Canadian Occupational Safety

28 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com Adrian Khan, EHS manager at Mother Parkers Tea and Coffee, is the 2016 Safety Leader of the Year By Amanda Silliker W hen Adrian Khan first started at Mother Parkers Tea and Coffee in Mississauga, Ont., he was not happy with the high number of ergonomic injuries. Being a manufacturing plant, the 750 workers are subject to many different ergonomic hazards and Khan wanted this subject to get the attention it deserved. "We wanted to have a dedicate team, looking at ergonomic hazards in the workplace to address these and put corrective actions in place to prevent further injuries from happening," says Khan, the company's environmental health and safety manager for North American operations. To address this, Khan started an ergonomics committee in 2015. Committee members represent job functions from across the facility and use different tools and assessments to determine if there are any improvements that can be made to work stations and job tasks. They observe the tasks being performed and interview the workers. "We encourage them to speak to the employees to see if there is any discomfort. If anyone is having back pain or shoulder pain or any type of discomfort, we look at the things they are doing and look at their job from a step-by-step process to see how we can improve it," says Khan. Ergonomics committee members are trained as part of a three-day event in which the team will blitz a work area to identify opportunities for improvement. Just like the joint health and safety committee (JHSC), the ergonomics committee meets on a monthly basis but focuses specifically on ergonomics. Meeting minutes and action plans are posted on the ergonomics communication board — a 6 by 8 foot board in the manufacturing plant that all workers walk by several times per day. Mother Parkers has already seen a 40 per cent reduction in injuries in the committee's first year. The introduction and success of the ergonom- ics committee is just one reason why Khan is the winner of the 2016 Safety Leader of the Year award, presented by Canadian Occupational Safety. "Adrian is really inspirational, passionate and has a drive for health and safety," says his boss Janet Nagy, human resources manager for Canadian operations, who nominated him for the award. "It's not just about what he does, it's very much about who he is and how he leverages his natural strengths to create the safety culture in place at Mother Parkers." One thing that makes Khan a great safety leader is his exceptional communication skills. "Whether he sat in front of the president of our company or whether he is in front of brand new employees, he has a great ability of being able to relate to people," says Mike Bate, vice-president of HR. "It makes a difference because people feel comfortable talking to him and working with him." When it comes to communicating with the front-line, Khan is out on the shop floor every day translating specific health and safety-related directions and initiatives to the hourly employees, says Mark Hamilton, director of Canadian operations for tea and coffee. "He really does take the time to help people understand the direction we are going," he says. "He is involved in every level and it doesn't matter what that might be." Khan also made sure the JHSC boards were standardized, so all facilities have the same commu- nications. The boards include regulatory posters as well as minutes, KPIs (key performance indicators), inspection reports, policies, lessons learned and goals. Khan's communication skills extend upward as well as he knows what needs to be done for the business, which bodes well with upper management. "He is an exceptionally good planner and project manager. He has a vision and plan, not just for what needs to get done today to improve our health and safety practices across the company but what we can be doing next year and the year after that," says Bate. "There is a very clear road map that he has helped bring to Mother Parkers and that we are working towards." Of course there are some twists and turns in the road, Bate adds, but Khan provides regular status

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