The British Columbia Federation of Labour (BC Fed) is offering numerous upcoming Occupational Health and Safety Educational opportunities. These courses are single day events at a cost of $85.00. The following is a list of courses being offered

Registration forms can be obtained through the BC Fed’s website or by contacting James Little at the BC PSAC office. For further information, please visit the BC Federation of Labours Occupational Health & Safety Education Resource Center.

2007 PSAC National Health and Safety Conference - “Regulation Works!”

Conference objectives

• The objectives of the 2007 PSAC National Health and Safety Conference are:
• To outline the current government and employer agenda which includes deregulation and to demonstrate how it will affect our health, safety and environmental rights.
• To develop a union agenda to counter the move towards deregulation of health, safety and environmental protections and employer voluntary compliance.
• To expose the misrepresentation behind the current “behavioural-based safety programs” being promoted by employers which rework the classic “blame the worker” theory.
• To develop union tactics to counter the “myth of the careless worker”.
• To examine the current state of enforcement of health and safety legislation in order to develop union-based strategies that will better protect workers.

The conference will take place January 19-21, 2007 in Ottawa. The registration deadline is October 5^th and the resolutions submission deadline is October 20^th.

Visit the national website for more information, and to register online.

As per the AEC decision with respect to the Steering and Resolutions Committees for the 2007 National Health and Safety Conference, this serves as the call for proposed names to sit on the above-mentioned committees.

Members interested in participating on these National H&S Conference committees should forward their application c/o the REVP BC Office, #302-5238 Joyce Street, Vancouver, V5R 6C9. Fax 604 430 0194.

The deadline for receipt by that office is May 11, 2006.

While the Canadian flag on Parliament Hill flies at half-mast on April 28, workers observe a moment of silence in remembrance of those workers killed or seriously injured on the job.

The National Day of Mourning was officially recognized by the federal government in 1991, eight years after it was launched by the labour movement in Canada. The Day of Mourning has since spread to over 80 countries around the world. Here is a list of Day of Mourning events in BC (pdf).

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Georgetti says it’s time to enforce the rules and protect workers’ health and safety

OTTAWA – On Friday, flags will be lowered and working people across the country will take a few moments to remember their friends, family and colleagues who have died from workplace injuries. For the past 22 years, April 28 has been recognized as a National Day of Mourning to both reflect and focus on making Canada’s workplaces healthier and safer.

“People go to work so they can build a better life for themselves and their families. Nothing is more important for a worker, especially a young worker, than having the confidence that their workplace is safe and they are protected from harm,” says Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, marking the day with workers at a ceremony in Kamloops, British Columbia.

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Last year 188 workers died due to job-related injury or disease, the highest level in 25 years, and a 40 percent increase from the previous year. This included 43 forestry workers, 39 workers in the construction sector and 11 young workers.Sadly, despite our warnings, this is a clear indictment of the BC Liberals’ agenda of cuts and deregulation. Workplace inspections by WCB have fallen by 44 percent since 2001, and the resulting value of penalties has dropped by 57 percent.

This week the B.C. Federation of Labour has been lobbying MLAs about the immediate need to restore protections of workers’ health and safety, and the need to restore dignity to compensation and benefits for injured workers and their families.

This Friday, April 28th, is the annual Day of Mourning where we will join together to “fight for the living and mourn for the dead.”

We are encouraging all of you to participate in various events throughout your community. Here is a list of Day of Mourning events in BC (pdf).

Your presence will send an important message to politicians and employers that we won’t stop fighting until workers’ health and safety is fully protected.

via BC Federation of Labour

By Bill Tieleman

The voice of the dead was a living voice to me. - Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1847

The voices of 188 dead workers speak loudly from beyond the grave.

That grim number marks the total of workplace fatalities and accepted work-related death claims in B.C. in 2005.

It is a totally unacceptable number, a shameful number, a number that should be intolerable to us all.

Behind that number lies 188 different tragedies, 188 families where someone went to work and never came home again, 188 unsafe workplaces.

And 11 of those 188 were young people, aged 17 to 24 years old.

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On April 28th nearly 100 countries worldwide will stop to pay tribute to workers killed and injured on the job. We in the labour movement will stop to publicly renew our commitment to “fight for the living” as well as “mourn for the dead”.

In 1984 the Canadian Labour Congress Executive Council declared April 28th the annual National Day of Mourning. Since then unions, central labour bodies, Labour Councils, and governments around the world have adopted the National Day of Mourning as a day to remember workers who have been killed or injured on the job. In 1991 the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-223, an (Act Respecting a Day of Mourning.) In 1992 the BC NDP government designated April 28th as an annual day to remember those who have suffered as a result of the hazards of work.

Continue reading ‘Why does the labour movement observe April 28th?’ at bcfed.com.

In 2005, 188 workers were killed on the job in BC including 12 young workers.

The B.C. Federation of Labour, the Vancouver & District Labour Council and the New Westminster & District Labour Council invite you to pay tribute to workers killed and injured on the job.

Friday, April 28 2006

• 7:45 am - Gather at the Vancouver Art Gallery
• 8:00 am - Procession to Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
• 8:45 am - Day of Mourning Ceremony - VCEC - 999 Canada Place

For more information, visit the BCFL website for a listing of Day of Mourning events around the province.

All PSAC health and safety activists should be proud of their achievement over the last few years. Health and safety has been propelled to the forefront of our union’s agenda. Your hard work started with our 2003 PSAC National Convention where a record number of health and safety resolutions were debated and endorsed by the delegates.

The budget was considerably increased and included full funding for 300 delegates attending this conference.

And like the Unity Conference, the Access Conference, the Pride Conference and the National Women’s Conference, the National Health and Safety Conference now also has the right to send resolutions to the next PSAC Convention.

The theme of our 6^th National Health and Safety Conference was Health and Safety: Our Jobs, Our World.

Read the full conference report at the National Capitol Region regional website.

At the last National Health and Safety Conference the BC delegates decided that they wanted to have a survey done of all the Health and Safety Activists in the Region. This would allow the Brush Committee to plan for events that the Activists are wanting to see happen.

If you are a health and safety activist, or want to be, please complete this brief survey.

Fill out the survey online, or download the health and safety survey and mail or fax it back to the Vancouver Regional Office: (604)430-0451 or 200 - 5238 Joyce Street, Vancouver BC V5R6C9.

OTTAWA – Next Tuesday, February 28, is the internationally-recognized Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day. On this occasion, working people are counting on the federal government to follow through with promised new regulations to prevent the scourge of workplace injuries known as RSIs (repetitive strain injuries).

One of every ten Canadian adults (more than two million people) reported RSIs serious enough to limit their normal activities, according to a Statistics Canada survey from 2000/2001. The same study found most of these injuries were caused by work-related activity.

“Canadian workers are suffering from repetitive strain injuries in epidemic proportions,” says Marie Clarke Walker, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress. “RSIs impact workers, their families and the economy. We cannot ignore such a debilitating yet preventable workplace hazard any longer,” she says.

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BC PSAC Regional Health & Safety Conference, March 11/12, 2006 (note date change), Metrotown Hilton, Burnaby

The Conference will be focusing on indoor air quality and violence in the workplace: these regional priorities were identified by the BC Caucus at the last National H&S Conference.

The Conference will be a combination of workshops, panel speakers, and planning. More details and an agenda will be available soon.

For more information phone Jack Rudd @ 604.430.5631 x 229 or 1.800.663.1655.

Online registration for the Conference is available at our old webspace or download a PSAC BC Health and Safety Conference application form and mail or fax it back. Note that if you have registered for the Conference, originally scheduled for January 2006, there is no need to re-register.

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Did you know that your perfume may be making some people sick?

There is a dramatic increase in people who are made sick by fragrances because so many products are now scented. Chemical fragrances are present in most soaps, shampoos and other hair products, cosmetics, deodorants, suntan lotion, aftershaves, colognes and lip balms to name a few. Sometimes even products marked as “unscented” are falsely labeled and actually contain toxic fragrances.

For people who are sensitive to the toxic chemicals contained in scented products, this can mean exhaustion, weakness, dizziness, headaches, rashes, muscle aches and spasms, heart palpitations, nausea, stomach cramps, vomiting, asthma attacks and loss of consciousness.

We want to create an environment where everyone can participate and enjoy PSAC education courses, conferences, meetings and other events. In order to make that happen we ask that participants refrain from using scented products during all PSAC events.

Did you know?

• Perfume today is not made from flowers but from toxic chemicals.
• More than 4,000 chemicals are used in fragrances. Of these, 95% are made from petroleum.
• No agency regulates the fragrance industry, yet perfume chemicals are as damaging to health as tobacco smoke.

Download the PSAC awareness kit on scent-free environments (chemical sensitivities / environmental illness) (pdf).

In my role as Health and Safety Coordinator I have spent the last few weeks working in the PSAC office creating a list of Health and Safety contacts for all the worksites in BC. While not complete it is quickly becoming close to finished as Locals get their information to me. Anybody who was unable to contact me at the PSAC office can e mail me their Local contact name to joyj@shaw.ca.

My next step in this process is to send out a short survey to the contacts that I have been given and the survey will be mailed care of the Local. Watch for this to come out late August or early September. The information from the survey will be used to assist us in planning our next Regional Health and Safety Conference which we hope to hold early in 2006.

In addition to the above I have been continuing to work on the Joint Training modules being developed in conjunction with the Pacific Council. In the meantime for those who are wanting more training on Health and Safety watch for Union School news for the fall of 2005. If the new Health and Safety Training course for activists is ready in time, the chances are good that it will be piloted at the Union school.

The Brush Committee is alive and well! With so much activity occurring around Health and Safety in our Region we will be scheduling more meetings. The dates will be posted on this site. If you are interested in being part of the Committee please contact either Jack Rudd or me and we will be happy to put you on our Brush Committee list.

Finally, my other project that I am going to be working on is contacting the National Officers to come up with an idea on how best to share information around the different component’s Regional and National JOSH Committees and existing Policy Committees. From my discussions with the Locals it seems that a lot of us feel we are working in isolation and constantly reinventing the wheel. Many similar issues have already been addressed and we just don’t know it. If you have any thoughts on this I’d love to hear from you.

Here’s hoping everyone has a safe and healthy summer.

Joy Hennen, BC Regional Council Health & Safety Rep.