Toxic Risks in the Workplace

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Toxic Risks in the Workplace

• A presentation to the
• Canadian Society of Safety Engineering

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Todays Talk

• Common causes of work place poisonings
• Common behaviours that lead to poisonings in the
  workplace
• Critical pathway to resolving a poisoning
• Common barriers to resolving a poisoning
• The ChExSS service

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The Most Common Workplace Poisons in 2005-06
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Poisonous Behaviours

• Machismo Culture
• Lead to dangerous behaviours such as
• Storing chemicals in drink bottles
• Inadequate utilization of PPE
• Workplace resistance to seeking care

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Chemicals in Drink Bottles

• Continues to be a practice
• Has resulted in serious methanol poisonings

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Inadequate PPE

• Burns from caustic up-hole drilling mud
• Nitro-glycerine overdoses in blasting crews
• Hydrofluoric Acid burns to hands and arms

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Dangerous Habits

• Mixing industrial cleaners
• Working alone in high risk environments

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Reluctance to seeking Adequate Care

• Workers are reluctant to look weak
• Worksite mgmt afraid of overreacting
• Toxic exposures often go untreated until symptoms
  escalate
• (By then its too late)

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Critical Pathway to Poison Treatment
Toxic Exposure

• Barriers to treatment
• Illusion of safety
• Inability to ID
• Language
• Literacy
• Fear

Healthy Worker
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ChExSS Simplifies the Path
Healthy Worker
Toxic Exposure
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Customized Service

• ChExSS is an affordable customized service
• ChExSS develops an advanced knowledge of the
  clients operation
• Takes the guess work out of identifying the root
  cause of toxicity in the event of an exposure
• Speeds the delivery of care
• Minimizes the risk to the patient and the
  organization

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Access to Experts

• ChExSS provides your employees, and managers
  instant access to
• Poison Specialists
• Medical Toxicologists
• Anytime Anywhere in Canada

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Continuous Care

• Once activated, ChExSS becomes an integral part
  of the Circle of Care
• ChExSS has close relationships with health care
  facilities across the province
• ChExSS is able to provide continuous care to the
  victim while they move through the health care
  system

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Immediate Treatment

• ChExSS is Capable of initiating immediate
  treatment
• Reduces severity of health effects
• Improves patient outcomes
• Better patient outcomes
• Minimize liability
• Reduce the number of Lost Time Accidents

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Corporate Learning

• ChExSS Provides Feedback
• Keeps client informed of factors contributing to
  toxic exposures at their work sites
• Assists in corporate learning and process
  improvement
• Keeps client from being blindsided by events

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ChExSS The Simple Solution to Toxic Due
Diligence
Healthy Worker
Toxic Exposure
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Thank You

• A presentation to the
• Canadian Society of Safety Engineering