LEGISLATION UPDATE REGARDING THE WORKWELL AUDIT

The Workplace Safety & Insurance Board enhanced its policies on Workwell. Effective June 1, 2000, there were changes to the existing policy that affect you.

The Workwell program is an audit tool used by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario to implement section 82(1) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. The purpose of the auditing tool is to identify organizations that unfairly add to the assessment burden of their rate group through high claim costs or frequency and regain those costs through fines based on the organization's audit score. The maximum fines have been raised as of June 2000 from $100,000.00 to $500,000.00.

As of August 2002 the auditing tool used by the Workplaces Safety and Insurance Board was modified to a more comprehensive and sophisticated method based more on the hazards identified at the workplace. This new audit tool is far more difficult to comply with and requires far more relationship between various elements of the health and safety program. We have a complete understanding of the expectations of the auditors and will assist you in developing and implementing a program which adheres to the requirements of the auditors and your corporate culture.

Your organization must be aware that the government's mandate is to make an example of companies that do not manage their health and safety and that personal jail terms are levied at a maximum of twelve months per offence. The Ministry of Labour's new mandate is to levy fines in a manner to ensure the leaders and decision makers of the organizations are affected the greatest and then have the responsibility/liability go down from them. In the end, the management team must realize that the only defense is ensuring due diligence.

PROJECT SCOPE:

RTS Consulting Inc. is pleased to provide you with the following proposal to assist you in "raising the standard" of your health and safety programs.

Our intent is not to have you pass an audit but develop effective health and safety systems geared toward reducing illness and injuries in your workplace. To succeed, you will need to be involved in the development and implementation process. Our methods have been proven in many industries and business cultures. We have been participating in audits for over 15 years and have a 100% pass rate. WE HAVE SAVED THE LAST TEN ORGANIZATIONS OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN LEVIED SURCHARGES. We have averaged a savings of $100,000.00 per client. You will be in good hands under our direction.

PROCESS:

We will be the project managers and ensure your efforts are effective and timely by providing guidance, action plans, training programs and system evaluations. The implementation, follow-up and pushing of the programs internally can only be done effectively through proper commitment from your senior and middle management staff. If they are committed, we can ensure that your programs will be effective.

Phase 1:
To initiate the project, we will review your current health and safety programs in relation to the new audit requirements format. We will then provide you with a report which will identify the gaps present in your procedures and an action plan to correct these gaps that need to be addressed to meet the new audit format if required.

Phase 2:
One of the major changes in the new Workwell audit is the relationship of the training, communication, meeting and training elements of the health and safety program with a representative hazard assessment of the workplace. Therefore the requirement for a detailed and broad hazard assessment is required as the basis of all activities related to the development, implementation and priorities of the health and safety program.

The first step will be to determine the number of jobs to include in the hazard assessment and which locations to conduct these assessments in, to ensure a representative sample is used as the basis of the hazard assessment. It is sometimes beneficial to use the JHSC at this stage of the task however, some organizations may choose to focus their attention on the actual hazard assessments after the locations and jobs have been identified.

The goal is to determine all sources of potential injury, and illness. Using the JHSC at some point during the process not only assists in determining the issues specific to the workplace but also encourages "buy-in" for the implementation, communication and training that will be conducted in the future. We will give you the perspective of an expert that is familiar with the legislation and the industry on a large scale. This will ensure that familiar issues will not be overlooked and issues that you may not have dealt with to date are not excluded.

To conduct the hazard assessment we will inspect your workplaces for hazards that may affect a worker's health and safety. This activity will include at least:
-Conducting a physical inspection of the workplace focusing on behaviours of the
  workers and conditions
-Benchmarking with other related industries
-Ministry of Labour standards that apply to your workplace and past orders
-Reviewing occupational health and safety legislation that applies to your workplace
-Reviewing manufactures' and suppliers' guidelines & data book Canadian Standards
  Association (CSA) standards and other governing bodies
-Reviewing personal and environmental exposure sampling tests results
-Reviewing health and safety policies and procedures
-Reviewing Workplace Hazardous Materials Information (WHMIS) inventory
-Reviewing Material Safety Data Sheets
-Reviewing WSIB reports
-Reviewing incident/illness records
-Reviewing JHSC minutes and previous inspection reports
-Documenting general observations about your workplace
-Including input from knowledgeable workers
-Determining if the hazard contributed to a workplace injury or illness?
-Determining what is its potential for future injury or illness?
-Determining what types or severity of injury/illness could occur from exposure to the
  hazard?
-Determining if the hazard contributed to "near misses"? How likely will these cause
  injury or illness now or in the future?

We will then provide you with the various hazard assessments and recommendations
for your review.

Phase 3:
The next phase will be to fill the gaps identified from the hazard analysis through procedure development, responsibility identification, training needs analysis scheduling and program control planning.
This will ensure you have health and safety procedures, action plans and goals that relate to the hazards in your organization.

Phase 4:
The next phase will be the implementation phase. At this stage, we will prioritize our implementation of your health and safety program. We will be in constant contact with you and provide weekly reports on action items, responsibilities and time lines. The main elements of this phase will involve procedure implementation through meeting facilitation, training/communication, and verification of program implementation through worker interviews and compliance audits. Specifics will include WHMIS training, Supervisor training and Senior Management Due Diligence training.

You will also receive complimentary membership to our Safety Group which allows you to participate in a program geared towards improving Health and Safety in the workplace and could entitle you to an 8% rebate of your annual premiums to the WSIB if you contract us prior to January 31st.

The Safety Group meets 5 times during the calendar year with the 1st meeting occurring in late January. Your presence is required at a minimum of 3 meetings in order to ensure your eligibility for the rebate.

Phase 5:
This stage will include a second evaluation of your location to ensure the systems are effective and ingrained in the organization's systems. This evaluation will follow the same format as Phase 1.