Without this science base, our health protection system will depend on corporate data and in effect the food and drug giants will be left to regulate themselves. We're among the worst nations,' said Frank Albert, president of Fire Prevention Canada, said in Ottawa yesterday. Fire Prevention Week was launched with unprecedented pomp and circumstance as firefighters from every department in the region took over Parliament Hill. Mr. Albert said the push to increase the focus on preventing fires this year came because fire deaths and fire losses are not dropping as quickly as firefighters would like. Yet each year more than twice as many Canadians die at work of traumatic injuries.
Thousands more die as a result of occupational diseases.
If all of the occupational health and safety inspectors, both federal and provincial, in the Capital Region were to take part in a similar demonstration as the firefighters who demonstrated on Parliament Hill, no-one would notice because there are so few of them. Ask yourself how many firefighters there are in your community. Now ask yourself how many occupational health and safety inspectors there are in your community. A high level of worker satisfaction was shown in a recent survey evaluating the patient services provided by the Manitoba Federation of Labour Occupational Health Centre. Union Education Rote learning, regurgitating facts with no critical thought, is a discredited method of education.