TEACHING MATERIAL
Work is Hazardous to Your Health, Teaching Materials
This video series offers a comprehensive look into the evolution of workplace health and safety in British Columbia. Designed for audiences such as secondary students and those undergoing union orientation, the focus is on individual workers’ stories and tragic events.
These videos were produced in partnership between BC Labour Heritage Centre and WorkSafeBC.
The series features several key narratives:
- Lloyd O’Brien, whose story emphasizes voluntarism and the initial steps taken by individuals, rather than government, to ensure the well-being of British Columbians. For example, community ambulance services relied on volunteers like O’Brien until a provincial ambulance service was established in 1974.
- Al Lundgren and the deplorable working conditions in the forest industry before the implementation of health and safety standards. Between 1960 and 1980, there was a 100% statistical probability of injury or death in this industry, with 1500 workers suffering permanent disability or death. This underscores a recurring theme in the series: historically, “production” often overshadowed “safety” in industrial settings.
- Jack Munro, an influential and prominent International Woodworkers of America (IWA) president, and founder of the BC Labour Heritage Centre, who championed worker safety.
- Verna Ledger, who rose from working in a plywood mill with few safety standards to becoming the IWA safety director for Western Canada and then Canada. Ledger’s journey demonstrates a growing awareness of worker safety and the slow adoption of health and safety practices by industry.
- Dave Ford, an electrician who died of mesothelioma, a cancer related to asbestos exposure. It also describes the history of asbestos and the work of several British Columbians to raise awareness of the risks associated with asbestos exposure.
- 1981 Bentall Tower collapse, which killed four men due to communication failures in a strongly unionized construction company with an excellent safety record, leading to a province-wide safety inquiry.
- The collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge (now the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge) in 1958, which claimed 19 lives due to an engineering error, further illustrates the inherent dangers in various occupations.
- The fight for workers’ recognition and compensation in BC’s commercial fishing, shoreworker, and farmworker industries, culminating in stories like “A Tribute to Three BC Farmworkers” about women killed in a 2007 van crash.