Occupational Heath & Safety - Alberta

Most of the Alberta health and safety policies have been updated to reflect the significant changes that came into force on December 9, 2020, April 1, 2021, and December 1, 2021, among others. In addition, the existing Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and Occupational Health and Safety Code have been updated and replaced. As a result, the significant changes require the Health and Safety Program and Policy, the Accident, Injury, Illness, Incident and Hazard Reporting, the Hazard and Accident/Incident Investigation, the Personal Protective Equipment, the Health and Safety Committee (Including Health and Safety Representatives) policies in your system need to be updated to comply with new changes.

April - Safe Dig Month

SAFE DIGGING MONTH RATIONALE

Alberta has a very comprehensive and complex infrastructure that provides essential goods and services to all Albertans. Each year there are numerous instances where the integrity of this infrastructure is jeopardized by improperly conducted ground disturbances. Failure to Call or Click Before You Dig to have buried facilities identified and their locations marked prior to disturbing the ground is the most frequent cause of buried facility damages.

The consequences of damage to buried facilities can include service disruptions, environmental contamination, property damage, personal injury and death.

All ground disturbers, including contractors, excavators, homeowners and land owners, can save time and money and keep themselves and our province safe and connected by following ground disturbance and buried facility damage prevention Best Practices. These include making that simple call to Alberta One-Call in advance of any ground disturbance project, waiting for the buried facility locates to be done, respecting the locate marks, exposing any conflicting buried facilities before using mechanical excavation equipment and digging with care.

The stakeholders in the buried facility damage prevention process – the digging community, buried facility owners and operators, buried facility locators, regulatory agencies, training providers and the one-call centre – all agree that the prevention of damage to buried facilities is a shared responsibility.

The organizations endorsing this initiative strongly advocate:

• the need to Call or Click Before You Dig;

• membership in Alberta One-Call by all buried facility owners and operators;

• formal ground disturbance training for commercial ground disturbers; and

• use of Alberta One-Call to request buried facility locates.

As April is the traditional start-up of the annual digging season, the Alberta Common Ground Alliance proclaims April as SAFE DIGGING MONTH and encourages all ground disturbers to always Call or Click Before You Dig.

Documents available:

• Alberta Damage Prevention Council Brochure
• Alberta Damage Prevention Council Power Point presentation 
• Please use these documents to create and promote awareness about "dial before you dig 

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety

http://www.ccohs.ca/products/posters/respect/

FARM SAFETY and POWER LINES

Always ask yourself - "Where's the Line?"

For more information from JUST click here

FARM SAFETY - most recent information on agricultural injuries:

Statistics are from Canadian Agricultural Information Reporting (CAIR) documents, from 1990 to 2008 (the most recent data available):

The CAIR data show that agricultural injuries are not due to random or isolated “accidents”. There are many recurrent patterns of injury. From 1990-2008, in Canada:

– 1,975 people were killed in agricultural injury events.

– The agricultural fatality rate was 12.9 per 100,000 farm population (including non-workers).

– The fatality rate for agriculture injuries in the agriculture population is higher than either motor vehicle collision and suicide fatality rates in the general population.

– 70% of the agricultural fatalities involved machines.

– 4 machine-related causes were responsible for more than half the fatalities: machine rollovers, machine runovers, machine entanglements and traffic collisions.

– The top five causes of agricultural fatalities were machine rollovers (20%), machine runovers (18%), machine entanglements (8%), traffic collisions (7%), and being pinned or struck by a machine (7%).

– 92% of the fatalities were work related, 85% of the victims were working.

– 92% of those fatally injured as a result of agricultural work were male.

– 47% of the fatalities were farm owner/operators.

– 37% of all agriculture fatalities involved a tractor.

– 44% of fatalities due to toxic substance exposure were attributed to hydrogen sulfide (manure gas) poisoning.

– Of the drowning-related fatalities 39% occurred in a dugout.

Farm Safety:

CANADA'S OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY MAGAZINE <click to be directed to web site