NAOSH Week

naoshPoster2017.indd 2 2017-01-05 3:41 PM 04 SALUTING SAFE WORK BY SHANE GIBSON Groups that go over and above in their efforts to bring that message to their employees and their community are recognized with awards from local NOASH Week organizers. This year's NAOSH Week, running May 7-13, marks the initiative's 20th anniversary, and as the events organized by businesses across Manitoba continue to grow, picking the winners for the annual awards can be a challenge, says Laura La Palme, a co- chair of NAOSH week in Manitoba. "We've seen some very cool submissions," says La Palme, pointing to silent movies produced by Barkman Concrete in 2015 that promoted health and safety and a personal-protection equipment fashion show as highlights. "The awards are based on your creativity — the whole goal is to get 100 per cent of employees involved — but we also look at things like whether you're getting your community involved as well." Last year's winners included Valeant Canada for Best Overall, Bison Transport for Most Innovative, FWS Construction Ltd. for Best Community Involvement, Black Cat Blades for Best Representation of a Theme, Frank Fair Industries for Best New Entry, Pollard Banknote in the Industry Leader category, and Palliser Furniture Ltd. for Best Community Involvement. The award committee can also nominate the provincial winners for a national award, and last year Black Cat Blades picked up a national nod for their efforts which include a series of fun safety- themed events. Doug Eames, Black Cat's health and safety co-ordinator, says the events — including a safety- themed quiz show styled after Jeopardy!, a forklift challenge, a boot camp and sport-themed activities like a hockey shootout with prizes — are designed to be both fun and educational for their employees. "They look forward to this every year," he says. "Sometimes when you introduce something new it's not as accepted as you'd like it to be, but when you make it fun the employees want to be there and the message about the importance of safety and health really gets through — and that's the whole point." Black Cat is bringing their message to the community around them, with presentations planned for local schools. They've also extended efforts beyond the week, with events planned throughout the year. La Palme says involving the community in the discussion around safety and health is one of the most important aspects of NAOSH Week, and it's one FWS Construction Ltd. takes to heart. Last year the company held events for their employees and their neighbours at nine of their construction sites across the country and at their offices in Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. "We got everybody involved and it was awesome," says Doug Henderson, manager of health and safety with FWS's agriculture division. "It gave us the opportunity meet our neighbours and also to get involved and forge better working relationships with the people around where we work." Pollard Banknote takes the week of activities and squeezes them into one full-day party on the weekend to make sure all of its employees can take part, and they've taken the idea a step further by opening the get-together to all of their employees' family members. The day includes tours of the facility, a barbecue, safety demos, safety-and-health-themed games with prizes, and inflatable bouncers for the kids. "It's a celebration of all the positive health and safety things we've done in the past year," says Pollard's health, safety and environmental specialist, Steve McCulloch of the event that attracted 400 people last year. "We try to emphasize that it's not just for those who work here — it's also about letting their loved ones know that we take care of them while they're here." Manitoba's NOASH Week activities have grown so much over the last 20 years that this year's NOASH Week awards will be held at a special gala dinner instead of the awards luncheon that has been held in the past. The NOASH awards will be handed out in conjunction with SAFE Work Manitoba's annual safety awards Sept. 27 at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre in Winnipeg. Research suggests that as we age some of our physical capabilities decline, such as muscle mass, bone density and flexibility. These unwelcome changes can place an older worker more at risk of experiencing a musculoskeletal injury (MSI) than their younger workmates conducting the same heavy work tasks. Contrary to the expectation that injury rates should rise with age, the Worker's Compensation Board report suggests that time loss rates for males are now actually declining with age. (Manitoba's Workplace Injury and Illness Statistics 2015). There are plenty of efforts directed at mitigating MSI risks, including improving ergonomics, environmental conditions, and job specific training, but across industries, especially in the traditionally male-dominated construction and manufacturing sectors, workers are still getting hurt. A less obvious, yet significant variable specifically related to MSI risk can be attributed to employers not being transparent about the actual physical demands of the work and employees not working within their capabilities, or even worse, not even knowing what their capabilities or limitations are. Would you pick up a dumbbell at the gym and start pumping iron without reading the weight stamped on the ends of the equipment? Most of us would check to see how heavy it is so we know what we can lift, or measure if we are getting stronger. At work we are trained to do our jobs and then expected to get the work done, often not knowing how much we are pushing, pulling, lifting or carrying. Physical limitations reveal themselves quickly if we are injured, become disabled or experience a near miss, and it is often after such a "wake-up call" that we take less risk at work and home. This is a likely contributor to the statistical decline in injuries associated with age- related experience. Younger workers who have not experienced an injury or felt the effects of aging have no metrics to evaluate what they can physically and safely do, thus often overestimating their once youthful capabilities. Employers and safety professionals need to be more transparent with the demands of the work, and employees need to determine if the work is within their capabilities. Increasing awareness on both sides will create safer employee- job matching and will assist the disability management efforts when injured workers return with medical restrictions. Employer tips for job demands transparency and creating safe employee-job matching: • Label weights of manually- handled materials and equipment • Offer fitness testing for employees to find out what their physical strengths and limitations are • Conduct job-demands analysis to identify the physical and cognitive demands of the work • Determine safe lifting limits and label materials with one- or two-person lift, or if it should be mechanically lifted • Post the physical demands on the job ads, so candidates can self-select • Conduct post-offer employment testing to recruit employees safe for the work For one week in May the work being done across the continent to reduce injuries and illness in the workplace, at home and in the community takes centre stage for North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week. SHINING SOME LIGHT ON HEAVY WORK L-R: JAMIE HALL, COO OF SAFE WORK MANITOBA, 2017 NAOSH WEEK CO-CHAIR LAURA LA PALME AND 2016 NAOSH WEEK CO-CHAIR MIKE GORDON AT LAST YEAR'S NAOSH AWARDS LUNCHEON. BOTTOM: FWS CONSTRUCTION STAFF RECEIVE THE BEST COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AWARD IN 2016. SUBMITTED PHOTOS

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