Canadian Occupational Safety

October 2014 9 By Amanda Silliker K en Ricketts has always been predicated towards high risk. He raced motorcycles on ice, worked as a guide for wilderness white- water rafting, installed pipelines in extremely remote locations and built ice roads in the Northwest Territories. "I did the jobs that no one else wanted," he says. Ricketts decided to use his incli- nation towards risk to help other companies learn how to mitigate it. In 2011 he became the executive director of the Safety Association of Saskatch- ewan Manufacturers (SASM). "High hazard work or play requires you to ask over and over 'What could go wrong?' because the result of some- thing going wrong could quickly become catastrophic," he says. "An event that could injure a worker to a minor degree takes on a whole dif- ferent level of importance when the nearest assistance is hundreds of kilo- metres away." SASM is a non-profi t corporation dedicated to the prevention of injuries in the manufacturing sector. It has a membership of 250 fi rms, represent- ing 9,000 workers. "We work with people from dairies to people building huge equipment for the oil patch. (From) agricultural machinery manufacturers to electron- ics manufacturers," says Ricketts. "We want to get the manufacturers to be as safe as the average of all fi rms in Saskatchewan. We want to turn high risk at least into low or less than aver- age impact." The association offers a wide variety of safety training courses to its mem- bers. Its most effective offering is the supervisor course. "Any fi rm that has had our supervi- sor training, when upper management has been in the room taking the same course, typically their incident rate has gone down by 50 per cent in six months," says Ricketts. SASM's train-the-trainer courses set it apart from other associations. Some of these courses include adult learning theory, forklift operation, respiratory protection, WHMIS and crane safety. "We provide the training that allows them to train their own workers," says Ricketts. "We try to make it possible for the manufacturers to be as inde- pendent of us as possible." SASM has recently started conduct- ing air quality testing for members and it will soon be advising them on permissible exposure limits (PELs). With other provinces such as Ontario and Manitoba looking at the PELs, it's likely Saskatchewan will be consider- ing making changes shortly as well, says Ricketts, and they want to be ahead of the game. Going forward, SASM will be expanding its consulting offerings around ergonomics because that's the number 1 type of injury in manufac- turing, says Ricketts. Another area of focus will be on Training Within Industry (TWI), a dynamic approach to training that was developed in the United States during the Second World War. It is an essential element of lean manufac- turing and continuous improvement programs around the world, including the Toyota Production System. "It's how to train workers in the most complete and quickest manner but to make certain they know their tasks, and it takes a fair amount of work going into it, actually it's a lot of work, but once you're into it, you can train workers way quicker, more completely and with less pain than we typically are at this time," says Ricketts. CeRTiFiCaTion opTions SASM's Certificate of Recognition (COR) program has three levels. The bronze level is designed to assist fi rms that are just developing their safety management system. It requires com- pliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Workers' Com- pensation Board (WCB) regulations. The silver level is much more robust and gets into international standards such as meeting the requirements for the OHSAS 18001 and CSA Z1000 occupational health and safety man- agement standards. It also requires continuous improvement until the fi rm is in the best performing 30 per cent of the industry. "Any of the fi rms we have certifi ed at the silver level, typically, their injury rate is lower than the average of all workplaces in Saskatchewan, so they are working in a high-risk industry and they have a below average injury rate," says Ricketts. The highest level of certifi cation is the gold level — and no company has achieved this level to date, or even tried to reach it. "It's really, really hard. It's 100 per cent culture, where the concept of doing something that would or could hurt you or someone else is just not acceptable," says Ricketts. "It's return- ing them to what they were when they were a four-person fi rm, when they were working right beside their brother, father, mother and they just wouldn't allow you to get hurt." If a company is interested in achiev- ing certifi cation, SASM will go out to the workplace to conduct a gap analysis. The company has about six months to correct any shortfalls. Once it has done so, it undergoes an audit from SASM to determine if it qualifi es for certifi cation. "They (the auditors) lift the covers, if you will. They spend a lot of time with paperwork and a lot of time on the fl oor. The interview questions are very specifi c and we try to get as much information as possible and take it from there," says Ricketts. The association has put a lot of work into helping manufacturers boost their safety culture, and Ricketts is very proud of the improvements mem- bers have made. Last year, one-half of SASM members did not have a WCB claim and 60 per cent did not have a lost-time claim. "Based on the claim and injury statistics for the entire rate code or industry category, SASM members come from six of the eight categories in Saskatchewan with the greatest risk," he says. "But our members are also improving much faster than aver- age… which is really impressive." UPCLOSE From high risk to risk mitigation SASM sets goal for manufacturing to be 'as safe as the average of all fi rms in Sask.' ken Ricketts, safety Association of ken Ricketts, safety Association of ken Ricketts, safety Association of saskatchewan manufacturers saskatchewan manufacturers saskatchewan manufacturers Congratulations to the following OHS professionals who have recently been granted the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) ® Professionnel en sécurité agréé du Canada (PSAC) ® designation. The BCRSP is a self-regulating, self-governing organization accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to ISO 17024 (Personnel Certification Body) and by BSI Management Systems to ISO 9001 (Quality Management System). Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals/Conseil canadien des professionnels en sécurité agréés 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4 905-567-7198, 1-888-279-2777, www.bcrsp.ca Meagan Aarts, CRSP Olateju Adelowokan, CRSP Richard Ahern, CRSP Kenza Akesbi, CRSP Hamid Ardehali, CRSP Cyril Ikechukwu (Ike) Asagwara, CRSP Anthony Ashun-Codjiw, CRSP Donald Baergen, CRSP Shawna Barsi, CRSP David E. Bassey, CRSP Amanda Baxter, CRSP Micheal Baxter, CRSP Troy Baxter, CRSP Stephen Beaton, CRSP Chris Beaudry, CRSP Mounir Benchamma, CRSP Elaine Benoit, CRSP Veronique Bisaillon, CRSP Norman Bootsman, CRSP Andre Bouchard, CRSP Eric Brideau, CRSP Nina Brown, CRSP Daniel Bukvic, CRSP Ian Bullock, CRSP Tanya Butts, CRSP Davide Careddu, CRSP John Chant, CRSP Courtney Christie, CRSP Sandra Ciparis, CRSP Rob Coates, CRSP Michael Cocco, CRSP Kalvin Coleman, CRSP Rita Coshan, CRSP Christopher Cowley, CRSP Lori Curtis, CRSP Bronwen Davies, CRSP James Davies, CRSP Allistair Davis, CRSP Vincenzo Delle Donne, CRSP Dane R. Deman, CRSP Rick Demaray, CRSP Felix Dion, CRSP Corey Dolan, CRSP Daran Downie, CRSP Rachel Drew, CRSP Erin Duddy, CRSP John Evinger, CRSP Amr K. Fahmy, CRSP Jonathan Faloon, CRSP Akinloye Michael Fasami, CRSP Sithara Fernando, CRSP Ryan Fizzell, CRSP Paul Fontenot, CRSP Neal Foy, CRSP Ernie Franz, CRSP Melissa Gagnon, CRSP Jerry Gibson, CRSP Rory Gibson, CRSP H. Martin Gillis, CRSP Lucie Giroux, CRSP Giovanni Grande, CRSP Anne Christina Guinard, CRSP Mark Hadfield, CRSP Tina Hancharuk, CRSP Dwayne Hanson, CRSP Michael Harris, CRSP Vic Harrison, CRSP Kathy Harvey, CRSP Shaofeng (Dennis) He, CRSP David Healey, CRSP Patricia Heasman, CRSP Kimberley Henney, CRSP Dan Holliday, CRSP Jordan R. Holt, CRSP Britt Howard, CRSP Darryl Huculak, CRSP Bonny Hull, CRSP Douglas Hurl, CRSP Ahmed Hussein, CRSP Shawn Hutchinson, CRSP Ronald Ireland, CRSP Anita James, CRSP Ian Jamieson, CRSP Jeffrey Jamieson, CRSP Dinshaw Jamshedji, CRSP Fred Johnson, CRSP Stephen Jones, CRSP Tara Jukes, CRSP Harbinder Kamo, CRSP Michael Kary, CRSP Darren F. Kavli, CRSP Robert Kay, CRSP Peter (Sean) Kearney, CRSP Glenn Keenan, CRSP Peter Kerz, CRSP Christopher L.H. Kett, CRSP Amanda Kimmel, CRSP Tim Kingdon, CRSP Wendy Kirk, CRSP Dawn Kitchen, CRSP Justin Kologie, CRSP Stacy (Shelley) Kunkel, CRSP Jennifer Kurulok, CRSP Peter Lacombe, CRSP Guy Langevin, CRSP Sarah Langille, CRSP David Larson, CRSP Leanne Larwill, CRSP Stephen Lawn, CRSP Steve Lerner, CRSP Kitty Tsz Yan Leung, CRSP Vicki Lloyd, CRSP Allison Gus Loder, CRSP Stephania Lombardo, CRSP Brent Lukian, CRSP Edison MacDonnell, CRSP Don Malesza, CRSP Melinda Mallery, CRSP Michael Maloney, CRSP Jennifer (Jenny) Martin, CRSP Laurie Martin, CRSP Tony Martineau, CRSP Peter May, CRSP David McAuley, CRSP Ian McDonnell, CRSP Patrick McGraw, CRSP Abelard McGrevy, CRSP Roger McKellar, CRSP Karen McKissick, CRSP Daryl McKnight, CRSP Faith Rashell McManus, CRSP Rene Melanson, CRSP Andy Mendel, CRSP Natasha Mesnic, CRSP Isabelle Messier, CRSP Timothy Metcalfe, CRSP Jody Mitton, CRSP Rosemarie K. Mocan, CRSP Colin Moores, CRSP Colin Morrish, CRSP Jodi Mounsef, CRSP Philip Mroz, CRSP Patricia Murdoch, CRSP Thomas Murphy, CRSP Vincent Murphy, CRSP Mike Myers, CRSP Dolly Nathan, CRSP Mqondisi Ndhlovu, CRSP Alicia-Mae Nicholas, CRSP Glen Nielsen, CRSP Erik Nowak, CRSP Olufemi Ojelade, CRSP Patricia O'Leary, CRSP Gabriel Oyenekan, CRSP Kevin Parsons, CRSP Amy Paul, CRSP Coreen Paul, CRSP Lisa Pavelak, CRSP Steven Penner, CRSP Carlos Penunuri Yepiz, CRSP Marcus A. Pereira, CRSP Halyna Pilkiw, CRSP Andrew Pope, CRSP Prashant Rajurkar, CRSP Nadine Reid, CRSP Tricia Ann Rennie, CRSP Henry K. Ridders, CRSP Peter Rizos, CRSP Hernan Rodriguez, CRSP David Rost, CRSP Michael Rumble, CRSP Jeanne Savoy, CRSP Greg Scollan, CRSP Noreen Shaikh-Sumara, CRSP Amy Shave, CRSP Charles Sherburne, CRSP Don Simmons, CRSP Xiao Man Situ, CRSP Ronald Skanes, CRSP Joseph Slavik, CRSP Robert E. Smith, CRSP William J. (Bill) Smith, CRSP Sherry Snow, CRSP Amanda Sonier, CRSP David Stead, CRSP Dan Steinke, CRSP L. Elden Stewart, CRSP Larry Stewart, CRSP Christopher Stosky, CRSP Kenneth Stubbings, CRSP Catherine Sturge, CRSP Hajrudin (Rudi) Subasic, CRSP Bei Sun, CRSP Patrick Szwedowski, CRSP Phat Ta, CRSP Justin Talbot, CRSP Krista Tardiff, CRSP Randy Tchorznickis, CRSP Victoria Telega, CRSP James Todd, CRSP Nicholas Tomiczek, CRSP Erol Toyata, CRSP Jeremiah Tringham, CRSP Bhavana Tuladhar, CRSP Kimberley Tully, CRSP Mohammad Ehsan Uddin, CRSP Patrisha Ung Ng, CRSP Adrianne Vander Zalm, CRSP Jennifer Vanderluit, CRSP Rob Vandertas, CRSP Rachelle Vernon, CRSP Jill Vrolson, CRSP Kevin Waldal, CRSP Jeanne Walsh, CRSP Adam Walters, CRSP Shuo (Sophia) Wei, CRSP Alicia Westfall, CRSP Melissa Westland, CRSP Alfred Wieme, CRSP Cory Wilson, CRSP Mavis Song Chien Yeh, CRSP Etienne Yelle, CRSP Theodore Zylstra, CRSP Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals

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