Metalworking fluids in the workplace are on the short list of potentially hazardous chemicals targeted by Ontarios Ministry of Labor health and safety inspectors, in their planned September blitz to reduce occupational injuries.
Ontario employs more than 400 full-time occupational health and safety inspectors, and they are planning a September blitz to focus on hazardous chemicals at metal fabrication shops, pools and spas, dry cleaning operations and health care facilities in the province.
The identification criteria for workplaces to be inspected include injury rates and associated costs, compliance history, size and age of the businesses, and whether they employ new or vulnerable workers.
Inspectors will check whether workers have been trained properly, whether chemicals are stored safely and labeled correctly, and will look for proper protective equipment such as respirators and eye-wash fountains.
The initiative is part of the provinces Safe at Work Ontario strategy, begun in 2008, that focuses on workplaces with higher than average lost-time injury rates and claim costs.