WSPS takes action in support of the Health and Safety Ontario Strategy Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) is committed to working with Ontario workplaces and our Prevention System partners in achieving the vision of a healthy and safe Ontario. In response to the release of the Ministry of Labour’s Health and Safety Ontario Strategy, the following are some highlights of how WSPS continues to serve areas of greatest need and enhance service delivery. Response Overview Addressing the Needs of Vulnerable Workers Key initiatives 2012‐2013 Key initiatives for 2014 Supporting small businesses WSPS will continue to align our programs and services to the Health and Safety Ontario Strategy, and will work with the “whole community”— our customers, businesses, local communities and government – to identify opportunities for everyone to play a role in achieving the collective vision of a healthy and safe Ontario. Support for vulnerable workers, often identified in terms of groups that collectively have an above average rate of work injury or illness and may include young workers, recent immigrants, and workers new to their jobs, has been a key priority for WSPS as well as a potent opportunity for collaboration with the health and safety system and our stakeholders. Visit the WSPS web site to learn more about resources available. From 2012 to 2013, WSPS built understanding and awareness, and expanded its channels and solutions to address the diverse needs and challenges of Ontario’s vulnerable workers, through initiatives such as:  Promoting awareness through existing channels like our conferences and events, publications, training, information sessions, and WSPS staff.  Increasing accessibility to information and breaking through language and literacy barriers through plain language and design, using pictograms, and translations wherever possible, including our web pages.  Taking part in research to support Ontario workplaces and contributing to the body of knowledge around vulnerable workers.  Leveraging the valuable insights of WSPS’ nine Advisory Committees, volunteers and community networks to drive a culture of change in workplaces.  Learn more about how to extend our reach into the diverse communities we touch to overcome challenges affecting young, migrant, temporary workers or those experienced by a cultural community.  Continue with WSPS’ Student Injury Prevention Initiative focused on training teachers and enhancing school tech shop safety through inspections  Work with our research partners, such as the Institute for Work & Health and Centre for Research Expertise on Occupational Disease to further research on pictograms, awareness of occupational disease in the agricultural sector, and develop tools to best reach vulnerable workers, including newcomers to Canada, through various community channels. WSPS recognizes the importance of understanding and supporting the needs of small businesses in Ontario, which make up the majority of firms in our sectors. 1 Doing more with less for small businesses Making support available to small businesses Addressing the Highest Hazards that Result in Occupational Injuries, Illnesses or Disease Due to the magnitude of small businesses, we focus on strategic sources and channels to both understand small business challenges, needs, drivers and requirements, and establish outreach initiatives through stakeholder networks such as our nine Advisory Committees, community volunteers, industry associations and speaking via local networks such as chambers of commerce and boards of trade. In 2013, WSPS focused on mechanisms and channels geared to making support available to small businesses, including:  one‐on‐one, just‐in‐time access to information and consulting  self‐serve or self‐directed learning  non‐traditional means of reaching small businesses through their industry associations, chambers of commerce, volunteers, rural county associations, business improvement associations, franchise networks and business partners  support of Ministry of Labour (MOL) initiatives such as the Small Business Advisory Task Group and the MOL working groups relating to small business and vulnerable workers  contributions to local initiatives such as the Health and Safety System Partners of Eastern Ontario (HSSPEO) – Small Business Pilot, partnering with the Ministry of Labour (MOL), health and safety associations, and chambers of commerce to reach their members and evaluate needs and preferences for health and safety  routinely place small business updates in our publications and in association newsletters, including monthly prompts to nine western region chambers of commerce who have a collective distribution of 7,200 members  connect through social media such as our twitter feed which shares small business resources with an estimated re‐tweet reach of 12,000. Visit the WSPS web site to learn more about resources available WSPS continuously strives to support system wide priorities, in particular falls, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), contact with machinery, motor vehicle incidents (MVIs) and occupational diseases, through a variety of initiatives. Among these:  WSPS provides awareness, consulting and training, tools and support to help businesses reduce and eliminate these workplace hazards  Outreach to customers about MOL Blitzes, offering a full complement of information, products and services to address the blitz topic across the service, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.  WSPS has actively supported and contributed to the High Hazard Working Group led by the Prevention Office, focused on development of a Working at Heights Training Provider and Program Standards, and consultation within our sectors  WSPS’ 2014 National Conference will provide a venue to highlight the Prevention System’s focus on falls, in addition to a full complement of other topics.  WSPS collaborates on occupational disease prevention initiatives with our sectors and with extensive feedback from frontline workers developed a suite of seven awareness posters, and fact sheets, aimed at promoting awareness of occupational skin disease (OSD), focusing on specific risk factors and basic prevention practices.  To further promote awareness, WSPS, in partnership with the Centre for 2 Research Expertise in Occupational Disease (CREOD), is creating a web‐based poster template allowing workplaces to customize posters by inserting images that demonstrate preventative measures, and downloading the OSD posters at no additional cost. Integrate Service Delivery and System‐Wide Planning 
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Build Collaborative Partnerships Promote a Culture of Health and Safety WSPS continues to work, in collaboration and in partnership with system and external stakeholders, on working groups, regional pilots, as well as standard development committees. WSPS supports the Safe at Work Ontario Strategy, including MOL Blitzes, and works with the MOL to provide blitz support to WSPS customers through integrated delivery of articles in our publications and awareness webinars WSPS looks for integrated service delivery opportunities with system and ministry partners, including to the Ontario Lung Association on the Asthma Plan of Action and the Ministry of Transportation’s Interagency Road Safety Marketing Committee through contributing concept or content development, finding alternate distribution channels and raising awareness of other ministerial programs that intersect with our work. WSPS leverages partnerships to extend reach and promote a culture of safety, such as:  Partnership with the MOL on system‐wide projects to promote awareness for health and safety at the community level.  Partnership with research organizations such as the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and Centres for Research Expertise to build evidence on system priorities  Partnership with Canadian Centre for Occupation Health and Safety and Minerva Canada to raise awareness of health and safety on a national scale  Trade association co‐development and delivery of products and services, and authoring of articles specific to trade associations interests  Continued participation on various CSA and ISO Technical Committees to advance and influence standards setting  Continue to cultivate partnerships with chambers of commerce, community groups, industry and trade associations to advance a province‐wide culture of health and safety within their extensive networks WSPS helps define a culture of workplace health and safety by providing opportunities for Ontario employers to learn how a healthy organizational culture will impact their business. Examples include:  In 2013, WSPS collaborated with IWH in offering Ontario firms the opportunity to benchmark their health and safety programs, safety culture and climate, by participating in the Ontario Leading Indicators Project. Working with over 1,200 different firms, WSPS created a platform for moving them beyond compliances and achieving OHS excellence.  With the recent introduction of the inaugural national mental health strategy, and the subsequent release of the CAN/CSA Z1003 psychological health and safety in the workplace standard, WSPS helps workplaces to understand the benefit of, and how to, manage organizational health  The introduction of ‘Mandatory Worker and Supervisor Awareness Training’ 3 will provide the impetus for all Ontario employers to start down the path of creating a culture of health and safety. WSPS ensures that workplaces have the resources, knowledge and information to adhere to the new legislative requirements. Addressing Precarious Work – Stronger Economy Act (Bill 146) WSPS will support Ontario’s employers in creating and sustaining safe, healthy and productive workplaces for all workers as directed through the Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2013, (Bill 146). The Bill offers greater protection to two vulnerable groups of workers: unpaid learners and temporary workers from temporary help agencies. Bill 146 will amend The Occupational Health and Safety Act ‘s definition of ‘worker’ to include unpaid learners, which includes co‐op students, trainees and interns, giving them the same rights and protections as other workers. The Bill will also amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to make clients of temporary help agencies responsible for the injury costs of temporary workers, encouraging Ontario’s employers to provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions for all workers in their workplaces. WSPS will to help our customers, including temporary work agencies, understand how the new legislation will apply to their business. Visit the WSPS web site to learn more. 4