British Columbia Reaches Out to Employers and Others Regarding Safety

Supervisors, workers, and employers in any industry in British Columbia may benefit from a new WorkSafeBC online safety training course that can be accessed any time, free of charge. The Supervising for Safety course provides information and resources on supervision and the key role it plays in providing and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace, according to a report from WorkSafeBC.

 

 

“It’s all about getting occupational health and safety resources to the customer in ways that meet their needs,” says Gordon Thorne, WorkSafeBC manager of Safety Videos & Publications, who helped build the course. “Making the course available on its own Web site and on Facebook increases access by bringing the classroom experience to the participant.” (WCxKit)

 

 

The program originated with an industry group of labour, business, and WorkSafeBC officers concerned with injury and disease prevention. Supervisors in industry may lack a full understanding of their role and responsibilities relating to the safety of their workers, including the requirement to provide information, instruction, training, supervision, verification of knowledge, and correction of workplace hazards.

 

 

“We built the program because there wasn’t much out there for supervisors,” says Mike Tasker, a WorkSafeBC occupational safety officer based in Prince George, and one of the program’s originators. “So we put together the course based on our experience as supervisors, and best practices for what works in safety management.”

 

 

Organized into nine modules, the course can take seven to eight hours to complete and also allows you to select the topics you want to explore and proceed at your own pace. It contains over 60 video clips and templates of forms, checklists, and other WorkSafeBC safety resources to download.

 

 

“A large percentage of injuries within certain sectors of the tourism industry, such as hotels and ski hills, are musculoskeletal injuries,” says Trina Wright, Program Manager, Industry Health and Safety for go2, the B.C. tourism industry’s HR organization and COR certifying partner. “The course content regarding these injuries can help supervisors identify the causes of injury and show them how to implement programs to decrease the likelihood of MSI injury.” (WCxKit)

 

 

The course can be accessed at SupervisingforSafety.com or on Facebook by searching for “Supervising for Safety”.