TRUCKING SAFETY COUNCIL OF BC Newsletter Inside this issue....... Truck Driving Championships Results .................Page 2 Create a Return to Work Plan ..............................Page 3 Safety: It’s the Right Thing To Do ........................Page 4 Save Money, Get COR ........................................Page 5 How Workplace Culture Affects RTW .....................Page 5 Preventing the Domino Effect .................................Page 6 Advise for Workers: Preventing Falls ......................Page 7 WorkSafeBC Industry Incident Reports ..................Page 8 July, 2011 Return to Work Policy = Faster Recovery Vol 2 Issue 7 This month’s safety topic: Return to Work You have worked hard to put in place a complete safety management system and it has produced positive results for your workplace. Work- ers know the proper safety procedures and they have an improved safety attitude. Yet even when using best practices, incidents will happen and when they do, how you handle the return to work process can play a major role on the speed of an injured worker’s recovery and on your workers’ compensation costs. WorkSafeBC statistics are telling us that while the number of injury claims in transportation is falling, claims duration, the number of days of work lost per claim, is getting longer and claim costs are increasing. Those claims costs are paid for by the employer. One way employers can positively in- fluence the lost productivity and cost of an injury claim is to have an injury management/return to work program that gets workers back to work as quickly as possible. The time to develop your return to work strategy is before a lost time incident happens. A good return to work policy makes it possible for workers to get back to work as early as they are able and lessens the disruption and inefficien- cies caused when a worker is suddenly absent. Keeping in regular contact with an employee who has been injured is the first step in the recovery process. The RTW policy should support a quick and safe return to work through involvement in the workers rehabilitation by making any neces- sary accommodations and providing alternative work until the worker can return to their regular duties. Active injury management maintains the workers morale and prevents them from becoming isolated. A good RTW program can help injuries heal faster. Studies show that the longer injured workers are off work during recovery, the less likely it is that they will return to the job. You have invested a lot of money to get an employee through recruitment, training and experience on the job. Your RTW policy will help make sure you continue to get a return on that investment if an injury does happen. Rob Weston Executive Director
Create a Return to Work Plan ..............................Page 3
Safety: It’s the Right Thing To Do ........................Page 4
Save Money, Get COR ........................................Page 5
How Workplace Culture Affects RTW .....................Page 5
Preventing the Domino Effect .................................Page 6
Advise for Workers: Preventing Falls ......................Page 7
WorkSafeBC Industry Incident Reports ..................Page 8
July, 2011
Return to Work Policy = Faster Recovery
Vol 2 Issue 7
This month’ssafety topic:
Return to Work
You have worked hard to put in place a complete safety management system and it has produced positive results for your workplace. Work-ers know the proper safety procedures and they have an improved safety attitude. Yet even when using best practices, incidents will happen and when they do, how you handle the return to work process can play a major role on the speed of an injured worker’s recovery and on your workers’ compensation costs.
WorkSafeBC statistics are telling us that while the number of injury claims in transportation is falling, claims duration, the number of days of work lost per claim, is getting longer and claim costs are increasing. Those claims costs are paid for by the employer. One way employers can positively in-fluence the lost productivity and cost of an injury claim is to have an injury management/return to work program that gets workers back to work as quickly as possible. The time to develop your return to work strategy is before a lost time incident happens.
A good return to work policy makes it possible for workers to get back to work as early as they are able and lessens the disruption and inefficien-cies caused when a worker is suddenly absent. Keeping in regular contact with an employee who has been injured is the first step in the recovery process. The RTW policy should support a quick and safe return to work through involvement in the workers rehabilitation by making any neces-sary accommodations and providing alternative work until the worker can return to their regular duties. Active injury management maintains the workers morale and prevents them from becoming isolated.
A good RTW program can help injuries heal faster. Studies show that the longer injured workers are off work during recovery, the less likely it is that they will return to the job. You have invested a lot of money to get an employee through recruitment, training and experience on the job. Your RTW policy will help make sure you continue to get a return on that investment if an injury does happen.
Rob Weston Executive Director
COR-Certified Company Cleans House at Championships
B.C. PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Promoting safe driving and professionalism in the truck driving industry.
Award Winners
Canadian Freightways takes home 8 trophies, including Grand Champion, at the B.C. Professional Truck Driving Championships
Professional drivers are the lifeblood of the trucking industry, and the British Columbia Professional Truck Driving
Championships celebrates and recognizes their accomplishments and contributions to the industry. The event also promotes safe driving and professionalism.
This year, the Championships took place on Saturday, June 25 at Tradex Centre in Abbotsford. The event was followed by the Awards Banquet in the evening at the Sher-aton Vancouver Guildford hotel in Surrey, where drivers for one of TSCBC's first COR-certified companies, Canadian Freightways, took home a significant amount of hardware, including the trophy for Grand Champion that went to Hans Wettstein. Wettstein also took home two other trophies, first place in the Straight Truck category and as part of the Team trophy.
The competition attracts up to 70 of the best professional drivers from across the province and includes five competition class-es ranging from Straight Truck to B-Train. Competitors complete a vehicle inspection to find planted defects, write a written exam and drive an obstacle course set up to test skills in maneuvering, cornering and judging distance.
Winners from each annual Provincial com-petition compete with other winners from across Canada during the National Truck Driving Cham-pionships, to take place this year in Calgary.
By Leasa Hachey Congrats Hans Wettstein,
2010 B.C. Grand Champion!
GRANd CHAmpION Hans Wettstein, Canadian Freightways
Canadian Freightways drivers pose proudly with their trophies. From left to right, Evan Hirst, Cas-sandra Belanger, Hans Wettstein, Rick Jacques, Jason Arnett, Jose Lecinana, Adam Besse, Jasbir Cheema, Tony Gomez (son Carlos) and Dale Scott.
TEAm TROpHY Canadian Freightways - Jose Lecinana, Dale Scott, Jason Arnett, Evan Hirst, Adam
Besse, Hans Wettstein
SAFETY AWARd Brian meredith, McRae’s Environmental
Services Ltd.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR dan Chistink, Ken Johnson Trucking Ltd.
SUpER B-TRAIN1st: Adam Besse, Canadian Freightways2nd: david Lighton, Air Liquide Canada Inc.3rd: Lorne Roadhouse, Overland West
TANdEm TANdEm1st: daryl Geisbrecht, Ken Johnson Trucking Ltd.2nd: Brian meredith, McRae’s Environmental Services Ltd.3rd: Ingrid Geisbrecht, Ken Johnson Trucking Ltd.
SINGLE TANdEm1st: dale Scott, Canadian Freightways2nd: Andy Clark, Overland West3rd: Jody dackgwich, YRC Reimer
SINGLE SINGLE1st: Evan Hirst, Canadian Freightways2nd: Jose Lecinana, Canadian Freightways3rd: Jason Arnett, Canadian Freightways
STRAIGHT TRUCK1st: Hans Wettstein, Canadian Freightways2nd: Tony Gomez, Canadian Freightways3rd: Kris Szigeti, Bandstra Transportation Systems Ltd.
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How to Create Your Own RTW planPreventing workplace injuries and illness is the responsibility of everyone in the workplace. When injuries and illness do occur, however, it is important for you and your employer to try to minimize the impacts by focusing on returning you to safe and productive work as soon as it is medically possible for you to do so.
Why return to work?
Most people who have a workplace injury or illness are able to return to some type of work even while they are still recovering, provided the work is medically suited to the injury or illness.Returning to daily work and life activities can actually help an injured worker’s recovery and reduce the chance of long- term disability. In fact, worldwide research shows that the longer you are off work due to injury or illness, the less likely it is that you will return to work.
Both you and your employer benefit in cooperating in your early and safe return to work. You benefit by restoring your source of income and staying active and productive, which are important to the healing/recovery process. Your employer benefits by minimizing the financial and human costs of your injury or illness.
Return to Work plan
The goals of the plan.These goals set out milestones for the worker to achieve until he or she reaches the final goal: a return to pre-injury employment.
The actions required to achieve these goals.This includes the responsibilities of the worker, the supervisor or manager, and any co-workers who will be assisting the worker.
Time frames for achieving these goals.
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A return to work plan lays out the steps that need to be taken to return an employee to his or her pre-injury job. In the ideal situation, the plan is developed jointly by the injured employee, the employee’s supervisor, and if applicable, the return to work program manager (who co-ordinates the process), the worker’s health care provider (through the provision of restrictions), and the union representative (if applicable).
A return to work plan includes the following:
These will provide a yardstick to measure the employee’s progress. It is important that the plan has a beginning and an end, as graduated work is a means to achieve a return to pre-injury work, and is not an end in itself. Make sure to include a clear definition of what is consid-ered progress (e.g., the employee can work five hours a day by week three, or the worker can assume tasks by week five).
Health care needs.If, for example, the worker is going to attend health or medical ap-pointments during working hours, these visits must be co-ordinat-ed with the requirements of the proposed return to work plan. Staff that will be impactedby these health care needs will also need to be advised (with the worker’s permission).mples of causes are:
Published with thanks to wsib.on.ca
Visit our website to download sam-ple forms to guide you in creating a Return to Work plan for your company. www.safetydriven.ca/safety_tools
Safety: It’s not just good business, it’s the right thing to do. By Leasa Hachey
Health and safety matter because human lives matter.
There is probably nothing worse for a hardworking individual than to have their livelihood threatened by some simple, in-nocuous and likely easily-preventable Workplace incident.
Yet in B.C. this happens every single day, workers are injured, made ill or killed on the job. Nobody thinks it will happen to them or their workplace. Employers of injured workers didn't wake up in the morning thinking someone was going to get hurt that day. Protecting the health, safety, and general welfare of all our employees is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.
Profits are ImportantWith every company trying to find as many ways as they can to re-duce the amount of money they are spending annually, many over-look the dollar value of investing in solid workplace safety programs. But neglecting safety and cutting corners where safety is concerned will ultimately result in high costs to the business by way of injuries or fatalities.
For instance, take a driver that hasn't been trained or reminded about using the 3-points-of-contact system to get out of his truck safely. Instead, he jumps down from the top step and twists his ankle when he hits the pavement. His ankle is sprained and he has to spend a day or two off his feet. The cost to the employer for this type of injury is estimated at $2530. That doesn't even in-clude any surcharges, fines, penalties or levies that also may be applied against the company. At a 7% profit margin, you'd have to do $36,143 worth of business to recover your direct costs of this minor injury, and we haven't even calculated the indirect costs. All of those costs could have been avoided through simple worker edu-cation, training and reminder signage.
The Business of PeopleThe secret behind any great company is great people. Studies show that workers who feel their employer takes a genuine interest in their safety become committed to their workplace, while the absence of comfort and safety is often cited as the number one reason employ-ees become disengaged and leave their job. By lowering employee turnover and creating a stable workforce where people are not leav-ing unexpectedly, your employees experience higher workplace morale. People get to know each other well, they're comfortable with each other and they work well together. They build stronger re-lationships that are powerful when schedules are tight or problems pop up. People are more likely to pitch in to help when they know each other and believe in mutual support. Operations run more ef-ficiently, confidence is higher and productivity soars.
Increasing Profits Through Reputation
Companies work hard to build a positive and respected image for their business and everyone knows a good reputation will in-crease sales, generate new customers and attract stronger em-ployees. A company’s approach towards health and safety plays a very important role in supporting the reputation of the organiza-tion. A well-managed health and safety policy results in enhanced employee loyalty and attitude. This contributes to a positive repu-tation with your customers, suppliers and local community and proves the company’s commitment to being a good citizen.
Ultimately, health and safety matter because human lives mat-ter. You have an important contribution to make towards keeping your employees safe. Make saving lives and keeping workers free from injury and illness a part of your business plan. Protect your investment by protecting your workers.
Committ to a safer, healthier
workplace through COR.
Save up to 15% on your WorkSafeBC premiums.
Ask us how!
Save Money, Get COR!
COR is an initiative that recognizes and rewards employers who develop and apply sustainable occupational health and safety programs that meet or exceed the applicable legal requirements and health and safety regulations.
Following verification by a TSCBC audit, companies will re-ceive up to a 15% rebate on their WorkSafeBC premiums in each year they qualify.
Visit our website for more information
www.safetydriven.ca/cor
UpCOmING LARGE EmpLOYER COR COURSES
prince GeorgeSenior Management/Owner July 26H & S Management July 27 & 28Return to Work July 29
LangleySenior Management/Owner Sept. 27H & S Management Sept. 28 & 29Return to Work Sept. 30
How Workplace Culture Affects Return to WorkBy Tal Sperling
TSCBC currently offers COR to large employers (20+ employees).• Employers can register for COR by completing an application form and registering for courses.• After completion of the required courses, large employers hire a TSCBC-trained and approved external auditor to conduct a company audit.• The audit results are submitted to the TSCBC for quality assurance and approval.
How do I get my COR?
The speed with which an injured worker will return to work fol-lowing a workplace incident depends on how serious the injury is, the type of job the worker does and the existence of Return to Work programs that support modified/reduced work for the affected worker. However, there is a social factor that affects how quickly a worker will return to work that is often overlooked and can be the most significant. This social aspect includes how the worker feels about their job, co-workers, supervisor, boss, company and their company’s health and safety policies.
If, prior to their injury, the worker did not feel valued by their em-ployer, had difficult relationships with others in the workplace or had other work-related grievances, there is an increased likelihood that their return to work will be delayed in part due to stress factors related to returning to the work environment. Also, if the worker thinks that their employer or supervisor may not be sympathetic and may not tolerate reduced productivity or changes to work processes, the worker may be inclined to stay away from the job longer. Finally, if the worker thinks that there is a chance that returning to work will cause them to be-come injured again they may also delay returning to the work environment that contributed to their injury.
Examining these scenarios highlights the importance of a posi-tive workplace culture that emphasizes health and safety along with good communication. It is important that this emphasis on safety culture comes before workplace incidents, not just following them.
Following an incident, it is important that the worker’s return to work be managed by someone (supervisor or manager) who is:
trained in the company’s Return to Work policies and proceduressensitive to a worker’s concerns over returning to work and works to resolve these issuesauthorized to adjust productivity requirements for the duration of modified duty needs
It is important to ensure a flow of communication between the worker, medical personnel, insurance provider and employer to ensure that the worker is supported in all aspects of their return to work requirements. Co-workers also need to be informed if there will be changes in how the work or worker will be modified during the Return to Work program duration. It is much easier to convince a worker to return to a work environment that will take care of their needs.
Finally, it is vital to make any necessary changes to the compa-ny’s health and safety management program to ensure that such incidents do not recur and share those changes with all workers. A positive safety culture and good employer-employee relations has a dramatic affect on the mood of an injured worker and how quickly they will return to work after an injury.
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RTW management: preventing the domino Effect
Keeping in contact is a key factor in helping employees to return to work after a workplace injury or illness. Contact can be a sensitive topic as some employees may feel they will be pressed to come back to work too early. Yet without contact, those who are absent may feel increasingly out of touch and undervalued. This can cause a domino effect, often leading to feelings of isolation, alienation and depression and result-ing in further time taken off work.
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What can be done
Tell your employees that it's your policy to help them re-turn to work following workplace incidents. Explain to your employees that returning to work will benefit them with improved health and wellbeing and with more pay in their pocket. Use the following timeline as a guide to maintaining contact with injured workers.
Less than 3 days of injury absence
When your employee returns to work, welcome them back and have a chat about their absence.
Between 4 and 14 days of injury absence
Keep in touch with your employee. When your employee returns to work, conduct a return to work interview. In many cases this will be a simple welcome back but you may need to discuss actions to help your employee's performance at work or underlying issues if the injury was severe or injuries are recurring.
Between 15 and 28 days of injury absence
Keep in touch regularly with your employee and iden-tify the barriers that prevent returning to work (many of these will not need a medical solution). You may need to consider expert advice, eg doctors, occupational health and rehabilitation providers. Welcome your employee back and conduct a return to work interview. If it seems your employee is not likely to return to work soon, then talk to them about the need to consider a return to work plan.
After 28 days of injury absence
Continue to keep in touch regularly with your employee about their absence. Put together a plan of actions and reasonable adjust-ments to help your employee return to work, including seeking expert advice if necessary, and agree on these with your employee and others involved. Welcome your employee back and implement the plan. Review your employee's return to work progress until they resume their full duties.
Sometimes, even with everybody's best efforts, it is not pos-sible to return your injured employee to full or even partial em-ployment, but it is important not to jump to conclusions before alternative solutions have been explored. You may need to consider seeking expert advice before making any decisions.
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do's and don'ts for keeping in touch with injured workers:
Create a climate of trust by agreeing beforehand your meth-ods, frequency and reasons for keeping in contact with absent employees
Consider training for your man-agers on a sensitive approach to help them get the most out of contact
Keep a note of contacts made
Be flexible, treat each case indi-vidually but on a fair and consis-tent basis
Welcome your employee back after their absence
Carry out return to work inter-views
Give your employees the oppor-tunity to discuss, in private, con-cerns about their health or other matters that are affecting their performance or attendance
Remember that medication can have side effects on things like physical stamina, mood, ma-chinery operation and safety critical tasks
Wait until someone is on long-term sick leave before taking ac-tion
Delay making contact or pass re-sonsibility to others unless there are sound reasons for doing so
Make assumptions about your employee’s situation
Say that colleagues are under pressure or that work is piling up
Forget that recovery times for the same condition can vary signifi-cantly from person to person
dO dON’T
Courtesy of www.hse.gov.uk
The COR Program and RTW The TSCBC Injury Management/Return
To Work training course provides an analysis on the financial impact of work place injuries and loss of work productivities ranging from worker compensation cost and additional work load assigned to non-injured employees to negative morale in the work force. Stu-dents will also explore the challenges of get-ting injured employees back to work.
Demonstrating management commit-ment and creating a positive culture of accom-modating injured workers are key ingredients of a RTW program. The benefits of having a successful return to work program for the employer and employees will be discussed. Students will have the opportunity to learn and discuss a step-by-step approach for how to develop and maintain an effective RTW program by referencing sample RTW poli-cies and procedures. Students will also learn how to use various RTW forms, such as the
Functional Abilities Assessment and the Re-turn to Work Plan, in the creating a RTW plan appropriate to the physical limitation of the in-jured worker. Communication processes to key parties, such as treating medical practitioners, and the worker recovery monitoring process are discussed.
This one day course will also provide an overview of the requirements of the TSCBC IM/RTW audit protocol and tips for companies on how to prepare for the IM/ RTW portion of the Certificate of Recognition audit.
Preventing Falls from Vehicles - Advice for WorkersMore than 69% of all workplace falls happen on level ground when work-ers slip or trip and lose their footing. This may be caused by uneven sur-faces, objects in the way, poor lighting or substances such as oil, water or ice. Falls from vehicles can happen from a number of areas, including the cab, between the tractor and the trailer, or at the rear of the trailer. One of the most common ways truck drivers are injured is in jumping from the truck while exiting.
Jumping from a height of four feet – typical cab height – will result in hit-ting the ground with a force of between 7 and 12 times your body weight. For example, a 200 lb. person would hit the ground with a force of 1,400 to 2,400 lbs. This can cause strain on the knees and back with many long-term effects. These injuries can be easily prevented.
WHAT YOUR EmpLOYER SHOULd dO
Plan loading and unloading to avoid the need to work at heights on the vehicle.Ask for good, well designed access when purchasing vehicles.Retro-fit equipment if necessary.Provide protective equipment such as slip-resistant safety foot-wear.Keep equipment in good order.Respond to ideas for preventing falls from vehicles.Make sure supervisors check how people are getting on and off vehicles.
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DON’T jump down – this is bad for your knees, ankles and spine and you are more likely to fall.Always use steps and handholds provided.Take a few seconds to climb down from the cab, load area or catwalk facing the vehicle and use the handhold.Report missing or damaged equipment.Before stepping off the vehicle, check for uneven surfaces such as potholes or debris which may cause you to slip.
GETTING ON ANd OFF THE VEHICLE • •• •
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Wear well-fitting, slip-resistant safety footwear when working on ve-hicles. Keep the soles of your footwear clean to reduce the risk of slipping. Follow safe systems of work for loading and unloading vehicles.Make sure you have been trained in and follow the company’s safe ways of working if you have to use equipment such as forklifts or cranes. Use safe ways of getting on or off the vehicle when carrying out maintenance above ground level, for example by using overhead cranes or scaffolds. Look at what other companies do – if you see a good idea suggest it to your safety adviser or supervisor.
ALWAYS WORK SAFELY
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Carry out pre-use checks on your vehicle. For example, check that any steps or handholds are in good condition.Report broken boards and any other objects that could cause a fall.Keep the load area tidy – pick up loose ropes, packaging etc.Check that the straps are safely stored so people don’t trip on them. Clean up spills and dirt such as diesel or mud on the catwalk or load area to stop people slipping in them. On refrigerated vehicles, check the floor conditions for ice or water and follow any systems in place for reducing the amount of water produced.
KEEpING YOUR VEHICLE SAFE
Courtesy of www.hse.gov.uk
Next month’s safety
topic...OHS Training
Trucking Safety Council of BC210 - 20111 93A AvenueLangley, BC V1M 4A9
Recent work-related incidents reported to WorkSafeBCInformation that may help you to prevent similar accidents in your workplace.
Injury Type : Close callCore Activity : Feed trucking/deliveryLocation : Lower MainlandID Number : 2010161480379Date of Incident : 2010-Sep
After making a delivery, a feed delivery truck drove off the property. The truck’s sting-er delivery arm contacted a neutral wire and a residential power line hanging across the road. The utility pole was pulled down and the power lines land-ed across the truck. The driver was not injured.
Injury Type : Fractured footCore Activity : Cold storage plantLocation : Lower MainlandID Number : 2010113830220Date of Incident : 2010-Sep
A young worker was training on a stand-up forklift. When it veered towards racking, he jumped off the forklift and caught his foot between the forklift and the racking.
Injury Type : Temporary loss of consciousness, multiple facial fracturesCore Activity : Garbage dis-posalLocation : Vancouver IslandID Number : 2010159110366Date of Incident : 2010-Oct
The driver of a roll-off compac-tor container truck was opening the rear door of a new design of container to dump a load of garbage. The pressure of the load against the door loaded the release handle, and when the driver released the safety latch on the handle, it sprang out, striking him in the face.
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