Q1. COVID-19 is a coronavirus that emerged in late 2019 and led to a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives. It has severe respiratory symptoms and can cause death in humans, similar to but not the same as the SARS virus. You are the HR Director of a large international airline in Canada with flights to many destinations. During Summer 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, a group of your flight attendants refused to work on flights, as they believe that the closed circulatory air system of the airplanes increases the chances of getting the virus and becoming ill.
a. Identify which health and safety legislation applies to this situation and explain whether flight attendants can refuse to work in this situation? (4 marks)
b. Briefly describe the procedures you will follow and the actions you will take after being notified of the flight attendants’ refusal to work. (3 marks)
c. Would you have given different answers to part a of this question if those refusing work were workers in a long-term care facility in Brampton, Ontario, and were concerned about the outbreak of COVID-19 as several of the elderly residents in the facility had tested positive for the coronavirus? Explain. (3 marks)
Q2. Steven is a forklift driver at a major urban UPS processing facility in Scarborough, ON. At this sorting facility, different employees are assigned to the tasks of unloading incoming mail and parcels from trucks using forklifts, operating mail sorting machines, manual processing of mail and parcels if needed, and uploading the outgoing trucks.
a. Discuss four types of injuries and illnesses that occupational health and safety professionals should be most concerned about in this work environment for different employees. (4 marks)
b. Describe the job characteristics model and utilize it to provide two recommendations for reducing the psychological hazards of Steven’s job by improving job content and control. Explain the rationale of your recommendations based on the model. (6 marks)
Q3. A hotel establishment in Muskoka Lakes, ON, has 35 employees who work an average of 8 hours per day for 280 days a year. In the past year, the employer reported 12 injuries for a total lost time of 50 days. Furthermore, there was a minor fire in the main kitchen. While the fire did not result in any injuries, it led to the closure of the restaurant and room services for 20 days.
a. What are the injury frequency and severity rates for this hotel? Write the steps you took for this calculation. (2 marks)
b. With 2,600,000 in gross insurable earnings, estimate the 2022 premium payment for this hotel. (2 marks)
c. To reduce injury and severity rates, you, as the head of the occupational health and safety of the hotel, have been asked to train three staff managers on the methods of hazard identification as they apply to this context. Briefly describe three methods of hazard identification you would visit. (6 marks)
