Ontario Federation of Labour Calls for Review of Employment Laws After Temp Worker Deaths

A young woman was killed after a conveyor belt caught her clothing on September 2, 2016, at Fiera Foods, in Toronto’s West End. She was sent to work at the Fiera plant by a temp agency and had been on the job for less than three weeks before she was killed. This marks the third temp worker death at this factory. This week Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) President, Chris Buckley wrote to the Toronto Police asking for a criminal investigation into the most recent death. In 2004 the Canadian Criminal Code was amended by Bill C-45 and now provides special criminal negligence provisions for companies that disregard the health and safety of workers. The intent of the legislation is to hold employers criminally liable for the deaths of workers. The OFL has claimed that Ontario’s outdated labour laws are failing to protect workers. In response, the Ontario government is currently reviewing the province’s employment laws—allowing an opportunity to create the employment laws Ontario workers need. Read more here.

Ontario Law Recognizes PTSD as an Occupational Disease for First Responders

Ontario has become the latest province to enact legislation making post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a presumptively occupational disease. Emergency service employees with PTSD will no longer have to prove it was caused by tragedies they handled on the job in order to receive workers’ compensation benefits, erasing a major roadblock to prompt treatment. The new law applies to police officers, firefighters, emergency-response teams, paramedics, some corrections employees and other workers who are first on the scene in traumatic situations. This bill had been proposed in an attempt to combat a recent rise in suicides among first responders—and help first responders to come forward for help when they need it. Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn has recently stated how “psychological injury is just as damaging, is just as harmful, and is just as preventable in many ways as a physical injury.” Read more here.

Laws on Working Alone are Being Re-Evaluated by Alberta H&S Inspectors After Two Violent Robberies

The Alberta government plans to inspect 200 convenient stores and gas bars after two separate robberies lead to the death of two clerks.  These inspections will cover current legislation related to working alone, workplace violence, paycheck deductions and employing young workers. The need for these inspections is to help determine the next steps in the review of occupational health and safety and employment standards laws.  Read more here.