Matte Article

April 30, 2009

What are you doing to Make it Home Safe Every Day?

Do your part to ensure that everyone returns home safely from work every day by participating in North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week, May 3 – 9, 2009.

Making sure workers return home safe each day is everyone’s responsibility. Protecting the well-being of workers isn’t only a legal requirement, but the right thing to do. We can achieve a level of moral responsibility by making workplace health and safety a habit and also by creating and sustaining healthy work environments - ones that will ultimately lead to zero injuries and illnesses. NAOSH Week is a part of this process.

NAOSH Week is an annual event led by the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Health and safety advocates and organizations across North America have been educating their workplaces and communities about health and safety through local, provincial, and national events since the inception of the initiative in 1997.

The annual event is a great opportunity for organizations and communities to learn how to make their workplaces healthier and safer. One way to do this is for employers and employees to review their current health and safety programs and practices. To help workplaces do this, the Ontario NAOSH Network has created a 10-question checklist. The purpose of the checklist is to get people thinking about basic health and safety requirements and workplace injury and illness prevention. The checklist also has information on additional health and safety resources so that employers and workers can make improvements to their programs. The checklist can be found on NAOSH.ca as well as other safety partner websites and publications, including E&USA (Electrical and Utilities Safety Association, www.eusa.on.ca), IAPA (Industrial Accident Prevention Association, www.iapa.ca), OSSA (Ontario Service Safety Alliance, www.ossa.com), and THSAO (Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario, www.thsao.on.ca).

In addition to the NAOSH checklist, several other resources are available to assist employers and workers in learning about safe workplace practices. One resource is the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s Getting Started on Prevention booklet, which can be ordered free of charge by calling 1-800-663-6639 or 416-344-1016. If you visit preventit. ca you will learn about workplace safety and many reminders that “There really are no accidents.”

NAOSH Week. Make health and safety a habit so that you can Make It Home Safe Every Day.

Submitted by the Centre for Health & Safety Association (CHSI), a focal point for innovation and applied learning in the prevention and elimination of workplace injuries and illnesses. CHSI is home to four Ontario health and safety associations: E&USA (Electrical Utilities & Safety Association), IAPA (Industrial Accident Prevention Association), OSSA (Ontario Service Safety Alliance), and THSAO (Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario).

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Media Contact:
Holly-Ann Campbell
Manager, Corporate Communications, IAPA
905-614-4272, ext. 2437
hcampbell@iapa.ca