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Canadian Occupational Safety
riram Rangan is in the
business of safety. His
Toronto-based company,
Vagans, designs and man-
ages safety programs for
trucking companies of all types and
sizes. His staff monitors log books of
hazardous material carriers to make
sure the drivers are not exceeding
their hours. They ensure preventive
maintenance is completed for refrig-
erated carriers. They hire and train new
drivers to the highest road safety stan-
dards. They conduct audits and help
flatbed carriers have fewer incidents.
Plus, they monitor driver behaviour
and offer re-training as required.
While conducting all of these tasks,
Rangan expects his staff to keep their
own occupational health and safety
top of mind.
"I'm a really strong believer that
if my staff feels they are working in
a really safe and secure environment,
productivity obviously increases. The
worst-case scenario is if a (worker)
slips and falls, it's not only him in the
hospital, but his entire family has a
negative effect because now there's no
income coming in," Rangan says. "It
has a chain reaction on their lifestyle."
Unfortunately, not all small busi-
nesses place such an emphasis on
OHS. In fact, many research papers
have found that workplace injury
and fatality rates tend to be higher in
small businesses than large ones. With
1.12 million Canadian workplaces
employing fewer than 50 employees,
health and safety needs to be actively
promoted among small businesses —
especially since they make up 95 per
cent of Canadian employers.
Industries that are dominated by
small businesses — such as construc-
tion, manufacturing and agriculture
— tend to include a lot of high-risk
activities, which may be one expla-
nation for the higher rates, says Kim
Cullen, an assistant professor at
Memorial University of Newfound-
land in St. John's.
Another explanation is that small
businesses may be unaware of the
specific OHS laws and regulations
they are expected to follow — or they
are just not well-educated on the haz-
ards their workers face.
"With any one small business,
there are very seldom accidents that
take place. It's a pretty rare occur-
rence within any one workplace," says
Cullen. "That's sometimes why there's
a disconnect between small places rec-
ognizing that there is this higher risk.
They don't see it, so it's a sense they
don't necessarily have."
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3
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Make sure
to have
a written
policy
statement.
OHS roles and
responsibilities
should be outlined
within the policy
statement.
Make a
comprehensive
list of hazards in
your workplace.
DEVELOPING
AN OHS PROGRAM
Often small business owners address safety issues verbally.
To show due diligence, you have to document your safety program.
If you're an owner, this checklist can help you put
an OHS program in place.
1. DO YOU HAVE AN
OHS POLICY?
2. DO YOU, YOUR
SUPERVISORS AND
WORKERS KNOW
AND UNDERSTAND
THEIR OHS
RESPONSIBILITIES?
3. HAVE YOU
IDENTIFIED
HAZARDS?
4. DO YOU HAVE
YOUR HAZARD
CONTROLS IN
PLACE?
Competing demands
means safety is not
always top of the list
for small business owners
By Amanda Silliker
