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2- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 12, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Union says aging cranes are dangerous to operate By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF appleby takes home gold stars 540 Lakeshore Road West, Oakville 905-845-4681, ext. 252 or CISAA swim Swimmers captured CISAA titles in February at the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-20 levels, as well as a fourth consecutive CISAA overall championship team title. Swimmers at Appleby train with top coaches, enjoy exceptional facilities, and compete with the best. Attend Appleby College in 2008-2009. Limited spaces available. Apply online www.appleby.on.ca Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793 had their concerns about workplace safety heard at the highest level on Thursday without ever having to leave Oakville. The group used a visit by Ontario Minister of Labour Brad Duguid to call attention to the danger posed by aging cranes throughout the province. "There is an abundance of tower cranes, especially in the City of Toronto. The condominium market has been booming and has been providing employment for our members, but some of the equipment that the owners are using is aged. We think it is too old. Some of them are over 30 years old," said Mike Gallagher, the union's business manager. "Some of the contractors out there have upgraded their equipment fleets, but others have not and we want to target the bad players in the industry and make sure they straighten out their act before an accident takes place and somebody gets seriously hurt." Gallagher noted that the Minister of Labour has taken some action by issuing numerous stop work orders to some of the worst offenders, however, he believes RECLINE CL N! CLINE E e Styl in Mike Gallagher more needs to be done. "It would be very important to the health and safety of our members and also in the public interest to have a commission set up to look into safety in our industry to investigate and recommend improvements that can be made," said Gallagher. "We've been fortunate not to have any major accidents leading to fatalities, but we think we should take a look at this because incidents have taken place that concern us as operators." Besides action on the aging cranes, Gallagher wants more stringent regulations regarding work with overhead and underground wiring. Gallagher said all live wires should be insulated and, in all cases, electricity should be shut off during construction around live wires. "There have been a few near misses," said Gallagher. "There was an incident downtown where a boom truck made contact with live wires and there was an explosion. No one was killed, but that was more due to the grace of God and good luck." Gallagher said despite safety training, there is only so much people can do when faced with faulty equipment or insufficient regulations. While Duguid did not comment on the feasibility of carrying out Gallagher's proposed commission, he did state that health and safety is a top priority of the government of Ontario. "We've made some great progress over the last four years. We've seen a drop in workplace injuries by 20 per cent, but we still have a long way to go," said Duguid. "We're going to be looking at doing whatever we need to do to continue to bring down workplace injuries." Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn echoed these sentiments. "Everybody deserves the right to come home safely at night," he said. Purse snatchers rob woman Halton Police are looking for a pair of brazen purse snatchers who knocked down a 60-yearold woman during the course of a Sunday night robbery. Police said at around 8 p.m. a woman had just left a restaurant, in the area Trafalgar Road and Dundas Street East, in the company of her husband and adult daughter. The woman lagged behind slightly, as the trio walked towards their vehicle, at which point two young men approached her. One of the suspects grabbed onto the woman's purse and pulled it away causing the woman to fall to the ground. The thieves then fled eastbound from the location. The purse was eventually found and returned to the woman, however, it was missing an undisclosed amount of money. The woman suffered minor injuries as a result of the fall, but did not require immediate medical attention. The first suspect is described as 18-20 years old, approximately 5-foot-8 with a medium build, wearing a thigh-length, black winter jacket with beige faux fur around the hood area. The suspect had his hood over his head partially concealing his face. The second suspect is described as 18-20 years old, approximately 5-foot-8 with a slim build, wearing a red winter jacket that had vertical white stripes. The red winter jacket also had a hood and was used to partially conceal the suspect's face. The Halton Regional Police Service is continuing to investigate this incident. Anyone with information related to it is asked to contact the Oakville Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4777 ext 2215 or by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). A At York, we've developed a furnace that modulates, or adjusts itself in 1% increments. So it's quieter, more economical and highly efficient while keeping the temperature in your home on target. After all, your ur comfort is not something you want to play games with. 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