UFCW Canada named to Ontario’s First Prevention Council
The Ontario government has announced that UFCW Canada, along with several other leading voices, will represent the interests of workers and workplace safety on the province’s first-ever Prevention Council.
Bryan Neath, the UFCW Canada Regional Director for Ontario, has been appointed to represent UFCW Canada members and all workers on the new council. Brother Neath joins the OFL’s Nancy Hutchison, Patrick Dillon (Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario), Colin Grieve (Ontario Professional Firefighters Association) and Linda Vannucci (Toronto Workers’ Health and Safety Legal Clinic) to represent workers’ interests on the council.
The Prevention Council is mandated to help the province’s new Chief Prevention Officer in developing strategies and recommendations for the Ministry of Labour to further limit the number of workplace injuries and fatalities. It was created in response to recommendations of the Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health and Safety, which conducted a review of Ontario's existing prevention system following the tragic deaths of four migrant workers when their scaffolding on a Toronto high-rise collapsed on December 24, 2009.
Over 1,000 people in Canada lose their lives at work every year.
“Brother Neath will be working very hard to ensure this new council prioritizes the interests and welfare of Ontario’s most vulnerable workers, including agriculture workers,” says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. “Thousands of UFCW Canada members work in industries, like retail, where the public doesn’t always associate their work with serious issues like workplace violence and repetitive strain injuries,” adds Brother Hanley. “Our job on the council is to improve the prevention of workplaces deaths and injuries in every industry where UFCW Canada members and all people work to provide for themselves and their families.”
To find out more about the new Prevention Council, visit the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
