CANADA'S NATIONAL OSH WEBSITE A PROPOSAL TO THE …

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Transcript CANADA'S NATIONAL OSH WEBSITE A PROPOSAL TO THE …

Canadian Experiences in
Workers’ Health Promotion
Presented by Len Hong
Canadian Centre for Occupational
Health and Safety
March 2000
Background
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30 million people
– 14 million workers
– 700,000 workplaces
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6.4% unemployment
Demographics
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800 fatalities/year1 in 16 workers are injured
illnesses (disabilitiy claims = 8% payroll costs)
$4 billion direct workers compensation costs
(mostly safety-related)
$10 billion total impact of workers compensation
costs
$20 billion for workers’ health direct and indirect
costs
– $12 stress related
Employment Trends
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Increases in
– service sector, knowledge work
– health care, transportation
– flex work, self employment
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Decreases in
– extracting natural resources
– heavy manufacturing
Governments in Canada
1 federal
 10 provincial
 3 territorial
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Legal governmental authority
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Resides with all 14 jurisdictions
– Each jurisdiction sets their own standards and
legislation:
» Education, training, health, workers compensation
» Occupational health and safety
– No uniform laws/standards
Workers Health Surveillance
Workers Compensation Boards (all public
sector)
 Departments of Health
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Social Safety Network
National health care system
 National pension system
 Welfare system
 Employment insurance and training
programs
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Occupational Health and Safety
System
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Internal responsibility system
– Employee/employer are the stakeholders
– Joint occupational health and safety committees
Hazard/ risk based
 Clear responsibilities and duties
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Occupational Health and Safety
System (cont’d)
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Government role of setting statutes, policy,
enforcement
– Support for prevention and training programs
– Some support for research and education
Significant Barriers for Workers
Health Promotion
Clear definition of workers’ health
 Unified policy/legislation
 Authority/accountability for workers health
 Standards
 Full stakeholder participation
 National vision linked to results based on
accountability
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Health for All Framework
1.
2.
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creating health, at the roots of health and
disease at work, including social and
environmental determinants
improving health over the entire
working lifecycle
improving health in the settings which
give them context i.e. at work, and
related to work
Health for All Framework
(cont’d)
4.
5.
taking action across sectors and in
partnerships that go beyond those
boundaries
measuring the success of health
strategies and actions at all levels, in
terms of health outcomes
Health Considerations in
Canadian Workplaces
1.Physical
2.Psychosocial
- Emotional, mental, social, spiritual, intellectual
Lifecycle considerations
Employee assistance programs
 Family work balance
 Family burden
 Continuous learning
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Leadership
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Guidelines
– Health Canada-Workplace Health System for
small businesses, corporations and schools
– Small business
» needs assessment-employees health survey
» Workplace health profile-general report
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Special report : stress, health and safety concerns at work,
physical activity, weight, smoking, drinking, medication
use
Leadership (cont’d)
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Guidelines (cont’d)
– Small Business (cont’d)
» Health plan
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one to three years involving a community (5)
» Action plan
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programs, policies and activities
National Quality Institute –
Canadian Healthy Workplace
Criteria
Annual award to recognize good to best
practices
 Partnership of Health Canada, health and
safety professionals
 Jointly sponsored by the Health, Work and
Wellness Institute of Canada
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Initiatives
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Use of Canadian Healthy Workplace System
– Community plan (5 provinces)
– Issue based - pregnancy
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School health program for students, staff
and teachers
Partnerships
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Multisectoral
– eg: Ottawa Carleton Workplace Health System
– public health (regional government), safety
association (NGO), community group, labour ,
business (large and small), professional, federal
and provincial government, health care,
management/research
Partnerships (cont’d)
Safe Communities coalitions (> 30)
 Curriculum development
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– Resources for educating teachers
– Teaching resources
Youth OSH Conference
 Minerva Canada
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Business Case
Annual conference and awards for workers’
health programs
 Provincial best practices database in OSH
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Resources
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labour, management, government, NGO,
professional, trade associations, business
organizations, schools, academics, researchers
training/ training materials
staff
funding
case studies and reports
academic research
planning
Advocacy
Labour unions
 Business leaders
 Professional/health/injury prevention
interest groups
 Parents
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Enhanced public profile
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Social marketing
– New Brunswick
– Ontario
– British Columbia
Evidence-based
Institute for Work and Health
 Canadian Research Institutes
 Workers Compensation Boards
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Future
Accountability
 Social policies
 National programs
 Redirect resources
 Best evidence
 Capacity and capability building
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