North American Occupational Health and Safety Week
It’s North American Occupational Health & Safety Week! This week we raise awareness about the importance of working in safe environments and highlight the teams at St. Mary’s who are continuously working to make our hospital safe.
The Employee Health and Safety team is made up of 12 members who are responsible for a number of different roles including: abilities management specialists, injury prevention specialist, occupational health nurse, Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) and workplace safety coordinators who develop, manage, and implement employee health and safety policies, procedures, and programs. All of this work is done in accordance with OHA and OHSA.
Additionally, this team is responsible for documenting and supporting all occupational and non-occupational illnesses and injuries including long-term disability, WSIB claims, modified work requests, accommodations and return to work programs. They facilitate onboarding pre-placement paperwork and ensure staff keep their immunization records up to date. Throughout COVID-19, this team has also been instrumental in exposure surveillance for staff, contact tracing within and outside the hospital, assisting in COVID assessments, testing, and responses. This has been done through the COVID Call Centre, which was largely made possible by the support of redeployed staff. If that doesn’t seem like a lot already, this team is also integral in violence prevention, injury prevention, emergency preparedness, respiratory protection and more.
For the team, collaboration with departments across the hospital is extremely important in both understanding the needs of staff as it relates to health and safety, as well as communicating with teams and receiving feedback. The team is a resource to help facilitate and support employee health, safety, and prevention efforts.
In partnership with the employee health and safety team, the Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee (JOHSC) plays a huge role in creating a safe workplace for everyone at St. Mary’s.
The committee representation comes from support services (non-union and non-management), Unifor, OPSEU, ONA, Occupational Health and Safety, Infection Control, Engineering, and other roles as openings on the committee appear. Half of the members of JOHSC are employees who do not hold or exercise managerial functions within the hospital. Members of the JOHSC are selected in two ways, and involvement is on a volunteer basis: management representatives are selected by the employer and worker representatives are selected by vote of the staff they represent.
One of the most important things that the committee strives to do is to have representation of all workers from all areas across the organization.
The JOHSC is a team made up of 27 individuals from across the hospital who work together to identify workplace hazards and bring employee concerns forward, making recommendations to senior management. They are champions of safety throughout the organization, and play a big role in promoting the establishment, maintenance and monitoring of programs, measures and procedures for the health and safety of staff. Additionally, the committee reviews accident reports and statistics to help prioritize corrective actions. Members of the JOHSC perform monthly inspections of the workplace and are involved in all inspections and accident investigations performed by the Ministry of Labour Inspectors.
So, what is the difference between these two teams? The Employee Health and Safety team are subject matter experts providing support for staff wellbeing in the workplace and guide leading practice and evidence-based programs within the hospital. The team focuses on the needs that a staff member may require to safely work and guides staff members to the right resources as needed. The JOHSC is a collective group that reviews and supports safety strategies and gathers feedback to help guide safety initiatives within the organization.
The pandemic highlighted new challenges and opportunities for the team to build and strengthen programs that already existed. COVID-19 policies and Ministry of Health guidelines evolved rapidly and communicating that evidence-based information to staff was crucial. Additional practices were introduced including PCR test swabbing, additional fit testing for a greater number of staff, COVID vaccinations and contract tracing were implemented, all while continuing to perform their regular workloads and day-to-day initiatives.
“Safety lives here,” says the team. “We are committed to the health and safety of our staff and patients, and this continues to be our top priority. Safety is everyone’s responsibility and communication is essential. No accident is too small, and the safety of every single person at St. Mary’s matters.”
A huge thank you to both the Employee Health and Safety Team and the JOHSC for everything they do to keep our staff healthy and safe while at work. Please take a minute to thank members of these teams this week for the role they play in helping us provide exceptional care to our community.