Canadian Occupational Safety

20 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com T he Residence Inn by Marriott Downtown London takes a pro- active approach that encourages employees to voice safety concerns, says general manager Anna McNutt. While the hotel's daily morn- ing huddles follow a template that regularly integrates health and safety topics, employees are urged to share these concerns at any time. "We have an open door policy. We actually encourage our staff to bring issues up that require immediate repair or initiatives that require immediate attention. For us, that's a big plus," says Tony D'Ariano, maintenance manager and health and safety chair at the hotel in London, Ont. The meetings have built confi dence in the team and employees are not afraid to ask questions, says McNutt. For example, one of the most suc- cessful initiatives stemmed from one of the daily meetings when workers voiced concerns over broken or miss- ing vacuum cleaners. Now, "they're inspected and they're stored and there are extra parts on the property, so they're there and we haven't had a problem since. Nobody has a frayed cord, everything comes down and it's looked at on a daily basis," McNutt explains. The hotel's joint health and safety committee is inclusive of all employ- ees, who are encouraged and paid to attend the lunch hour meetings. This total buy-in from the team of 40 is instrumental in yielding better health and safety results, says McNutt. "Everybody feels involved and knowledge is power, so it empowers the employees to get involved, and you have to feel more comfortable to speak up. And it has made a difference, because they're in tune with it on a daily basis." In addition to providing staff with lunch-and-learns as well as health and safety networking opportunities, the hotel has added a safety scavenger hunt to its new hire orientation. Although it has successfully achieved a number of safety goals, both through its own initiatives and as a result of joining Ontario's Workplace Safety & Prevention Services Safety Group pro- gram, the hotel looks at fi ve new health and safety elements each year. "For this year, we have 20 safety ele- ments that we're working on. Five new and the 15 we had previously done, in addition to what we had in place. So it's become almost like a full- time job," says McNutt. I n the fast-paced Nestlé Waters Canada environment of bottling and delivering water to more than 145 retailers across the country, rushing is not tolerated. "To delight our customers and work safely, staff need to react with urgency," says Dwight Carey, central region safety, health and environment manager. "That's very different from rushing, which can lead to shortcuts and hazards." During the busy summer season, the pace intensifi es and seasonal workers augment the 400 regular employees in plants around the country. When the Guelph, Ont.-based company gets a rush order from a Toronto cus- tomer, it can be produced and on the shelves the same day. The challenge is to make safe decisions while meeting high expectations. Staff members need to avoid lifting incorrectly, driving a forklift too quickly or forgetting some critical safety practices. According to Debbie Moore, presi- dent, Nestlé Waters Canada, the company has achieved many mile- stones in its continuing journey toward zero lost-time incidents in the work- place. The milestones have shown not Johnsonite Canada Manufacturing Hospitality SILVER GOLD GOLD

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