A local St. Catharines, Ontario newspaper is seeking signatures for their online petition to build a Welland Canal Workers Memorial.

To make the case for prevention many will cite compensation statistics as they observe the Day of Mourning on April 28. However, it is important to remember these statistics represent only a fraction of the actual number of workers hurt on the job in any given year. Thousands of injuries, illnesses and deaths go unreported by employers, supervisors or workers even though reporting is mandated by law.

“Mourn for the Dead, Fight for the Living.” On April 28, International Day of Mourning, this slogan will echo worldwide as workers, their families, and friends gather to remember those who have been killed, suffer disease or been injured as a result of work. Like many, I will remember much-loved faces behind the often-quoted statistics.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most prevalent injury among health care workers. And many of these disorders are suffered by workers who lift, transfer and reposition patients.

The Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) is hosting Get Your Green On! a spring film series at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto (215 Spadina Ave.).

The Ontario government is asking workers, their representatives, employers and others to provide ideas to help them develop a province-wide occupational health and safety strategy.

"Mourn for the Dead, Fight for the Living.” On April 28, International Day of Mourning, this slogan will echo worldwide as workers, friends and families will gather to remember workers who have been killed, suffer disease or been injured as a result of work.

The Office Ergonomics Research Committee (OERC) of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists (ACE) is accepting research proposals on certain topics of current interest to OERC for 2013.

The Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) is now accepting entries for the 13^th annual WHSC Post-Secondary Scholarship Initiative.

The disease risk caused by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may be significantly underestimated, according to a report recently published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

A recent Ministry of Labour (MOL) report raises serious concerns for worker safety, supervisor competency and employer compliance in the construction sector.

A new workplace mental health standard offers a process and tools the authors say will help create and sustain psychologically healthy and safe workplaces.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour are proposing to introduce mandatory training requirements for all Ontario supervisors this summer. Are you ready to comply with all legal requirements including minimum training content and written proof of training completion?

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) has announced an inspection blitz in the health care sector to enforce laws designed to help protect workers from the risk of violence, harassment and bullying.

Slips, trips and falls are a leading cause of injury and traumatic death in Ontario’s construction and industrial sectors.

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New mandatory training requirements for Ontario workers and supervisors will be in place this summer. Will you be ready?

More than one in four Canadian workers say their daily lives are highly stressful, according to a 2011 Statistics Canada report. More than 60 per cent of those “stressed” report work as the main problem.

The federal Public Works department has pleaded guilty to three of eight charges laid against them for labour code violations following an explosion at an Ottawa boiler plant that killed one worker and left three others injured. The maximum penalty for each charge is $100,000 for a possible total fine of $300,000.

The Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) will receive a one million dollar grant to examine the human and economic impact of workplace exposure to carcinogens.

Some 500 Ontario workers will be diagnosed with an asbestos-related cancer this year. Many more will suffer in silence, unaware that decade’s old exposures are robbing them of their health.

The death of a Toronto gas station attendant has prompted a province-wide awareness campaign and a private member’s bill seeking greater legal protection for vulnerable retail and service workers.

Diesel engine exhaust has long been considered a significant threat to worker and public health. However, it’s now officially considered a human carcinogen.

Nurses who are bullied and those who witness bullying report a similarly high desire to quit, according to a study conducted by University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers

Quebec’s Premier-elect, Pauline Marois, has announced her government will cancel a $58 million loan guarantee to the owners of Jeffrey mine, the province’s last working asbestos mine.

For nearly a century, studies have consistently shown that newly hired workers are more likely to be injured than those with longer job tenures. Recent research from the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) confirms this finding and shows that higher risk of work-related injury for new workers has persisted over the past ten years

Working shifts increases the risk of suffering a major vascular event, including a stroke and heart attack, according to a new study led by Canadian researchers.

Ontario Attorney General, John Gerretsen has announced the appointment of Justice Paul Belanger to lead an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the collapse and rescue from the Elliot Lake’s Algo Central Mall. Two people, one a mall worker, were killed in the collapse. More than 20 others were injured. Justice Belanger will be given one year to report.

The Ontario Water Wastewater Certification Office (OWWCO) has recently accredited six Workers Health & Safety Centre training courses. The decision effectively gives water operators and wastewater operators the choice of earning required continuing educational units (CEUs) by taking the WHSC’s high-quality training.

Toronto-based, Metron Construction has pleaded guilty to one count of criminal negligence causing death in connection with a 2009 scaffolding incident that killed four workers and seriously injured another.

Former Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) president and Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) founder, Clifford Pilkey was recently awarded one of our country’s most distinguished honours—the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

For many, the arrival of summer is cause for celebration. For others, including workers and employers, it can be cause for concern.

The Quebec-based owner and operator of a Rona Cashway Building Centre in North Bay was recently fined $65,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (the Act) that led to a young worker sustaining serious injuries.

Police officers working the midnight shift suffer injuries at rates far exceeding those who work the day or afternoon shifts according to a study published in March, 2012 in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

An Italian court has handed down 16-year jail terms to two corporate executives for failing to protect workers and communities from deadly asbestos exposures.

BFI Canada Inc., a waste management company operating in various Ontario cities, was recently fined $150,000 for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act).

More than one in four Canadian workers say their daily lives are highly stressful, according to a recently published Statistics Canada study. More than 60 per cent of these stressed out workers reported work as the main source of stress.

The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) recently upgraded their standard for the selection, use and care of respirators.  The new standard, CSA Z94.4, was issued in August, 2011.

A recently published study is just the latest to link nanoparticles with serious, even deadly, health outcomes.

A new memorial park commemorating the lives of Sudbury-area workers killed on the job was recently unveiled in Val Caron just north of Sudbury.

With a number of recent legislative changes, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) has updated their online guide to occupational health and safety law.

Toronto-based Cimco Refrigeration was recently fined $95,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) that led to a worker sustaining serious injuries.

Are you aware there are hundreds of references in Ontario’s health and safety law pertaining to an employers’ duty to provide training, education and information?

Sitting on the job can kill you – literally. This is the decision handed down by a United States judge on June 27 this year.

The owner of a Mississauga-based construction contractor business was fined $26,000 for multiple violations of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) and the Regulation for Construction Projects (Ont. Reg. 213/91).

Nearly one year ago Bill 168, An Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace officially came into force. These amendments placed significant duties on employers relating to workplace violence and harassment.

Radiation emitted from cell phones may cause brain cancer, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a global challenge calling for the primary prevention of environmental and occupational cancer.

A supervisor for a Toronto-area contractor was fined $12,000 for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) resulting in a worker falling off a roof.

According to editors of the globally recognized Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environmental Health (SJWEH), “shift work is definitely among one of the most serious occupational health problems of our time…we cannot continue to delay taking preventive and curative public health actions in anticipation of further data.”

Canadian students were challenged to take charge of electronic waste as part of an Earth Day message delivered by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in partnership with the Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) this year.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) has consolidated all legal requirements relating to work in confined spaces into a single regulation.

Responding to the December 24, 2009 fall-related incident where four construction workers were killed and another seriously injured, a recent government-commissioned report has called for mandatory fall protection training.

A Bracebridge, Ontario supervisor has been convicted, fined and ordered to complete retraining for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act.

Real training for workers, supervisors and health and safety representatives would be a welcome outcome from the Dean Report, but more work needs to be done to ensure that’s what they get, says Dave Killham, Executive Director of the Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC).

Canadian researchers are creating a database profiling approximately 170 substances they’ve determined to be high, possibly high and moderate priority occupational carcinogens.

Canadians working rotating or night shifts are twice as likely to be injured as those working a regular daytime schedule, according to a recent Canadian study.

Handling sales receipts, lottery tickets and ATM slips may contribute to the accumulation of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in workers and the public, according to recent U.S. studies.

A coalition of unions representing health care workers has published resource documents to help workers and other workplace parties gain adequate protection from the health risks presented by all medical sharps.

Two Jamaican migrant workers were recently killed in yet another confined space incident in Ontario’s farm industry.

Have you taken a close look at your workplace lately? Do you know where the hazards are? Identifying and investigating all potential hazards or dangerous situations that may occur in the workplace is critical to the prevention of work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths.

The provision of contact numbers by the Ministry of Labour (MOL) to report unsafe working conditions or other health and safety concerns is not new. Though a single, dedicated toll-free phone number to call from anywhere in the province is.

Adding to the growing list of workplace violence resources, the Workers Health & Safety Centre has recently released two fact sheets aimed at helping raise awareness of this significant health and safety issue. Both are part of a popular series of publications known as WHSC Resource Lines.

Bill 168, An Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace officially came into force on June 15, 2010. Is your workplace in compliance?

 The 50^th anniversary of the Hogg’s Hollow disaster was recently marked with the unveiling of a permanent home for a quilt commemorating the five workers killed in this workplace tragedy.

Lafarge Canada Inc. has been fined $350,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act). The incident took place on August 27, 2008 and resulted in a worker being killed.

Ontario recently introduced new occupational exposure limits (OELs) for polyvinyl chloride and butenes along with 34 updates to existing OELs.