Originally Posted by withabix (Post 11289295)

A lot worse than the UK.

They artificially disguise the statistics in Canada by having 'back to work programmes', so they will get a carpenter with a broken leg back to work on day 3 after an accident sat in the lunch room reading the paper or surfing the internet.

Your employer will send the Superintendent (or his lacky) with you to hospital with the back-to-work forms, to make sure it happens before the doctor tells you to go home to recover for a few weeks.

That way that broken leg doesn't get counted...

Exactly what used to happen in the UK about 20 years ago.

Which is where safety is in Canada - about 1994.

Some things they are quite hot on (certainly in BC): silica, confined spaces and noise. But that's about it.

Working at height is still where it was in the UK in the early 1990s. Edge protection (if it is there) will be made of wood and might stop you falling over the edge if you are skinny (and short).

You will be buying your own boots. Decent ones are twice the price they are in the UK and you can't claim the cost back in most cases.

Don't expect a method statement or a proper risk assessment unless you are doing something REALLY dangerous.

Originally Posted by MrHyperPants (Post 11290330)

The silica dust makes me laugh as there is loads of it still left on the floors which is probably been blown around and you end up breathing it in.

Originally Posted by happyhammers (Post 11289922)

how are you meant to manage the subbys properly ?

Originally Posted by withabix (Post 11290385)

The only dust small enough comes of an high speed angle grinder or a disc cutter in quantity (mechanical abrasion). That's why you should use a water kit, slow speed grinders or a vacuum kit with HEPA filters.

The HEPA filters only last about half an hour, so stick to water or slow speed grinders.

Originally Posted by MikeUK (Post 11290699)

Which is why you shouldn't see circular cutters/grinders spitting out huge clouds of dust.....but you almost always do ....

I learned quickly on the site's with construction, stay out of the areas, don't look because you'll feel compelled to say something, and you'll feel marginalized the next week when you walk past and nothing has changed….
:thumbdown:

Originally Posted by happyhammers (Post 11289272)

Interesting to know how you get on with the curing in such low temperatures ?

Originally Posted by the undutchables (Post 11290726)

We have poured concrete slabs in -22. They have an additive in the concrete to help stop it freezing, and the forms are covered with insulated tarps, and heated with space heaters all around, or from below.

In winter all the forms are covered with tarps to keep the snow off. We have spent days on end just removing snow from forms, so it doesn't build up too much and freeze solid.

The winters are a real pain, very little work gets done, and working in the cold (-20 / -30) is very wearing. A lot of the smaller companies here in Calgary shut down end of October until March /April

As already mentioned, Canada is like the UK 20 years ago, for most things, not just construction.