Canadian Occupational Safety

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 19 "The program made me a better worker. They taught me well enough to know what I can and cannot do. It also taught me to become a mentor," he says. Borodawka says young workers are expected to participate in safety proced- ures to the same extent as experienced workers. All workers, for example, at the morning safety toolbox meeting, are asked to consider all possible risks involved in the task ahead. Each worker is also required to regularly write out a hazard identification card describing a hazard they have seen on the job site and tell how they mitigated it. "Everyone must do it, whether they're 18 and brand new or a 50-year-old journeyman," adds Borodawka. In May, Techmation introduced changes to its mentorship, or "green hand," program. Until this year, all higher risk employees were identified with the same green hand sticker on their hard hat. Now, young workers have green stickers; new but experienced (short-service) employees have yellow stickers; and qualified mentors have blue stickers. "That way, when you see someone with a young worker sticker on their hard hat, you should see someone with a qualified mentor sticker in pretty close proximity," Hathaway says. Techmation recently rolled out a learning management system to employees. One of its goals in adopting the new system was to create custom training packages for young workers, including training packages specific to first-year electricians. When he came to work at Techmation, Borodawka already had three years of experience in his trade. In contrast to his previous job, he noticed right away a huge increase in attention to safety. "When I came to Techmation, safety standards and procedures went through the roof," he says. "Today... it keeps me coming back to work." EMPLOYERS SAFEST 2017 CANADA'S of training. To mitigate one of the company's greatest risks, a driving simulator was introduced to provide effective defensive driving training to large numbers of employees. Phil Genoway, manager, health and safety, says workers are using a new tech- nology to make their cable-chamber entry procedure safer. While they used to rely solely on what they could see or hear in the underground spaces during pre-inspection, they now use thermography. The technology measures the tem- perature of cables and splices and thus provides valuable information on the condition of the cables so workers can better assess the hazards in the space before they enter. Toronto Hydro also recently introduced a proactive equipment replacement program and has replaced a lot of equipment that it identified as being prone to failure. "We're trying to be proactive and replace equipment before something happens and puts some of our employees or the public at risk," says Genoway. When some pieces of equipment fail, they can release large amounts of energy and cause an explosion. Toronto Hydro's arc flash project is designed to ensure workers adequately protect themselves before operating hazardous equipment, Genoway says. By mathematically calculating the amount of hazardous energy, safety managers know what level of personal protective equipment a worker needs when operating the equipment. A label on the equipment then tells the worker the precise type and level of personal protective equipment required. Johnston says the safety team uses many means to communicate, including sending out safety alerts to employees, producing a large package of safety meet- ing materials every month for supervisors and conducting a poster program throughout the year. The team also takes advantage of Toronto Hydro TV, which broadcasts safety information across the company. A serious incident review panel, consisting of all company executives, meets monthly and helps keep managers informed. For some time, safety manag- ers have been using enterprise-wide software to report and track incidents and communicate that information to those who need to know. Supervisors also frequently receive safety information and current company statistics, including recordable injury frequency and number of days worked without lost-time injury. YOUNG WORKER SAFETY GOLD SILVER Walsh Canada A main goal of the mentorship program at Techmation Electric & Controls is to impress upon young workers how critical their participation is to improving safety for themselves and others. "We want to create an interdependent culture. Employees have a right to know what they're doing and that it's dangerous. We work in one of the most dangerous industries, oil and gas. But while they have the right to know what they're doing, they also have the right to participate," says Dan Hathaway, HSE manager at the electrical and instrumentation service provider in Airdrie, Alta. "That's what we're trying to drive home: If we're not doing something right, we want to know. And you must be ready to step up and help us figure it out." Nearly one-quarter of Techmation's 855-employee workforce is under the age of 25. Every young worker is paired up with a qualified mentor for a period of time ranging from a few months to a year, depending on the tasks being per- formed. At the end, the mentor and mentee do a kind of exit interview in which the young worker is asked: Were there challenges? Did this procedure work? If not, how come? What are your suggestions to improve it? A summary of that discussion is sent to a supervisor for evaluation. During his mentorship, James Borodawka, journeyman electrician and lead hand, who was 21 when he started at Techmation three years ago, learned to perform tasks on his own with confidence. He is now a qualified mentor. DE BEERS CANADA LIFESAVING RULE #1 LEARN MORE ABOUT CANADA'S LEADING DIAMOND COMPANY WWW.CANADA.DEBEEERSGROUP.COM If a task cannot be done without harm to people or the environment, it will not be done. GAHCHO KUÉ MINE • 2017 National Western Region Mine Rescue Smoke Search event winner • 2017 Hatch-CIM Project Safety Award • 2017 Best Overall Surface Mine Rescue Team - NWT/Nunavut • 2017 Viola R. MacMillan Award (PDAC) • 2016 Workplace Health & Safety Award (Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce) • 2016 Gold PMI Project Management Award VICTOR MINE • 2016 John T. Ryan National Safety Award • 2015 John T. Ryan National Safety Awawrd • 2016 Porcupine Northeastern Ontario Mines Safety Group Awards for 11 supervisors • 2009 International Mine of the Year (Mining Magazine) SNAP LAKE MINE • 2013 Western Region John T. Ryan Safety Award • 2009 Western Region John T. Ryan Safety Award EXPLORATION • 6 years no LTI • Safe Day Every Day Bronze Award 2015 • Safe Day Every Day Silver Award 2012, 2013, 2014

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