New WSPS award recognizes organizational health & safety culture

Nov. 5, 2014 – A new national award from Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) recognizes “organizations that exceed traditional health and safety practices by the shared value created to have an impact on a broader community dimension beyond their workplaces.”

“The organizational health + safety culture award shines a light on deserving organizations across Canada that have made outstanding contributions to building health and safety cultures and inspiring transformative behaviours within their networks and areas of influence,” said Elizabeth Mills, WSPS president and CEO. “That is why we felt it was critical to acknowledge an organization — rather than an individual, with this new award.”

Criteria will be centred around:

• the trust and openness within the organization among its managers and employees;
• commitment to engaging employees in decision-making;
• active involvement of upper management and boards of directors in governing organizational health;
• degree to which safety is promoted;
• evidence based decision-making using leading indicators of safety; and
• performance objectives tied to the health and safety of the organization.

More details on the award are expected in the new year.

“We are working together to shape health and safety policy, exchange knowledge and ideas, and we will be collaborating with other provincial networks on the development of a strategy to create a truly Canadian culture of health and safety,” added Mills.