is going to happen,” says Thurston. “So,
what do we do? Unless we as employers
are given the necessary tools to maintain
health and safety on our site, people are
going to die. That is not 'if', that is not a
probability: that is a fact. People are going
to die if the government does not give us
the tools to enforce health and safety in
the workplace. We have it for alcohol, we
have it for certain drugs, and now we need
it for marijuana.”
Indeed, the Toronto Coroners’ inquests on
workplace traumatic fatalities have deter-
mined that up to 40 per cent of workplace
fatalities are materially contributed to by
alcohol and drugs legal or not. “The OGCA
is asking the Ontario Government to take
decisive action to reduce the impact on
the health and safety of Ontario workers,”
says Thurston.
The OGCA’s involvement has proven to be
invaluable: The Ontario Government con-
sultation, in fact, did not originally mention
the impact that this will have on Health
Bill Currie of Ledcor receives the Jock Tindale Memorial Award of integrity in the construction industry from
Frank Perricone (right), chair of the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA)
NOVEMBER 2017
H
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