Provincial

Jimmy’s Law open for discussion

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Category: Provincial News

Created on Friday, 27 January 2012 15:25

Jade Bowman-Whitney serves a customer from behind a plexiglass window at Regina Messenger gas station.  Photo by Chelsea Laskowski

by Chelsea Laskowski

Jade Bowman-Whitney spends his day behind a plexiglass window. He likes it that way. 

Bowman-Whitney works days at the Regina Messenger gas station and the plexiglass window protects him while on shift. Bowman-Whitney expressed concern for those who work night shifts without similar protection. He believes that 24-hour stores should have two people on shift. 

 The provincial NDP proposed changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act which would require late-night employees to work behind a similar protective barrier or to have two employees on shift. The petition for “Jimmy’s Law” was started by friends and family of Jimmy Ray Wiebe, who was murdered while working at a Yorkton Shell station in June 2011. The NDP’s proposed legislative changes address Bowman-Whitney’s concerns. 

Convenience store and gas station robberies in Canada decreased by over a third from 1999 to 2008. The positive statistics indicate that workplace safety is increasing.

The proposed changes are already in place at many 24-hour convenience stores. Diana Harris is a manager at a Husky Service Station in Regina. She said having at least two employees on shift at all times have contributed to 14 robbery-free years.

“I think a lot of places in town do have precautions set up for (crime prevention),” said Harris.

The proposed bill is based on similar legislation enacted in British Columbia five years ago. It would similarly require all gas station customers to pre-pay between 11pm and 6am. The only difference is that in April, WorkSafe BC will also allow any employee over 19 years old to wear a personal emergency transmitter while working alone.

The private member bill reflects the ideas behind the Jimmy’s Law petition, not those which evolved in British Columbia, explained NDP MLA Warren McCall. 

McCall cited past government cooperation with private member bills as a positive sign for progress with worker’s safety regulations. 

“If there are ways by which this can be improved, we’re certainly open to considering that,” said McCall.