ICBC – Heat Stress and Your Health

At MoveUP, we are constantly pushing ICBC to do better with respect to your health and safety. Right now, we are laser focused on making sure that Driver Examiners, Client Service Representatives and their supervisors are safe and protected from not just the spread of COVID-19 but also other safety and health hazards that you might face at work.

Air Conditioning and Road Tests

We are very concerned that staff are being exposed to excessive heat, especially now that staff are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE).  We have asked ICBC to make air conditioning mandatory when the outside temperature is predicted to, or reaches, 24°C or more. The inside of a vehicle is your workplace when administering a road test. It should not be a sweat-box where staff are subjected to unhealthy working conditions.

When the outside temperature reaches 24°C or more, air conditioning should be treated as a safety feature of a vehicle in the same way that turn signals, horns, and brake lights are required. This is for your continued health and safety. If an examinee does not have functioning air conditioning and the exterior temperature is at or above 24°C, it is our view that the road test should not take place. It could be re-booked, without penalty, to a time when the outside temperature is more moderate. We don’t have to tell you how hot and uncomfortable the PPE to wear, even on a cool day. Air conditioning needs to be a mandatory health and safety feature, this year and all years going forward.  This is where ICBC can be a leader in the industry, and make sure their staff are healthy and safe to complete their duties.

Right now, the obligation is on the employee to tell the manager or supervisor that they believe it is too hot to do their job. This is an unreasonable burden to lay at the feet of the staff, day in and day out. The logical alternative is that our employer should have a policy that all vehicles used for testing must have working air conditioning, and that it must be utilized during the road test. Right now, ICBC’s Heat Exposure Control Plan speaks to 30°C. That is just not reasonable.

We have asked all Joint Health and Safety committees, including our Provincial committee, to make this a priority in their meetings. We need the committees to make written recommendations and have this issue well-documented in their minutes so action will be taken rather than getting constant delays from the employer.

Greeters Are at Risk

We have also asked ICBC to do a risk assessment and to provide PPE to all the staff who function as greeters at the door of DLOs. If you work as a greeter and cannot maintain 2 metres of physical distancing from customers, then you should be provided with PPE to protect not only yourself, but your coworkers and your loved ones.

We have also identified that there should be anti-fatigue mats and sit/stand stools for the greeters, along with adequate sun protection – which is not just sunscreen. If you are working as a greeter, you should have a safe place to stand, sit or perch, whether you are inside or outside your office.

So far, ICBC has declined to provide the anti-fatigue mats, stools, and sun protective clothing or other physical barriers to protect our members from the sun. Again, we want every OH&S committee at DLOs to review the specific situation of their greeter position, include it in their meeting minutes and, if needed, make written recommendations to get adequate health and safety precautions provided.

What You Can Do Now

1. Don’t try to be a hero. Monitor yourself but do not take unnecessary risks with your health.
2. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, stay out of the sun as much as you can and, most importantly, monitor your own physical temperature and amount of perspiration. Here is a link to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on heat related illness, https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/warning.html
3. You may want choose to bring a thermometer from home to monitor your own temperature, or the temperature within and outside the car.
4. If you see that your physical temperature is up, advise your supervisor, first aid attendant, and health and safety committee immediately.
5. If the temperature outside or inside the car is too high and you feel your safety and health is at risk, you have the right to refuse unsafe work. Again, you do not have to be a hero and suffer.Your Right to Refuse Unsafe WorkAll workers have the right to refuse unsafe work. This has not changed even in the light of the COVID-19 crisis. If you have reasonable cause to believe that you are going to be exposed to an unsafe condition or undue hazard, which includes excessive heat, here is what you need to know:
6. An individualmust initiate their right to refuse unsafe work. This cannot be done by our union nor the joint health and safety committee. An individual must say to their manager that they are exercising their right to refuse unsafe work. They must be clear about what is the threat to their health and safety and be specific.
7. The manager must immediately investigate the complaint. If the manager determines there is a risk, they must correct the problem and deal with the risk or exposure. They must also report their findings and actions to the person who makes the complaint.
8. If the issue is resolved, the worker will then return to work.
9. If the issue is not resolved to the satisfaction of the worker, the worker who filed the complaint must state such (we don’t want anyone to just suffer, in silence or otherwise). A subsequent investigation must be completed which now must involve a manager and a worker member of the OH&S committee.
10. The manager and the worker rep from the OH&S committee must immediately investigate the complaint. If they can resolve it, they will. They must include the worker during the investigation, so all are aware of the outcome. Once resolved, the worker will return to work.
11. If the manger and worker rep from the OH&S committee determines, through their investigation, that the work is safe, they will advise the complainant.
12. If the complainant still does not agree that they are safe, they must say so right then. It is at this point that WorkSafeBC will be called in to determine if there is a hazard to the worker’s safety or health. They may recommend ways to resolve it or determine there is no problem.

We cannot rush these steps or jump to the end. We must follow them in this order. If you or your coworkers have any questions or require some guidance on your right to refuse unsafe work, you can contact Niki Schnurr, the OH&S Liaison for MoveUP. Niki can be reached at nschnurr@moveuptogether.ca.

Wishing you and your family a very safe and healthy summer.

In solidarity,

Annette Toth, Vice President, ICBC

File Number: 20-ICBC-BLTN-Heat Stress and your Health-July 30

Union Label: AT: hp usw2009

Reply to: hparmar@moveuptogether.ca