18 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com
L
ondon Hydro is always looking for new ways to increase employee
participation in safety. With recently introduced operations and
administrative "solutions groups," for example, workers meet regularly to raise
issues that may then go to the joint health and safety committee (JHSC) for
recommendations.
"It's like a brainstorming group," says Jeff Harrison, manager of health and
safety at the utility company in London, Ont. "We use this to foster open com-
munication, and it's another way of including staff in the idea of health and
safety. We look for opportunities to be innovative."
The company has incorporated many safe work practices into the workday,
Harrison says. It developed a hazard recognition assessment and control pro-
gram, for instance. Working with operations and admin staff, it identifi ed the
risks involved in the tasks staff perform.
"Then our job is to develop mitigations to manage those risks."
• Peterborough
Utilities Group
• PowerStream
In addition, the company has inte-
grated a safe work manual into the
occupational health and safety program.
And through the investigation program,
it determines the circumstances and
causes of incidents and devises action
items to prevent a recurrence.
The team also promotes safety in the
wider community. One program takes
them into schools, speaking to children
about electrical safety. During the pre-
sentation, delivered to 12,000 to 15,000
students annually, they use a model
with electricity running through it.
"It shows a little character fl ying a kite
and when it hits a power line, it sparks.
It's very effective and the children love
it," says Harrison.
Of the utility's 300 employees, about
30 per cent are involved in health and
safety. The JHSC is very active and it has
formed other committees for ergonomics, fi rst aid and health and wellness.
Ken Walsh, chief engineer and vice-president of operations, says organizations
that are healthy and safe have a good culture and are more productive.
"We want to make sure employees are able to come to work and feel safe and
secure, knowing the company cares about them," he says.
Regular communication reminds workers of the importance of safety on the
job, Walsh says. A monthly alert bulletin, distributed with paycheques, focuses on
a specifi c incident or safety topic, such as the danger of complacency. Managers
regularly visit crews and have created a full-time position of fi eld supervisor, who
conducts weekly fi eld visits to encourage discussion of safety issues.
"I want to change 'We do it because we have to' into 'We do it because we want
to,'" Walsh says. "And I think we've been successful."
Utilities and
Electrical
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