The rising concern over health and safety is apparently not lost on Northern Ontario businesses, with attendance of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA)’s 2008 Safety Solutions conference reaching record heights.
This year’s event, held in Sudbury on Oct. 1, drew more than 150 people from companies throughout the region, representing a 200 per cent jump over the last five years. Comparatively, the 2007 conference saw 130 attendees.
“People are becoming more aware of the need for leadership on health and wellness issues,” says Angele Poitras, coordinator for safety programs with the IAPA.
“It’s a testament to the growing readiness of industry in Northern Ontario.”
According to Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), lost-time injuries and illnesses have gradually decreased in the province throughout the last decade.
While the number hit 294,703 in 2000, it has since dropped to 252,985 in 2007.
However, the total number of deaths from traumatic injuries and other immediate causes has remained relatively flat, going from 111 in 2000 to 100 in 2007.
This has meant that raising awareness of the problem through events such as the Safety Solutions conference has had a positive impact, but that the situation is still needs to improve, says Poitras.
With a theme of “Ready for the Future,” the event balanced traditional concerns of workplace safety such as occupational noise and emergency preparedness with up-and-coming issues such as ergonomics and the prevention of violence in the workplace. In all, 16 health and wellness topics were touched upon across the day’s scheduled sessions.
This theme also brought such speakers as Sudbury lawyer Claude Lacroix, of Lacroix Forest LLP. Lacroix saw a packed crowd for his presentation on the potential implication of American cases on employer liability for staff use of cell phones for business purposes when driving in a company vehicle. While there are yet to be any Canadian cases on the issue, Lacroix suggested that Northern Ontario companies may want to institute policies to prevent corporate liability.
Other speakers with Northern connections came in the form of the day’s keynote speakers, which included Meagan McGrath, the first Sudburian and Armed Forces member to summit Mount Everest. Having scaled the “seven summits,” she outlined how the risk assessment and management needed for a safe climb mirror that of a solid corporate health and safety program.
The other keynote speaker, Steven Campbell, is the CEO of the Toronto-based Lifford Wine Agency, only one of two Tree Canada Gold Member carbon neutral companies.
Lifford donates $2.50 to Tree Canada to plant trees in the Sudbury region for the sale of every bottle of its plantatree wine.
Campbell’s business fed into the theme of carbon neutrality which has been spreading throughout the country and even to the conference, which has sought to reduce its own footprint.
Attendees and exhibitors alike have been asked to fill out information cards to outline the distance they traveled to arrive at the event. Later, officials will take measures such as tree-planting to allow the event to be carbon neutral.
Such measures are part of the IAPA’s focus on social responsibility, says Poitras.
Campbell and McGrath also served as the keynote speakers for the IAPA’s third annual Leadership Forum Dinner on Sept. 30, the evening prior to the event. The dinner, which featured an invitation-only crowd of 50 senior executives from across Northern Ontario industries, including health and safety coordinators from Vale Inco, Xstrata and Atlas-Copco.
The event also included a trade show, with its sold-out exhibition hall laden with 23 companies from across Ontario, including Sudbury’s own Soucie Sale Safety Inc. and the Toronto-based Assessment Rehabilitation Services Inc.
