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IAPA's Achievement Award

Note: The IAPA Awards Program is currently under review. The application process is currently closed.

Receiving an IAPA award is one of the most prized and prestigious marks of your outstanding occupational health and safety performance. If you are looking for ways to ensure that your health and safety initiatives meet industry standards, and you’re ready to be recognized for your success, IAPA’s Achievement Award is for you. So don’t delay. Simply point and click to find out everything you need to know.

Be recognized for your health and safety achievement. Apply today!

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About IAPA’s Achievement Award

Welcome to IAPA’s new Achievement Award!

The purpose of this new health and safety award is to guide and recognize IAPA member firms on their journey to health and safety excellence. Using three levels of progressive criteria to guide the growth of your health and safety program, these awards build upon one another to ensure that your program is headed in the right direction.

The Achievement Award is designed to recognize workplaces in three key areas:

  1. health and safety management system components (such as leadership and communication and training)
  2. health and safety program activities or elements (such as inspections and emergency planning)
  3. health and safety results (such as lower than average lost time injury frequency rates) .

Recognition is offered in three progressive levels. The Level I award recognizes workplaces for ensuring that their health and safety programs meet basic legislative requirements and management practices. The Level II and III awards build on this foundation, guiding and recognizing a pro-active, systematic approach to achieving health and safety excellence.

Health and Safety Achievement Awards presentations are held at the firm with representatives from IAPA in attendance. IAPA can arrange to have local media attend the presentation and plant tour if the firm requests them. Press releases are created in collaboration with the firm, distributed to local media and relevant trade publications, and posted on IAPA's web site upon the completion of the presentation.

Inclusion of Healthy Workplace Criteria

Our awards program guides and recognizes firms in their quest for occupational heath and safety excellence. Effective January 1, 2009 IAPA integrates a healthy workplace component into the awards criteria. Our aim is to promote a safe and healthy organizational culture, as well as worker access to personal health resources.

This integrated approach results in employees who are satisfied, engaged, committed, and productive. Employers can also anticipate other substantial organizational benefits: the same management practices that lead to healthy employees also lead to a healthy bottom line. For instance, research shows that a company's revenues and profit are directly linked to customer satisfaction scores, which are also directly linked to employee satisfaction scores. Visit our healthy workplace section for more information.

Criteria: Is Your Workplace Eligible?

There are four key criteria that your workplace must meet to be eligible for an IAPA Achievement Award:

1. Your firm must be a member of the IAPA.
The IAPA Achievement Award is open only to IAPA member firms. IAPA member firms are those workplaces covered under one or more of the selected rate groups of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). These rate groups are listed on page 2 of the LTIF Worksheet (710 KB PDF) (see Lost Time Injury Frequencies as of March, 2008).

2. Your firm must meet the following requirements for the 12 months preceding the date of your application:
  • zero critical injuries or fatalities
  • zero charges or convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act or Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
  • Your lost time injury frequency (LTIF) must be lower than the LTIF for your rate group. Just how much lower depends on the award level for which you intend to apply. For a summary of the specific LTIF criteria for each award level, see IAPA Awards – Specific Criteria by Level. To calculate your LTIF, use the LTIF Worksheet (710 KB PDF)

3. Your firm must meet all applicable requirements contained in the Workplace Assessment Report.
The Workplace Assessment Report (730 KB PDF) details the management system requirements for each award level. These requirements are made up of both managing system components (such as leadership and communication and training) and specific program elements (such as inspections and emergency planning). For a summary of the specific health and safety management system criteria for each award level, see IAPA Awards – Specific Criteria by Level. These criteria become more stringent as you move from Level I through to Levels II and III.

4. Your firm must pass an on-site verification of your Workplace Assessment Report.
The verification will be conducted by an IAPA Consultant. For more information, see, Judging: What Happens After You Submit Your Application?

IAPA Awards – Specific Criteria by Level

 
Achievement Awards
President’s Award
 
Level I Award
Level II Award
Level III Award
Health, Safety & Wellness Management System Requirements
(as reported in the Workplace Assessment Report)
Managed System Components 100% of Level I items Min. 12 of 14 Level II items including questions 2.1, 2.6, 6.3 and 6.8 Min. 12 of 15 Level III items including questions 1.3, 2.3, 6.4, 6.9 Firm must meet Level III Achievement Award requirements.

Note – firm is not required to submit a Workplace Assessment Report if they were issued a Level III Achievement Award in the calendar year prior to the application deadline.
Specific Program Elements 100% of applicable items Min. 75% of applicable items Min. 75% of applicable items
Conditions & Practices (Element 2, Question 2.11) 100% 100% 100%
Lower level components & elements Not applicable Firm must also complete Level I questions in the Workplace Assessment Report and meet Level I requirements Firm must also complete Level I & II questions in the Workplace Assessment Report and meet Level I & II requirements
Health & Safety Results
Critical Injuries, fatalities, MOL/WSIB charges or convictions (as reported on the Application Form) Zero, from 12 months before the date of application until the date on which the award is delivered or presented Zero, for the two calendar years prior to the application deadline and until the date on which the award is presented
Lost Time Injury Frequency (as reported on the Achievement Award or President’s Award Injury Frequency Worksheet) Less than 100% of WSIB rate group average for 12 months before the date of application Less than 50% of WSIB rate group average for 12 months before the date of application Less than 25% of WSIB rate group average for 12 months before the date of application Less than 25% of WSIB rate group average for each of the prior 2 calendar years before the application deadline
Total Injury Frequency n/a Less than 100% of WSIB rate group average for each of the prior 2 calendar years before the application deadline
Health, Safety & Wellness Additional Criteria
As reported by firm on separate document n/a n/a n/a Firm meets intent as outlined in criteria

Submitting Your Application:
What You Need to Know

The following three pieces must be submitted to IAPA in order to process your application for an Achievement Award:

1. Completed and signed Application Form (631 KB PDF).

2. Completed LTIF Worksheet (710 KB PDF).

3. Completed and signedWorkplace Assessment Report (730 KB PDF.

Note: The IAPA Awards Program is currently under review. The application process is currently closed.

As defined by Regulation 834, a critical injury is an injury of a serious nature that:
(a) places life in jeopardy;
(b) produces unconsciousness;
(c) results in a substantial loss of blood;
(d) involves the fracture of a leg or arm, but not a finger or toe;
(e) involves the amputation of a leg, arm, hand or foot, but not a finger or toe;
(f) consists of burns to a major portion of the body; or
(g) causes the loss of sight in an eye.


Judging: What Happens After You Submit Your Application?

The judging procedure is a three-step process. Here’s how it works:

1. The IAPA Awards Coordinator will review your application.
The Coordinator will contact you if any errors or omissions are discovered. If these can be readily resolved, your application will then go on to the second stage, which is on-site verification.

2. An IAPA Consultant will conduct an on-site verification.
During the site visit, the Consultant will attempt to verify selected aspects of your Workplace Assessment Report through document review, interviews and observations. The verification should take about two hours. It is neither a complete review of your Workplace Assessment Report nor your workplace. The Consultant will contact you to schedule an appointment. Here’s how you can prepare for the visit:

  • have copies of documentation available for review (this includes written policies, rules, procedures, reports, etc.)
  • make sure that the certified members of the joint health and safety committee or the health and safety representative are available
  • make any preparations that may be required to enable the Consultant to tour the workplace and talk to employees

3. The IAPA Consultant will complete a verification findings report.
Based on the verification findings report, IAPA will either issue an Achievement Award (Level I, II or III) or request that identified deficiencies be corrected. If these deficiencies are corrected within three months you again may be eligible for an award.

Important Note

If your workplace sustains a critical injury or fatality or a charge or conviction under the Occupational Health and Safety Act or Workplace Safety and Insurance Act while your application is being processed, you must notify the IAPA Awards Coordinator. The Awards Coordinator will then withdraw your application. You may re-submit your application once your workplace is able to meet the eligibility requirements.

Need More Information?

For more information about IAPA’s Achievement Award, contact IAPA Awards Coordinator by phone: 1-800-406-IAPA (4272), ext. 2216 or by email:  awardscoordinator@iapa.ca

If your workplace does not meet all of the eligibility requirements for an Achievement Award, you will need to take the necessary steps to improve your health and safety program before you apply.

IAPA offers health and safety training, consulting, information services and educational products to help you implement and improve your health and safety program.

If you need help completing the Application Form, the LTIF Worksheet or the Workplace Assessment Report, contact the Awards Coordinator at one of the numbers listed above.