Yup, Hanging The Wildcats Equipment Outside Will Surely Help

WILL HANGING THE WILDCATS EQUIPMENT OUTSIDE REALLY GET RID OF THE MOULD SPORES?

It’s difficult to believe that after several weeks the issue of mould in the civic centre is still going on, but there’s a reason for that. Basically it’s because the city administration has failed in its’ duty and responsibilities in several ways; they failed to provide employees of the community with the necessary tools and equipment to prevent serious injury or illness to them, and they failed the community by not keeping good enough standards of operations,and they failed the community with their explanation of its’ actions during the time, and worse as of yet has taken no corrective or disciplinary action against those managers who were/are responsible for the mess through their inaction or lack of skill.
Four City of Woodstock employees were sent into a hazardous situation by their manager, a 28 year veteran of the city(who really should have known better if experience says anything)who was previously acquainted with how to clean up mould after running into a similar situation last year at Woodstocks’ Community Complex.

During that particular cleanup event, Woodstock firefighters and the board of health made special recommendations on how to clean up the mould with the Board of Health recommending that fire officials fit respiratory masks for each person working in this type of hazardous situtation. In consideration of that fact, it is not likely that the manager/management could claim ignorance when it comes to dealing with hazards like mould as they were all too familiar with that type of hazard as a result of their prior experiences.

Another major concern is that after the supposed cleanup was complete…or better yet, not complete, according to JP Hurley who recommended that the AIR DUCTS be cleaned extensively, and that the remainder of the building be cleaned at the soonest possible moment..as the change rooms and storage areas were not included in the cleanup, is that our city management certified the building as being fit for use, even though there was a strong likelihood that it should not have been occupied for the recent fair and that by doing so, the administration increased the potential for financial liablilty by refusing to perform all of the necessary cleanup and air quailty testing. Pity anyone who entered the building that suffers from a weak immune system. And as you can clearly see in the above photos, someone entered the building in order to hang the Wildcat equipment out to dry. I wonder if they were aware that air quality testing and a proper cleanup hadn’t been completed? I doubt it.

So in light of all of the information we have so far, is it any wonder that city employees feel that they are being bullied into performing unsafe tasks…and is this what we as taxpayers want? Do we wish to send our friends and neighbours into unsafe situtations that we would not entertain performing ourselves?No, not this taxpayer.

One thing I do know is that in the face of uncertainty it is always wise to excercise some caution and considering no one knew what types of mould were present at the onset of the crisis it would have been prudent for city management to call in the pros instead of leaving it up to the arena management to make a decision that could ultimately affect many persons in the community.

During the crisis city management made several radio appearances and were quoted in the local Sentinel Review. During that same time frame not one city employee that was put into danger was interviewed by anyone in mainstream media. From what I have gathered from conversations with many persons is that the city of Woodstock is in need of some type of mechanism that would allow for the airing of concerns through the entire chain of command. I would think that it should be called…WHISTLE BLOWER LEGISLATION. Basically, a protection mechanism for employees to blow the whistle on unsafe practices or crimes.(And holy shit batman…there is a litany of stuff that should be discussed from fire services to human resources, to management slights to people who should not be employed by any municipality as it appears they are corrupt to the core and blatantly not competent for their jobs.)

Perhaps management should be tested regularly to ensure they remain competent on the job. But then we may be left with the prospect of no management in the city of Woodstock… which may not be so bad considering it appears they have no idea what the hell they are doing anyways.

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