Michael Lewis
Even though working high above ground on a suspended swing stage is a heavily regulated and precarious endeavour, many construction workers are still not being properly trained in the safe installation and use of the equipment.
That’s the assessment of Craig Nicholson, director of Barrie, ON-based Construction Workplace Safety Training Ltd. Also known as buildwithsafety.com, the company has been a leading provider of safety training services across the province and beyond since its founding in 2004.
CWST offers safety training courses in industrial, transportation, municipal, and construction applications as well as heavy equipment and commercial driver evaluations.
It provides occupational health and safety services in areas including accident and fatality investigations, site audits and consulting and workplace hazard analysis.
Part of technical standards committees with the U.S.-based Scaffold Access Industry Association, the company provides technical training in full and half-day sessions on subjects including working at heights, swing stage and access equipment, along with professional development workshops.
“There are a lot of people being asked to do the work and they don’t have any training at all or their training has lapsed and things have changed or the employers don’t really understand their obligations,” said Nicholson, who serves on the Mobile Elevating Work Platforms Council and the American National Standards Institute, providing feedback on best practices.
“People aren’t doing hazard and risk assessments properly to control hazards, and many employees are not engaged enough.
“Safety isn’t being considered ethically in many operator courses; the gap relative to equipment operation and safety is vast, some providers aren’t even putting users on the equipment and employers need to ask the right questions about who is actually evaluating their workers.”
Against this backdrop he said an area of focus is the CWST’s access program that features scaffold systems, elevated work platforms and suspended stages.
Nicholson said the company has overhauled its swing stage program to change the way material is delivered.
Given that working at heights training is mandatory for construction workers in Ontario the program devotes more time to the components of swing stage equipment and on issues such as the intricacies of knot tying to secure materials and gear — all under the tutelage of master rigger instructors.
In the next year or so it will update a program that teaches trainees the right way to install an elevated swing stage and is bringing on an additional instructor who specializes in the area.
CWST currently has three trainers working with students in its Barrie classrooms, on-site with clients, or in its facilities with equipment offered for use. Clients include construction company owners, trade unions and window cleaning contractors.
“It takes a certain amount of nerve to get on a swing stage and there’s quite a bit of information that you need to know that’s guided by standards and construction regulations so it’s not something that everybody does.
“It’ s a niche market, even though a lot of people use it” for jobs such as home restoration, glass work, caulking and painting.
“That was one of the things that kind of set us apart in the industry as a trainer. Not a lot of people are qualified or capable of offering this (suspended swing stage) training.”
Nicholson added that CSWT trainers offer more than just instruction of how to install and operate equipment.
They also provide insights on site specific work plans and hazard assessment, along with a strategy to respond in emergencies, such as when a stage fails and a worker is left suspended by an access line.
He said in the case of an accident the Crown is going to determine whether the worker was adequately trained and if an operator had a safe operations plan in place or if corners were cut for financial gain.
Such a finding that can result in monetary and other penalties and severely damage a contractors’ reputation.
Nicholson said an aggravating factor when it comes to construction site safety is a shortage of Ministry of Labour inspectors who visit workplaces to ensure they comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, although he said the province is in the process of hiring about 40 new officers.
He said there are only two construction safety inspectors in Simcoe County, a circumstance he calls a snapshot for the entire province.
With a lack of enforcement, Nicholson said there are fewer orders requiring safety training, and employers or workers may be tempted to circumvent safety procedures when no one is watching.
“There are three people falling a week in Simcoe County and nobody’s talking about it,” Nicholson told Ontario Construction News. “Even if they don’t get hurt the fact that they fell means that they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do.”
