Canadian Occupational Safety

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019 11 By Alexia Kapralos T he Canada's Safest Employers awards, presented by Canadian Occupational Safety, celebrated the safety excellence of organizations and safety professionals across the country on Oct. 18, during the eighth annual gala in Toronto. Thirty-one different organizations in a wide range of sectors, including transportation, health care, manufacturing and oil and gas were recognized. Companies were honored for safety practices, overall culture, psychological safety, young worker safety and wellness. This glitzy evening featured an opening cocktail reception with live jazz music, followed by a gala dinner and awards presentation, ending with another cocktail event for the winners. There was an overarching emphasis on mental health and psychological safety during the speeches at the event this year. Karen Lorimer, director and group publisher of Media Solutions at Thomson Reuters (publisher of COS), told the story of a Reuters journalist suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his work overseas. The story comes from Michael Georgy, a Reuters correspondent based in Egypt, who candidly wrote about his experience of trauma. Lorimer said that in his story, he pointed out that PTSD "can come not just from having bullets flying over your head," but from witnessing horrific events of people suffering after losing loved ones. Ultimately, it took Georgy over a decade to come to grips with the day he saw a Reuters sound man and driver shot and killed in Bagdhad, Iraq, and witnessed their relatives in emotional agony after seeing the bodies. The room fell silent as Lorimer shared this story, but the event's keynote speaker, Judy Croon, comedian and motivational speaker, quickly changed the mood of guests during her speech. She had the room roaring with laughter while sharing her important message on decreasing stress in the workplace and in life: When we laugh, we relax; when we relax, we learn, she said. She kicked off her speech with a series of jokes that immediately engaged the audience. "One minute of laughter can boost our immune system for 24 hours," said Croon. "When we get stressed out, we go into the grip and we can't make decisions, or we make bad decisions. I speak at a lot of health and safety conferences across the country and sometimes those bad decisions can lead to fatalities." She pointed to research from Yale University that found when people become stressed, their brain matter shrinks. When stress is experienced, it takes 45 minutes for hormone levels to get back to normal, even if someone thinks they feel better after a few minutes, she said. So, if people want to keep stress levels low, what's the secret? Croon shared her seven "ingredients" to relieving work-related stress, which she selected based on consultations with workers across Canada and the United States. The first ingredient — and the most important one — is having a positive attitude, which should include humour, Croon said. The second is perseverance because it's what gives people passion and "passion gives us a push when everybody else drops off," she said. The remaining ingredients were forgiveness, teamwork, good mental health, physical activity and friends and family. These tips could be applied to workers in all fields, industries and professions and are simple ways to further psychological safety. "Remember this: Positive thoughts equal positive actions, equal a positive, purposeful life," said Croon. Guest speaker Ron Kelusky, Ontario's chief prevention officer, also touched on the importance of workplace mental health when he addressed the crowd of nearly 350 professionals. He congratulated the winning companies on being leaders in health and safety, but noted as a province overall, there is still a long way to go. "We have a lot of work to do collectively," he said. "We need to continue to spread the word about the importance of occupational health and safety so that business can remain productive and everyone can go home to their loved ones at the end of the day." Various winners echoed this sentiment in their acceptance speeches, making a point to say that excellence in safety, mental health and wellness is a never-ending journey. "I think we would all agree that safety isn't a destination, but a mindset. It's a continuous journey that requires diligence, courage and commitment from leaders and workers every day," said Karen Kelly, director, Suncor, whose east coast business area won gold in the oil and gas category. "There is never room for complacency." Borger Group of Companies took home the top prize of the evening, Canada's Best Health + Safety Culture award, developed in partnership with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services and sponsored by Levitt-Safety. In his acceptance speech, Bill Borger, CEO, further echoed the importance of always improving, and he said something that resonated with many individuals in the building that night. "Due to the riskiness of our business, we are only ever one mistake compounded with one broken policy away from one serious incident — and mistakes will happen," he said. "At Borger, it's not enough that safety is just everybody's top priority. We need to be looking out for each other and that's why our culture is magical as it stands today — but on a continuous road of improvement. We never take that for granted." For a complete list of winners and more information about the awards process, visit safestemployers.com. EMPLOYERS SAFEST 2018 CANADA'S Keynote speaker Judy Croon keeps the audience laughing. Peter Kendall, Horizon Occupational Health Solutions, presents an award to Geeta Sharma, Ryerson University.

• Cover