OHS targetting falls

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) officials will be conducting inspections of residential construction projects, including in West Central Alberta, starting this summer.

The campaign will focus on roofing and framing in an effort to increase awareness surrounding fall protection, officials told the Gazette.

The ministry did similar inspections of worksites in 2011 and 2012, focusing on all aspects of the residential construction industry.

In 2012, the month-long campaign issued one stop use order and 81 stop work orders related to fall protection, while safety officers issued two stop use and 67 stop work orders in relation to fall protection during a similar one-month campaign in 2011.

“As (contractors) are ramping up, we're looking to get on the ground right away to let all of the workers and employers know that if you're (on) a residential construction site, chances are you're going to see residential inspectors on your site at some point during the season, so be smart and be safe,” said Brookes Merritt, a spokesperson for OHS.

In January 2014, OHS inspectors gained the power to issue on-the-spot $100 to $500 infraction tickets to employees or companies contravening the health and safety regulations.

Inspectors also gained the ability to issue administrative penalties of up to $10,000 per infraction per day for not working safely.

Administrative penalties are focused on employers that OHS inspectors have worked with in the past and whom the inspectors feel haven't shown a complete commitment to safety.

“(Administrative penalties) are not an immediate, on-the-spot thing. That's going to be focused on employers who've shown a repeated lack of regard for occupational health and safety regulations and (remedial efforts) don't seem to be getting any traction. It's much more serious,” Merritt said, adding that ministry staff worked with companies over the last year to make sure they were aware of inspectors' new powers across all industries, not just residential construction.

Merritt said ministry staff decided to specifically look at roofers and framers because when they looked at 2011 and 2012 statistics, they saw great improvement in all areas of housing construction except in fall prevention, one of the areas that causes the most traumatic injuries.

“Those are the (cases) where we see the most injuries and those are the (areas) where we want to see the most improvement,” he said. “We're not sure if people are cutting corners in the interest of saving time or if they're simply unaware of the risks they're running. It's highly doubtful that they're unaware of the risks they're running.”

The provincial government has 143 health and safety inspection officers throughout the province, all of whom will be inspecting residential construction sites at various times from mid-June through to the end of the construction season.