Risk-based approach improves health and safety

by Helle Tosine and Maureen Shaw

Across Canada, occupational health and safety professionals are striving to improve people’s working lives through innovative and effective means, all the while being cognizant of the need to make best use of limited resources.

The Government of Ontario and its partners have adopted an approach that is unique in Canada. Built on three pillars, the approach aligns activities, maximizes cooperation and builds crucial trust. This structure has played an instrumental part in the application of a promising new risk-based approach to improved health and safety. It has proven to provide benefits to workers and employers across all sectors.

The three pillars are represented by the Ministry of Labour (MOL), the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), and 14 health and safety associations (HSAs) specializing in occupational health and safety matters.

The mandate of the MOL is to set, communicate, and enforce workplace standards while encouraging greater workplace self-reliance. In support of its mandate, the ministry:
§     Sets standards through legislation and regulations
§     Inspects firms, targeting those representing high risk
§     Conducts investigations
§     Issues orders and, where necessary, prosecutes for non-compliance
§     Communicates with employers, labour, the public and other stakeholders.

The WSIB has the legislated mandate to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses, to facilitate workers’ return-to-work and recovery, and to provide compensation. Workers’ compensation in Ontario, as elsewhere in Canada, is a no-fault system totally funded by employer premiums. In support of its mandate, the WSIB:
§     Promotes public awareness and fosters workplace commitment to health and safety
§     Acts as an insurance agency for workplace injuries and illnesses
§     Determines performance-based surcharges and rebates for firms
§     Oversees and funds Ontario’s HSAs to advance occupational safety and health
§     Collects funds from insured firms for prevention-related activities
§     Sets standards for legislated health and safety training programs
§     Promotes and supports applied research.

The mandate of the HSAs is to provide specialist prevention support to the workplace:
§     Design and deliver educational and training programs
§     Help firms create health and safety management systems
§     Promote best practices and standards
§     Carry out solutions-based consulting on workplace systems
§     Promote organizational culture, healthy habits and occupational health and safety.

The three pillars are brought together to develop strategic goals through the Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario (OHSCO).

High Risk Firm and Last Chance Initiatives
In 2004, the MOL launched its High-Risk Firm Initiative, which has since been adopted as an OHSCO initiative. The goal set by the MOL, and supported by its partners, is to reduce injuries by 20% in Ontario by 2008 through a targeted enforcement strategy.

It was based on the evidence that roughly 6,000 firms in Ontario, (2% of the total), accounted for 10% of all lost time injury claims and 21% of the claim cost.

The initiative targets these high-risk firms. As part of the response, the MOL has hired 200 new inspectors. These additional resources allow for stepped-up inspections of high-risk firms, which are visited four times a year. The purpose is not just enforcement, but also ensuring that these firms have access to help available from partners in the health and safety framework.

A similar Last Chance Initiative targets the next 8% of Ontario firms with a poor health and safety record to ensure systems are in place to prevent further injuries and keep them from moving into the high-risk category.

In the first two years of the programs, lost-time injuries to Ontario workers fell by an estimated 14,649. This means that employers avoided $960 million in costs, including worker replacement, overtime and investigations, related to workplace injuries. The plan is working.

Safety Groups Program
The Safety Groups Program has been an important vehicle to help Ontario firms improve prevention outcomes. Sponsored by the WSIB, safety groups are made up of a network of firms who share the common goal of reducing injuries and illnesses. Together, members pool resources, share best practices, and help each other develop and manage effective health and safety programs. Along with improving workplace safety, firms participating can earn financial rebates.

Each Safety Group has a sponsor from a trade association or HAS to promote group interaction through meetings, workshops, and guidance on developing an action plan and tracking progress. The collective average improvement determines the rebate, which the group shares equally. The expectation is that each Safety Group should strive for injury reductions which exceed the industry average during each year of the program.

The Safety Groups Program, started in 2000, is now a successful ongoing initiative. In 2004, there were 40 participating Safety Groups receiving $20 million in rebates. Participating firms achieved a reduction in injury rates better than the provincial average.

Safe Communities Incentive Program
This initiative also promotes safety in the workplace and helps small businesses reduce WSIB insurance premiums and earn rebates. It involves a partnership with the WSIB, 28 communities designated by the Safe Communities Foundation and Ontario’s HSAs.
     
Participating firms gain access to health and safety training programs, resources, and contact with health and safety experts to help them to become better and safer workplaces. The owner/senior manager of a firm participates in a training program called ‘The Five Steps to Managing Health and Safety’. These steps include:
§     Set standards
§     Communicate the standards and expectations
§     Train employees
§     Evaluate the company policy annually
§     Acknowledge successes and make improvements.

The program is in its ninth successful year. Since 1997, 4815 businesses in Ontario have participated and received rebates totalling more than $10 million. In a pilot conducted in 1999 with three communities, the firms that participated in SCIP reduced their lost time injuries by 23.3% compared to a control group.

Outcomes
Ultimately, the success of Ontario’s approach is measured by the overall reduction of illness, injury and death in the province. Specific outcomes include:
§     High Risk Firms (the worst 2%) reduced their lost time injury rate by 28% between 2004 and 2005
§     Last Chance Firms (next worst 8%) reduced their lost time injury rate by 11% between 2004 and 2005
§     Firms who participated in the 40 Safety Groups in 2004 received a total rebate of $20 million for their individual improvements in health and safety
§     Since 1997, 5,400 small businesses have received a total rebate of more than $11 million as a result of their participation in the Safe Communities Incentive Program. The impact on the reduction of non-workplace-related injuries in their respective communities has been of a similar value. Reports are available through the Safe Communities Foundation.

Conclusion
The goal of Ontario’s health and safety framework is to create effective and innovative partnerships to improve people’s lives while making the best use of limited resources. Through the use of wide stakeholder engagement, strategic goal-setting and risk-based allocation of resources, it focuses on achieving the best outcomes possible for workers and employers in the most effective manner. The results to date show that this approach is helping to reduce time lost to injuries, as well as premiums paid by employers.

Ontario has been recognized internationally for this approach. The International Labour Inspections Conference will be held in Canada for the first time in April 2007, in Toronto. It will be hosted by The Ministry of Labour, in partnership with IAPA in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (Geneva).


Helle Tosine is Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Labour (helle.tosine@mol.gov.on.ca) and Maureen Shaw, is president & CEO, Industrial Accident Prevention Association (mshaw@iapa.ca). This article is based on a paper delivered to the International Conference on Partnerships in OS&H Inspection in Beijing, China in April 2006.