Assessing my Program
You have developed a foundational health and safety program, let’s ensure legislative compliance.
Evaluate Your Program Implementation
The “Start Your Program Development” foundational elements, when combined together and applied to a continuous improvement model, such as Plan-Do-Check-Act, provide the opportunity for you to monitor, evaluate and improve your program. Don’t wait until the program is fully implemented to check progress, rather consider an assessment process that allows you to check your program throughout implementation and/or at key milestones.
- Measure performance
- Learn about lagging AND leading indicators
- Conduct work site inspections
- Investigate and analyze incidents
- Track incidents, inspections, hazard reports, etc.
The CCSA Organization Self-Assessment Tool is an electronic assessment resource meant to help organizations determine where they are at in the development and maintenance of their health and safety management system. The tool includes both a HSMS Foundational Assessment as well as additional assessments specifically designed to assess your Violence and Aggression Prevention Program.
To gain access to this FREE tool, please complete the form on the Register page.
The CCSA is committed to helping organizations meet legislation and improve health and safety for all workers. The CCSA Health and Safety Program review is meant to help you identify areas for improvement in your organization’s overall health and safety program and discover any gaps that may exist that could hinder compliance with OHS legislation; both existing and new legislation.
Note: This review is meant to help you improve your workplace health and safety system and determine gaps and opportunities to better meet OHS legislation; it does not address the entirety of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Regulations and Code.
Compare Your Organization to the Industry
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Continue to Improve Your Program
Now that you’ve assessed your health and safety program, what are the next steps?
- Review performance
- Analyze the incident summaries, work site inspection reports, etc. to identify trends
- Create action plans
- Act on lessons learned
What are the additional policies, processes or procedures that you should consider to ensure your program meets or exceeds legislation?
Employees are provided all necessary OHS information needed to work safely, how then can safety performance be managed? A policy addressing non-compliance or discipline further ensures and outlines safety expectations. Using safety performance evaluations can play an integral part in demonstrating compliance.
While formal hazard assessments cover the day-to-day risks, what happens when a workplace or hazards changes; site-specific hazard assessments are needed. A site-specific hazard assessment policy highlights how to address, control, and inform workers of the identified hazards. A site-specific hazard assessment form will assist in cataloging these hazards and communicating vital information to those who may be exposed.
Violence and harassment are hazards that need to be controlled. A Violence Prevention Plan (policy and procedure) and a Harassment Prevention Plan (policy and procedure) outline the employer’s commitment to a workplace free of violence and harassment and how incidents will be handled.
While many employers provide orientation/training for workers, legislation explicitly mentions the need for practical demonstrations of skills. Competency assessments help ensure workers are able to do the task safely with limited supervision. Afterwards, periodic Refresher Training is needed to ensure workers remain competent.
Your Health Safety Committee has many duties and responsibilities. Among them are the need to assess themselves, contribute to safety culture, report hazards, and make recommendations to the employer. Committee co-chairs and Representatives are also required to take Health and Safety Committee Workshop training.
For emergencies to be adequately responded to practice makes for perfection, thus frequent practise is needed. Responses must be assessed for deficiencies to ensure the procedures are working as planned and to ensure all employees are competent based on their role and responsibility when a real emergency occurs. Tracking the various emergency response drills that are completed is also essential.
In addition to investigating incidents and near misses, investigation are needed for dangerous work refusals policy and dangerous work refusal form.
For employers to meet the legal onus for other work site parties safety, ways to monitor on-site parties safety compliance are essential. An other work site parties monitoring policy and monitoring forms ensures consistency. If other work site parties are not meeting the employer’s standard of safety a non-compliance process, documented in the other work site parties policy and procedure, must be implemented.
What else can you do?
- Implement a Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) program
- Learn about the Partnerships in Injury Reduction Program and work towards achieving your Certificate of Recognition
- Continue tracking your health and safety activities, these are leading indicators for your health and safety program
- Continue to training the health and safety committee members on their duties and responsibilities to ensure they are as effective as possible