September 14, 2010 at 12:00 PM
- District 711 (Vancouver): Don Ross, Heather Kaye
- District 712 (Calgary): Brad Zurawell
- District 713 (London): Ben Bachl, Rocky Jara, Dennis Colenutt, Scott MacDonald, Wayne Henshaw, Michael Manna
- District 715 (Halifax): Cam Palmer
- Regrets received from: Wilf Fischer, Wayne Butler and Jason Bowen.
A reading was made from the Good Book
(Canada Labour Code Part II), Safety Palsm 124:
"Every employer shall (must) ensure that the
health and safety of every employee is protected."
Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
The Company has stated that in 2010 there will be a big push for PPE. Basically they have put out a notice affirming that they would have a zero-tolerance for people not using their safety equipment, but there has not been much enforcement (system wide). We still hear from our frustrated reps who try to encourage our CAW members to wear their PPE, but are often met with reluctance, resistance, and sometimes hostility. Even though we know that much of our membership does not like it, they need to be frequently reminded of the importance of using PPE, use common sense, standard operating procedures and appropriate manuals. The issue is that the Health and Safety Reps feel like they are they are not getting the support that the Company should be providing.
Concepts
At Jazz there are two groups that struggle with the concept of Safety – Maintenance and the Airports group. While the Airports group is coming around, Maintenance is far behind. The Health and Safety rules laid out in our contract and the Labour Code need much more attention than they have been getting. Unfortunately the Canada Labour Code seems to be ineffective if we do not bring in the HRSDC officers like we should.
Accidents
In the past 4 months there have been three serious accidents in Maintenance. We had a member jacking an aircraft with only two main landing gear jacks to remove a gear pin. When they broke the gear over centre, the aircraft lurched forward and pinned the member in the gear bay as the gear folded. If it had gone a few more inches it would have been fatal.
A month later another member was working in a wheel well when the hydraulics came on and the gear doors closed. That member was lucky that he was quick enough to only escape with an arm injury.
A week previous to this call we had a member fall from a tail dock in Halifax. This was after HRSDC Officers had completed an inspection in August. They left an AVC report (Assurance of Voluntary Compliance) that unfortunately only went to the Base Manager. It apparently had 14 points covered that needed attention.
Unfortunately, Management still does not comprehend the seriousness of these accidents – and we need to get this word to our members. No one wants to have a death to serve as a wake up call.
*** DO NOT TAKE SHORT CUTS! ***
New Aircraft Types
We have new aircraft types coming into out fleet. With the introduction of the 757, we will be opening up a whole different set of hazards. Especially the lower mounted engines where people can get ingested into the engines!
Do not forget that although the Dash 8 – 400 is a ‘Dash,’ it does come with some major differences. Our familiarity with this aircraft can become a deadly problem as we can assume it is the same animal.
Base visits
I will be visiting all the bases within the next 6 months starting with Calgary, then on to Halifax and Ottawa. I would like the Health and Safety reps to provide data/information of what is occurring at their bases. The base managers are not educated in the Labour Code and they are getting pushed from above with – sometimes – unreasonable expectations. It is not a good combination.
HRSDC Officers
I am recommending that the Reps make contact with their local HRSDC officer to try and develop some communication with them for our members. If you do not know the HRSDC officer in your area, let me know and I will get the name and the contact information for you.
Return to work
Another issue is that the maintenance return to work is very aggressive and people get pushed back to work while they are still broken! Some of the other departments get it and have made changes.
Working alone language
Heather has been inundated with the issue of working alone which the Company considers covered by their guidelines. The policy seems vague but there needs to be a risk hazard analysis on a case by case, location by location scenario. Further, if there is a major change, there needs to be a reassessment.
Policy Committee
The next Policy meeting is scheduled for September 22nd. Policy has reviewed the first aid policy and we are looking at other policies that need changes. If the other reps see something that needs changing in policies, please forward them to me.
The Jazz Violence Policy will require a subcommittee meeting to come up with a better version. The document will need to be completely redrafted. As it stands it does not follow the code at all.
Conclusion
In closing, the Health & Safety representatives have an important job to do. The management does not take it seriously, but we need to keep pushing until they understand. We cannot let them gamble with our safety or our lives. We are not trying to put them out of business, but we do want to be in business with safe and healthy employees.
Ben Bachl
National Health & Safety Coordinator
Jazz Technical Services