HSE Updates Week of 5 February 2025 – RAE, MHCC, OHS
Greetings,
Please review the applicable HSE Updates.
- Company Safety Meeting Presentation: deadline: two weeks following the Company Safety Meeting
- It is mandatory to review the Company Safety Meeting on SiteDocs and sign-off that you have done so. If the deadline has passed – you missed it but are still expected to review and sign-off the presentation in SiteDocs.
- 2025 Health, Safety, and Environment Manual: Published to REMS/RFR and SiteDocs, be sure to sign-off /mark as read
- 2025 HSE Manual Knowledge Check: Ensure you pass (min. 80%) the HSE Manual Knowledge check by the end of February
- H&S Bulletin: Answer due by 8am last Friday of the month
- See attached: February 2025 Health and Safety Bulletin
- Health and Safety Committee: Next Meeting: usually Thurs before last Fri of the month
- If you can’t join the HSC meetings, you can still participate by providing feedback, questions, or concerns to hsc@raeengineering.ca. Please submit feedback prior to the next meeting so it can be brought forward.
- The HSC meets the last Thursday of each month at 1pm via Teams
- Previous HSC Meeting Minutes can be found in the Teams Channel and on SiteDocs
- Safety Rewards Program: Where your commitment to RAE’s Safety Culture is rewarded!
- Submit more cards! Be specific in how your coworkers are contributing to safety! Latest PRC winners are:
- $500 Best Card Winner: No winner from December
- $100 Safety PRC Draw: No winner from December
- If you have any questions or concerns about the Safety Rewards Program, or would like to sign-up to do a presentation, please email hsc@raeengineering.ca.
- Submit more cards! Be specific in how your coworkers are contributing to safety! Latest PRC winners are:
- Peer Recognitions: Due by Company Safety Meeting each month
Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC)
- MHCC has issued their latest issue of The Catalyst Magazine | Revue Le Vecteur which includes:
- Designing for Equity: From Grocery Aisles to AI: The Hidden Costs of Failing to Design for Diversity
- Book Club – Mind the Science: Author and clinical psychologist Jonathan Stea gives people tools to sort truth from twaddle in a wellness wild west.
- Best of The Catalyst 2024: Top tips and ideas you may have missed.
- Resource: Experiences with Suicide: African, Caribbean, and Black Communities in Canada: To improve our understanding of the experiences of ACB communities with suicide, this resource was co-created by the Mental Health Commission of Canada alongside a diverse group of people from ACB communities with lived and living experience with suicide.
- Better Together: An online MHSUH System Transformation Summit
- 4 & 5 March 2025, 11am-3pm EST
OHS
- New and updated OHS resources: Visit the OHS Resource Portal for bulletins, infographics, eLearning resources and recorded webinars supporting workplace health and safety in Alberta.
- Violence and harassment prevention: Learn more about Alberta’s workplace violence and harassment prevention requirements here.
- Repetitive strain awareness: Does your work involve repetitive tasks? Awkward postures? Forceful exertions? These hazards contribute to musculoskeletal injuries. This year, International Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness (RSI) Day is on February 28.
- 2023 statistics and infographics available
- Alberta OHS has published the Workplace injury, illness and fatality statistics: Provincial summary 2023 report. This annual report uses WCB-Alberta claim data to provide insight into trends, with a deeper look at worker characteristics, occupations, and industries. You can find the 2023 report (as well as previous annual reports) here.
- As well, new infographics that visually showcase 2023 data and five-year trends are available, both for the province and by industry sector. These engaging double-sided one-pagers are a great way to raise awareness, guide education efforts and drive impactful health and safety initiatives. Check out the full set here.
- Five-year trend: more workers, fewer claims
- Here’s an interesting finding from the new Workplace injury, illness and fatality statistics: Provincial summary 2023 report described above. In 2023, Alberta’s workforce grew by 3.6 per cent (the highest level in five years). At the same time, the disabling injury and illness claim rate dropped to a five-year low. More workers employed with fewer workers being injured or becoming ill demonstrates our collective efforts and the good progress made in workplace health and safety!
- Working in the cold
- With cold temperatures in February, don’t forget about OHS Resource Portal publications that provide information about working safely when outdoor temperatures drop. These publications include the Working in winter bulletin and our one-page Working in extreme cold infographic, great for sharing with teams and as a reminder about some basic measures we all should take to work safely in the cold.
- Upcoming live webinars on employment standards: For more information, or to register for one of the sessions, visit alberta.ca/employment-standards-webinars.aspx.
- Employment Standards in Alberta – Vacation Pay and General Holiday Pay:
- February 6 at 1:30 p.m.
- Employment Standards in Alberta – Administration and Enforcement:
- February 11 at 10:30 a.m.
- Temporary Foreign Worker Advisory Office – TFW and Employer Rights and Responsibilities:
- February 27 at 1:30 p.m.
- Employment Standards in Alberta – Vacation Pay and General Holiday Pay:
- OHS: Beyond the numbers: According to the recently released Workplace injury, illness and fatality statistics: Provincial summary 2023, claims for material handlers are rising. From 2019 to 2023, material handlers accounted for over 9,800 WCB-Alberta injury or illness claims: almost four per cent of claims annually. And in 2023, for the first time, material handlers accounted for the second-highest proportion of claims, behind only nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates.
- These findings highlight the need for safety measures and why musculoskeletal disorders are a top priority for Alberta’s OHS prevention initiative. Explore OHS Resource Portal resources on topics such as ergonomics, hazard assessments and proper lifting techniques to protect workers from preventable injuries. Together, we can safeguard the wellbeing of Alberta’s workers.