HIGHLIGHTS: U.S.

Goodbye John, Hello Jonathan: In December of 2004, after four years of loyal service, John Henshaw returned to private life. He was replaced as head of OSHA by acting Secretary Jonathan Snare. OSHA's loss was SafetyXChange's gain. Secretary Henshaw joined our Board of Advisors and authored the first piece ever to appear in our newsletter - an article about the OSHA Site Specific Targeting program.

Goodbye Jonathan, Hello Edwin: On Sept. 15, President Bush finally named a permanent replacement for Henshaw: Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., a labor lawyer and former head of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Predictably, Bush opponents bashed Foulke as a union buster and opponent of safety; Bush supporters lauded him as a seasoned veteran familiar in the ways of OSHA.

No Respirator Fit Testing: In January, OSHA suspended enforcement of annual TB fit testing rules for all of 2005.

Record Fine: The dramatic high point of the year was the Sept. 22 announcement that petroleum giant, BP, had agreed to pay a record $21.3 million fine to settle charges stemming from a fatal explosion at its Texas City, TX, facility on March 23. The fine almost doubled the previous record fine, against a Louisiana fertilizer company.

OSHA Unveils Top 10: In Sept., OSHA revealed its Top 10 list of most often cited violations for the year. Scaffolding led the pack, followed by Haz. Com., Fall Protection, Resp. Protection and LOTO.

HIGHLIGHTS: CANADA

C-45 Fizzles: The biggest story in Canadian compliance is what didn't happen in 2005. The new C-45 bill, which took effect on March 31, 2004, was supposed to trigger a wave of criminal prosecutions against companies and corporate officials. It never happened. There was just one prosecution under C-45 all year. And the target wasn't a corporate bigwig but a 65-year-old Ontario construction supervisor named Domenico Fantini. And even that case was a dud. Mr. Fantini pleaded guilty to three OHS charges and the Crown dropped the C-45 charge. The $50,000 he was fined is a record amount for a Canadian supervisor.

Traditional OHS Enforcement Sizzles: It turns out the government didn't need C-45 to turn up the heat. Prosecutions and fines for OHS offences were up all over Canada. As might be expected, the leader was Ontario which added more than 200 new MOL inspectors.

Prosecution of Supervisors: Fines against supervisors aren't new in Canada. But never before have there been so many of them. Ontario now seems to be prosecuting supervisors every two weeks. And there were at least four five-figure fines against supervisors in 2005. Such fine amounts against a supervisor had been unheard of until recently.

Prosecutions of Safety Directors: For the first time, the Crown prosecuted a safety director in connection with a workplace fatality. The case, which is still pending, took place in Nova Scotia where the government has charged the safety director of a construction company for six OHS violations. The trial of Bernard Dearing, which will be nationally watched, has been postponed to September. (For an analysis of the risk of personal liability to safety directors, see Safety Compliance Insider, Vol. 2, No. 1, page 1).

The Smoke-Free Workplace: All but three provinces have completely banned smoking in indoor public places, including workplaces. Ontario and Quebec, the two largest provinces, joined the bandwagon in 2005, enacting smoking bans that take effect on May 31, 2006. The only provinces not to completely ban workplace smoking are BC, NT and YT. Restricted smoking is also permitted in certain workplaces covered by the federal OHS law.

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