigns, new legislation, enforcement and action by employers, Manitoba has since be- come a leader in construction-zone safety, and studies show that Manitobans support that. "Most people now recognize that there are people working here and it's important to slow down," says Hall. While sudden and catastrophic workplace injuries are what typically come to mind when most of us think of SAFE Work Manitoba, the organization is equally focused on prevention of workplace illnesses or injuries resulting from more common hazards. In fact, Hall notes that more than 60 per cent of workplace in- juries are musculoskeletal in nature, typically from ergonomic stresses and strains — a healthcare worker lifting patients, for example, or a carpenter suffering the long-term effects of wielding a hammer. SAFE Work Manitoba is currently developing an ergonomic strategy for Manitoba to address prevention of these injuries. The agency is also about to launch a new campaign focusing specifically on young workers, aged 15 to 24. These workers face unique challenges on the job because of their inexperience and the tendency, for some, to consider themselves immortal. The campaign, to be launched this fall, will have dual focuses, with one part aimed at young workers and the other directed at their parents and supervisors. The success of SAFE Work Manitoba can be measured in several metrics. One is the grow- ing percentage of Manitobans (currently at 21 per cent) working in industries with industry- specific safety programs. More significant is the number of workplace injuries and fatal- ities. The latter has been dropping steadily in Manitoba, from about 31,000 injury claims and 36 fatalities in 2012 to just under 29,000 injury claims and 19 fatalities in 2015. Hall notes that the majority of workplace fatalities are due to workplace illnesses, rather than injuries, and the majority of those are the result of exposure to asbestos. Twelve of the workplace fatalities in 2015 were from illness, and nine of those were from asbestos. Given that it can take decades for exposure to re- sult in illness, that illustrates how making the workplace safe requires both long- and short- term time frames. "We want to prevent the injuries that will hurt you tomorrow and also the illnesses that will hurt you years from now." Hall is confident that there's support from workers and employers for a safer province. "There are three drivers for employers," he says. "I believe they see it as a moral imperative — they want to look after the people they're responsible for. It's also a productivity issue; you don't have to stop for an incident and an investigation, and if you're a small business es- pecially you don't have the problem that one of your people is unavailable to work. And there's a good financial argument that it costs you less in the long run in WCB costs, produc- tivity and other matters." ■ SAFE Work Manitoba chief operating officer Jamie Hall envisions a cultural shift in thinking surrounding workplace safety, similar to the shift that made seatbelt use second nature to Canadians. Photo by Darcy Finley Building a Culture of Safety SAFE WORK MANITOBA FOCUSES ON PREVENTION BY BOB ARMSTRONG

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