Calls for a construction site safety Ombudsman
Posted Nov 14, 2013 11:59:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A group of non-unionized contractors in Nova Scotia wants an Ombudsman’s office created in an effort to make workplaces safer.
The Merit Contractors Association came together in the wake of an industrial accident last Thursday that claimed the life of a worker on the job at a building site in Clayton Park.
President of the Association, Michael Kydd, says that by creating the Ombudsman’s office both workers and employers will be more likely to report problems on the job, and those problems will be investigated before more people are killed.
“There has to be a more confidental system to allow workers and employers to feel like they are being more discreet,” said Kydd
The Department of Labour and Advanced Education already has a 1-800 number that workers can use to report safety issues on the job but Kydd thinks by adding the Ombudsman the mix it would work even better.
“The office would oversee some of the more systemic complains that may be coming through that line, or even directly to the Department,” said Kydd.
Allan Fraser, 21, was killed last week after falling from a six-storey building on Greenpark Close.
The Department of Labour has launched an investgation into the accident.
