INTERVIEW WITH THE CHIEF PREVENTION OFFICER: 2012 PROGRESS REPORT AND A LOOK FORWARD
It's time to check in with George Gritziotis; Ontario's Chief Prevention Officer for the yearend review. Welcome George
George Gritziotis:
Pleased to be here.
Q: 2012 has been a busy year for you; first what are some of the things the Prevention Division has achieved over the past twelve months and second what's coming up in 2013?
George Gritziotis:
Some of the things we have been working on have been at a strategic level and a working level, an operational level. One of the most visible products is something that all workers are seeing is the mandatory poster that describes a worker's rights and an employer's responsibilities. In addition the Prevention Council has been established is up and running. We have established two advisory groups to provide us advice on the development of an occupational health and safety strategy. One of these advisory groups will be addressing the needs of vulnerable workers and the second will be addressing supports for small businesses. In addition we are going to be releasing our worker health and safety awareness training in four steps early in the New Year, and soon after that we will be releasing our supervisory training in five steps.
Q: That's quite the list. Let's talk a bit about these various topics. As you mention the poster has been the first concrete thing that most workers in Ontario have seen; you can say we are bringing prevention directly into the workplace. So how did this poster come about and why is it mandatory?
George Gritziotis:
The poster was one of the key recommendations coming out of the expert advisory panel report, in fact it was part of the priority recommendations in the report, it's one of the most visible prevention innovations, it's in every workplace right across the province, it's been mandatory since October 1st, 2012 and it reminds workers and employers of their rights and responsibilities. It's available in French and 15 other languages, and in particular it is an important vehicle for being able to get the word out en masse to all our workers in Ontario.
Q: We should remind our listeners that this poster is mandatory if you don't see it in your workplace remind your employer, it's free and easy to get just go to our website at ontario.ca/labour, that's L-A-B-O-U-R. You will find it there just download it and post it, it's that simple. Now George, one of the more important changes over the past year has been the establishment of the Prevention Council. I have a few questions about it. Why is it necessary? How did you choose the members and what ultimately is their role?
George Gritziotis:
The Prevention Council is an important part of the development of an integrated province-wide occupational health and safety strategy, it's an important part of engaging our stakeholders. The Council allows me to keep my hands on the pulse of our stakeholders. The individuals who are represented on the council come from the labour community, the employer community, the occupational health and safety community, the vulnerable worker community, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. But more importantly these individuals are visionaries, they're passionate, they volunteer their time. They're fathers, brothers, uncles, sisters, daughters; they all understand that occupational health and safety is not just an important thing that happens in the workplace it's something that's important on a day to day basis.
Q: I understand that the council has already established two working groups; one focusing on health and safety for vulnerable workers and the other on small businesses. Let's start with vulnerable workers George; how do you as the chief prevention officer define a vulnerable worker?
George Gritziotis:
Vulnerable workers are workers that either do not know or who are unable to exercise their rights; but more importantly I'd like to begin defining what a vulnerable worker is. It could be our youth or somebody coming into the workforce for the first time who doesn't understand what their rights are and in fact when we look at youth they are the ones most vulnerable to an incident in the workplace. They could be new Canadians who are coming into the Canadian workplace for the first time, who may be coming from countries where health and safety is not a part of their culture and need to better understand what their rights are; and they can be older workers who have been in the workforce longer than they anticipated because of the downturn in the economy. But most importantly vulnerable workers are anybody and any individual who has been put into a hazardous situation and do not understand their rights. And you know, well I would like to define what a vulnerable worker is; it's any individual out there that needs supports.
Q: So what will the working group do?
George Gritziotis:
First of all they will be the body that will provide us insight and understanding of the issues and the challenges that vulnerable workers face in the workplace. But they will also be our entrée into the vulnerable working community, if we are going to do some justice in that community; if we are going to have our hands on the pulse of that community we need to better understand what those needs are. Typically vulnerable workers do not have an institutional attachment to the system so it will be a very critical and important part of feeding into development of our occupational health and safety strategy.
Q: That's a big task, but necessary given Ontario's demographics and the influx of new Canadians into our province. Small businesses are also the focus of the new working group; why have you decided to focus on small business?
George Gritziotis:
In some way small businesses are also vulnerable, there are many small businesses out there that also do not have an attachment to the system either through an association or an institution. And many of these small businesses do not have the capacity to provide health and safety training so it is important that we understand what the workplace looks like in that kind of an environment; some of the challenges they are faced with. If we are going to provide health and safety training out there we need to provide supports not just on the enforcement side but on the prevention side as well, so it is important that we address the needs of small businesses.
Q: George, can this be seen as another burden on small business?
George Gritziotis:
Small businesses do not understand the cost of an accident and that's not to suggest that they don't understand the human cost of an accident but there is a dollar cost associated with an accident. Businesses that provide leading edge health and safety are profitable and it does go hand in hand, in fact many businesses that understand health and safety are the employer of choice. Small businesses are the main job creators in this province so it is important that we establish a committee to begin addressing needs. We don't want to put a burden on small businesses we want to make them viable, profitable and successful.
Q: That's a lot for your first year. What do Ontario workers have to look forward to in the immediate future in the world of workplace health and safety?
George Gritziotis:
The worker health and safety awareness training that we will be rolling out is the first of its kind in Canada; in fact many other jurisdictions are looking our way. It will be mandatory for all workers by 2014. It's threshold training; it's the beginning of learning more about the importance of health and safety training in the workplace. It articulates and presents the rights of a worker and the responsibilities of an employer. It has module sections in there where a worker begins to better understand what their rights are and there is also a test. It's something that is portable; once you've taken it, it counts in other workplaces as well. The Supervisor health and safety awareness training in five steps will also be rolled out later in the year. A supervisor plays an important critical role in the workplace; they are responsible for individuals not just from a technical and workplace point of view, daily workplace point of view, but also their health and safety.
Q: George you have had a busy year and I sense that 2013 will be even busier. All of us at the Ministry of Labour share this common goal, preventing workplace injuries and fatalities. Making sure that everyone gets home from work safe and sound. It will take hard work and dedication, not only form the experts at the Ministry but from every worker and employer in Ontario. But the end result is worth every ounce of effort. Thank you for joining us George, and thank you to all our listeners and wish you a safe and healthy 2013.