Occupational health and safety issues (OSH) concerns are ongoing issues in Canada. Every year in Ontario, for example, more than 280,000 people suffer a work-related injury or illness. And they are not necessarily minor in nature - every week six people in the province die due to workplace illnesses or injury.
Employers are legally obligated to maintain safe workplaces. To this end, OSH measures should be incorporated into every aspect of a company's workplace practices. Employers and employees alike should be able to recognize occupational hazards that could cause injury, illness and.or damage and to take necessary preventive measures.
A safe work environment benefits all parties. It not only means better health and quality of life for the workers, but also can be more conducive to profitable business and result in lower premiums for employers.
The articles goes on to discuss what to expect from both Ministry of Labor industrial health and safety inspections and WSIB workwell audits.
One of the prevalent safety issues in the signmaking industry is indoor air quality (IAQ). It is not uncommon to encounter strong odors in print shops, resulting from certain equipment and processes. One way to reduce odor and the corersponding VOC emiting materials that generally cause the odors is to develop a printing sector based environmental performance agreement (EPA). Environment Canada in conjunction with the signmaking industry through an agreement with the Specialty Graphics Imaging Association (SGIA) have provided all the training and guidance at a reduced cost. The EPA is co-ordinated by Dr. Judy Zaczkowski, a partner and senior consultant at Envision Compliance Ltd in Concord, Ontario.
