Occupational safety and health promoted
NAOSH Week observed at conference and workshop
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Saturday, May 20, 2017
HAY RIVER
The organizers of a North American Occupational Safety & Health Week event in Hay River obviously practise what they preach.
Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson speaks at the opening of a May 9 conference and workshop at the Riverview Cineplex for North American Occupational Safety & Health Week. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo
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At the beginning of a conference and workshop on May 9, David Dewar - a safety official with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation - made sure all the safety bases were covered.
Dewar pointed out the emergency exits from a theatre at the Riverview Cineplex, the location of First Aid kits, and asked who was First Aid-qualified in the room.
"Who wants to be the last person out of the room?" he continued, and found a volunteer in Emanuel DaRosa, the president and CEO of the power corporation.
"This is something we do at the power corp.," Dewar explained. "So Emanuel will make sure that everybody is safe and out of the room, and he'll be the last person out of the room, making sure that we've done our mustering successfully. If there's an emergency, we'll all muster outside the front entrance in the parking lot across the street."
An attendance sheet had also been filled which could be checked to make sure everybody is at the muster point.
Dewar's official title is the senior health, safety and environment policy co-ordinator with the power corporation, one of a number of companies involved with NAOSH Week in Hay River, along with representatives from the Workers' Safety & Compensation Commission.
NAOSH Week was observed in Hay River from May 7 to 13.
The week featured a number of activities, highlighted by the conference and workshop that attracted about 40 people.
"We have a really good, strong representation of companies in the community and people that are concerned about safety," Dewar said at the start of the conference.
NAOSH Week was first launched in 1997 as an offshoot of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"The goal is to focus employers, employees, partners and the public on the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace, at home and in the community," said Dewar, who noted the theme for this year's NAOSH Week was to make safety a habit.
The organizers urged all businesses represented at the conference and workshop to spread the word and do something in their workplaces to celebrate NAOSH Week.
Coun. Steve Anderson was on hand to represent the Town of Hay River and proclaim NAOSH Week.
Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson also welcomed people to the conference.
"Over the last 20 years, I've seen people's attitudes about safety change and that's because of events like this, because how safety is taught in schools, because of all the advertising that we see now, and because of the laws and the enforcement," he said.
However, Simpson noted the North is still a bit of a frontier.
"So we may be a little bit behind other jurisdictions in terms of our approach to safety," he said. "That's why events like this and education in schools are so important. Once the idea of working safe is woven into our culture up here, it's not going to be a struggle to integrate it into our businesses. It will just happen naturally."
Along with the power corporation and the workers' safety commission, a number of other companies and organizations were involved in NAOSH Week in Hay River, including Rowe's Construction, Super A Foods, the Northern Safety Association and Concept Energy Services Ltd.
The keynote speaker for the May 9 conference and workshop was Alberta safety consultant John Wettstein, who spoke about risk in the workplace.
"Some people say you can eliminate risk, but there's no research to support that," he said. "You can't live without risk and you can't learn without risk."
During NAOSH Week, the WSCC also visited workplaces to deliver 15-minute Toolbox Talks on safety.
