IDRL 308 Occupational Health and
Safety - CHAPTER REVIEW
QUESTIONS PREP FOR FINAL EXAM
PREP Athabasca University
,1) How and why did governments come to intervene in the worker-employer relationship
regarding issues of workplace safety and injury?
The provincial and federal government enacted injury prevention and injury compensation laws
and programs over time to address the political pressures associated with high levels of
workplace injuries and fatalities. After the 1911 shirtwaist factory fire where 146 workers died
in NYC, the US government started the earliest forms of OHS in the by implementing fire and
building safety minimum requirements, then the minimum standards for sanitation
requirements were enacted and so on leading to occupational specific regs and WHMIS.
Beginning in the 1970s federal, provincial and territorial governments began enacting OHS
legislation through acts (sets out the law) and regulations (how the law is to be enforced).
2) What are workplace injuries, and why can they be considered a social construction?
A workplace injury is any form of ill health, such as a physical or mental injury or illness that
arises because of a worker’s employment. These may be minor and temporary or acute and
long- term or permanent. Social construction is a phenomenon that is determined (or
‘constructed’) by social or cultural practices. In the case of workplace injuries, our individual
experiences, media representations, and the operation of various systems help to shape what
types of injuries we believe “count” as work-related injuries. It can be challenging to grasp the
notion that injuries are social constructions. Think about Carpal tunnel syndrome and how long
it took to have it recognized as a work-related injury. (Carpal tunnel syndrome is a cumulative
trauma disorder (CTD) that affects the wrists and hands. Essentially, by subjecting muscles and
nerves to repetitive strain, a worker may begin to develop symptoms such as pain, as well as a
loss of coordination, sensation, and circulation. Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by
compression of the median nerve in the wrist, sometimes due to repetitive bending and flexing,
as when keyboarding.)
3) Why do official statistics under-report the number of workplace injuries in Canada?
There are a few reasons why workplace injuries stats are under-reported in Canada.
Reason 1 - The time-loss injuries of WCB claims are where a worker could not report to work due to
an injury, but many injured workers still go to work and therefore do not report their injuries to the
WCB.
, Reason 2 - Not all workers can report their injuries as only 85% of workers are covered by WCB.
Reason 3 - WCB doesn’t accept every reported injury/illness claim, rejecting about 5%.
Finally, only about 40% of all injuries are reported, so the official stats of 245,365 injury/illness
reports that are accepted as WCB claims in 2012, are significantly less than the 430,000 that
are estimated to occur in Canada every year.
There are several other explanations for injury under-reporting. The most salient answer is that
employers may discourage workers from reporting injuries because injury claims can affect
employers’ workers’ compensation premiums as well as their ability to bid on some contracts
successfully. Employers may offer workers paid time off and private insurance benefits to avoid
workers’ compensation claims. The risk of this arrangement for workers is that if the worker is
re- injured at a later date and requires workers’ compensation benefits, there will be no record
of the original injury and thus, the “new” injury may not be fully compensable.
Additionally, the Workers’ willingness to go along with not reporting injuries is understandable.
Workers are often dependent upon their employer for their livelihood. Injured workers are even
more dependent because their injury may limit their ability to seek other employment. While
under- reporting may be a violation of various laws enacted by the state, most governments act on
under- reporting only when there are complaints. Workers who are prepared to consent to
employer requests to not report injuries are unlikely to complain about such requests. The result is
that these violations stay hidden. This minimizes employers’ workers’ compensation premiums
through experience ratings and reduces the apparent rate of injury.
4) What is the internal responsibility system, and what are some of its shortcomings?
IRS - internal responsibility system is a philosophy that all Canadian employees and employers
are responsible for his or her now safety and their coworkers. But it fails. It puts in place an
employee/employer partnership ensuring a safe and disease-free workplace. It’s supposed to
promotes safety culture, best practice, ensures compliance. It only intervenes when the system
fails.
IRS shortcomings arise from-inadequate recognition by lawmaker
-power imbalance between employer and worker
-very hard to exercise in practice OHS legislation
-employers have the power as to what info needs to be given to employees, and how to handle
hazards
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