Canadian Occupational Safety

April 2013 9 people & plACes By Mari-Len De Guzman P lanning and process review will be among the most important components of any organization's push towards promoting a psychologically safe and healthy workplace, proponents of workplace mental health said. At the Education Day event, hosted by the Toronto chapter of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) in February, members of the techni- cal committee that developed the new national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace gave attendees an overview of what the new standard entails and how to eff ectively implement it. is voluntary standard, available at no cost to employers, has been designed to allow companies to take a baseline measurement and determine how they can fi t their existing policies into the standard for achieving psychologically healthy and safe workplaces, said Sari Sairanen, national health and safety director at Canadian Auto Workers' union and a member of the standard development technical committee. "Looking at your current workplace policies… How do they meet the stan- dard? What changes do you need to make?" Sairanen said. "You don't have to start from scratch, you can start building (the standard) into your own system." e intent of the standard from the beginning, she said, was to develop guidelines that will apply to all types of organizations — big or small — to encourage them to take up the cause of preventing psychological injury and promoting mental health. It is a good idea to include all work- place stakeholders in the planning process as it increases the likelihood of success, she added. "You have to have buy-in of all stakeholders," Sairanen said. "You need to have participation in the plan- ning, it's not just something dictated to (employees)." e standard also prescribes guidelines for implementing measurement and review systems to ensure sustainability of the mental health program. Sairanen said this step is essential for organizations to determine whether they're meeting their program objec- tives and if further improvements or revisions are necessary. e national standard for psycholog- ical health and safety in the workplace was launched on Jan. 16. e standard is the result of collaboration among the Mental Health Commission of Canada, CSA Group and Quebec standards body Bureau de Normalisation du Quebec. While the standard is intended to be voluntary, one legal expert believes current trends seem to point towards mandatory implementation in the future. Shane Todd, an associate with the labour and employment law group at Toronto-based law fi rm Heenan Blai- kie, said the standard may see itself being adopted into legislation in the future, but it will likely take a long time before that happens. Todd, however, said government enforcers may use the general duty clause under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to enforce the standard, but it is unlikely, particularly for juris- dictions that have workplace violence and harassment legislation. e Toronto lawyer stressed even without specifi c legislation, organiza- tions would benefi t by complying with the new standard. " ere's a growing patchwork of law to address psychological safety and it has created uncertainty for employ- ers," Todd said. " e standard can help employees address these complaints." mental health program needs planning, process review, workplace experts say New Ontario labour minister Yasir Naqvi, MPP for Ottawa Centre, has been appointed minister of labour by newly sworn-in Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. Naqvi was fi rst elected to represent the riding of Ottawa Centre in 2007, and was re-elected in 2011. He has served as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of fi nance, the minister of community safety and correctional services, the mini ster of revenue and the minister of education. Prior to his election, Naqvi was the associ- ate director and international trade counsel at the Centre for Trade Policy and Law (CTPL). Before join- ing CTPL, he practiced international trade law with Lang Michener LLP and Flavell Kubrick LLP. Calgary manager gets European safety award Garry McGauran, operations man- ager at Malone Engineering in Calgary, received commendation from United Kingdom-based Insti- tution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) — for his research into safe building design — at the IOSH 2013 Conference and Exhibition. McGauran's research was conducted while studying for an MSc in safety and risk management at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. e commendation came as part of the IOSH's Bright Spark student research poster competition — a con- test to recognise and disseminate the work of up and coming researchers in occupational safety and health. McGauran's study looked at build- ing designers in Ireland and their duty to manage risks during the design process. It revealed that while designers have a healthy appreciation for safety during design, the level of understanding around key risk man- agement principles is poor. Safety charter scores hockey player Retired professional hockey player Trevor Linden has agreed to partner with the BC Safety Charter, sup- porting its mission to engage senior executives in becoming corporate leaders that value health and safety as critical elements of their business. Linden is the owner of Club 16 Trevor Linden Fitness, with four locations in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia. In 1997, he founded the Trevor Linden Foundation, a regis- tered charity supporting youth and children with special needs. e foundation also helps to improve the lives of young Canadians by encour- aging and facilitating educational initiatives. e BC Safety Charter was established at the Leading Per- formance Conference in 2011, a daylong conference on health and safety, hosted by the FIOSA-MIOSA Safety Alliance of B.C., a non-profi t association representing B.C.'s food and beverage processing and manu- facturing industries. Linden retired in 2008 a er a 19-year NHL career. you need to have participation in the planning, it's not just something dictated to employees yasir naqvi minister of labour ontario professional hockey player trevor linden garry mcgauran (right) receives his prize from gerard hand, iosh president.

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