The City of Toronto- A High Risk Employer

I'm a firm believer that working in the public-sector is better than working in the private-sector. Consequently I support an increase to overall employment in the public-sector, via the aggressive nationalization of various private-sector employers.

However, work in the public sector isn't as carefree and easy as the right-wingers would like to have us believe. Take the City of Toronto, for example, which has recently been designated a high-risk employer by the province. High-risk employers make up about 2 per cent of Ontario's employers, but account for 10 per cent of lost-time injuries in the province and 21 per cent of workplace safety insurance claims costs, according to the ministry.

Mayor David Miller, a candidate endorsed by organized labour in last fall's municipal elections had this to say...

"It's my personal view that if you have problems with health and safety, it indicates other problems with management oversight," Miller told the committee Friday.

"My goal is simple: Zero workplace accidents," Miller said in an interview.

If that's not the goal, he said, then managers are essentially lining up their workers and asking: "Who volunteers to be hurt?"

Let's hope that since the designation means the city is subject to more intensive and more frequent safety inspections and higher premiums to the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) that this shameful situation can be rectified and that employment for the city's workforce will become much safer.