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NAOSH WEEK MAY 3-9, 2015 • NAOSH .CA

Saskatoon hosts NAOSH Week national launch BY KIRA OLFERT FOR POSTMEDIA SK SPECIAL PROJECTS

Saskatoon is privileged to host the national launch for the 2015 North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week. NAOSH Week activities will take place across the province from May 3 to May 9, with the national launch luncheon happening today at Prairieland Park, Hall A. On Tuesday, the NAOSH Week provincial launch luncheon will take place in Regina at the Conexus Art Centre. NAOSH Week started off with the Steps for Life walk in both Saskatoon and Regina on Sunday, May 3. NAOSH Week organizer Patrick Hauser, of the Northern Light Chapter of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, explains that the Steps for Life walk is a fundraiser for Threads of Life, a national charity which supports families whose lives have been affected by a workplace tragedy.

being facilitated by provincial safety associations, industry leaders and the Saskatoon Industry Education Council. “We’re really excited about this,” Hauser says. “It is so important to engage our young workers in a culture of safety as early as possible, and this is a great way to help make that happen.” Further to this goal, Regina will play host to an Amazing Safety Quest in a local high school on NAOSH Young Worker Safety Day on Thursday May 7. As Hauser explains, companies in Saskatchewan are obligated under Part 3 of the Saskatchewan Employment Act to maintain proper health and safety systems and work procedures as specified by the OHS regulations. “More and more business owners have realized that a safe workplace is a more productive workplace. When companies take the time to minimize workplace hazards and train their workers it reduces risk of

Today, in Saskatoon, the Canadian NAOSH Week National Launch Luncheon and first ever Amazing Safety Quest takes place at Prairieland Park Hall A, from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. Hauser says that this year’s theme is “Make safety a habit throughout your career.” Hauser further explains that “this is an attitude that we want to instil in all workers as young as possible, so we are happy that this year will be the first where young workers have been invited to take part in the Canadian NAOSH Week national launch.” Hauser adds that in Saskatchewan, high schools have been hosting Early Safety Training Program boot camps run by Terri Kerbrat since 2013, through a partnership between the Saskatchewan Safety Council and WorkSafe Saskatchewan. For the national event, Kerbrat has designed the Amazing Safety Quest as an interactive activity for the youth participants, which is

Tornado hunter Greg Johnson will be the special guest speaker at today’s NAOSH Week National Launch in Saskatoon. Supplied photos

injury, and then employees are not missing work due to a preventable injury. This increasing awareness is evident as provincial workplace injury statistics are in decline.” He adds that many contractors in the province already require that employers produce up to date safety

documents to show their diligence in maintaining a safe work site. The main speaker for both the national and provincial launches will be storm chaser Greg Johnson. Hauser admits that many people have asked him what a guy who drives towards deadly

weather can teach us about safety, but he insists that “there is a lot to be learned about safety from people in high risk professions. They have a different perspective, for instance, on situational awareness assessing hazards and how to be prepared for emergencies. In Johnson’s case, he is also an emergency management consultant for the outdoor concert circuit. He has a lot to say about how we can make our surroundings safer, and how to ensure emergency measures are properly planned.” Other NAOSH week activities in the province include a Wednesday, May 6th forum on “Staff Safety Is Our Priority” at the Victoria General Hospital in Prince Albert, and a 90-minute seminar on “Work-Life Balance and Fighting Fires” at the German Cultural Club in Saskatoon. For more information on any of these events, or to promote your NAOSH Week event, visit www.naosh.org/ English/events.

Does safety stop at 5 o’clock? BY JEANNIE ARMSTRONG POSTMEDIA SK SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR

It’s five o’clock... quitting time! Are you one of the 435 Saskatchewan residents who will be injured today? One of 26 who will be hospitalized due to injury? One of 10 who will suffer permanent disability? Statistics point to the fact that safety stops at 5

p.m. in Saskatchewan, says Gord Moker, chief executive officer of Safe Saskatchewan, a non-profi t organization dedicated to coordinating injury prevention activities in the province. Safe Saskatchewan is supported and funded by public, private, cooperative and non-profit strategic partners. “There’s twice the chance that we, as workingclass people, will have an injury after we’re done work

Through the Saskatchewan Occupational Health and Safety Act, Compass Minerals Canada Corp. and its employees facilitate promotion of good health, safety and avoidance of risks. Compass Minerals Canada Corp. P.O. Box 98 Unity, Saskatchewan, Canada S0K 4L0 306-228-2641 Fax: 306-228-4170 SAS00316920_1_1

today... four times the chance we’ll suffer permanent disability... and five times the chance that we’ll die from a preventable injury,” says Moker, comparing Saskatchewan off- the-job injury rates to our workplace injury rates. While the workplace injury rate in Saskatchewan has decreased steadily over the past decade, the injury rate off the job remains one of the highest in Canada. Unintentional injuries come with a high price tag. Combining health care and insurance costs, Moker says that a conservative estimate of the annual cost of unintentional injuries to the Saskatchewan economy is $1 billion. What factors contribute to the province’s high rate of unintentional injuries? “We follow all of the recommended health and safety

precautions at work, and then at five o’clock, we go home, put our sandals on and cut the lawn,” says Moker. “We will take a snowmobile safety course, ensure that we wear a helmet and all of the safety gear while snowmobiling the trails, and then come spring, we’ll get in a quad without a helmet and head onto the field or along the roadside. “There’s a need transform our culture and position injury prevention as a core value.” Saskatchewan employers and community leaders have joined forces to help create a shift in the province’s culture and bring an end to the province’s injury epidemic, by signing the Saskatchewan Health & Safety Leadership Charter. The Charter was initiated through a partnership

For all your

between Safe Saskatchewan and WorkSafe Saskatchewan, the partnership between the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. The first Charter signing event took place at a public ceremony held in Regina on June 10, 2010. At the inaugural signing, 128 business owners, senior managers and community leaders declared their commitment to preventing injuries to their employees at work, and, if and whenever possible, to extending health and safety efforts into the community. The Charter signing is an annual event held on the second Thursday of June, alternating between Regina and Saskatoon. To the end of 2014, a total of 382 business, government, union and community leaders have signed the Saskatchewan Health & Leadership Charter and subscribed to its seven principles. Over 100 leaders are anticipated to sign the Charter for the first time at the upcoming 6th

EQUIPMENT & SAFETY training needs.

• Safety training services on our site or yours • Fall Protection • Respiratory Protection • Conﬁned Space • Supervisor Safety The Council has reduced workplace injuries by 50% since signing the

Saskatchewan Health and Safety Leadership Charter in 2012. In 2015, we were honoured to receive the

Service and Hospitality Safety Centered Leadership Award.

• Overhead Crane • Mobile Crane • Rigging • Forklift • Telehandler • Aerial Lift • Skid Steer

BY JONATHAN HAMELIN FOR POSTMEDIA SK SPECIAL PROJECTS

Saskatchewan work places are becoming safer. According to the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) 2014 injury rates, Saskatchewan’s injury rate decreased to 6.99 per cent from 7.80 per cent seen in the previous year. In October 2013, the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety implemented a new strategy focusing on employers with the highest workplace injury rates. The focused strategy was also accompanied by random inspections, high risk industryrelated inspection blitzes during peak seasons and complaint response inspections. In Saskatchewan, 86 per cent of businesses were injury-free in the last year. The targeted intervention model strategy allows the Ministry to focus on workplaces with high injury rates, those within the 14 per cent that had injuries within their workplaces. Under this strategy, the Ministry works with the WCB to identify priority employers with high injury rates. The Ministr y’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Division engages with those employers by providing them

A targeted intervention strategy implemented by the provincial Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety has helped to decrease the workplace injury rate in Saskatchewan. Photo: Safe Saskatchewan/Greg Huszar Photography with detailed information about the injuries within their workplaces to help them develop and implement a health and safety improvement plan. Since implementing the new model, priority employers with an approved safety plan have seen an 18 per cent reduction in their workplace injuries. “I want to thank all of the people who have done a good job in reducing the rates so far and we look for ward to continued success,” Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan said.

“We’ve come a long way, but we have a ways to go.” Morgan noted the targeted intervention model was having a positive effect on workplace safety, but he said additional random inspections – around one quarter of the inspections are random – was a great way to “keep everybody on their toes and make them aware that workplace safety is important. “The idea isn’t to catch people unaware, but to get them to focus on developing an action plan so they can improve their workplace safety,” Morgan added. “You

may be an industry that isn’t prone to having accidents, but it’s good for people to know it’s important and it prevents us from losing ground where we’ve gained ground in the past.” When an OHS Division officer arrives for a random inspection, Morgan says he or she will either do a general safety inspection or focus on a specific area. For example, falls produce a higher area of injuries and fatalities. If an officer notices there are violations being committed by employees or there are problems with the workplace set-up itself, the officer will sit down with the person in charge and proactively work at solving the problem. “The idea is to try and get as much voluntary compliance as we can, but it’s certainly possible that they would go on site and see something egregious that would need to be prosecuted. Most of the time, though, they would want to work with them,” Morgan said. “It’s a lot like a traffic officer. Whenever somebody goes through a radar trap at eight or ten kilometres over, you might give them a warning, but if somebody goes over the speed limit by 50 or 100 per cent you know they’re going to get a far more serious penalty. It depends on what they discover on site. We would like

nothing better than if at the end of the year we had no injuries or prosecutions.” Morgan feels a lot of great work has been done, but he said “even one work place injury is too much.” Therefore, the provincial government’s OHS Division will continue working towards Mission Zero. Zero Injuries; Zero Fatalites; Zero Suffering. Beyond the targeted intervention model and workplace inspec tions , Morgan said the province’s OHS Division runs numerous other programs focusing on workplace safety. Saskatchewan’s OHS Division is a leader in Canada in creating the mandatory asbestos registry for public buildings. All Saskatchewan government and public buildings that contain asbestos are on the electronic registry, which will soon be searchable by building, address and the nature of the risk. The goal is to reduce the potential exposure to asbestos in the workplace. The Government also has safety measures for employers of late night retail premises. Employers in late night retail establishments are required to have a plan in place to protect their workers. Plans should include the development of a written cash handling procedure, the use of video cameras,

measures to ensure good visibility inside and outside the premises and the posting of signs indicating that workers have limited accessibility to cash. Employers that have one employee working alone must also ensure implement a check-in system and a written checkin procedure for the worker as well as provide a personal emergency transmitter to be worn by the worker to request for an emergency response when activated. Morgan feels that everyone need to cooperate and do their part to ensure all work environments are safe. And he feels it starts at home. “I think I would actually tell people to take it beyond their work place. I think an injur y, whether you’re working in your yard at home or are at work, is something that shouldn’t happen if it can be avoided,” he said. “For example, if you’re on an elevated area, make sure you’re tied off. “Use the best possible safety practices, whether you’re on site or at home. If you see somebody doing something’s that not safe, work with them to try and get them to stop. If you see a neighbor doing something dangerous, offer to help them so they don’t put themselves at risk.”

the

decision maker

Celebrate NAOSH Week “Things happen so quickly. My experience allows me to make those split-second decisions.”

2014 Safe Worker finalist Shane Kivol and co-workers at Mosaic, Belle Plaine

It’s your job. Get involved. You have the right to participate in health and pa safety activities at your workplace. workp

Proud Registered Nurse

Thank you to over 6,000 Occupational Health and Safety committees in Saskatchewan helping us all achieve Mission: Zero.

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ABOUT THIS CONTENT: These stories were produced by Postmedia Saskatchewan Special Projects to promote awareness of this topic for commercial purposes. Postmedia’s editorial department had no involvement in the creation of this content.

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Annual Event on June 11 at TCU Place in Saskatoon. “This will be the largest year-overyear increase to date, in the number of new Charter signatories,” said Moker. “The take-up has been phenomenal and from what I can tell there’s no other movement of its kind in Canada. It seems this “Mission: Zero Movement” has taken hold in Saskatchewan.” Charter signatories are striving to make Mission: Zero a reality. It was initiated in 2008 by WorkSafe Saskatchewan, as a call to action in preventing injuries in Saskatchewan workplaces. “In 2010, Safe Saskatchewan adopted Mission: Zero and in turn, is urging Charter signatory leaders to endorse and adopt it,” said Moker. “Mission: Zero is not as much a goal as it is a belief that the only acceptable number of injuries at work, at home, at play, on our farms and ranches, and on our road system, is zero. That supports our vision of a Safe Saskatchewan.” To learn more contact Safe Saskatchewan at (306) 352-3810 or email: info@ safesask.com.

New strategy leads to safe workplaces in Saskatchewan

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Phone: 306.652.2069 or saoovc@sasktel.net www.optometrists.sk.ca

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Zero Injuries. Zero Fatalities. Zero Suffering. www.worksafesask.ca SASXR211663_1_1

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