Safety Summit Success

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First safety summit a success, says Ontario WSIB

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

The first-ever Construction Safety Summit organized by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board successfully generated discussion on workplace injury reduction, construction industry officials say.

“The summit was well attended with wide representation from the industry — it was a good meeting of minds,” said David Zurawel, vice-president of policy and government relations for the Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA)

“We found it very constructive.”

The WSIB organized the summit so industry stakeholders could explore together barriers to improving occupational health and safety in construction and proposed solutions. The summit is part of the WSIB’s ongoing efforts in its Road to Zero workplace safety initiative.

There were 60 construction industry representatives from organizations such as COCA, the Ontario Construction Secretariat, the Construction Safety Association of Ontario and trade associations.

“The good attendance from labour and management sides helped create some good feedback the industry and the WSIB needs,” said Patrick Dillon, business manager for the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario.

Barriers, solutions and the current state of affairs in the workplace safety areas of training, leadership, occupational health and safety, legislation, policy and enforcement, working conditions and resources were covered during the half-day summit.

The latest WSIB records show there were 101 workplace fatalities in 2006 last year and 73 as of this past October, 2007. In 2005 there were 84. The WSIB reports that the harmonized lost-time injury rate fell from 2.6 injuries, for every 100 workers in 1999, to 1.9 injuries in 2006.

By 2012 the WSIB aims to reduce the lost-time injury rate and number of traumatic injuries by 35 per cent from 2007 levels. The WSIB believe the summit can help generate ways to reach such an aggressive benchmark.

The WSIB was so encouraged by the summit that it will hold a second one in March to help move discussions to a more detailed level. The WSIB intends to hold more summits like this with other sectors as well so industry strategies can be developed to help reduce lost time injuries and improve safety.