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
10 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com PEOPLE&PLACES S afety professionals from across Canada were in Toronto on Oct. 30 to celebrate the third annual Canada's Safest Employers award. Hosted by Canadian Occupational Safety, the awards are a celebration of outstanding achievements in occupa- tional health and safety in Canadian workplaces. "These awards are truly proof that paying attention to the safety and well-being of your employees means that employers are going to improve their productivity and performance while decreasing workplace injury and accidents," said federal Minister of Labour Kellie Leitch, who was a guest speaker at the event. As a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Leitch commended the crowd of more than 300 for their work. "We have seen in emergency depart- ments across the country a substantial decrease over the last number of years because of your efforts — and it makes a difference," she said. This year, the awards added new cat- egories to the roster, bringing the total number of categories to 11 — includ- ing a special wellness award — and the total number of award recipients to 24. "As Canada's largest safety supplier, we help businesses keep their team members safe every day, and we're proud to know that we work for an organization that gets people home safe to their families at the end of a hard workday," said Eric Nowlin, president of Acklands-Grainger which is the national founding and title sponsor of Canada's Safest Employers awards. "The outstanding companies being recognized tonight understand the importance of building a strong, safety-focused culture and they repre- sent the best of the best." The evening's keynote speaker, Steve Mahoney, president of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada and former chair of Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), issued a call to action. "We have to do more, we have to do it — not only in the workplace, but also at home with our kids," he said. "We have to make sure that the next generation really gets the message that they really need to think safety fi rst." When he was chair of the WSIB, Mahoney said there was a time when claims used to come in at a rate of 40 per hour. "One of the great frustrations that I always found — and one of the reasons this is such a tremendous evening — is that it was mostly those that we talked about; it wasn't the successes," he said. "To have so many of you getting awards tonight for doing this tremendous work is really a testament to what you do, to what your employees do and to what the leaders in your company do." At the ceremony, Maureen Shaw, advisor to the B.C. Health and Safety Leadership Charter and member of the Mental Health Commission of Can- ada's Workforce Advisory Committee also addressed the crowd. "In this room today are leaders in business and leaders in health and safety," said Shaw, who was a member of the independent judging panel for the awards. "I am full of hope for the future. We have Canada's Safest Employers honours organizations for third year By Zachary Pedersen