Why all the fuss?
I have continually read articles and letters about how messy the oilsands are. I don't see that at all.
Two years ago, while working the night shift at Shell Albian Sands, I watched the building of a tailings pond. It amazed me at how well it was constructed. I asked my boss why all the fuss; he said it is what the regulations call for. I then asked how anything would ever leak out after what I saw during construction. He declared: “It's the law.”
I was relieved to hear and see what many don't — the building of a tailings pond.
Dave Clinton, Mistatim, Sask.
The plan is in place
On July 30, Thomas Lukaszuk, Minister of Employment and Immigration, announced his plans to make the Alberta workplace safer with the unveiling of a 10-point plan to clean up the province's Occupational Health and Safety program.
The Building Trades of Alberta's over 60,000 trade professionals are proud of their safe work culture and the records they establish by collaborating with industry partners — workplace safety is the No. 1 priority.
Lukaszuk's recent announcement will raise the bar for safety in the workplace in Alberta, and we applaud him for having the courage to make this commitment.
We have been encouraging the Alberta government to move forward on initiatives addressing “Safety in the Workplace” for some time, and we have served on committees, such as the Work Safe Alberta Ministers Advisory Committee.
We see this announcement as a starting point, and while it does not address all of our concerns fully, it's very encouraging and we support Lukaszuk's obvious determination to reduce injuries and deaths in the workplace. Ron Harry, executive director, Building Trades of Alberta Value of heath care
A Canadian Medical Association report tells us Canadians are not getting good value for their health-care dollars and recommends changes. Given the international ranking given Canada by the Commonwealth Fund Report of June 2010, this commentary is timely and appropriate. The ICF report compares our system to those of 12 other countries, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S.
Canada's share of GDP spent on health care is spot on the average. But spending on hospital care is 24 per cent below the average; acute hospital beds are 16 per cent below average and hospital discharges stand at 57 per cent below the average. Our doctor supply is 30 per cent below average and MRI services 38 per cent below average. So, Canada lags in the actual delivery of care, but not in expenditures.
How does Alberta stack up within Canada? A July 8, 2010 report from the School of Business, University of Regina rated 30 large Canadian health-care regions on quality, access and patient satisfaction. On quality, both Edmonton and Calgary scored in the top four. But in terms of access and patient satisfaction, Calgary was 22nd and 29th out of 30 and Edmonton was 28th and 27th.
These ratings bear out what Albertans experience: too few hospital beds and clinics, long wait times for diagnosis and treatment, decaying infrastructure and demoralized care givers. Clearly, Canada has slumped and Alberta has fallen a long way from its former prominence in health-care delivery.
Ralph Coombs, Calgary Ralph Coombs was president and chief executive of the Foothills Hospital from 1973 to 1990.
“Git-er-done”
My Name is Nicolette Drake and I am a Safety Coordinator for Allan Construction in Saskatoon, Sk. I am originally from Vancouver BC and the majority of my work experience is from BC. When I came to this province I was expecting to get a job in a company that was seriously behind the times in safety due to the "git-er-done" attitude that is referred to in this article. I must say that I was ever so pleasantly surprised by my new company's safety culture. The cooperation comes from the top and works it's way down, and for a small company I must say that the company has an excellent handle on not only their policies in that book that does get pulled off of the shelf and used, but also with buy in from the site Super's and Workers. Our statistics and field level cooperation say that we are doing something right.
I think that the statistics that are mentioned in this article are very broadly used numbers and not specific to a particular industry. None the less, the numbers are astounding.
The government provides our company with a lot of work outside of the mines. It is really nice to see the Government of Saskatchewan get on board with overall health and safety objectives for the people of their province. Saskatchewan needs all of the assistance and cooperation the province can get if workplace incident and injury rates are that high. Besides, all safety training I have received has stressed that a commitment to safety must first come from the top and work its way down for any one to take it seriously
Transit experts called in after death on platform
The death this summer of a three-year-old boy at a C-Train platform has prompted Calgary Transit to seek a special safety audit and implement other measures on its own.
A team from the American Public Transit Association will do a peer-reviewed study of the C-Train system with an emphasis on platform safety, and likely make recommendations based on the industry's best practices, said Calgary Transit spokeswoman Theresa Keddy.
“We've asked them to look at everything we're doing and reaffirm that we're doing the right thing and that it's consistent with other agencies across North America,” she said, adding a date for the visit hasn't been finalized.
The organization is North America's leading authority on public transit, made up of 1,500 service providers and contractors from Canada and the U.S. Spokesman Mantill Williams said team members are selected from other transit systems to help on peer reviews.
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