Workplace Safety
FROM TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH:
Curtis
Weber's
Inspiring Story as a Workplace Safety Advocate
Meet Curtis Weber, a passionate advocate for workplace safety, who shares his inspiring story and the importance of a positive safety culture.
Can you tell us about your story?
At the age of just 17, I was working as a construction labourer on the prairies of Saskatchewan. I was weeks away from an opportunity to play Junior Hockey in Western Canada. Instead, on the third day of my first ever job, my life would change forever. As the crew and I were attempting to move a steel beam under an overhead power line with our picker truck, we made contact with the line. I was steadying the beam as three separate cycles of 14,400 volts passed through my body. After being transported to the hospital, my family was told it was unlikely that I would survive the incident. Instead, I would battle through a six-week coma where I would emerge with third and fourth-degree burns covering over 65 per cent of my body and the loss of my right arm and left leg. Over the next five years, I received extensive rehabilitation and underwent nearly 45 surgeries, including 15 reconstructive and plastic surgeries.
What’s the most important takeaway from your story that workers and employers should take with them?
I tell every organization that I share my story with, that creating a culture where everyone feels encouraged and comfortable with speaking up, sharing ideas and thoughts, or voicing concerns will be the most important component to driving the success of safety at their workplace. Culture needs to be instilled from both the management and worker level. If management truly believes in what it takes to create that positive culture, but we have a workforce that isn’t committed to following its policy, procedures, and processes, the culture and safety fails. Conversely, if we have a workforce actively wanting to engage in safe work practices, but management isn’t necessarily putting the time, resources, and commitment to developing that culture, the system also fails. The commitment to safety really needs to be driven together, but we can only achieve safety excellence if we first have an organizational culture that organically drives everything we do together.
ROB ELLIS:
How MySafeWork Creates Strong Safety Cultures in Canadian Workplaces
Mediaplanet chatted with Rob Ellis, Founder and President of MySafeWork, who became an outspoken advocate for health, safety, and wellness in the workplace after the death of his son David.
Tell us about how your not-for-profit and charity, MySafeWork, came to be.
MySafeWork/Our Youth at Work Association was created in 2000 after the devastating loss of our 18-year-old son David, who lost his life while working in a small local business. David didn’t receive adequate training or orientation and was left alone on the second day of his job. He was pulled into a large industrial mixer that had no safety guards or lockouts. David would have wanted our family to protect the next generation of leaders in Canada. Each year, we speak to more than 100,000 students and adults in our Courageous broadcast on the Day of Mourning. It’s important that our next generation of leaders understand why we pause each year to respect those who have lost their lives in the workplace.
What is MySafeWork doing to help Canadian employers create a safer workplace culture?
MySafeWork invites corporate, union, and government leaders to meet with audiences of 500 to 2,000 students at high schools, colleges of skilled trades, and university engineering faculties. The audiences engage in open Q&A periods with 40 or 50 corporate leaders. The next generation of leaders is asking very direct and honest questions. There’s a focus on areas such as communication, mental stress, diversity, safety culture, and leadership integrity. The exchange of knowledge is exciting and a life-changing experience for both generations. Business leaders across Canada are now taking this feedback and creating stronger safety cultures. Leaders are seeing the importance of attracting young workers to safe workplace environments.
THREADS OF LIFE: Why Virginia Honours the National Day of Mourning
Virginia
aul and Virginia were basically newlyweds. They’d been married in August and now it was January. Paul was still Virginia’s “knight in shining armour.”
But on January 6, 2015, her happiness shattered. Paul didn’t come home from work that day. Early the next morning, two police officers knocked on her door to tell her that he had been killed at work.
On a calendar filled with anniversary dates and memories, Virginia now marks the National Day of Mourning on April 28th as a day with special meaning. The Day of Mourning is set aside to honour and remember those who have been killed or injured in the workplace.
Virginia finds comfort through her involvement in Threads of Life — the Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support. Threads of Life offers peer support for people affected by work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Virginia met others who were coping with loss, and she felt less alone.
Sharing their story is important to Virginia. “This is how I honour Paul and keep his memory alive, by sharing my story,” she says. “If I help even just one family, then Paul’s death won’t be for nothing.”
ANNE TENNIER: The Changing Landscape of Workplace Safety in Canada
Anne Tennier, President and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, discusses misconceptions, pressing safety issues, and future plans for workplace safety in Canada.
What’s a common misconception people have about occupational health and safety, and how can it be corrected?
A misconception is that workplace safety can be time-consuming, costly, or challenging. Smaller-sized organizations may find they don’t have enough time to focus on safely preforming a task, or they may not be aware of what’s needed to work safely. It can be overwhelming, so knowing what organizations are out there that can offer free resources and information, and that are available to them for help, is a critical way to kickstart their health and safety program.
How do you see the future of occupational health and safety evolving in Canada, and what role do you see the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety playing in this evolution? Occupational health and safety will have to evolve to include climate change, new technologies, mental health, and diversity and inclusion into their plans. And while health and safety systems typically address the physical and psychosocial safety of our workers, we can’t forget about what I like to call the intersection with human rights. You may have well developed safe work practices, but they should be adaptable and communicated so the diverse populations that make up Canadian workplaces can have the information needed to work safely. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety is working hard to ensure we keep abreast of the changing world of work so that our guidance appropriately reflects the needs of changing workplaces.
On April 28, 2023, Canadians will observe the National Day of Mourning. For decades, the day has been dedicated to remembering and honouring those who have died, suffered an injury, or acquired an illness while on the job or due to their work.
It’s also a day to recognize that all workplace deaths, injuries, and illnesses are preventable.
We have the knowledge, tools, and resources to minimize any risks that individuals face in the performance of their jobs. Collectively, we must keep our promise to ensure that every worker can return home safely at the end of each workday.
Why is the National Day of Mourning important for Canadians to observe?
This past Monday was the 10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster. An eight-story garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1,300 people. No worker should have stepped foot in that factory. No worker should have to risk their life or safety for a paycheque. Not in Bangladesh. Not in this country. Not anywhere. This Friday is a day for Canadians to honour workers who were killed or injured on the job. But it’s also a day to remember the workers we’ve failed in the past,
and the responsibility we all have — governments, unions, industry — to make sure every worker is safe, healthy, and respected on the job.
What is Canada doing to prevent workplace accidents around the world?
The Labour movement in Canada has made us a standard-bearer on workers’ right around the world. We have a responsibility to make a difference beyond our borders. We work with the International Labour Organization and other likeminded governments, unions, and businesses to improve and enforce international labour standards. We’ll introduce government legislation next year that eradicates forced labour from Canadian supply chains. Last fall, we joined with the US to launch M-POWER — a partnership that supports unions and other labour organizations around the world. Products destined for Canada were being made when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed. Our supply chains reach far and wide, and our obligations don’t stop at our borders.
assessing, and controlling workplace hazards. Clearly communicate those hazards to workers. And provide them with the training and tools they need to conduct their work safely.
Keeping your promise as a worker starts with knowing your rights — to know about hazards, to participate in improving health and safety at your workplace, and to refuse unsafe work. But it also means being diligent about following legislation, your company’s policies and procedures, and industry best practices on matters such as the correct use of personal protective equipment.
Collectively, we must keep our promise to ensure that every worker can return home safely at the end of each workday.
We can all contribute to health and safety
About 350 Canadians die each year from an on-the-job incident. Hundreds more are lost due to longer-term illnesses resulting from exposures at work, and thousands of workers suffer life-altering injuries. Countless others — each worker’s family, friends, and communities — must also endure the lasting effects of workplace incidents.
Every one of these deaths and serious injuries is a tragedy. Every one of us has a role to play in making sure they don’t happen.
For employers, keeping your promise means protecting the workers under your care. It’s not enough to simply comply with health and safety laws and regulations. Better is to build health and safety into your day-to-day operations. Develop policies and procedures focused on recognizing,
The promise of accessible tools and training
The Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) also has a promise to keep. As Ontario’s trusted resource for health and safety information and training for the construction, electrical utilities, and transportation industries, the IHSA knows the challenges that businesses face when it comes to investing in health and safety — but also the rewards that come from doing so.
It’s why we work tirelessly to guide employers who want to take the next steps to build health and safety into every aspect of their workplaces. It’s why we provide workers with the accessible resources and expert-led training they need to get the job done safely and effectively.
And it’s why we continue to honour Canada’s fallen workers — by learning from workplace incidents and working every day to prevent them from happening again.
CRH Canada is one of the country's largest vertically integrated materials and construction companies. It manufactures and supplies a diverse range of superior building materials and products for use in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure or commercial, industrial, and residential construction work in Ontario and Quebec. The organization employs approximately 3,500 team members, and is committed to keeping them all safe.
Prioritizing people
passes not just physical safety but also mental safety. “We’re focused on creating a diverse and psychologically safe workplace,” says Truax-Wardell. “For example, we want our team to feel comfortable to bring forward any safety issues. Our safety pledge is ‘When I See Something, I Will Stop and Do Something.’ We want to empower all of our employees.”
We’re focused on creating a diverse and psychologically safe workplace.
“Our number one priority is our people, and we’re unique in that we really invest in them,” says Shannon TruaxWardell, Director of Occupational Health and Safety at CRH Canada. “One way we do this is through our internal Occupational Health team, which is a team of nurses that help support our employees with both occupational and non-occupational injuries and illnesses.” At CRH Canada, employee safety encom-
From extensive training programs to employee wellness resources, including a Suicide Prevention Program (acknowledging and addressing the high suicide rates in the construction industry), employees’ safety and health is always top of mind for CRH Canada executives. It’s just one of the reasons that the organization has been named one of the GTA Top 100 Employers several times. Dufferin Aggregates, a CRH company, was also awarded the Ontario Stone, Sand, and Gravel Safety Innovation Award in 2022 for an inventive safety process that was masterminded by its own employees.
Safety is critical, and it takes a team.
