Almost 70 business leaders pledge support for workplace health and safety at IAPA conference in Toronto
Almost 70 chief executive officers in Ontario have signed the CEO Health and Safety Leadership Charter.
The charter, the brainchild of Duncan Hawthorne, president and chief executive officer of Bruce Power, is based on the principle that effectively managing health, safety and wellness is essential for a business to succeed.
The charter was signed by 68 CEOs at the Industrial Accident and Prevention Association’s (IAPA) annual health and safety conference in Toronto.
By signing the charter, the CEOs committed to:
•integrating health and safety into business strategies, processes and performance measures, and to recognize that good health and safety performance supports good business results;
•strive for continuous health and safety improvement and to provide the leadership and means to make this happen; and
•sharing information among CEOs to promote best practices.
“This initiative creates a vehicle to allow companies to share in many good safety practices,” said Hawthorne. “In this way, new levels of safety performance can be achieved and strong safety alliances forged. Engaging the senior leadership is key to ensuring that real change occurs.”
In singing the charter, participating CEOs used a self-assessment process to identify areas where they could offer help to others and to identify areas where they needed help.
A ‘milestone’ for health and safety
Maureen Shaw, president and CEO of IAPA, called the signing of the charter a ‘milestone.’
“In my more than 25 years in health and safety, I have never seen so many CEOs and business executives come together to spend the amount of time that these leaders did this week to discuss an initiative and make the pledge to take action,” said Shaw.
Chris Bentley, Ontario’s labour minister, said leadership at the top is crucial to the success of any endeavour.
“These 68 chief executive officers have demonstrated their commitment to measurably improve health and safety in their workplaces and to help their peers through partnerships and mentoring,” said Bentley.
A copy of the charter is available online at www.iapa.ca/documents/2005_ceo_leadership_charter.pdf.
More information about the charter is available by contacting Tony Pitts at IAPA at [email protected].
The charter, the brainchild of Duncan Hawthorne, president and chief executive officer of Bruce Power, is based on the principle that effectively managing health, safety and wellness is essential for a business to succeed.
The charter was signed by 68 CEOs at the Industrial Accident and Prevention Association’s (IAPA) annual health and safety conference in Toronto.
By signing the charter, the CEOs committed to:
•integrating health and safety into business strategies, processes and performance measures, and to recognize that good health and safety performance supports good business results;
•strive for continuous health and safety improvement and to provide the leadership and means to make this happen; and
•sharing information among CEOs to promote best practices.
“This initiative creates a vehicle to allow companies to share in many good safety practices,” said Hawthorne. “In this way, new levels of safety performance can be achieved and strong safety alliances forged. Engaging the senior leadership is key to ensuring that real change occurs.”
In singing the charter, participating CEOs used a self-assessment process to identify areas where they could offer help to others and to identify areas where they needed help.
A ‘milestone’ for health and safety
Maureen Shaw, president and CEO of IAPA, called the signing of the charter a ‘milestone.’
“In my more than 25 years in health and safety, I have never seen so many CEOs and business executives come together to spend the amount of time that these leaders did this week to discuss an initiative and make the pledge to take action,” said Shaw.
Chris Bentley, Ontario’s labour minister, said leadership at the top is crucial to the success of any endeavour.
“These 68 chief executive officers have demonstrated their commitment to measurably improve health and safety in their workplaces and to help their peers through partnerships and mentoring,” said Bentley.
A copy of the charter is available online at www.iapa.ca/documents/2005_ceo_leadership_charter.pdf.
More information about the charter is available by contacting Tony Pitts at IAPA at [email protected].
