Canadian Occupational Safety

www.thesafetymag.com/ca 17 While there are many moving parts to planning for an emergency (such as knowing who to call or having the right equipment), emergency response training is a must. Certification One of the first things we think about when it comes to emergency training is first aid. The intricacies of who needs to do what, and what is required, depend on the province. Every province or territory has a lot of similarities, but also many differences when it comes to guidelines for who should — or who needs to — take first aid training. And with the Typically, he says, companies start looking at implementing some kind of lone worker system if a worker is alone for more than two hours at a time. But a system of this nature can deliver value within shorter time periods since an emergency can happen at any moment. Emergency planning There are a number of aspects to a good emergency program. "The top one is the overall time of the response itself," says Stinson. "The time that you can detect the event, and the time that you can respond to the event are obviously crucial." The second key part is making sure that your detection and measurement of these incidents happens as rapidly as possible, as well as your ability to communicate and relay as much information back as you can. Thirdly, says Stinson, it is key to have "a really solid response, planned in advance, that takes into account all of the different variables that you might be exposed to." "Your response plan has to be able to anticipate all of the different things that can happen, and then the right way to respond to it," he says. Lastly, "objective measurement of the performance of that [emergency] system would be really important so you can continuously improve it," says Stinson. "You're better off having twice as many people trained as you think you need. And then should [an emergency] ever happen, you'll probably have a better chance of saving the life." Chris Schmied, St. John Ambulance. onset of CSA governance, there will be more provinces that share standards. When it comes to figuring out which industry needs what, the hazards need to be assessed for each specific industry. "Every workplace has its inherent set of hazards," says Don Marentette, National Manager of First Aid Programs, Canadian Red Cross. Governance of first aid training is moving to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group), and are already governing in Manitoba and Alberta — this will allow certification to become much more standardized and simplified by having a unified system across the country. In addition, The Canadian Red Cross worked with CSA Group to help create CSA Z1210-17, a standardization of Workplace First Aid certifications in Canada. It is for both training and certification, as well as first aid kit requirements in workplaces. In Ontario, for example, there are currently outlined courses that both the WSIB and the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development require. According to the WSIB, all businesses covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act are required to have first aid equipment, facilities and trained personnel in all workplaces. There are two different courses for the workplace, including Emergency First Aid Level A and Level C, and Standard First Aid Level A and C (see boxout). It also depends on how many people are employed — again in Ontario, for organizations with five or fewer employees, you need to do the Emergency First Aid course. If you have six or more employees, you need to do Standard First Aid. In general, "first aid training should be part of the organization's safety plan and/or part of their training plan. As far as the emergency response plan, a first aid drill should be performed from time to time, similar to a fire drill," says Chris Schmied, Manager of Learning, St. John Ambulance. It is critical to have a plan in place, says Marentette, and our vision of first

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