Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
Issue link: https://digital.thesafetymag.com/i/358709
22 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com The panellisTs from lefT To righT: ron saunders, senior scientist at the institute for Work & health; Jeremy Warning, partner at heenan Blaikie; Dylan short, director, educational services at Csse; elizabeth mills, president and Ceo of Wsps. HealtH and safety outlook T he job of the occupational health and safety profes- sional is becoming more complex every year. From new standards to chang- ing demographics, the position is ever evolving. Canadian Occupational Safety hosted a panel discussion in November with OHS experts from various backgrounds to find out what should be on every safety professional's radar for 2014. aDDing value OHS professionals need to be mind- ful of adding value to their organiza- tions, says Elizabeth Mills, president and CEO of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) in Mississauga, Ont. They should start by understanding the priorities of the senior lead- ers — such as growing the business, managing risk, boosting productiv- ity and enhancing efficiency — and then they can create a business case to illustrate how a healthy and safe workplace supports that strategy. "Using business tools to be able to do that will help health and safety pro- fessionals to better present what they have, which can be fantastic areas of opportunity, in a way that business says Ron Saunders, senior scientist and director of knowledge transfer and exchange at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH). There is growing research evidence that psychological aspects of work can be hazardous. For example, recent studies from the Toronto-based IWH and the Institute for Clinical Evalua- tive Sciences indicate low job control is associated with an increased risk of hypertension among men and an increased risk of diabetes among women, says Saunders. The 24-7 workplace has resulted in less downtime and higher stress levels. Employees may also be struggling with stressors at home such as juggling child care and elder care. Front-line supervisors need to be equipped with the tool set of how to structure the conversation around mental heath, says Mills. "People are very polite and don't want to intrude or cross privacy lines or break down a barrier that has been put in place for very good reasons, it's about how to have the conversation but not intrude," she says. A big change that has taken place in the past few years is that workers' compensation board (WCB) claims are starting to be allowed for mental health issues, says Short. "It started in B.C. and has migrated leaders can understand," says Dylan Short, director of educational services at the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) and managing director of the Redlands Group in Mississauga, Ont. "It's no different than if you have a finance plan or a sales plan." Short recommends conducting a return on investment (ROI) analysis or a SWOT analysis, which assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Having the health and safety depart- ment or official integrated within the organization is beneficial for due dili- gence, says Jeremy Warning, partner at law firm Heenan Blaikie in Toronto. "It will serve one well should the need arise to come and tell the story about the steps that were taken to pre- vent an incident or accident," he says. "The more integrated the official is into the system… the better the system is overall and the better the results that can be obtained for the organization." menTal healTh The issue of mental health in the work- place is not new, but it is now getting more attention with the vol- untary CSA standard on psychological health and safety in the workplace, east across the country, and that's starting to be something employers are taking more notice of… because it is starting to hit them — or potentially hit them — in the pocket books." Training The Ministry of Labour in Ontario has announced a reg- ulation establishing mandatory basic health and safety awareness training for workers and supervisors. The regula- tion comes into force July 1, 2014. This may present challenges for health and safety profession- als and organizations to ensure the information and instruction provided to workers meets the minimum stan- dards, says Warning. "You may run into issues about ensuring training has been provided and then demonstrating it has been provided in accordance with the regulation," he says. "And you may run into difficulties in delivering the training — there may be logistical challenges depending on the size of the workforce." This is of interest to OHS profes- sionals across the country because mental health, random alcohol testing among hot topics for ohs professionals in 2014 By Amanda Silliker