Thunder Bay – The issue of the Centential Conservatory is before the public.
Dear Members of City Council:
I wish to address the hazard regarding the closure of the Conservatory. It was stated the reason for the closure was due to a fallen pane of glass inside this facility. It’s interesting to note, this was reported by a member of senior management, rather than an employee working on the site. Furthermore, there seems to be contradictory viewpoints regarding this issue.
It is rumored the source of this hazard was brought forward by a visitor of this facility. On Monday, February 13th, I visited this facility and found no evidence of broken glass. If you check the sign in sheet, you will see I visited this facility on that day.
Obviously, this is an Occupational Health & Safety issue. These regulations state, employees have the Right to Know, Participate and Refuse. In this situation, the right to know and participate would apply.
The Right to Know
• Employees have the right to be informed of known or foreseeable hazards on the job and to be provided with the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to protect their health and safety
The Right to Participate
• As H&S committee members, employees have the right and responsibility to participate in identifying and correcting job-related health and safety concerns.
These 2 rights mean that employees, as well members of the Workplace Health & Safety Committee (who should have employee representation from all departments) and Policy Committee (who have representation from every employee union) need to be involved in any investigation regarding the health and safety of the workplace. To simply shut down a facility by order of management is the incorrect procedure addressing this issue.
As a shareholder in the City of Thunder Bay, I request an investigation be done by both the Workplace/Policy Committees, to determine whether or not a hazard does exist.
Andy Wolff