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This article is about the strike at the Toronto Zoo. Many staff were on strike and not able to take care of the zoo animals that regularly do. Staff that were not fully trained or licensed with the Zoo had to take over. Some said that they were worried about the workers safety but also the animals because they were not receiving their usual care. Many animals are dangerous and untrained workers are at risk. This is dangerous for the Zoo and workers and could be considered negligent.

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The union representing 362 Toronto Zoo workers on strike says management staff are not fully trained to look after the health and safety of zoo wildlife despite claims by officials the animals will receive the best care possible.

"Our 5,000 plus animals that we have are being cared by a few managers that aren't trained to do the work," Christine McKenzie, president of CUPE Local 1600, told Global News on Thursday.

"Some of them used to be keepers but they haven't done that work in a long time. So we have a lot of sensitive conservation programs that are ramping into gear right now, it being the spring."
READ MORE: Toronto Zoo closed 'until further notice' as unionized staff go on strike
Unionized zoo employees walked off the job early Thursday morning after contract talks broke off between the bargaining committee and zoo management.

Jennifer Tracey, senior director of marketing and communications for the zoo, told Global News a robust contingency plan is in place which will see between 85 to 100 non-unionized staff members care for the animals during the strike.

"Staff will be arriving very early and we've all been given our specific assignments," Tracey said.

"We will all be working with either a wildlife care supervisor, wildlife care manager or with one of the veterinarians. We also have a number of curators who also have knowledge with working with the animals."
LISTEN: Jennifer Tracey of the Toronto Zoo joins AM640's The Morning Show View link "
Tracey said more than half of the striking workers include staff who don't care for the animals such as employees in guest services, retails stores, marketing department, graphics staff, those who look after the zoo's rides and 200 summer students.

"During regular hours we would generally be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., that's when the zoo would be open to the public. We don't have those kinds of hours now that the zoo is closed," Tracey said.

"That's why it's much easier to focus the remaining staff just on the core care of the animals."
READ MORE: Four African penguin chicks hatch at Toronto Zoo
Officials say security at the zoo will remain in place during the strike and will be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Veterinarian staff will also be on call to deal with health issues relating to any of the wildlife.

"We would normally have three vets on staff, one is our head veterinarian who oversees all of the wildlife health, and then we have one vet that is always on site," Tracey said.

"They're doing preventative medicine, not just emerging cases. They have a number of procedures and roles, routine checkups they do throughout the day."
READ MORE: Toronto Zoo bids farewell to Juno the polar bear
Meanwhile, the official grand opening of the zoo's new $18 million high-tech Wildlife Health Centre scheduled to open on Monday has been postponed.

Tracey said the facility is already fully functionally and will not be affected by the strike.
VIDEO: Toronto Zoo announced successful hatching of African penguin chicks With files from Marianne Dimain

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health and safety of toronto zoo animals

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Toronto Zoo management staff not trained to care for animals during strike: union

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The union representing 362 Toronto Zoo workers on strike says management staff are not fully trained to look after the health and safety of zoo wildlife despite claims by officials the animals will receive the best care possible.

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This is important for young people who are just starting their careers and need to know their basic rights in their workplace. This relates to health and safety because it concerns a persons well being at work. The three basic rights people should exercise when working are their right to know, right to participate and right to refuse unsafe work.

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Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)

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 World day for safety and health at work. 

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 World day for safety and health at work. 

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April 28 has been named World day for safety and health at work. The International labour organization deiced to celebrate April 28 to promote and bring awareness to work place injuries ,diseases and fatalities.

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Racial violence and harassment, a health and safety issue ?

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Racial violence and harassment, a health and safety issue ?

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Within this article students at U of T are saying that racism should be a part of the health and safety code. They are also calling on the Canadian Union of public employees to address the incident that has been happening on their campus. Also trying to fix there school to ensure that everyone feels safe.

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The union representing University of Toronto teaching assistants is promising action after hearing a student group's concerns over "multiple instances of racial violence and harassment" on campus and what they consider the university's inadequate response.

The Graduate Student Union's race and ethnicity caucus wrote a letter Feb. 6 calling on the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3902 to address recent incidents of racism on campus that have created a "toxic workplace environment for U of T employees."

CUPE 3902 is the local that represents contract academic workers at U of T, including roughly 7,500 graduate students employed as teaching assistants or in other campus jobs.

The letter pointed to a number of troubling incidents in the first half of the academic year.

In September, history professor Michael Marrus made a racially offensive remark to a Black graduate student and was pressured to resign his senior fellowship position with U of T's Massey College, where there have been concerns over racism.

In November, there were reports of razor blades hidden behind posters that read "It's okay to be white," a slogan associated with the white supremacist movement. Subsequent investigations found no evidence of razor blades but the posters - which U of T called "antithetical" to its core values - were reportedly part of a trolling campaign initiated on 4chan, the notorious imageboard website favoured by the alt-right.

That same month, a Black engineering student came forward to report several instances where students used the N-word and other racist language in online chats, prompting an investigation by the university.

"The cases of racial violence at hand, and the lack of appropriate response on behalf of the university, have culminated in an environment of emboldened racism and white supremacy at the U of T," the race and ethnicity caucus wrote in its letter. "We are thus calling on our local to uphold its responsibility to ensure the health and safety of its members."

In a written response, CUPE 3902 assured the caucus that it shared its concerns. "The rise in instances of racism, especially anti-Black racism, as well as the administration's slow response, in some cases, and conspicuous silence, in others, have not gone unnoticed by our executive committee," they wrote in a Feb. 15 letter.

The local wrote that it approached CUPE Ontario in November to share its fears that "the rise in white-nationalist activities across the province was emboldening racists on our campuses" and asked them to launch an anti-racism campaign. According to the letter, CUPE Ontario agreed and allocated $50,000 towards the campaign, which it will be leading.

CUPE 3902 said it would push for a campus-specific element in the anti-racism campaign and promised several other actions, including lobbying U of T to provide a safe space for racialized people and developing a working paper on racism as a health and safety issue.

The local further pledged to acknowledge its "own complicity in the perpetuation of oppressive structures of power" by engaging an anti-racism consultant to review its own policies and procedures.

"Issues of racism on campus have taken a backseat for too long," the local wrote.

Kelly Hannah-Moffat, U of T's vice-president of human resources and equity, said the university works hard to ensure that everybody feels safe and welcome on campus. U of T is consistently recognized as one of Canada's top diversity employers, she noted.

But Hannah-Moffat said she also recognizes that there "is always more that can be done."

"The issue is a top priority for us," she said. "By no means are we naïve to the issue, and we feel that it's something we have to work hard on, and it's something that we have to continue conversations on."

Hannah-Moffat said the university is continually making changes to improve racial equity on campus; for example, unconscious bias training or recruitment strategies aimed at improving representation on campus - last year, the medical faculty had only a single first-year student who identified as Black.

Some high-profile changes have resulted from the advocacy of racialized students. In 2016, U of T became the first university in Ontario to initiate a program for collecting race-based data from its students - a move that Black community leaders pushed for and celebrated as a step in the right direction. Last year, the university agreed to hold its first-ever Black graduation ceremony after being approached with the idea by U of T student Nasma Ahmed.

Hannah-Moffat said when students or staff experience racial discrimination, there are "very robust processes" for investigating complaints. "There are a number of different avenues for employees to raise those issues, whether it's formally or informally," she said.

But CUPE 3902 chair Pamela Arancibia frequently hears from members who are too scared to speak up.

"What we see is a problem of enforcement," she said. "People repeatedly come to us saying 'there is racism,' 'there is discrimination,' but in order to go forward with it, there's a fear of reprisals."

These same fears are often voiced to the race and ethnicity caucus, which was formed in 2014 to advocate for the equitable treatment of racialized graduate students.

For example, one graduate student and researcher wanted to report ongoing racial harassment from a lab mate but worried that speaking up would jeopardize future research or career prospects, according to Kenny Murphy, the caucus' vice president of external communications.

"We've attended multiple anti-racism training sessions, in which student leaders expressed their frustration and burnout from engaging in anti-oppression work at the university," Murphy said in an email. "In one case, a student representative broke down as they described feeling 'dehumanized' by their colleagues and supervisors."

Murphy said the caucus is pleased with CUPE 3902's initial response to its letter, but emphasized that efforts are still in the early stages. To date, the university's response to racial discrimination and harassment on campus has been "generally slow and ineffective," he said.

"As a result, the onus has repeatedly fallen on racialized students, faculty and staff to voice their concerns and call the university to action," he said. "(This) takes time and effort away from their academic work, not to mention the mental and emotional burden that these folks have to bear, again and again."
Clarification - February 26, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version to make clear that CUPE Ontario will be leading the anti-racism campaign, not CUPE 3902.

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U of T student group says racial violence and harassment a health and safety issue | Toronto Star

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The union representing University of Toronto teaching assistants is promising action after hearing a student group's concerns over "multiple instances of racial violence and harassment" on campus and what they consider the university's inadequate response. The Graduate Student Union's race and ethnicity caucus wrote a letter Feb.

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These are some statistics surrounding illnesses, diseases and fatalities that occur at the workplace. This explains that although many fatalities happen at construction and manufacturing jobs they can also happen in educational and business occupations. Three workers die every day which is why it is so important to be careful of oneself and others at work regarding health and safety

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Many can recognise this poster from the workplace. It breifly covers the steps one should take when they are injured. The employee must get first aid immediately and tell employer. The employer must arrange transportation, pay workers wages, and report it to WSIB. This is a very important part of health and safety as it can avoid further disputes and legal issues.

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When someone has been injured at their workplace it is crucial that they complete an injury form. This must be done within 3 business days of the acknowledgement of the injury for workers compensation and benefits to be covered. It is important for this to be explained in ones Health and Safety training.

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This video speaks about a young man that died on the job when he was pinned in between a flat bed of a work car and a truck. This shows that when working one must be aware at all times  along with the people working around them. The video states that "only three people have died working on the TTC" which seems like 3 too many. The Health and Safety training may need a refresher so no more accidents happen.

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Part 3 - TTC worker died of injuries following workplace accident - October 2017

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This photo explains the states of work-related mental health issue. When people usually think about health and safety, they think about the physical effects. Workplaces with unsafe environments where you can breaking a body part or develop and sickness. However someones mental health can also be affected by the environment they work in.

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Within this video, they talk about a drive lab in Toronto that studies how over the counter medication can have a major effect on driving. Also, they study how the weather can affect the safety of driving, and help to make new laws around driving in the workplace.

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The DriverLab in Toronto is studying the effects of various medications, like opioids have on drivers.Dana Levenson reports.

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This article speaks about a man that was electrocuted and died at his workplace. It claims that safety procedures were not followed and the ministry of labor is suing the company. This is in respect to tort law because there will be compensation for the victim.

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RICHMOND HILL, Ont. -- A Burlington, Ont.-based company that services industrial cranes has been fined $125,000 after a worker suffered a fatal electrical shock on the job.

The Ministry of Labour says Konecranes Canada Inc. pleaded guilty last week to a charge under the Occupation Health and Safety Act in connection with the 2015 incident.

The ministry says a worker and manager were working to repair a 20-ton overhead crane at Van-Rob Inc., an auto parts manufacturer in Richmond Hill, Ont., at the time.

It says that while using a scissor lift to reach the crane, the manager received an electrical shock. The crane's power source is rated at 600 volts.

The ministry says the manager died in hospital.

It says an investigation found the workers did not follow the energy isolation and verification procedures laid out in the company's safety manual, which constitutes a breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, which goes to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

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Burlington-based company fined $125k after worker fatally electrocuted on the job

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RICHMOND HILL, Ont. -- A Burlington, Ont.-based company that services industrial cranes has been fined $125,000 after a worker suffered a fatal electrical shock on the job. The Ministry of Labour says Konecranes Canada Inc. pleaded guilty last week to a charge under the Occupation Health and Safety Act in connection with the 2015 incident.