Survey includes almost every major sector in the province
Organizations can help develop health and safety leading indicators in Ontario by participating in the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) and Health and Safety Ontario 5,000 Firms Study.
The study, an online questionnaire which takes about 20 minutes to complete, asks about an organization’s safety culture, OHS management systems, joint health and safety committees, and organizational policies and practices.
The goal of the study is to develop metrics and identify best practices that help organizations improve their health and safety performance before injuries and illnesses occur, according to Health and Safety Ontario.
“This is a groundbreaking project, which could potentially have huge implications for Ontario’s prevention system and beyond,” said Ben Amick, the Institute’s scientific director and project lead for the 5,000 Firms Study.
Leading indicators provide a sense of an organization’s ongoing health and safety initiatives and its potential for injuries and illnesses, said Amick.
Developing a tool to measure leading indicators can help predict workplace injury and, ultimately, “help identify very tangible things that organizations can work on to improve occupational health and safety performance and prevent injuries and illness,” he said.
The study includes almost every major sector in Ontario.
Each participating organization will receive a report showing how it compares with other organizations in its sector. While individual input will remain confidential, collective results will be shared among all participants.
Organizations can participate in the online questionnaire by providing information about:
•organizational policies and practices
•safety culture
•OHS management systems
•employee relations/joint health safety committee functioning
The four sector-based health and safety associations in Ontario and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers are joining forces with the Institute for Work and Health to recruit about 5,000 organizations into the study.
The study is looking at how organizations’ health, safety and disability policies and practices relate to injuries and illness.
“This is a groundbreaking project, which could potentially have huge implications for Ontario’s prevention system and beyond,” said Amick.
The study is open until May 2012. To learn more about the study, and how to participate, contact Colette Severin, IWH’s project co-ordinator, at [email protected] or (416) 927-2027 ext. 2126.
