A controversial occupational safety campaign will relaunch in January after a brief pause in December, the chairman of the Workplace Safety and Information Board of Ontario said Thursday.
WSIB chairman Steven Mahoney told CBCNews.ca in an interview that a December break in the campaign had always been scheduled. He rejected reports that suggested the ads were being pulled.
"It's totally erroneous to suggest we're pulling anything," Mahoney said. "Our plan from Day 1 was to stop the ads around the middle of December when most of the advertising that's in the media is focused on Christmas and purchasing gifts. We just didn't want to be competing with all that stuff."
The advertisements feature cautionary graphic tales, including a young woman working in a kitchen who slips on spilled grease while carrying a large, steaming pot. A second ad involves a construction worker who is killed while wearing a faulty harness.
Mahoney said response to the commercials has been largely positive, with viewers flocking to YouTube to see the ads. He also said the commercials have been viewed about 70,000 times through the WSIB's website.
"The critics amount to about 25 per cent rating, and I'm delighted they're upset about the ads because I wouldn't want anyone to enjoy watching them," he said.
Ontario cities running modified ads
The Transit Windsor board of directors said they won't place the ads in their bus shelters, while Guelph Transit is considering running the ads in their shelters.
Mahoney said transit authorities in Hamilton and Mississauga, Ont., have accepted modified advertisements. But, he notes, the WSIB makes no apologies for the graphic nature of the campaign, saying the ads are purposely controversial to spur reaction and awareness.
The chairman said in 2006, 101 people were killed in workplace safety accidents. In 2007, there have been 98 deaths with three more pending review.
Controversial and explicit Canadian workplace safety ads have been pulled from television, and paper ads from some bus shelters for the Christmas season. However, the ads will return to air in January.

"It's totally erroneous to suggest we're pulling anything," chairman of the Workplace Safety and Information Board of Ontario, Steve Mahoney said. "Our plan from Day 1 was to stop the ads around the middle of December when most of the advertising that's in the media is focused on Christmas and purchasing gifts. We just didn't want to be competing with all that stuff."

In one of the TV ads a woman accidentally slips on grease on the floor and a large steaming pot falls onto her face, and she starts screaming to death. The ads end with the message "There really are no accidents".

A paper ads shows a construction worker who is in a pool of blood with a forklift operation manual stuck in his chest. Another with a man who is slit by a "Danger" sign with his leg stuck in a machine. They show the messages: "Lack of training can kill" and the other "Ignoring safety procedures can kill".

"The critics amount to about 25 per cent rating, and I'm delighted they're upset about the ads because I wouldn't want anyone to enjoy watching them."

The videos have been viewed more than 70,000 times on the Board's website and are gaining large amounts of views on YouTube.

The transit authorities of Hamilton and Mississauga will show modified advertisements. The transit authority of Guelph will show the ads in bus shelters, but the transit authority of Windsor will not because of the graphic nature.

"We're not against workplace safety, but this is too graphic," said Caroline Postma, chair of the Transit Windsor board.

Mississauga city councillour Carolyn Parrish said: "My son-in-law was telling me that they shouldn't be on in prime time because when my grandson watches them he just about bursts into tear. Now he follows his mom around the kitchen to make sure she doesn't spill grease. And he's only four. There's too much of a chance that ... people are really badly affected by it, and can't really do anything about it anyway." She suggested the ads only be aired to workers with the jobs shown in the commercials.

Mahoney changed the earlier promise to air the ads only after 8:00pm to after 9:00pm at last nights meeting with Mississauga city council.

Mahoney said the commercials and paper ads are not "too graphic at all". And they are "absolutely appropriate and they're doing what they're intended to do, they're creating what I call a water cooler topic of conversation."

Ninety-eight Canadian workers so far have been killed on the job this year.