BC Tree Planters Claim Inhumane Treatment
A group of immigrant tree planters from Africa claim they were forced to work in unsafe and inhumane conditions at a camp near Golden, BC.
The workers claim that they were denied adequate food, safe drinking water and access to bathrooms and were called lazy when they tried to take breaks during their 12-hour workdays. They also claim to have been subjected to racist comments and death threats, along with going weeks without being paid.
The tree planters say as many as 20 workers were crowded into 15-passenger vans for the 40-kilometer drive from Golden to their camp, thereby placing their safety at risk.
The men and women were working for Surrey-based forestry company Khaira Enterprises Ltd. under a government contract. The BC Ministry of Forests has shut the camp down and ordered the company to not bid on any government projects for one year.
Khaira’s owner, Khalid Bajwa, denied that workers had been mistreated and said they had been given adequate food and drinking water.
He told CBC News that the workers’ allegations were false, adding, “The work camp is different than the tourism camp. This is a work camp. We just go for work, not for a picnic.”
Tree planter Christine Barker said she and others felt more like prisoners or hostages than workers because they had no money or transportation and were at the mercy of their employer.
WorkSafeBC is investigating and the BC Federation of Labour has also called for an independent investigation.
Read MoreWorkplace Deaths Fall to Lowest Level Since 1992
Few people would find any good news in the recession that gripped much of the world in 2008/09, but here’s some: Work-related deaths across the US fell by 17 percent in 2009—to their lowest level since the US Department of Labor started tracking those statistics in 1992.
In 2009 there were 4,340 workplace fatalities throughout the US, compared to 5,214 in 2008.
The US Department of Labor reports that part of the reason for the drop in employee deaths is that workers logged fewer hours during the recession. Many workers are still feeling the effects. For example, the current unemployment rate in construction is 17.3 percent and the overall US jobless rate is 9.5 percent.
Read MoreWomen at Greater Risk for Ergonomic Injury
Female workers are more than twice as likely as their male counterparts to suffer ergonomics-related injuries on the job, particularly when not enough attention has been paid to the design of work, equipment, workstations and environment.
Ronald Porter, a physical therapist and ergonomics expert and director of the Back School of Atlanta, says some female-dominated professions, such as healthcare, require moving heavy loads and adopting awkward working positions.
Women are also more likely than men to be performing work that involves repetitive tasks, working at workstations and using tools that were designed for men.
Porter, who addressed the recent American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Professional Development Conference in Baltimore, noted that women represent 46 percent of the US workforce, but report 63 percent of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that result in lost work time.
Factors that put women at greater risk for MSDs include:
- An aging workforce,
- A decreased level of physical fitness,
- Increasing work load,
- Obesity, and
- Psychological stresses at work and home.
“Being overweight can contribute to back pain by increasing the wear and damage to joints, causing irritation, pain and reduced activity,” says Porter. “This lack of activity can cause further weight gain.”
Porter noted that other factors that put women at higher risk for MSDS include:
- The fact that job sites and equipment are often not designed for women.
- Women are more sensitive to extreme temperatures than men.
- Motor activities may be more difficult for women.
- Women tend to have less job and task rotation.
- They tend to have fewer work breaks if not in management positions.
- Loud noise.
- Lighting issues.
He says avoiding or limiting strenuous work, work requiring balance, lifting of more than 50 pounds, prolonged sitting or standing, temperature extremes and providing adjustable workstations can help women avoid work-related MSDs.
“Many work areas were designed by men for men. Forty-six percent of our workforce is female. The best place to apply ergonomics principles is during design, not after the issue becomes a problem,” says Porter. “It is must cheaper to build it correctly in the first place than to retrofit.”
PPE for women that will protect them from contract stress can also greatly reduce the chances of an ergonomic-related injury. Such PPE includes floor mats for workers who must stand a lot, shoe inserts and anti-vibration gloves.
Education in neutral postures, correct body mechanics and provision of “ergo breaks” can significantly reduce MSD risk factors for women.
“Instructing supervisors and perhaps even employees to recognize early warning signs of MSDs and how to apply correct first aid can be invaluable in the management process,” says Porter. “Developing appropriately modified or restricted duty jobs or tasks can speed recovery and decrease the likelihood of re-injury upon return to work.”
Read MoreAfrica’s Mining Industry Spreading Tuberculosis
An international study says that mining for gold, diamonds and precious minerals in sub-Saharan Africa could be driving a tuberculosis epidemic on that continent.
Researchers at Oxford and Brown universities, the University of California and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimate that the mining industry may be implicated in 760,000 annual new cases of tuberculosis—a contagious and potentially fatal disease that affects the lungs and other parts of the human body.
The researchers say that silica dust in mines, coupled with crowded working and living conditions and the spread of HIV/AIDS is driving the epidemic.
“Men traveling from afar to work in mines, such as from Botswana to South Africa, are at the greatest risk of getting tuberculosis,” states a news release from the University of Oxford in England. “But their wives, children and friends are also at high risk when miners travel back and forth to work, often many times a year.”
Even if TB is diagnosed in miners and treatment begins, the information frequently does not get back to doctors in the miners’ hometowns. This disruption of treatment poses a major threat of people developing a drug-resistant form of the disease, according to the study’s authors.
“Healthcare programs should emphasize continuity of care as miners travel across borders and miners should undergo routine screening in order to detect TB at an early stage,” states the news release. There’s also a need “to improve poor working conditions and reduce the miners’ exposure to silica dust.”
TB has been on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa during the past two decades, with a doubling of the year incidence from 173 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 351 per 100,000 people in 2007.
Info to go: Read more about tuberculosis by clicking on the Info to Go safety links at www.SafeSupervisor.com
Read MorePick 6
Odds of winning the lottery 1 in 135,145,920 (multi-state, mega-millions jackpot)
One-year odds of a person committing suicide: 1 in 9,249 (BookofOdds.com)
4: On average across the US and Canada, 4 times as many men as women commit suicide. (Suicide Information and Education Collection)
11: The US Suicide rate is 11.1 per 100,000 people. (World Health Organization)
13: The suicide rate among Canadians is 13 per 100,000 people. (Centre for Suicide Prevention)
28: Workplace suicides across the US jumped 28 percent in 2008, compared to 2007, with 251 cases reported. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
45: Suicide rates among 45 to 64-year-olds hit the highest level in a decade in 2007. (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
130: Among workplace suicides tracked by the US Department of Labor in 2008, there were 130 involving self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
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