Consultation period on the horizon for Ontario accreditation program
Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer (CPO) is launching into a consultation period on establishing an accreditation program that will recognize high performance in health and safety, keeping in mind that the employer community is diverse.

dailycommercialnews.com
By ANGELA GISMONDI
April 26, 2017

"Construction employers are diverse and whatever we do has to find a way to recognize medium and small organizations as well as large ones that are already there and have the capacity to build solid health and safety management systems into their organizations," Chief Prevention Officer George Gritziotis told The Daily Commercial News following a session he hosted on the program during the Ontario General Contractors Association symposium in Blue Mountain, Ont.

"The other piece is that we don't make it a long process because the expectations are there. Now is the time. I think we heard that loud and clear."

The CPO, he explained, was recently given the authority to establish accreditation standards, approve health and safety management systems, recognize employers who have implemented those management systems and publish their names.

Accreditation is a program that recognizes employers who successfully implement an Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS). Gritziotis said the first phase of the consultation process, which will be occurring this spring, will include meetings with key labour and employer stakeholders.

The second phase, which is expected this summer, is posting the accreditation standards and a consultation paper on the Ministry of Labour's website for public comment.

"We want to hear from stakeholders - what their experiences are for those that have embraced accreditation and for those who haven't," he said.

"We want them to ask questions around what does it mean for them and why should they do it."

Gritziotis also discussed what implementation will potentially look like for firms who choose to go the accreditation route.

"When we've gone out and talked to some of the employers and workers that are union or non-union, many look at accreditation and there is a fear that it's going to be this generic thing that they have to respond to, as opposed to dealing with something that's going to be for their sector," he said.

"We have to keep in mind that every sector has unique hazards, has unique risks associated with those hazards and we need to put a program in place that addresses that."

According to Gritziotis, accreditation is a tool in the health and safety tool box that will enhance what the construction industry and the government are currently doing.

"When we're working with larger firms that are in the health and safety space, we want to learn about your experiences to put in programs we can ensure will not be impacted by standards and in fact leverage and enhance what you are already doing," Gritziotis stated, adding programs like Certificate of Recognition certification and custom programs are solid examples.

As for government, he added, "We can't just introduce accreditation in the absence of all the other regulatory things we're doing (such as enforcement) and it's important that we can build on it. It also allows us to provide the ministry, when we do our risk profiling, with better information, because the reality is there are many sectors out there and we can't get to every workplace. Accreditation is a piece of information that allows us to better understand where we want to target our efforts."

Health and safety employers come in three buckets, Gritziotis noted: the "watch mes" that go beyond minimum compliance and have solid health and safety programs; the "show mes," who want to meet minimum compliance and are looking for support to become leaders in health and safety; and the "make mes," who do not comply or have standards in place.

"Many employers are saying to me, can you develop a model or a framework that has levels of recognition...and provide incentives?" explained Gritziotis.

"Those are the conversations we're having with the employer. It should not just be conversations around the standards, it should also be a conversation around taking that 'make me, show me, watch me' and moving them up and making it fair."

Accreditation will not be a requirement regulation despite the fact that many argue if it's voluntary, people will opt out. But Gritziotis says there are benefits to accreditation.

"If an employer has a solid health and safety management system, typically research shows they are a much more competitive firm, much more profitable," he noted.

The CPO will be consulting with three different groups, the employer community, the labour community (union and non-union) and practitioners. Workers also want their voices to be heard, Gritziotis added.

"The engagement of workers and accreditation goes hand in hand," he said.

"At the end of the day, accreditation has to come to the fact that you've got solid internal responsibility, so that worker community has to be engaged."

Implementing a health and safety management system is an ongoing process, Gritziotis explained.

"It's something you've got to do every day and that's something we value most about accreditation," Gritziotis said.

"It's cyclical, it's ongoing and it sustains whatever health and safety performance you desire. At the end of the day when firms are in that mode, we're not going out and reacting to an incident."