Blog
Issue
Child passenger safety
Motor vehicle injuries are a leading cause of injury-related death for Canadian children. Action must be taken to reduce the risk of crashes. Steps must also be taken to reduce the risk of injury when a crash occurs.
Problem
Low booster seat use
Car crashes kill more children than any other cause of injury in Canada. What amounts to over two classrooms of children die in cars each year, and thousands more are injured.
Solution
Mandatory booster seat use
When installed correctly, putting a child in a car seat reduces the chances of injury or death by as much as 75 per cent and booster seats provide up to 60 per cent more protection than seat belts alone. Children must be in the correct car seat for their stage of physical development in order to be protected.
While at least 75 per cent of young children are restrained in car seats, according to Transport Canada research shows that nearly three-quarters of Canadian children between ages four to nine are not protected by booster seats.
Car seats can reduce the risk of death by 71 per cent for infants under age one and 54 per cent for children by ages one to four.
Car seats reduce the risk of hospitalization by 67 per cent for children age four and under.
Blog
Employers know that education and training are critical to the well-being of employees. Providing health and safety training is one of the most important responsibilties an employer has. Not only does effective training meet WorkSafeBC requirements, but it builds safety awareness within a workforce and fosters a healthy safety culture. This in turn can prevent injuries, which protects workers and keeps overall costs down.
Everyone needs training: Owners, supervisors, and workers.
- Step #1 Identify training needs
- Step #2 Prioritize training needs
- Step #3 Choose your training provider
Blog
The first 4.5 magnitude quake hit shortly after 5 p.m. local time Wednesday followed by the larger 5.1 magnitude temblor at 6.47 p.m. With dozens of aftershocks it was the deadliest series of quakes in Spain since 1956m with over 80 percent of the buildings damaged and over 3,500 people homeless.
A number of devastating quakes have struck across the globe in recent years — from Japan to Chile to Haiti — sparking fears that our planet is due to experience even more catastrophic temblors in the near future.
#1 World’s Largest Earthquake
Chile, 1960 – Magnitude 9.5
Approximately 1,655 people were killed during the largest earthquake ever recorded. Thousands more were injured, and millions were left homeless. Southern Chile suffered $550 million USD in damage. The quake triggered a tsunami that killed 61 people in Hawaii, 138 in Japan and 32 in the Philippines. The earthquake ruptured where the Nazca Plate dives underneath the South American Plate, on the Peru-Chile Trench.
Blog
The goal of the North American Occupational Health & Safety Week (NAOSH) is to focus the attention of employers, employees, and the general public on the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace, at home and in the community.
What are you doing? Why should you get involved?
NAOSH week provides an opportunity to focus, reinforce and strengthen your commitment to health and safety in the workplace.
Particiaption and involvement in NAOSH week can:
- improve attitudes towards safety
- increase understanding of the importance of health and safety in the workplace
- foster a safety-minded culture
- increase cooperation
- assist in team building
- improve communication between employees, safety committees and safety professionals
What are you waiting for?
Blog
Last month the costliest natural disaster on record has killed as many as 25,000 people, caused an estimated $300-billion in damage and raised the spectre of widespread radioactive pollution.
A tectonic fault known as the Cascadia subduction zone runs south 1,300 kilometres to Cape Mendocino, the most westerly point in California.
The devastation in Japan should serve as a wake-up call, a reminder that much of North America’s West Coast faces a very similar threat: The question isn’t whether Cascadia’s fault will wreak havoc once more but when.
If the whole fault does tear apart, five major cities – Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Portland and Sacramento – would be slammed simultaneously, along with dozens of smaller communities. According to Eddie Bernard of the Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in Seattle, the net effect would be like having Hurricane Katrina strike in five places at once.
Twenty minutes after the shaking stops, killer waves will strike B.C., Washington, Oregon and northern California. Hours later, “our” tsunami would hit Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
The damage could be staggering, and how well we survive will depend on how well we have prepared. With any luck, the painful experience of Japan will offer a “teachable moment” – a chance for North America to get ready for the inevitable.
So, as well as putting together survival kits, concerned citizens would be wise to spread the word and call for action. The danger that lies ahead is almost unknown beyond British Columbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest
If any further reminder is required, both Mexico and Japan were hit with sizable quakes again this week.
Blog
Do you sit properly? If you want to learn then…STAND UP!
- Look straight ahead
- relax your shoulders
- let your arms hang loose
This is your NEUTRAL position, and most people lose this form when they sit down.
When you sit back down, think of how you need to support your body to maintain your neutral position. Take the time to learn the features of your chair – something few of us take time to explore.
Think of your chair as a car seat. Would you start driving if your feet didn’t reach the pedals? Learning what the knobs on your chair do, combined with a well arranged desk and stretches every half hour, will give you a smoother ride at your desk.
