More than a cost saving: WSIB’s excellence agenda

Take your business from awareness to excellence. PHOTO: Lucian Milasan – stock.adobe.com

When it comes to accidents in the workplace, hindsight is always 20/20. With the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s (WSIB) new Health and Safety Excellence program, there’s a clear path to make workplaces healthier and safer.

The program provides a roadmap to develop systems based on best practice, and it makes health and safety accessible to manufacturers of all sizes.

Some businesses may be looking to build a new system, while others want to improve what’s already in place. The program can be tailored to a company’s needs. Successes also earn premium rebates as well as non-financial recognition.

The program is built on 36 topics spread across three levels – foundation, intermediate and advanced – to develop and integrate management systems into workplaces.

Three steps get you started:

1. Register with a WSIB-approved health and safety provider listed on wsib.ca/healthandsafety. They offer support through in-person coaching, online or over the phone.

2. Complete an online health and safety assessment. Use it to evaluate what’s already in place, what may be missing and to suggest program topics that address unique needs. These topics are completed at a pace that works best for your business. There’s no time limit.

3. Submit simple documentation to the WSIB to show that a topic was completed. Once validated, you’ll be eligible for financial and other incentives for every topic completed.

Success in the program means saving money, paying lower premiums and receiving rebates on WSIB premiums. For example, a business could receive a 1.4% to 2% rebate per topic; however, investments in health and safety prevent future workplace accidents and the costs associated with them.

The program also helps businesses achieve a best practice standard, such as COR2020 or ISO 45001, and also helps businesses meet the Ministry of Labour’s Safe Employers accreditation standard. When you’ve completed the program and maintained a strong health and safety management system, a third-party audit is required to verify the approved accreditation standards are met (ISO, COR, CSA or OHSAS).

In 2020, turn hindsight into foresight.

Rod Cook is vice-president of workplace health and safety services at the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Toronto. Visit wsib.ca/healthandsafety.

This article appeared in the March-April 2020 print edition of PLANT Magazine.