“Because incidents on Canadian roadways increase during long weekends, police officers, firefighters, paramedics and tow-truck operators are at a greater risk of harm over long weekends,” said JPMF Managing Director Ian Wilson.

“Please pay attention when you get behind the wheel. Slow down when you’re driving by working emergency responders and if they approach you from behind with their lights flashing and sirens sounding, safely yield the right-of-way and pull over.”

The May long weekend coincides with National Police Week (May 13-19) and National Road Safety Week (May 15-21), providing yet another reminder about the importance of driving safely around emergency personnel, vehicles and scenes.

The JPMF, which strives to eliminate preventable workplace fatalities and injuries to emergency responders, has created two traffic-related public service announcements (PSAs) for television, including SLOW DOWN: It’s No Picnic and Put Yourself In Our Boots: EMS.  The Memorial Fund also actively promotes traffic safety through its Facebook Page and Twitter account.

Meanwhile, here are some traffic safety tips to consider before getting behind the wheel this weekend.

There’s a lot to like about the TV show Mad Men.

It’s well-written, superbly acted, the plot lines are compelling and it paints an interesting picture of life in 1950s and 1960s America.

As someone who is immersed in the realm of workplace and traffic safety, there’s also a lot to take in regarding attitudes towards health and safety. The ignorance of health and safety issues on the show is, at times, downright comical.

The show’s characters, for example, drink excessively at work and at home. They also don’t think twice about drinking and driving.

Smoking is another obvious Mad Men vice. You can almost smell the cigarette smoke coming through your TV. Check out this Mad Men smoking compilation if you don’t believe me.

January Jones’ character, Betty Draper, can also be seen smoking and drinking throughout the course of her pregnancy. If memory serves, her doctor was also smoking during one of her checkups.

So, don’t expect to tune in and see kids wearing bike helmets or even seatbelts. It was a different time and the knowledge regarding health and safety matters was not quite as advanced.

Now, I didn’t live through the ’50s and ’60s, and Mad Men is a fictional show, so the safety lapses should be taken with a grain of salt. I doubt all expectant mothers from that era puffed away and guzzled wine while their doctors blew second-hand smoke in their faces. But, from a safety perspective, I do think Mad Men serves as a great reminder of the strides that have been made on the occupational health and safety front.

We have learned a few things along the way. We’ve learned more about the impacts of smoking and drinking. And we’ve learned a lot about safety and how to better protect ourselves and the people we love.

We haven’t figured it all out – but we are working on it. Makes you wonder what safety issues of today future generations will look back on and laugh at. What will make our children shake their heads and say, “I can’t believe they didn’t know better.”?

While you’re pondering that, check out this clip of Don Draper’s encounter with a malfunctioning elevator and think about how you would’ve handled this discovery. Something tells me you would’ve done more than just head to your office for a drink.

Ian Wilson is the Managing Director of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund, a charitable organization devoted to workplace/traffic safety initiatives benefiting emergency responders.

The warrior fights because he believes that he is fighting for something good, something positive, something that will improve the quality of the world around him.

— Richard J. Machowicz, Unleashing the Warrior Within

Last month I attended a seminar in Victoria by the trainer, Brian Willis. Brian’s presentation was entitled Harnessing the Winning Mind and Warrior Spirit. The intended audience for this particular seminar was police officers, peace officers and military personnel. I am, of course, none of these.

As a writer, the chance of me getting into a gunfight any time soon is slim.

Interestingly, however, I was the one taking the most notes during the seminar – eighteen pages, to be precise. For a writer, the nuggets of wisdom gleaned were pure gold. And I’ve attended Brian’s seminars multiple times over the years. But every time I hear him speak, I not only learn new things, I’m also reminded of ideas I’ve already learned but have forgotten.

During last month’s presentation, one new component that Brian has implemented into his seminar, since I last heard him speak, was a clip from the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund’s Put Yourself in Our Boots safety video: “The Story of John” part.

Just in case you’re a reader who doesn’t know my background, I was married to John, who was a police officer who died in the line of duty in 2000. John died from brain injuries sustained after a preventable fall at an unsafe workplace, while investigating a suspected break and enter. There was no safety railing in place to warn him of the danger.

After Brian showed the clip from the Boots video, he went on to explain to the group what the JPMF does in terms of raising public awareness about workplace safety issues facing emergency responders – and why our safety messages matter.

“We cannot measure what we prevent,” he said, matter-of-factly. “But let me tell you this, the JPMF is saving lives and preventing injuries.”

So there’s me, in the back row, madly scribbling all this down. I’m the Board Chair of the JPMF, for God’s Sakes – I’m supposed to know this stuff like the back of my hand!

And I do – but hearing someone outside the JPMF articulate it, in such a powerful and succinct way, was extremely insightful.

A little later in the seminar, this quote appeared on the overhead screen:

Spartans excuse without penalty the warrior who loses his helmet or breastplate in battle, but punish with loss of citizenship rights the man who discards his shield. A warrior carries a helmet and breastplate for his own protection – but his shield is for the protection of the whole line.

— Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire

Clunk…another truth hit home for the writer in the back row.

This is exactly what the police officers who started the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund did (and still do today, along with many other people): they chose to protect the line.

For to them, to have let John’s preventable death go unaddressed would have been akin to discarding their shields – because what happened to John could happen to any police officer.

And then I thought further: what is a police badge but a smaller version of a shield? And how did those police officers start the JPMF? They had memorial pins made that had John’s badge/regimental number on them – and then sold the pins to other officers, friends and family.

Today, the JPMF is a charitable organization that educates people about how and why to make workplaces and roads safer, so as to help ensure emergency responders make it home safely to their families after every shift.

In other words, the JPMF is like a modern-day shield that serves to help protect the line of police officers, firefighters, peace officers, paramedics, etc, so they can do their job.

Here are three ways you can help: 

1. View the safety videos and help spread the word

2. Donate

3. Volunteer

Maryanne Pope is the Board Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund and the author of A Widow’s Awakening.

The annual Day of Mourning – for workers killed and injured in the workplace – took place on April 28th. That sombre day, which pays tribute to fallen workers and urges the living to recommit to occupational safety, is observed with candle-lighting ceremonies and memorials across the country.

The Day of Mourning is followed by North American Occupational Safety & Health (NAOSH) Week, which runs from May 6-12. NAOSH Week – a continent-wide celebration of OHS – is marked by all kinds of safety events, including proclamations, walks, conferences, trade shows, learning sessions, educational meetings, safety presentations and community events.

WESTRAY ANNIVERSARY

In the middle of this year’s NAOSH Week is the May 9th anniversary of the Westray mine disaster, an industrial explosion that killed 26 miners in Nova Scotia. Eleven of the miners remain buried at the site – their bodies were never recovered. This is the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, a national nightmare that represented a monumental failing in workplace safety.  

Investigations into the Westray explosion determined that the mine was on a “predictable path to disaster” and a five-year inquiry pointed to negligence, incompetence and corner-cutting at all levels.

Following the disaster, a $30-million lawsuit from the families of the dead miners against the province of Nova Scotia was thrown out and criminal charges against Curragh Resources Inc. – the company that managed the mine – were also dropped. Executives with the company were not even required to testify at the inquiry into the catastrophe.

THE WESTRAY ACT

In 2004, Bill C-45 – also known as the Westray Act – was enacted. This federal legislation was expected to right some of the wrongs that occurred at Westray and help create safer workplaces across Canada. The Act imposed criminal liability on corporations that fail to take appropriate steps to protect workers. It also allowed for steep fines and jail time for company execs.

This all sounded good at the time, but since then there have only been four cases where charges have been laid and just one conviction has resulted.  Critics charge that the legislation is a paper tiger and that it lacks teeth. Many prosecutors choose not to pursue charges under the act because they fear there is little chance of a conviction.

Meanwhile, since the Westray mine disaster, workplace fatalities have steadily climbed. From 1993 to 2010, 16,143 Canadians lost their lives due to work-related causes (an average of 897 deaths per year). Workplace deaths in Canada rose from 939 in 2009 to 1,014 in 2010.

Topping 1,000 workplace deaths a year is a dubious distinction for a country as “advanced” as Canada. And it’s certainly not a figure that the architects of Bill C-45 likely envisioned. Yet that is the reality.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

So, what happens next? How do we do a better job of protecting the most valuable part of every workplace – the workers?

The anniversary of Westray – and its legacy, both emotionally and legislatively – should not be just another day in the calendar. Two decades ago, 26 miners died. They died going where regular folks don’t want to – underground in unpleasant and, what is obvious to us now, dangerous conditions.

(This is a small connection they share with the first responders the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund strives to protect. Like miners, emergency responders do work that most people don’t want to. They put themselves in situations most people would not to provide a better life for others. It’s dangerous work and we owe it to them to honour those who died on the job and protect those who serve us.)

Getting back to the questions above, how do we put an end to deadly workplaces that are claiming thousands of lives every year?

SAFETY EDUCATION

Certainly, raising awareness and educating people about occupational safety is a great tool for preventing workplace injuries and fatalities. Communicating effectively with employees, managers, executives and contractors is vital to getting people to buy in to workplace safety. People need to understand why workplace safety is important and the consequences – to themselves and others – if work site incidents occur.

Most workplace hazards aren’t the result of a malicious act. They happen because people neglect workplace safety measures. This can happen for all kinds of reasons – they feel overworked and unable to take action, they don’t see the importance of safe practices, they don’t like being told what to do, they think someone else is taking care of it, etc. That’s why it’s important to engage those you work with and explain why safety is important and define roles in conducting workplace safety measures.

Once safety awareness is heightened and workers are educated, it’s also important to have systems in place that allow for continuity of workplace safety. Checklists need to be devised, safety regulations need to be put in place and updated resources need to be available so that everyone (not just employees) can gain the appropriate access to vital safety information. Safety inspections and audits also need to be conducted on a regular basis, so a culture of safety can grow roots that will maintain a firm safety presence that is evident decades from now … not just weeks, months or years.

PUNITIVE MEASURES

Of course, punitive measures can be an effective workplace safety tool. As we’ve seen from Bill C-45, however, punishment only acts as a deterrent if it is effective, if not severe. If the Westray disaster had resulted in lengthy jail time and costly lawsuits for negligent company executives and safety inspectors, would there be fewer workplace deaths in Canada? We will never know for sure, but we do know that the Westray Act was intended to allow for stiff fines and time behind bars for those who are negligent when it comes to workplace safety. That also hasn’t happened.

It’s hard to imagine that the very real threat of major fines and prison terms wouldn’t have prompted some companies to take workplace safety matters more seriously. And it may be worth lobbying politicians, lawyers and anyone in a position to do something about it to fix the flaws in Bill C-45 and give the legislation some teeth. Only then will we know if the Act is capable of a deterrent effect.

But, where political and legislative measures may be letting us down, there is room for corporations to step up and test their own punitive measures and their impact on workplace safety. Companies can consider suspensions, fines and even termination of employment for those who breach workplace safety practices or are willfully negligent. We prefer education over punishment but maybe this is an effective way of driving home workplace safety messages. It’s also worth noting that, as is the case with Bill C-45, safety rules and punishments need to be enforced to be effective.

BE CREATIVE

There are always solutions to problems that don’t immediately present themselves. If punishing dangerous workplace behaviour isn’t working, maybe going in the opposite direction will. Incentives – such as bonus payments, gift cards, work trips, time off, etc. – might do the trick. Establish safety standards and reward those who achieve them. The biggest reward for workplace safety is going home to your family every day, but incentives are just one creative option for promoting workplace safety.

Each company and each work site is different in terms of what is required to keep it safe. Employers should be aware of the safety needs and requirements of their workforce and the areas they work in. They need to use that knowledge to protect their workers.

So, while safety is in the air – and on the airwaves – please take the time to seriously think about workplace safety. Think about what you can do to keep your workplace safe for you, your coworkers and anyone who might visit your workplace. Know your role and responsibilities when it comes to workplace safety.

The repercussions are too great to ignore occupational safety. Just one workplace incident can be devastating to a company. It can result in all kinds of loss – loss of productivity, financial loss, loss of reputation, emotional loss and, most importantly, loss of life. That loss of life can have an enormous impact, as we saw at Westray.

The current site of the Westray operation looks much different than it did 20 years ago. The buildings have been knocked down and the mine has been covered up. Grass seed has also been put in.

We ask you to plant your own seed at this time of year – the seed of safety. Nurture this safety seed and let the roots grow.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

This week devoted to workplace safety was first launched in 1997 and it built off of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering’s Canadian Occupational Health & Safety Week, which had been observed in the 10 years before Mexico and the U.S. decided to join in.

Despite its lengthy handle, NAOSH Week is essentially a continent-wide celebration of safety. It’s a week in which people are encouraged to think about safety. Several events and initiatives at this time of year promote safety awareness and educate people about steps they can take to make their workplaces – and their habits – safer for themselves, the people they work with and anyone who may visit their workplace.

For those in the Calgary area, there are plenty of events taking place, including the Official NAOSH Week Proclamation & Safety Fashion Show; the Steps for Life 5-km Walk; the NAOSH Week Conference & Trade Show; the NAOSH Week Community Event; and Calgary Rocks Summer Construction Safety Awareness BBQs taking place at high schools across the city. Learn more about these events at the Occupational Safety Week – Calgary Facebook Page.

For those outside of Calgary, there are plans underway for numerous safety sessions and initiatives. Please seek these out or host your own safety event.

Most importantly, please don’t make safety just a once-a-year thing. Workplace safety should be a regular part of your work routine. Create safety checklists and conduct regularly scheduled safety checks at your work site. Consider your workplace from the point of view of someone who has never been there before. Is it safe for you? Is it safe for those you work with? Is it safe for visitors? What could go wrong here? Are there potential hazards you haven’t considered?

Please think about these questions and remember that workplace safety is everyone’s responsibility. Raise your awareness, educate yourself and take action … during NAOSH Week and the weeks that follow!

This April 28th marks the National Day of Mourning, an annual observance commemorating workers who have lost their lives or been injured in the workplace.

The date falls on a Saturday this year. To accommodate this weekend date, many companies and organizations will observe the Day of Mourning on Friday. Some will mark the occasion on Friday, some on Saturday and, although it is observed in over 80 countries across the world, most people won’t recognize it at all.

This is not to denounce the efforts of those who strive to ensure that we take time to reflect on those who have passed away – or been severely injured – in workplace incidents. Far from it.

But it is sad that we feel the need to squeeze the Day of Mourning into the conventional work week. Should it be an act of convenience that prompts you to recognize those killed in workplace fatalities? Perhaps, although the fallen don’t get weekends.

Calgary Police Service Constable John Petropoulos died after a fall at a warehouse on Sept. 29, 200o. It was a Friday. He never had the opportunity to enjoy another weekend. No more BBQs, no Sunday papers, no lounging on the couch … none of those simple weekend pleasures that we all love and often take for granted.

Commitment to Safety

While we hope you take the time to honour John and the other workplace fallen, whether it’s on the actual Day of Mourning, whether it’s on a Friday or a Saturday or any day of the week … what we really want is for you to commit to ensuring that your workplace does not cause another fatality or injury.

Pledge to take action. Take a look around your workplace. Ask yourself: “What could go wrong here? What can I do to make it safer?”

Pledge to practice safe driving habits and to realize that workplaces are all around you. The workplace of emergency responders – and other workers – is everywhere, whether it’s a construction site, an office building, a residence or a roadway. Have you done everything you can to make your workplace safe for you, those you work with, visitors and those who may have to respond during an emergency?

Ask yourself these questions now and pledge to keep asking yourself these questions on a regular basis. It is a Day of Mourning that prompts reflection and provides the opportunity for education, but it is a life of action and a commitment to safety that will help to keep you and the ones you love alive.

This life of action and this pledge of safety will also help you to enjoy the weekends that others cannot.

The Day of Mourning, which takes place April 28th, remembers those workers injured or killed on the job. People are encouraged to honour their memory by committing to work together to prevent workplace injuries and fatalities.

Calgary and area events include an observance at City Hall Gardens, 800 Macleod Trail, at noon on Friday, April 27th and a Memorial & Flag Dedication at the Fallen Workers Memorial Garden, located at #201 292060 Wagon Wheel Link in Rocky View. This service will begin at 11 am on Saturday, April 28th.

The Steps for Life 5-km walk raises funds for Threads of Life programs and services for families impacted by workplace tragedy. It takes place at the Riverwalk, East Village, 618 Confluence Way, S.E. in Calgary on Sunday, May 6th. Contact Colleen Youngblut
at cyoungblut@threadsoflife.ca or 1-888-567-9490 for more information.

The Official Proclamation of NAOSH Week, which runs from May 6-12, will be hosted by the University of Calgary at their Downtown Campus, located at 906 8 Ave. S.W. The event will kick off at Noon on Monday, May 7th and it will include a Personal Protective Equipment Fashion Show, highlighting trends in safety wear and gear. A free learning session will also be a part of this great safety event.

Calgary Rocks Safety Awareness is a fantastic program that features interactive and fun safety events for high school students. This program, which also offers free BBQ lunches for students, will tour various Calgary high schools from May 8-11th.

On Thursday, May 10th, the NAOSH Week Conference & Trade Show will take place at the Glenmore Inn. It will run from 8 am until 4 pm and feature several speaker sessions, as well as a trade show with over 20 exhibitors.  Great door prizes are also available!

The NAOSH Week Community Event takes place on Saturday, May 12th at the Superstore Parking Lot, located at 3575 20 Ave. N.E. in Calgary. This family-friendly event is aimed at educating the public about the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace. Come on down and enjoy a free BBQ, live music and excellent interactive safety displays. It runs from 11 am until 2 pm.

If you don’t live in Calgary, look for NAOSH Week events in your area. If you do live in Calgary, find out more on the Occupational Safety Week – Calgary Facebook Page or follow the week’s events on Twitter @CalgaryNAOSH.

If you’d like to book a JPMF safety presentation during NAOSH Week, contact Rosemary Lindsay at rosemary@jpmf.ca.

The John Petropoulos Memorial Fund (JPMF) has now developed a professional safety presentation program, through which a speaker can go out into communities to deliver powerful presentations to companies, organizations and conferences that reinforce this safety message: when you make your workplace safe for emergency responders who may have to attend a premise, you make it safer for everyone. 

When possible, the safety presentations will also include an emergency responder from the local community to be on hand for the Q&A portion of the event. We have found this to be very effective in terms of engaging participation from the audience, as it gives people the opportunity to ask questions that relate to that particular emergency service – and it lends another layer of perspective for the audience.

The JPMF’s safety messages provide a different perspective on workplace safety – that of an emergency responder who may have to attend a premise during an emergency, such as a crime in progress, a fire, or a medical situation.

Origin of JPMF safety presentations

Over the years, members of the JPMF have given dozens of presentations to individual companies and organizations, students and conferences. The basic format of these presentations is to use the story of Const. John Petropoulos’ death as a powerful example of why workplace safety measures need to be in place for everyone who may attend a premise – and how to help make that happen.

Our five 30-second TV ads and the Put Yourself in Our Boots safety video are shown during presentations to provide further tangible examples of how, with the public’s help, the risks facing emergency responders – from the physical environments they work in – can be significantly minimized. If someone makes a change to a workplace that makes it safer for first responders who may or may not attend, they have also made it safer for everyone, including their own workers, service workers, visitors, clients, etc.

Having this formal safety presentation program in place enables the JPMF to give significantly more presentations in a more consistent and strategic manner. By providing the service of having a JPMF speaker attend an organization (during a safety meeting, lunch & learn session, etc), we are able to reach far more people with our safety messages.

Goals of Program

• To further increase public awareness about the importance of considering first responders when implementing OH&S practices
• To further the overall goal of workplace safety initiatives and create a culture of safer workplaces for all
• To determine the number of workplaces that actually make tangible changes to their premise after hearing our presentations

Contact Us

If you’d like to learn more about our free safety presentations or book a speaker for your group, please contact:

Rosemary Lindsay

Speaker Coordinator/Evaluator
John Petropoulos Memorial Fund
403-651-7831, rosemary@jpmf.ca
www.jpmf.ca

The penny is on the way out.

The federal government recently announced that the Royal Canadian Mint will stop producing pennies.

“Free your pennies from their prisons at home and donate them to charity,” said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

As a registered charitable organization, we couldn’t agree more with the Finance Minister. That’s why we’re urging all of our supporters to set up coin boxes at their place of work to take in all those stray pennies.

During the month of April, encourage your coworkers, employees, clients and anyone else who may visit your office to drop their pennies in your donation boxes. Let them know that their “nuisance” coins can help emergency responders return home safely to their families after each shift.

(Contact us if you’d like information about the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund to adorn your coin boxes and cans).

At the end of the month, touch base with us about retrieving your donations and we’ll make arrangements to pick them up.

After that, you can kiss those pesky pennies goodbye and know that they’re going to a good home.

It’s a fundraiser that makes cents!

These lessons, however, only have value if people learn from them.

A recent story out of New Zealand revealed a coroner’s findings in the death of firefighter Derek Lovell, who died of traumatic injuries from a major explosion at a refrigeration plant in 2008. The coroner’s report said “nothing in their training or experience prepared” Derek and other firefighters “for the situation they faced that day.”

Instead, coroner Peter Ryan said the plant’s design failed to meet industry standards and the ongoing operation of the plant was in breach of those standards and health and safety laws. Those breaches contributed to the explosion that killed Derek.

Another report examining the death of Maryland volunteer firefighter Mark Falkenhan was more vague in its findings, stating “there was no single cause, no single reason for his death.”

Mark died while battling a four-alarm blaze at an apartment in 2011. After issuing an emergency alert, Mark was found unconscious by fellow firefighters, who pulled him from the building before he was declared dead at hospital.

In the case of Const. John Petropoulos, a fatality report discovered John had fallen through a false ceiling while he was searching a warehouse, looking for an intruder.

The circumstances of all of these line of duty deaths may differ, but what they have in common is safety lessons that have emerged. Some of those lessons are relevant to emergency responders, while others are directed at the public, who bear some responsibility in protecting those who protect us.

The coroner’s report investigating Derek Lovell’s death made recommendations to improve compliance with existing safety standards and stated that signage warning firefighters about the presence of flammable refrigerants could have made a difference.

While it identified no single factor contributing to Mark Falkenhan’s death, the study of his fatal incident recommended firefighters stick together during “immediately dangerous” calls, maintain possession of a portable radio and notify command of changing conditions. Obviously, if the unattended frying pan that sparked the blaze was dealt with earlier, there would be no need for the report or the recommendations.

And the report examining John Petropoulos’ fatal fall stated that a guardrail would have prevented him from stepping through a false ceiling to his death. That guardrail was eventually erected … but it did nothing to prevent John’s passing.

So, as mentioned, there are safety lessons to be learned from these deaths and the reports that study them. Ideally, these safety lessons will be learned before the next fatality report needs to be written.

Situational awareness is one lesson that often emerges for first responders, but perhaps the biggest lesson is for the general public and it is this: take a look around your workplace and make it safe. Look at your work site from the perspective of someone who has never been there before. Ask yourself: “What could go wrong here?” Conduct a hazard assessment.

Make the change; save a life.