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Toronto
West CAER Speakers 2007- |
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 During
the October 2008 meeting, we heard from Greg Bain,
Environmental Health and Safety Specialist for Chrysler’s
Etobicoke Casting Plant, which is ISO14001 certified.
The plant manufactures aluminum parts and pistons.
Greg has been the EHS Specialist at
Chrysler for over 10 years and he is also the Energy
Manager and Incident Commander. Over his career, he
has made significant contributions to Chrysler under
the topics of Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Morale.
He has trained hundreds of employees and Greg developed
a strong Environmental Management System to ensure the
plant maintains ISO14001 certification.
Greg presented an overview of how Chrysler
prepares for and responds to incidents at its facilities
and explained how training exercises and critiques of
incidents elsewhere in the company and in the community
are used to share ideas and strengthen skills. Everyone
is encouraged to consider and prepare for the unexpected.
To illustrate these concepts and to
show how the principles of Incident Command can and
should be applied to any type of incident, Greg presented
a case study describing how a tiger escaped from its
enclosure at the San Francisco zoo in December, 2007
and killed one visitor and injured two others. This
presentation was created and presented to Chrysler by
Mr. Rich Barcum of Hawkum LLC and Greg received special
permission to present it to the CAER group today.
The presentation began with a review
of some of the original media coverage of this incident
from December, 2007 and the audience was encouraged
to share their opinions about what they thought had
happened. The response of various zoo staff, the police
and EMS was then thoroughly discussed along with a timeline
of the incident. At the conclusion of the presentation
it was enlightening to compare the facts to our original
opinions.
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 A
couple of years ago, if someone had told Johanna
Fisher that she would be speaking in front
of groups of people about injury prevention, or speaking
publically about what her family has been through, she
would not have believed them. But she says, “It’s
amazing what can happen in a year… here I am.
Speaking to a group of people who know just how wrong
things can go no matter how prepared you are…
no matter how well trained you are… no matter
how safety conscious you are.”
Johanna Fisher,
Speakers Bureau Volunteer and Family Support Program Volunteer,
Threads
of Life (Association for Workplace Tragedy Family
Support), spoke to committee members from Toronto CAER
West, North and East, at the September 2008 meeting about
the importance of injury prevention and the tragic impact
that a workplace injury and fatality can have on the family
of the victim. She also addressed the impact that this
kind of tragedy has on the co-workers who witness or are
involved in the incident and acknowledged her gratitude
toward the First Responders who helped her son at the
scene. The basis of her presentation is in part a personal
tribute to her son Micheal, who died in January 2006 after
6 days in a coma as the result of a workplace injury.
But it’s also her story from the perspective of
a mother who has lost her only son – of how his
workplace fatality has affected both her life and her
family’s lives –and a call-to-action about
injury prevention.
Johanna’s son Micheal was a roofer who fell nearly
three stories from a roof on a construction site when
he was not wearing his safety harness. He had apparently
been seen wearing his safety belt just moments before
descending the roof to repair his nail gun. It is assumed
that he removed it while he was repairing the tool and
forgot to put it back on, however, no one saw him take
it off and his supervisor didn’t notice that Micheal
was not wearing it when he walked by to return to the
roof. “It’s important for me that people who
listen to me speak understand that Micheal’s workplace
injury was entirely preventable – it was not a workplace
‘accident’. It’s also very important
to me that people understand that I am not here to place
blame. I don’t blame the company that Micheal worked
for, I don’t blame his supervisor, and I don’t
blame Micheal. That’s not to say that I don’t
hold any of them accountable for this tragedy –
workplace safety is everyone’s responsibility.”
Johanna considers her involvement with Threads of Life
to be a positive part of her personal healing process
after the loss of her son, and feels that her work with
them involves an element of personal growth as well as
helping her to move forward while honouring Micheal’s
memory. “I believe very strongly in our vision statement,
which is to ‘lead and inspire a culture shift as
a result of which work-related injuries and illnesses
are morally, socially and economically unacceptable’.”
Threads of Life (www.threadsoflife.ca)
is a national, charitable, not-for-profit organization
dedicated to supporting families who have suffered from
a workplace fatality, life-altering illness or occupational
disease.
Working with provincial
workers' compensation boards, governments and safety associations,
Threads of Life assists families by providing:
· a Family Support
Program which offers one-on-one peer support to family
members and friends who have suffered a workplace tragedy
· links to professional support services
· a support network to those who have experienced
similar pain and suffering;
· advisory support regarding the workplace investigation
and inquest process;
· opportunities to promote workplace injury prevention
and awareness within their own community.
Members of the Speakers
Bureau are volunteers who have been affected by a workplace
tragedy. They are parents, spouses and family who share
their stories at various community venues (businesses,
schools, conferences, etc) and public events, in the hope
that by sharing their personal story they will create
awareness and prevent further fatalities and injuries
in the workplace. Johanna says, “It gives those
of us who have been impacted by workplace fatalities,
injuries or disease the opportunity to promote injury
prevention and accountability for workplace health and
safety.”
Members of the Volunteer
Family Guide Program, receive training during an intensive,
accredited, one-week, full-time training course, the components
of which are delivered by professionals in a variety of
disciplines. The volunteers are trained to provide families
suffering from a workplace fatality, life-altering injury
or occupational disease with the first one-on-one peer
support program in the world. These Volunteer Family Guides
have experienced their own workplace tragedy so they understand
what other families go through.
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 During
the April 2008 meeting, Joan Burton,
B.Sc., R.N., M.Ed. of the IAPA,
(Industrial Accident Prevention Association)
led a discussion about
Pandemic Planning. Joan’s presentation
(Pandemic Planning: Is Your Business Ready?)
was a refresher for the group on what the coming influenza
pandemic is all about, why businesses should be concerned,
what they should be doing to prepare and how the IAPA
can help them. Despite the fact that many members were
somewhat familiar with pandemic information, there were
many questions and good discussion from the group.
IAPA is Canada’s
largest health and safety association. A not-for-profit
organization partially funded by Ontario’s Workplace
Safety and Insurance Board, IAPA provides training and
consulting on all facets of workplace health, safety
and wellness. A highlight of IAPA’s work is Health
and Safety Canada, the largest health and safety conference
and trade show in Canada, and the second largest in
North America. Held in Toronto each spring, the conference
is being held this year April 21-23.
Joan is currently Senior
Strategy Advisor, Healthy Workplaces for IAPA. Joan’s
background includes working as Infection Control Coordinator
in a large Canadian hospital, and Infection Control
Consultant for the Ontario Hospital Association. During
that time she also served on Ontario’s Ministry
of Health’s Advisory Committee for Communicable
Disease. In 2003, the year of SARS, she facilitated
dozens of workshops across Ontario on Infectious Diseases
and Your Business, and she is currently delivering half-day
workshops to help businesses prepare for the coming
influenza pandemic. Joan also chairs IAPA’s internal
Pandemic Planning Task Force.
While Joan’s background
in infection control has led to her high profile as
a speaker on pandemic flu, her main expertise these
days is in the area of healthy workplaces. Her goal
is to help businesses understand that creating a healthy
workplace is more than just ensuring a safe and healthy
physical work environment. A truly healthy workplace
integrates a safe physical environment, a healthy organizational
culture, and support for personal healthy lifestyles
for employees. Her booklet, “Creating
a Healthy Workplace” has been IAPA’s
number one download from their website for some time,
and has attracted the attention of the World Health
Organization, which is hoping to turn it into a global
guideline.
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 In
March, 2008, Vic Lim, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.,
of VL Environmental Services gave our members a presentation
on spills, spills prevention and spills response based
on the requirements of the City of Toronto's Municipal
Code, Chapter 681. He also explained how industries
could qualify and apply for the sewer surcharge rebate
available under Chapter 849. Both chapters can be found
on our Resources page in
the City of Toronto section.
Vic Lim is an executive-level
Professional Engineer with 35 years of experience in
the field of water pollution control, especially in
the areas of industrial waste control, pollution prevention
planning, sewer use by-law enforcement, environmental
sampling and analysis, and quality control of wastewater
treatment plants. His successful track record is based
upon technical expertise, leadership skills and the
ability to maintain positive stakeholder relations,
and sustainable improvements in productivity, operations,
and quality control. Vic’s areas of specialization
are: Industrial wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater
treatment, wastewater analysis, stormwater monitoring,
groundwater remediation, pollution prevention planning,
sewer use By-law revision & enforcement.
As a consultant, Vic currently
is a member of the CH2M HILL Canada Limited project
team for the City of Winnipeg Sewer Use By-law Review
/ Revision project, the scope of which includes providing
research material on various municipal Sewer Use By-laws
across the country, peer reviewing the reports being
produced for this project, conducting public consultations,
and presenting the final report to Winnipeg City Council.
Vic has delivered presentations
on the City of Toronto Sewer Use By-law and its P2 Requirements
at 9 conferences, as well as given presentations on
the City of Toronto new Sewer Use By-law to various
industry associations.
As a member of the Canadian
Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Advisory
Group, mandated to develop a Canada-wide Strategy for
the Management of Municipal Wastewater Effluents (MWWE),
Vic was awarded the 2002 CCME Pollution Prevention Award
in the “Institute, Organization or Group category.”
For his work on the new
Sewer Use By-law, Vic earned the FCM-CH2M Hill Sustainable
Community Awards under the category “Water/Wastewater
for the new Sewer Use By-law” in 2001, and the
2000 Toronto Region Remediation Action Plan (RAP) Award
of Excellence for leadership in developing and adopting
the new Sewer Use By-law No. 457-2000
Vic graduated from the
University of Toronto with a Master of Applied Science
in Chemical Engineering degree in 1972. He is a member
of the following professional associations: Professional
Engineers Ontario, Municipal Engineers’ Association,
Water Environment Association of Ontario, and U.S. Water
Environment Federation. Vic
Lim can be contacted at
vlim@rogers.com.
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 At
the January 2008, Toronto West CAER meeting the members
met Alex Kasperowitsch, Manager, Experience
Rating, Prevention Standards & Incentives Branch of
the Workplace
Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
Alex has been with the WSIB for 35
years, working mostly on the financial side of the business
in such areas as revenue, collections and on systems
projects. His current responsibility is to manage the
Experience Rating section of the Prevention Standards
& Incentives Branch, an area he’s been with
for ten years. He and his staff of eight are responsible
for administering the experience rating components of
the various financial incentive programs offered by
the Prevention Standards & Incentives Branch. Annually,
across the province, in addition to CAD-7
and MAP
presentations, they conduct about 45 NEER workshops
for employers to demystify the NEER
program and to help them understand the financial impacts
of having a safe and healthy workplace.
The WSIB, in addition to experience
rating programs, offers the Safety
Group incentive program for employers to come together
to share their experiences in prevention workplace injuries
and illnesses and the SCIP
incentive program, geographically based, for smaller
employers to learn health and safety by sharing experiences
and attending formal training sessions.
The JHSC Certification
& First Aid area of the Prevention Standards &
Incentives Branch provides information with respect
to first
aid requirements and the approved
first aid trainers. The Occupational
Health & Safety Act outlines the requirements
for certification
training of JHSC members. Designated members acquire
basic training either through providers
and programs approved by the WSIB, or passing competency
testing.
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 Chris
Rickett, a Project Manager with Toronto and Region
Conservation (TRCA), briefed Toronto West CAER members with
a presentation on Partners
in Project Green at the November meeting. A partnership
between TRCA, the Greater Toronto Airport’s Authority,
the Region of Peel and cities of Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga,
the project aims to create North America’s largest
eco-business zone on over 11,000 hectares of industrial
and commercial land surrounding Toronto Pearson Airport.
Utilizing the model of eco-industrial
networking, which sees companies working together to improve
their financial and environmental performance, Partners
in Project Green seeks to help businesses: reduce their
costs via resource efficiencies, develop new revenue streams
by facilitating by-product exchanges; increase the efficiency
goods movement; and develop a cost effective, high performance
business development area that makes the region the first
choice of employers to do business.
The project
is in the initial stages of development with a launch
date of early 2008. They are currently seeking input from
the business community on how Partners in Project Green
can best serve their needs. If you would like more information
on the project, or to provide input, please visit www.partnersinprojectgreen.com
or email Chris Rickett at crickett@trca.on.ca.
Chris Rickett, BES,
MPA is a former Municipal Councillor from the City of
Stratford and has worked with TRCA for two years. He holds
a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University
of Waterloo and Masters of Public Administration from
the University of Western Ontario.
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 During
October’s meeting, David Peters,
Responsible Care Manager for BASF
Canada shared BASF’s approach to Responsible
Care Management. David
explained how Responsible Care is a unique “ethic"
for the management of chemicals that was adopted by BASF
Canada and other members of the Canadian Chemical Producers
Association (CCPA) to help safeguard employees, the environment
and the community. Member companies commit to do the right
thing and to be seen doing the right thing. Consequently,
BASF’s management processes focus on continual improvement
in the area of Environment, Health, Safety, and Security.
A key component of BASF’s Responsible Care commitment
is the Community Right-To-Know Policy. This includes processes
to inform the community of risks associated with company
operations and to identify and respond to community concerns.
A team of industrial experts and community representatives
verifies these management processes every three years
to confirm that they are still in place and improving.
BASF Canada has evolved
a Management System that ensures continual improvement
in the company’s performance within all six of Responsible
Care’s Codes of Practice, including Research and
Development, Manufacturing, Transportation/ Distribution,
Product Stewardship, Hazardous Waste Management, and Community
Awareness and Emergency Response. David shared the basics
of the company’s Management System that includes
an access database where all BASF Sites and Businesses
annually attest to their compliance or commitment to comply
to all 155 Responsible Care protocols. Gaps are identified
and prioritized. Sites issue quarterly reports to a Responsible
Care Steering committee for review. Reports include progress
made towards the site’s planned outreach activities,
progress towards meeting environment, security and safety
performance goals and a gap completion report. The committee
then reports process on a scorecard to BASF Canada president,
Robin Rotenburg. Sites and businesses are held accountable
for their commitment to the process, and are provided
guidance to ensure that the Plan-Do- Check-Act process
has been fully implemented.
After David reported the
successful completion of the company’s 4th verification,
verifiers were impressed with the development of company’s
Management System and left with confidence in BASF ability
to self heal and to continue to improve in all areas of
Responsible Care. For more information on Responsible
Care, you are welcome to view the power-point
presentation.
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 David
M. Peters, P.Eng., graduated from the University of Toronto
in 1983 with a bachelor of applied science degree in chemical
engineering.
He began his career with BASF in 1988 in Brampton, Ontario
as a project engineer for BASF Coatings and Inks. In 1991,
David joined BASF Canada and in 1992 transferred into
the Ecology and Safety department. David has since had
a number of positions of increasing responsibility within
this department. In 2001, he was given responsibility
to coordinate BASF activities pertaining to the company’s
commitment to the ethic and codes of practice of Responsible
Care and has led the company through 2 successful Responsible
Care 3rd party re-verifications. Responsible Care is the
Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association initiative
to continuously improve the environmental and safety performance
of member companies. Presently, David is the Manager responsible
for Ecology, Health and Safety in BASF Canada.
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 As
the Manager
of Emergency Planning for the City
of Vaughan Sharon Walker apprised
the representatives from CAER committees from Toronto
West, Toronto North and Toronto East of the City of Vaughan's
Exercise Summer Blast. Conducted in June 2006,
the exercise was designed to include all members of the
emergency management team and representatives from the
private sector. This was accomplished through shift changes
in the Emergency Operations Centre. She explained that
the exercise was developed to create realism for members
of the control group. As all primary and alternates were
not deployed at the same time, the Emergency Management
Program created an exercise to reflect the different time
frames during which the primary, first alternate and second
alternate members would be called upon. The scenario was
a train derailment with a hazardous materials incident
that included the impact, containment and recovery phases.
Each shift was responsible for managing a specific phase
of the emergency. This complex table top exercise included
utilization of the notification process to convene the
team at different points throughout the day, implementation
of procedures, plans and protocols, media briefings, and
interaction with external agencies. The City shared the
lessons learned and the challenges of planning an exercise
of this nature. Sharon Walker is the Manager
of Emergency Planning for the City of Vaughan. Through
the course of her career in Emergency Management she has
worked for the Region of Peel and Canadian Red Cross.
While working for the Red Cross she was responsible for
coordinating Red Cross activities for the Kosovo Refugee
Humanitarian Evacuation at CFB Trenton and responses to
several localized emergencies. She is trained as a registered
nurse and worked in progressive neurological diseases
research, geriatric care and infection control. She holds
diplomas in Nursing, Business Administration and certificates
in Management-Labour Relations, Human Resources Management
and Volunteer Resources Management. She is a Director
on the Board of the Ontario Association of Emergency Managers
and holds the positions of Treasurer and Membership Committee
Chair. |
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 Also
at the September meeting attended by representatives
from CAER committees from Toronto West, Toronto North
and Toronto East Cathy Grant, P. Eng.
and Christina Labarge, P. Eng., two
officers from the Standards Development Branch had been
invited by Toronto North CAER to speak on provincial
air quality initiatives. Their presentation
showed how a large part of the Ministry
of the Environment's (MOE) regulatory and enforcement
activities focus on local air concerns affecting Ontario’s
communities. For example, the MOE sets air standards
for a large number of air toxins, and deals with individual
industrial emitters on a facility-by-facility basis.
Clean, safe air is essential in protecting the health
of people and communities in Ontario. As part of its
commitment to clean up Ontario's air, the provincial
government updated its regulation to protect local air
quality. Ontario Regulation 419: Air Pollution –
Local Air Quality is a key component of Ontario’s
plan to address industrial emissions of harmful pollutants.
It is the cornerstone of the ministry’s efforts
to protect local air quality. As decisions on air standards
are made, the regulation is amended to make the standards
stronger by giving them the force of law. On November
30, 2005, Regulation 346 “General - Air Pollution”
was revoked and replaced with O. Regulation 419/05.
The regulation imposes air standard concentration limits
for contaminants that are assessed using air dispersion
models and/or ambient monitoring. Regulation 419 places
Ontario at the leading edge of jurisdictions addressing
local air quality issues by combining protective air
quality standards with the most up-to-date scientific
methods and practical implementation tools.
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 Cathy
Grant is currently with the Standards Development
Branch, Environmental Sciences and Standards Division,
Ministry of the Environment. Cathy is a Chemical Engineer
and has held a broad range of positions at the Ministry
including regional operations, waste management, approvals,
and Drive Clean. Most recently, Cathy has been working
on the development and implementation of Ontario's Air
Quality Standards and the new Ontario Regulation 419/05:
Air Pollution - Local Air Quality.
Christina Labarge
is currently with the Standards Development Branch, Environmental
Sciences and Standards Division, Ministry of the Environment.
Christina is a Chemical Engineer with over 15 years of
experience in the areas of process design, environmental
management and government programs. She has worked in
research, industry and environmental consulting prior
to joining the Ministry's Environmental Assessment and
Approvals Branch in 1999. Most recently, Christina has
been working on the implementation of Ontario Regulation
419/05: Air Pollution - Local Air Quality. |
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 Conestoga-Rovers
& Associates (CRA) asks how prepared are you?
A Waterloo, Ontario based company providing solutions
for emergency response, crisis and emergency management,
business continuity and geographical information system
(GIS) technology applications demonstrated how, by integrating
design, physical asset and emergency response capabilities
the Toronto District School Board would be able to make
informed decisions in the event of an emergency quickly
and confidently. Robert (Ted) Hutcheson,
B.A. (Geog.) and Michael Kwiecien, C.E.T.,
P. Eng., CCEP, impressed the committee with the effectiveness
of the CRA's software in helping industries, commerce
and institutions handle the logistic and infrastructure
decisions necessary to respond to almost any crisis.
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The Toronto West CAER member from the Economic Development
Office (City of Toronto), Glenn Walker,
gave a presentation
on the activities and objectives of the Office with
regard to business development and retention.
Economic Development works
with numerous industry and business sectors in order
to facilitate cooperation with the municipal government,
resolve local issues and concerns as well as to identify
and access government programs. The three field offices
located throughout the city facilitate development applications
and relocation searches and provide a gateway to City
Hall and senior levels of government. The presentation's
topics also featured recommendations for enhancing the
business climate, current and future government programs
and employment land strategies.
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 Tony
Horvatin of Sun Polishing and Plating gave
an interesting presentation of the City of Toronto's
proposed new
water supply by-law as drafted by Toronto Water.
In addition to harmonizing the water supply by-laws
of the six former municipalities the new by-law includes
an index of fees, a schedule of fines and a reference
list of orders and tickets.
The by-law also goes into
detail regarding the backflow preventer and premise
isolation devices that will be required by industries
and numerous businesses including food processors and
apartment buildings, among others. Owners required to
submit a cross connection control and backflow prevention
device survey to the General Manager must submit updated
surveys at a frequency of not less than once every five
years and the survey and report must be stamped, signed
and sealed by a professional engineer, authorized by
the Professional Engineers Ontario to perform such work.
These devices must also be tested annually by approved
testers.
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 Acting
Captain George Warner of the Toronto Fire Services
reviewed all the necessary components of a Fire Safety
Plan along with the relevant code sections as well as
a step by step process of how to go about preparing
and submitting a Fire Safety Plan.
As well, the difference between an Emergency Safety
Plan and a Fire Safety Plan were identified.
It is an Ontario Fire
Code regulation requirement to have a plan approved
and stamped by Fire Services and the plan must be accessible
at the entrance to the property or building. This plan
must be in a Fire Safety Plan Box which and is to include
a copy of the approved fire plan, a schematic of the
buildings and related service rooms, keys to access
the rooms and a replacement open lock for the lock box.
Acting Captain Warner provided handouts which included:
Ontario Fire Marshal Guidelines for Fire Drills(OFM-TG-01-2004),
Fire Safety planning for Recycling Facilities(OFM-TG-06-1998),
Fire Safety Planning for Industrial Occupancies(OFM-TG-02-2000),
City of Toronto Bylaw No. 186-2004 and a list of manufacturers
of Fire Safety Boxes. Extra copies were left at Irving
Tissue.
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