Occupational Health and Safety: COVID-19, Workplace Hazards, and Injury Rates

Health and Safety Legislation and Workers' Rights

COVID-19 is a new coronavirus that emerged in late 2019 and led to a pandemic that has claimed more than 3.82M lives to date. It has severe respiratory symptoms and can cause death in humans, similar to but not the same as the SARS virus. You are the HR Director of a large international airline in Canada with flights to many destinations. A group of your flight attendants have refused to work on flights, as they believe that the closed circulatory air system of the airplanes increases the chances of getting the virus and becoming ill. Identify which health and safety legislation applies to this situation and explain if flight attendants have the right to refuse work in this situation? Briefly describe the procedures you will followand the actions you will take after being notified of the flight attendants' refusal to work. Would you have given different answers to partsa and b if those refusing work were workers in a correctional facility in Brampton, Ontario and were concerned about the outbreak of COVID-19 as six of the 14 inmates in a unit had tested positive for the coronavirus, Ontario? Explain.  Steven is a forklift driver at a major urban UPS processing facility in Scarborough, ON. At this sorting facility, different employees are assigned to the tasks of unloading incoming mail and parcels from trucks using forklifts, operating mail sorting machines, manual processing of mail and parcels if needed, and uploading the outgoing trucks.  Discussfour types of injuries and illnesses that occupational health and safety professionals should be most concerned about in this work environment for different employees. Describe the job characteristics modeland utilize it to provide two recommendations for reducing the psychological hazards of Steve's job by improving job content and control.  A hotel establishment in Muskoka Lakes, ON, has 35 employees who work an average of 8 hours per day for 280 days a year. In the past year, the employer reported 12 injuries for a total lost time of 50 days. Furthermore, there was a minor fire in the main kitchen in February 2020. While the fire did not result in any injuries, it led to the closure of the restaurant and room services for 20 days. What are the injury frequency and severity rates for this hotel? Write the steps you took for this calculation.  With 2,400,000 in gross insurable earnings in 2020, estimate the premium payment for this hotel.  To reduce injury and severity rates, you, as the head of the occupational health and safety of the hotel, have been asked to train three staff managers on the methods of hazard identification as they apply to this context. Briefly describe three methods of hazard identificationyou would visit. COVID-19 is a new coronavirus that emerged in late 2019 and led to a pandemic that has claimed more than 3.82M lives to date. It has severe respiratory symptoms and can cause death in humans, similar to but not the same as the SARS virus. You are the HR Director of a large international airline in Canada with flights to many destinations. A group of your flight attendants have refused to work on flights, as they believe that the closed circulatory air system of the airplanes increases the chances of getting the virus and becoming ill. Identify which health and safety legislation applies to this situation and explain if flight attendants have the right to refuse work in this situation? (4 marks) Briefly describe the procedures you will followand the actions you will take after being notified of the flight attendants' refusal to work. Would you have given different answers to partsa and b if those refusing work were workers in a correctional facility in Brampton, Ontario and were concerned about the outbreak of COVID-19 as six of the 14 inmates in a unit had tested positive for the coronavirus, Ontario? Explain. Steven is a forklift driver at a major urban UPS processing facility in Scarborough, ON. At this sorting facility, different employees are assigned to the tasks of unloading incoming mail and parcels from trucks using forklifts, operating mail sorting machines, manual processing of mail and parcels if needed, and uploading the outgoing trucks.  Discussfour types of injuries and illnesses that occupational health and safety professionals should be most concerned about in this work environment for different employees.  Describe the job characteristics modeland utilize it to provide two recommendations for reducing the psychological hazards of Steve's job by improving job content and control. A hotel establishment in Muskoka Lakes, ON, has 35 employees who work an average of 8 hours per day for 280 days a year. In the past year, the employer reported 12 injuries for a total lost time of 50 days. Furthermore, there was a minor fire in the main kitchen in February 2020. While the fire did not result in any injuries, it led to the closure of the restaurant and room services for 20 days. What are the injury frequency and severity rates for this hotel? Write the steps you took for this calculation. With 2,400,000 in gross insurable earnings in 2020, estimate the premium payment for this hotel.  To reduce injury and severity rates, you, as the head of the occupational health and safety of the hotel, have been asked to train three staff managers on the methods of hazard identification as they apply to this context. Briefly describe three methods of hazard identificationyou would visit.