The Town of Sundre recently participated in a provincial health and safety pilot program, and council was presented with a report highlighting the findings.
The municipality was selected for the program based on excellent procedures that were already in place ahead of when the updated Occupational Health and Safety regulations came into full effect on June 1, Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, told council during the July 9 meeting.
The Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association (AMHSA) has been developing strategic partnerships with municipalities that have 20-50 employees, do not have an official certificate of recognition, and that have senior management commitment to the project, reads the report presented to council by consultant Sharon Young, who is an engineer as well as a Canadian registered safety professional.
Sundre was recommended as the first strategic partner for a pilot project because the municipality met all the criteria, and in addition, has already been working on the development of its occupational health and safety program. Through these kinds of partnerships, the pilot project’s primary objective is to improve safety programs throughout the province, states the report.
In her presentation to council, Young talked about a safety course held with town staff.
“It was quite evident that a lot of work was being done already. But in particular, it was really impressive to see the level of commitment to employee safety right from Ms. Nelson to the front-line employees that we had sitting in the room.”
Keeping up with changes in regulations can be difficult, she said, and the association looks for ways to ensure members meet expectations. Using Sundre as a pilot partner helped establish an understanding of programs municipalities have in place, ranging from little or nothing to pre-existing policies and practices, said Young.
“There are pockets of very strong practices across the town,” she said.
“They just aren’t yet consistently implemented across every aspect of the departments.”
An action plan was being put together and finalized at the time of council’s meeting, she added.
“We wanted to make sure that we were able to also put a program in place that would allow the Town of Sundre to grow.”
Whether the municipality applies for a provincial certificate of recognition is something council can decide down the road. In the meantime, there remains some room for improvement even though the municipality has progressed, she said.
“I saw evidence — if an audit had been held that week that I was here — they might not have passed strictly speaking the first time around. But there was enough progress that what we call a limited scope audit would have been offered because the gaps are primarily in documentation of the work that’s already happening.”
So even though Sundre does not have a certificate of recognition, the municipality does have a strong foundation for a safety program to be put in place, she added.
Findings from the mock audit were incorporated into the draft action plan and suggestions include but are not limited to the following: updating the health and safety policy; establishing a health and safety committee; developing and reviewing job hazard assessments for all positions; implementing a worksite inspection schedule; completing emergency response plans for all facilities for relevant types of emergencies and conducting annual drills; increasing employee training on reporting and enhanced investigation of incidents; as well as regularly reporting health and safety statistics and trends.
“The next steps for the town are to implement aspects of the draft action plan as they deem appropriate and for AMHSA to develop other strategic partnerships with members as needed,” reads the report’s conclusion.
Coun. Rob Wolfe’s motion to direct administration to implement aspects of the draft action plan as deemed appropriate carried unanimously.
