2018 Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Report Card

Manitoba Growth, Enterprise and Trade, AKA the Workplace Safety and Health Branch has completed publishing enforcement activities for 2018. We summarize them here for convenience sake and with the hope that you will review and share with your stakeholders to prevent similar incidents occurring in your workplace.

STOP WORK ORDERS

Reference MR W201/02 36(1) A safety and health officer may issue a Stop Work Order when:

1. They are of the opinion that activities posing an imminent risk of serious injury are or about to be carried on.
2. An improvement order previously issued was not remedied.

Powers of a Safety and Health officer; they can demand:

1. The cessation of the activities at the location in question and across ALL other workplaces operated by the same employer.
2. That all or part of the workplace be vacated.
3. That no resumption of the activities be permitted by the employer.

2018 STOP WORK ORDERS BY INDUSTRY		TOTAL NUMBER OF STOP WORK ORDERS ISSUED = 365
Construction	253	Fall Protection Systems	129	Confined Spaces	5
Manufacturing	45	Serious Incident	47	Personal Protective Equipment	4
Retail	27	Scaffolds/Other Elevated Work Platforms	34	Chemical and Biological Substance	4
Ag	12	Excavations	28	Failure to comply Orders	3
Mines	7	Machines, Tools and Robots	23	Work in the Vicinity of Overhead Electrical Lines	2
Public Admin	5	Asbestos	12	Powered Mobile Equipment	2
Education	5	Demolition	11	Working Alone or in Isolation	1
Transportation	3	Cranes and Hoists	11	Harassment	1
Health Care	3	Electrical Safety	9	Ground Conditions	1
Other	2	Entrances, Exits, Stairways and Ladders	8	Fire and Explosive Hazards – Hot Work	1
		Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic	5	Blasting Operations	1
		Duties of Employers/PC	5	Air Quality and Ventilation 1	1

ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES

Reference MR W201/02 53(1) An Administrative Penalty to a maximum of $5000 may be issued to a company / person when they have:

1. Failed to comply with an improvement order by the due date OR failed to maintain compliance after initially complying.
2. Failed to comply with the provisions of the Act or Regulations and a safety and health officer is of the opinion that the failure involves, or is likely to involve, an imminent risk of serious physical or health injury to a worker or other person.
3. Resumed an activity that previously was the subject of a stop work order which was discontinued because the person had complied with it.

INDUSTRY	INFRACTION	FINE
Manufacturing	Chemical & biological substances	$1,000
Manufacturing	Chemical & biological substances	$2,500
Construction	Failure to comply – Fall protection systems	$2,500
Manufacturing	Failure to maintain compliance – Machine Guarding	$2,500
Retail and Services	Failure to maintain compliance with IO	$1,000
Construction	Fall Protection	$2,500
Construction	Fall Protection	$2,500
Construction	Fall Protection	$2,500
Retail and Services	Fall Protection	$2,500
Construction	Fall Protection – Guardrail Systems	$2,500
Manufacturing	SWP – Lock out – Safety Precautions.	$2,500
TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES		$24,500

CONVICTIONS AND PENALTIES

Reference MR W201/02 54/55 A penalty may be issued to very person who:

1. Contravenes the Act or regulations.
2. Fails to comply with an order made under the Act or regulations.
3. Knowingly obstructs or makes a false statement to a safety and health officer.
4. Knowingly makes or causes to be made a false entry or deletes an entry in any register book, notice or other document to be kept by him/her under the Act or the regulations.

First Offence:

A person guilty of an offence can be fined to a maximum of $250,000 per offence. In the case of a continuing offence to a maximum of $25,000 for each day during which the offence continues.

Second Offence:

A person guilty of a second offence can be fined to a maximum of $500,000 per offence. In the case of a continuing offence to a maximum of $50,000 for each day during which the offence continues.

In addition, a person can be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months.

INDUSTRY	FINE AMOUNT	CONTRAVENTION	PAIN & SUFFERING
Mining	$124,000	Eyewash facilities	Permanent eye injury
Manufacturing	$57,500	Machine Guarding	Amputation of all 5 digits on his left hand
Manufacturing	$54,252	Machine Guarding Failing to notify of a serious incident	18 yr old – amputations of his left middle and index fingers and crushing injuries to his left ring finger
Manufacturing	$27,650	Machine Guarding	Lacerations to the worker’s index and ring fingers and the partial amputation of the worker’s middle finger
Manufacturing	$87,500	Hydraulic energy (Lockout)	Crushed – Fatality
Manufacturing	$10,075	Failing to notify of a serious incident	Serious Injury from exploded barrel
Education	$31,000	Machine Guarding	High School Student – Hand Injury
Construction	$4,000	Hazard Assessment – Excavation	2 Hydro workers and home owner injured. 2 homes destroyed
Construction	$5,000	Scaffold collapse	Serious Injures from 9 ft fall – scaffold collapse
TOTAL	$400,977

In most every instance, human behavior including how people think and act (skill, habits, choices etc) are a major contributing factor to unsafe conditions and serious incidents. Establishing a strong safety management system is required to change behaviours. It consists of:

1. Setting clear standards in writing – must be practical and meaningful.
2. Training employee on the standards – must connect their head to their heart (Whats in in for ME).
3. Holding employees accountable to the standards – because you care enough to confront and hold people to a higher standard of care from themselves, others and the company itself.

DID YOU KNOW THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT?

mySafetyAssistant web and mobile app was designed with just this challenge in mind. Contact us for a demo today and learn how you can increase your risk management and reduce total costs at the same time.

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