Wawa-news.com You can't hear the 'big picture'!
from left to right: Dr. Peter Smith: President and Senior Scientist – Institute for Work and Health; Rodney Cook: Vice President, Workplace Health and Safety Services – Workplace Safety and Insurance Board; Mike Parent, President & CEO – WSN; Janine Dyck: Chief Service Excellence Officer – Workplace Safety and Insurance Board; Cindy Schiewek: Director, Health and Safety Services, Strategy – WSN; Dennis Griem: Director, Client Experience – WSN
During the 27th annual Mining Health and Safety Conference at Science North, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) announced $6.78 million in funding to protect people in Ontario’s natural resources sectors.
In a strategic, province-wide collaboration, the WSIB has partnered with Workplace Safety North (WSN) and the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) to lead a proactive campaign aimed at enhancing hygiene monitoring practices and reducing exposure to harmful workplace hazards.
“We’re not satisfied with the status quo so we’re putting up investments to find ways to improve health and safety,” says Janine Dyck, Chief Service Excellence Officer at the WSIB. “This partnership will help create lasting change in Ontario’s natural resources sector and provide people confidence that they’re working in healthy and safe environments each day they come in to work.”
Spearheaded by WSN, the initiative focuses on high-risk sectors like mining and forestry, where workers continue to face some of the highest rates of occupational illness fatalities in Ontario. The WSIB is not only funding the initiative but is also championing this partnership as a key part of its ongoing commitment to safer, healthier workplaces across the province.
“This collaboration is about empowering Ontario workplaces to take proactive control of the invisible health hazards workers face every day,” says Mike Parent, President and CEO of Workplace Safety North. “We’re proud to lead this important work alongside our health and safety partners.”
WSN has developed a suite of specialized training materials and will work directly with employers and workers through hands-on coaching and real-time use of hygiene monitoring equipment. The initiative aims to build capacity in workplaces, enabling front-line teams to actively identify and mitigate exposure risks.
The IWH will support the initiative by applying its expertise in health and safety research to assess the effectiveness of the training programs and their impact on improving worker safety.
“The IWH’s role in this project is to provide an independent evaluation of the impacts of this initiative,” says Peter Smith, Institute for Work and Health President and Senior Scientist. “Studying how these training programs influence behaviour and reduce exposures to harmful substances in the workplace will provide evidence on the potential impact of expanding prevention efforts across other high-risk sectors.”
This initiative marks another major milestone for WSN’s vision: ensuring every worker returns home safe and healthy—every day.
