RDOS first local B.C. government to receive certificate of recognition
When Patty Tracy took over the HR manager position at the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) in 2005, she decided to put a plan in place to evaluate the region’s health and safety system.
“We’re responsible for the public’s safety and the employees’ safety and there’s always this nagging feeling that you think you’re doing okay but you’re really not sure,” said Tracy.
Tracy appealed to the board of directors at RDOS and received $10,000 to prepare for a safety management audit by the British Columbia Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA).
Without a designated safety officer, Tracy worked with the health and safety committee, comprised of members from various departments and volunteers, and with senior management to prepare for the audit.
“It’s a huge commitment from the organization to achieve this because it goes above and beyond the occupational health and safety regulations,” said Cathy Cook, executive director of BCMSA. “It’s not just having a safety program that’s in a binder that sits on a shelf, it’s a living breathing safety program where everybody buys into it and everybody helps make it work.”
The day of the audit was simultaneous with a dangerous debris slide in Oliver, B.C., a municipality in the district. The two employees assigned to work with the auditor — the emergency services supervisor and the HR co-ordinator — were required to respond to the emergency and were unavailable for the audit, said Tracy.
“We were worried we were going to fail without them here but we poured everything we had into it to give (the auditor) what he needed and then we waited with bated breath to find out if we passed,” said Tracy.
In order to pass the audit, the organization needs to have an overall score of at least 80 per cent and must attain 50 per cent in each of the three elements — interview, documentation and observation, said Cook.
For the interview section, 10 per cent of the workforce from front line staff to senior management is randomly selected and questioned on safety policies and procedures. The documentation portion looks at the printed publications in the workplace and the policies and procedures that are implemented. The observation element looks at the evidence in the workplace of maintaining a culture of safety.
A couple of weeks later, Tracy was informed they had passed the audit and would be the first local government to receive the certificate of recognition under the BCMSA audit program.
Tracy also agreed to undergo a second injury management audit simultaneously through WorkSafeBC that evaluates an organization’s return to work program, said Cook.
The HR department at RDOS works closely with the supervisor, the worker, the physician and the disability company to build a gradual return to work program on a case-by-case basis, said Tracy. The employee is monitored on a daily basis and changes to schedules and duties are made if necessary. RDOS learned they passed this audit in September.
The district office has 60 employees and a team of 250 volunteers who are responsible for the region — which covers 10,400 square kilometres, roughly double the size of Prince Edward Island.
This large region encompasses many municipalities with various peripheral operations which includes parks, playgrounds, lakes and volunteer fire departments who all work hard to focus on health and safety, said Tracy. The culture of safety that has been embraced across this large region was one of the reasons RDOS was successful in receiving the certificate, said Cook.
“Everyone in the organization from the board who governs them to every employee was fully committed to health and safety,” said Cook. “Everybody understands that it’s their job to work safely, follow the rules and do everything they can to make sure that everybody who works with them is safe.”
The BCMSA auditing process is a three-year program. In the first year, an external audit is done and internal audits are completed in years two and three. Three staff members from RDOS are currently undergoing training to implement internal audits.
After an audit is complete, action plans must be created and followed with specific measures to be attained by a certain date to improve in the areas the audit found deficient. The first audit showed RDOS needed to update the online evacuation map as well as the written safety policy statement. Passing both audits has significant financial benefit. The organization gets a 10 per cent rebate of the base premiums for the audit and an additional five per cent if the return to work audit is passed.
For RDOS, this equates to savings of $18,000 over three years, said Tracy.
“But safety isn’t about money,” said Tracy. “It’s the reassurance of working in a recognized safer environment and looking out for the best interest of the employees.”
“We’re responsible for the public’s safety and the employees’ safety and there’s always this nagging feeling that you think you’re doing okay but you’re really not sure,” said Tracy.
Tracy appealed to the board of directors at RDOS and received $10,000 to prepare for a safety management audit by the British Columbia Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA).
Without a designated safety officer, Tracy worked with the health and safety committee, comprised of members from various departments and volunteers, and with senior management to prepare for the audit.
“It’s a huge commitment from the organization to achieve this because it goes above and beyond the occupational health and safety regulations,” said Cathy Cook, executive director of BCMSA. “It’s not just having a safety program that’s in a binder that sits on a shelf, it’s a living breathing safety program where everybody buys into it and everybody helps make it work.”
The day of the audit was simultaneous with a dangerous debris slide in Oliver, B.C., a municipality in the district. The two employees assigned to work with the auditor — the emergency services supervisor and the HR co-ordinator — were required to respond to the emergency and were unavailable for the audit, said Tracy.
“We were worried we were going to fail without them here but we poured everything we had into it to give (the auditor) what he needed and then we waited with bated breath to find out if we passed,” said Tracy.
In order to pass the audit, the organization needs to have an overall score of at least 80 per cent and must attain 50 per cent in each of the three elements — interview, documentation and observation, said Cook.
For the interview section, 10 per cent of the workforce from front line staff to senior management is randomly selected and questioned on safety policies and procedures. The documentation portion looks at the printed publications in the workplace and the policies and procedures that are implemented. The observation element looks at the evidence in the workplace of maintaining a culture of safety.
A couple of weeks later, Tracy was informed they had passed the audit and would be the first local government to receive the certificate of recognition under the BCMSA audit program.
Tracy also agreed to undergo a second injury management audit simultaneously through WorkSafeBC that evaluates an organization’s return to work program, said Cook.
The HR department at RDOS works closely with the supervisor, the worker, the physician and the disability company to build a gradual return to work program on a case-by-case basis, said Tracy. The employee is monitored on a daily basis and changes to schedules and duties are made if necessary. RDOS learned they passed this audit in September.
The district office has 60 employees and a team of 250 volunteers who are responsible for the region — which covers 10,400 square kilometres, roughly double the size of Prince Edward Island.
This large region encompasses many municipalities with various peripheral operations which includes parks, playgrounds, lakes and volunteer fire departments who all work hard to focus on health and safety, said Tracy. The culture of safety that has been embraced across this large region was one of the reasons RDOS was successful in receiving the certificate, said Cook.
“Everyone in the organization from the board who governs them to every employee was fully committed to health and safety,” said Cook. “Everybody understands that it’s their job to work safely, follow the rules and do everything they can to make sure that everybody who works with them is safe.”
The BCMSA auditing process is a three-year program. In the first year, an external audit is done and internal audits are completed in years two and three. Three staff members from RDOS are currently undergoing training to implement internal audits.
After an audit is complete, action plans must be created and followed with specific measures to be attained by a certain date to improve in the areas the audit found deficient. The first audit showed RDOS needed to update the online evacuation map as well as the written safety policy statement. Passing both audits has significant financial benefit. The organization gets a 10 per cent rebate of the base premiums for the audit and an additional five per cent if the return to work audit is passed.
For RDOS, this equates to savings of $18,000 over three years, said Tracy.
“But safety isn’t about money,” said Tracy. “It’s the reassurance of working in a recognized safer environment and looking out for the best interest of the employees.”
