Alberta Construction Site Fatalities Jump 15% Despite Economic Downturn

Last year, Alberta’s workplace fatalities totaled 144, a 15% increase from the previous year’s total of 125, despite the economic downturn which resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs across Alberta’s worksites. A large portion of these fatalities took place on Alberta’s construction sites. In the last year, construction sites and other high-risk worksites have been targeted by frequent …

Agricultural Safety Week Aims to Improve Safety Initiatives on Farms

This week (March 12 to 18) is Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, the annual awareness and education campaign targeting safety in agriculture. With a focus on improving safety initiatives on farms, the campaign is encouraging adults in the the agriculture industry to lead by example, communicate and demonstrate proper safety procedures, and develop safety plans that are personalized for their operations. …

Why Health and Safety Is Essential For Sustainability

  From ethical sourcing methods, recycling programs, and renewable energy initiatives, sustainability has become a core value and a large part of many businesses long term strategies, placing emphasis on the future and long term goals of organizations rather than focusing on short term profits. Organizations are becoming increasingly successful in incorporating and balancing social, economic and environmental factors into …

Edmonton Launches Comprehensive Review of City QHSE Practices

The City of Edmonton has launched a comprehensive review of safety in the province’s municipal workplaces. The city wants to re-examine and improve upon the QHSE processes and safety culture of its municipal workplaces, eventually translating the positive results to the public sector. With a focus on the three distinct areas of people, processes and technology, the review will examine …

Health and Safety Trends for 2017

Health and Safety Trends for 2017 OSHA Recommendations: Last year, OSHA released its recommend practices for heath and safety programs, with the goal of improving QHSE processes across workplaces. The recommendations hope to prevent injuries and move safety culture from being reactive to encouraging proactive health and safety practices. These OSHA recommendations suggest that companies implement a robust safety program …

Cemex Launches Innovative QHSE Training Program

Cemex, a global leader in the building materials industry, has launched their innovative QHSE training initiative called the Health and Safety Academy, with the goal of fostering a more robust safety culture emphasising leadership, awareness, education, and a commitment to excellence. The industry-leading 18-month education program consists of three modules, held at different locations across the US. Taught by professionals …

CEOs Have A Major Influence Over Safety Culture

A recent study suggests that CEOs and senior management play the most critical role in creating and developing their organization’s safety culture, which they role model and pass down to middle management and supervisors. This emphasis and focus on safety eventually permeates throughout the entire organization, directly influencing the number of frontline employee injuries. The study, published in the Journal …

OSHA Updates Recommend Workplace Health and Safety Practices

A new set of recommended practices for health and safety programs has been laid out by OSHA, intended to provide employers with a methodical approach to improving the health and safety of workplaces. With a new and easier to use format, the document has updated the 1989 OSHA guidelines, with supporting tools and resources to particularly help small and medium-sized …

Alberta Farm Coalition Plans to Lead the Way in Workplace Safety

Now that the Bill 6 consultation process is winding down, the coalition of Alberta agriculture groups, AgCoalition, is turning its focus back to advancing safety culture and QHSE on Alberta farms. Formed in January, the 29 farms in the coalition represent 97 percent of Alberta’s agricultural industry. Since January, AgCoalition has been kept busy in a consultation process regarding Alberta’s …

Partnership Aims to Improve QHSE in the Canadian Trucking Industry

The Canadian Trucking Alliance and Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety are partnering to enhance QHSE practices in the trucking industry. The overall goal of the partnership is to reduce and prevent injury and fatality rates, which continue to be an issue in the trucking industry, despite efforts to heighten health and safety. The memorandum of understandingsigned by both …