Icy conditions in early February caused chaos for Canada Post workers

Some icy sidewalks in Saskatoon in early February led to injuries for several Canada Post workers.

“It’s been very warm and that’s created a lot of freeze-thaw cycles. The week of Feb. 5, there were many slips and injuries that happened in the first couple days of the week,” said Brahm Enslin, the president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 824.

“There were 12 claims filed or injuries that happened. There was one where (someone) broke their hip.

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Those 12 claims took place between Feb. 5 and Feb. 7. Because of the icy sidewalk conditions, it caused Canada Post to stop mail service on Feb. 8 in the city until conditions improved.

According to Enslin, this is something that workers and Canada Post can do if the walking conditions are deemed unsafe.

“Typically the conditions have to get pretty bad for them to be able to assess the scenario to call that off,” he explained. “It’s usually on a day-by-day basis and depends what comes.

“There has to be a team in place to assess that early on in the day to know whether or not this day is going to be safe or not.”

Enslin suggested it’s very rare for this many members of the postal service to go down with injuries.

“I’d say that’s an elevated number,” Enslin stated. “It’s not usually that intense. It’s fairly regular when the weather turns like that, but that number ramped up significantly during that time.”

Enslin mentioned the injuries don’t all have to do with people not clearing their sidewalks, but he blames the freeze-thaw cycle for the unpredictability of the sidewalks Canada Post workers have to deal with.

“It would be the conditions. It came down really hard and fast and when that happens it’s tough for anyone to maintain,” he explained. “Especially with that crust of ice that gets layered on there, sometimes there is snow, but sometimes it creates more ice on top of it. It’s not that simple in terms of a shovel to get rid of it.”

Warm temperatures might be on the way, but Enslin mentioned sidewalk conditions and the weather this time of the year are still unpredictable.

He does say there are ways you can help make life easier for those delivering your mail.

“It’s always appreciated when anyone wants to keep the pathway clear so they can ensure they get their mail,” Enslin said. “Postal workers love what they do and they’re committed to their communities and need to be safe when they do that. Some of these things are unpredictable and there’s not much they can do.”