The most recent safety audit conducted on the Chinook's Edge School Division's health and safety program resulted in re-certification of the division's program for the next three years through the Workers' Compensation Board.The re-certification allows for rebates in premiums and the audit gives the division pointers on how it can improve its program even further.“The province is recognizing that we do have an approved safety program and that we meet all the requirements of that through an audit, and by having the approved safety program it's not only making our staff safer, it's making our facilities safer and keeping staff safe keeps students safe,” said Linden Lonsberry, safety manager of CESD.Now that the CESD's program has been audited by an external agency, next year it could get the audit done by one of its internal partners. The audit takes into account the division's transportation department and maintenance department that works on all division facilities.The audit looked at items such as accident investigation, inspections, hazard identification and assessment, hazard control and management commitment to safety. If the division had recommendations it is working on from a previous audit, the subsequent audit also looks to see how those recommendations have been followed up.The division received a score of 84 per cent on the most recent audit, improving three percentage points over the previous one.“It's showing a trend of steady improvement,” Lonsberry said.Brent Runnett, principal at Ross Ford Elementary School in Didsbury and chair of the division's workplace health and safety committee, said the results of the audit show that Chinook's Edge is committed to safety.“I think the COR audit reflects the culture of safety that we have around the division and that … we have had around the division for a long time,” he said, noting it was also good to see an improvement over the last COR audit results.Runnett said because everyone involved with the division has an interest in keeping children safe, the audit also reflects that everyone is doing their best in that regard. People on the committee that work at each of the schools deserve much of the credit for the results of the audit, Runnett said.“I think when people get involved in education they do it with the best of intentions in mind. To that end, we all take our jobs very seriously in the notion that we need to be looking after kids and we need to be looking after ourselves,” he said.
