Government Must Do More

If all the workers across our country heard the Honorable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of Labour for the Government of Canada state in a public address last year “I strongly believe that a safe and healthy workplace is a basic right of Canadians” and “I intend to make health at work one of the most important themes during my tenure as Minister of Labour…” some of them could have got the impression that their government is doing everything possible to ensure worksites are injury free.  Well I sincerely hope they didn’t when there are around a million workplace injuries a year in Canada. In fact one worker is killed every two hours of each working day in our country.

Last year in a news release Olga Ilich, Minister of Labour and Citizens’ Services for the B.C. Government affirmed her government’s commitment to safety in the workplace and said “even one workplace death or injury is one too many”.  I agree one death or injury is too many, yet one hundred and sixty workers lost their lives in 2006 as a result of workplace accidents or disease in British Columbia. Even more troubling to me is knowing that of all who were killed on the job, nine were young workers.

Young workers are at a much higher risk of injury than workers of any other age group. More than half of workplace accidents involving workers aged 15 to 24 occur during the first six months on the job. And almost 20 percent occur during the first month on the job. Each day in B.C., 41 young workers are hurt on the job and every week, five of these workers are permanently injured.

According to WorkSafeBC research some of the main reasons why young workers are getting injured on the job is due to;

• Inexperience and lack of training
• Lack of preparation for the workplace
• Asked to do more dangerous jobs
• Pace of work
• Unwillingness to ask questions
• Lack of confidence or understanding of their rights as workers

This type of information tells me that Ms. Ilich has to do show a lot more leadership than simply calling on workers and employers across all industries to be unwavering in their determination to prevent work place accidents as she did in her news release. It is time that both provincial and federal governments stop their lip service and workplace carnage by clearly demonstrating their commitment to improve health and safety in the workplace.  This can be done by for once properly funding prevention programs and their enforcement and by legislating the toughest health and safety standards and regulations in North America if not the world. 

April 28th is the National Day of Mourning for workers killed and injured on the job.  This day is as much a day to remember the dead as it is a call protect the living. The recognized image that symbolizes this important day is the tiny canary that was once the only safeguard miners had against dangerous gas build-up. If the canary died, it was a signal to evacuate the mines immediately. It has been said that we are all canaries in today’s workplace.

Please be vigilant when you are work.