The hunt for Canada’s safest manufacturer

Canadian Occupational Safety (COS), in collaboration with Manufacturing AUTOMATION, Plant Engineering & Maintenance and PIQ magazines, has launched the first-ever Canada’s Safest Employers Award, recognizing outstanding companies in the manufacturing industry that are making a difference in promoting the health and safety of their workers.

Launched on November 29, 2010, the Canada’s Safest Employers Award aims to create a standard of safety excellence among Canadian organizations and share best practices in occupational health and safety management.

The search for Canada’s Safest Employers is open to all manufacturers that have been an employer in Canada for the last five years or more. Below are the eligibility requirements for nomination:
– Open to all employers in the manufacturing sector;
– Must be an employer in Canada for the last five years or more; and
– Must have NOT incurred any critical injury* or fatality, and have NOT had any charges or convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Workplace Safety and Insurance Act and/or the Criminal Code, in the last five years.

• A critical injury means an injury of a serious nature that: places life in jeopardy; produces unconsciousness; results in substantial loss of blood; involves the fracture of an arm or a leg, but not a finger or toe; involves the amputation of a leg, arm, hand or foot, but not a finger or toe; consists of burns to a major portion of the body; or causes the loss of sight in an eye.

Application process
Winners will be evaluated on both their quantitative and qualitative merits. The application process will be done in two parts – a completed application form and employee safety perception survey. All participating companies must submit an application form outlining their organization’s health and safety management system and programs, as well as their injury statistics.

All nominations will then be screened to determine the top finalists. Only these finalists will be asked to complete an employee safety perception survey. Instructions on how to administer the survey will be provided to the finalists.

Judging panel
The judging panel includes the following industry thought leaders:
• Linda Scott, Conference Board of Canada
• Nancy Harwood, director of regulatory practices, WorkSafeBC
• Marjolaine Boivin, CSST (Quebec)
• Phil Germain, exec. director of prevention, Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board
• Peter Sturm, president, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering
• Ryan Conlin, SBH Management Lawyers
• Alan Quilley, president of Safety Results Ltd. (Alberta)
• Dennis Ryan, president, Compass Health and Safety (Alberta)
• Glyn Jones, University of New Brunswick
• Norm Keith, partner at Gowlings law firm
• Monica Mellor, safety manager at DC Foods Inc., 2009 Safety Leader of the Year Award winner

Visit Canada’s Safest Employers’ website at www.safestemployers.com or e-mail info@safestemployers.com for more information about the award.

There is no fee to nominate an organization to the Canada’s Safest Employers Award. We encourage you to nominate a deserving organization and give them the recognition and honour they deserve.