FRANCAIS

August 03, 2001

Labour and Immigration Minister Becky Barrett today announced a new six-point strategy to significantly reduce the numbers of workplace injuries in Manitoba. The strategy is one of the outcomes of a major Department of Labour and Immigration reorientation over the past year, designed to better prepare for new challenges in workplace safety and health.

"In recent months, Manitobans have been reminded of our unacceptably high level of workplace accidents leading to unnecessary injuries or even deaths, as well as lost wages and productivity and pressures on workers compensation rates for employers," said Barrett. "Every injured worker is one too many. In realistic terms, we need to achieve a substantial reduction of accident rates as soon as possible for the benefit of Manitoba workers, their families and employers."

The main elements of the strategy are:

• Achieving a 15 per cent reduction in workers’ injuries on the job. A major joint effort between the Department of Labour and Immigration and the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) will be required to meet this goal. Apart from reducing pain and suffering, WCB estimates a savings in time-loss injury claims by approximately $25 million annually after implementing this plan.
• Targeting young worker injury. The Youth Injury Prevention Committee will develop and implement education initiatives to target youthful workers with health and safety information. This focus on youth and new worker injury will include a review of apprenticeship and industrial training programs across the province to ensure safety instruction is adequate. Delivering health and safety instruction in high schools will be explored.

• Strengthening occupational disease and illness prevention. Taking full advantage of recent enhancement of department resources, Manitoba Labour and Immigration will begin a program of improved enforcement of Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) and health hazard regulations. This will include addressing the problem of chemical, mould and other contaminants in many workplaces. The health hazard regulations will also be reviewed to assess their adequacy in today’s workplace.
• Improving enforcement of current workplace legislation and codes.
• Improving agricultural safety and health. Almost half of workplace injuries are in the agricultural sector. Manitoba Labour and Immigration and Manitoba Agriculture and Food will work with stakeholders in the agriculture sector to improve education and strengthen safety measures in this vital Manitoba industry.
• Launching a legislative review of the Workplace Safety and Health Act. First enacted in 1977 with minor revisions in 1998, the act will be reviewed with public input from all interested Manitobans with a view towards modernization and prevention of illness and injury.

Barrett pointed to recent developments which have strengthened workplace safety in the province: the addition of eight workplace inspectors, one dedicated to northern Manitoba, raising the compliment to more than 40 in the department; the dedication of one Crown prosecutor for workplace safety violations; and recent court decisions raising the threshold for fines for offending employers.

She also noted that Manitoba’s accident rate is high compared to other provinces with increases across a number of industrial sectors. The WCB has warned that this trend is placing pressure on rates and must be addressed for that reason as well as the human and productivity costs.

"The principals behind our Workplace Injury Prevention Strategy are education, prevention and enforcement. Our primary focus throughout this plan is at the front end, to enhance our practices and provisions to prevent workplace accidents and illnesses before they occur," said Barrett.

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