In the CCSA February Newsletter, we focused on Raise Awareness - Prevent the pain in conjunction with the International Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day this past February 29, 2020.

This month we would like to share some initiatives that CCSA member Newport Harbour Care Centre has been working on over the past few months to Raise Awareness – Prevent the pain:

CLICK HERE to read the full story

• NEW OHS Online Incident Reporting Service
• NEW Occupational health and safety starter kit
• Repetitive Motion Infographic

CLICK HERE to read more

• Policy Project Plans and Feedback from Consultations now available
• NEW Partnership with University of Fredericton
• NEW seminar: Psychological Injuries in the Workplace

CLICK HERE to download full update

2019 was another extremely busy year for the CCSA as we worked diligently to deliver on our member’s mandate:

• Industry-specific health and safety training
• Partner in Injury Reduction/ Certificate of Recognition Program Administration
• Industry-specific health and safety consultation
• Industry-specific health and safety information

Here are a few of the 2019 highlights:

Industry-specific health and safety training

Total number of participants trained

Total number of training sessions delivered

Total number of health and safety committee and/or health and safety representative participants trained compared to the total number of 2019 participants

NOTE: CCSA achieved approval from Alberta Labour and Immigration as an approved training agency for Health and Safety Committee and/or Health and Safety Representatives in February 2019 and began delivering the Alberta Labour and Immigration approved course in March 2019

Partner in Injury Reduction/ Certificate of Recognition Program Administration

• Launched the 2019 CCSA Audit Tool, on average the new audit tool requires six fewer days for audit report writing
• Trained approximately 45 auditor candidates
• Reviewed approximately 80 – 2019 audits (including corrections & qualifying auditors)
• Revised CCSA COR administration internal processes
• Updated COR communication processes
• Added capacity for OHSMS Basics for Auditors and Auditor Training course delivery
• Added capacity for Audit Quality Assurance Reviews

Industry-specific Health and Safety Consultation

• Partnered with a CCSA member organization to pilot a new Train-the-Trainer format for Hazard Assessment and Control, Work Site Inspections and Incident Investigation
• Partnered with a CCSA member organization to pilot a new Train-the-Trainer format for MIP Combined Manual Materials Handling and Safe Resident Handling and MIP Manual Materials Handling
• Partnered with a CCSA member organization to revise the Safety Leadership Program format
• Resurrected the Industry Advisory Council, consisting of nine representatives from CCSA member organizations
• Partnered with a CCSA member organization to pilot a new health and safety orientation as well as hazard assessment review and safe work practice revision
• Initiated an industry steering committee for the Health and Safety Toolkit project
• Conducted a Member Engagement Survey

Industry-specific Health and Safety Information

• Hosted a successful 2019 Annual General Meeting which included a variety of presentations
• Selected as the Elected Certifying Partner Representative on the OHS Strategic Steering Committee
• Revamped the CCSA monthly newsletter to better present and share information
• Began redevelopment of CCSA’s website

In this issue:

• WCB-Alberta Annual Return Deadline

The deadline to file your WCB-Alberta annual return is Feb. 29, 2020 

Are you an employer with workers? If so, you’re required to fill out an annual return reporting your workers’ assessable earnings paid in the last year along with what earnings you expect to pay in the upcoming year. This is important information to ensure you’re paying the correct premium amount. 

Filing your return online is quick and easy. Built-in calculations, error checking, and simple navigation makes the process easier than ever. All you need is your PIN letter containing your account number and password which will be mailed out starting at the end of December.  

The deadline to file your annual return is February 29, 2020. If you are enrolled in the Partnerships in Injury Reduction (PIR) program, it is important you submit your return on time as late filing may prevent you from receiving your 2019 PIR refund. 

Need help filling out your return? Check out the online demo located in the Insurance and premiums>Annual returns section of the WCB website at wcb.ab.ca. 

In this issue:

• Streamlined rules for workplace committees

• Workplace Injuries on Ice, Sleet and Snow Infographic

 Streamlined Rules for Workplace Committees

As previously released, on December 13, 2019 Alberta Labour and Immigration announced requirements and training were streamlined for workplace health and safety committees and worker representatives.

Click Here for a link to the news release

Quick facts:

• Employers with 20 or more workers are required to have a committee.
• Employers with five to 19 workers are required to have a worker health and safety representative.
• Work sites with multiple employers where work lasts 90 days or more are required to have a site-specific committee or representative, depending on the number of workers.
• Employers have until Jan. 31, 2020 to comply with the changes.
• New training requirements take effect immediately.
  • Part 1 (Pt 1) training is no longer mandatory.
• Where a collective agreement exists, those parties will not be subject to the new rules until the agreement expires.
• Government may designate additional committees or representatives where needed.

The following resources have been released to assist employers understand the changes:

• Health and safety committees and representatives - Click Here
• Mandatory health and safety committee and representative training - Click Here

Workplace injuries on Ice, Sleet and Snow Infographic

In this issue:

• New research report on workplace violence and harassment released

• Wellness Initiative at Newport Harbour Care Centre

• ACCA names Wayne Morishita as Executive Director and elects 2020 Board of Directors

Preventing Violence and Harassment in Canadian Workplaces Research Report

The Public Service Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) is excited to announce that the national workplace violence and harassment research they conducted on behalf of the CSA Group is now available online.  Below is the link to the research report in case you are interested in reviewing it – the education sector was one of the four focus areas.  PSHSA extends a thank you to those who contributed. 

You can find the research report here: https://www.csagroup.org/article/preventing-violence-and-harassment-in-canadian-workplaces/

Wellness Initiative at Newport Harbour Care Centre

This past holiday season the team at Newport Harbour Care Centre prompted its team to think about what they can do for their OWN health via its “Take Care to Give Care” campaign. Teams participated in good discussions during their Team Huddles and the initiative received over 90 entries for a Wellness Basket draw. Staff were very excited and had wonderful ideas for what they have done or are planning to do for their own health and wellness.

The majority of goals included:

• Try and eat healthier (more vegetables),
• Drink water and
• Exercise.

Other goals focused on:

• Enjoying little things in life like having a positive attitude,
• Praying,
• Being kind,
• Meditate,
• Be happy,
• Get enough rest/sleep,
• Smile and looking pretty,
• Taking vacations,
• Stop smoking,
• Laugh out loud and many more!

Here are a couple of pictures of the team at Newport Harbour Care Centre and the Wellness Tree wagon:

ACCA Names Wayne Morishita as Executive Director and elects 2020 Board of Directors

The following is a copy of the new release issued by the ACCA on November 26, 2019:

The Alberta Continuing Care Association (ACCA) welcomes Wayne Morishita as its new Executive Director, following an extensive national search conducted by its Board of Directors. Mr. Morishita is a senior executive with over 25 years of corporate, marketing agency, and non-profit experience with an impressive record of leading teams in diverse industries, as well as provincial and national associations. He has also served as a director on several boards and committees and brings a personal passion for continuing care influenced by personal, family-related experiences.

“Wayne’s breadth of experience in building high-performing teams, as well as his extensive operations, branding and advocacy knowledge, is a tremendous asset to the ACCA and our members,” said ACCA Board Chair Jennifer McCue. “With Alberta’s aging population, ACCA’s priority is to collaborate with the provincial government, partners and all stakeholders to identify solutions to address the increasingly complex challenges facing continuing care providers.”

“I am excited to lead the ACCA and work closely with our members to raise awareness about key issues facing the continuing care industry. In today’s environment, we must be creative in finding solutions to issues such as the aging infrastructure of many care centres throughout the province, the growing needs for an increase in the number of supportive living and long-term care spaces, and how we can help seniors remain in their homes and communities through the support of homecare providers,” said Wayne Morishita, Executive Director, ACCA.

The ACCA also announced its 2020 Board of Directors, following its Annual General Meeting on November 21, 2019:

• Jennifer McCue, Board Chair, Bethany Care Society
• Al Jina, Park Place Seniors Living
• Shawn Terlson, Shepherd’s Care Foundation
• Julius van Wyk, The Good Samaritan Society
• Daren Farnel, Bayshore Home Care
• Michael Harris, Extendicare
• Derrick Bernardo, CovenantCare
• Karim Kassam, Optima Living Communities
• Salimah Walji-Shivji, AgeCare

“As we look forward to the future, we will continue to work closely with the Government of Alberta, Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health to champion the highest quality of living and wellness for the growing number of Albertans requiring continuing care,” said McCue.

CCSA’s mission is to empower those working in the long-term care and seniors’ supportive living sectors to create safer, healthier workplaces – that’s why we value what our members have to say.

In October, we invited you to participate in our Member Engagement Survey. You answered. The key findings include:

• Satisfaction with CCSA programs and services is very high.
• Cost and time are barriers.
• Improvements to COR are suggested.
• There is keen interest in CCSA’s new initiatives.
• The top three Leadership Learning Series topics were: creating a culture of safety, harassment and bullying and mental health.
• CCSA communication is well-received.
• Awareness of the CCSA is growing.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in this year’s survey. Your feedback allows us to focus our efforts on the areas that matter most to you.

We’ll be incorporating your feedback into our business plan for the next year. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Enhance best practice and industry initiative information sharing
• Expand access to industry relevant resources, including (but not limited to) templates, policies, procedures, etc.
• Improve CCSA’s website
• Increasing focus on Leadership Learning forums

Be sure to check out the final report for a complete summary of the survey results.

A paperless organization? It makes a lot of sense but it’s also a major transformation – one introduced in a series of well-thought out steps. 

At CCSA, we’ve made the big decision to become “paper-light” in 2020, which means we are taking steps to significantly reduce our paper burden.

We began our digital transformation in 2019 by introducing e-Certificates for the majority of our training programs, which were well-received.

For 2020, we will take these next steps:

Course completion e-Certificates will be issued for all CCSA training programs.
Electronic copies of CCSA training manuals will be provided to registered participants for most CCSA training programs. (NOTE: some exceptions apply).
CCSA invoices will be produced and distributed electronically.

There are so many benefits to reducing paper use.

As a non-profit, we want to direct our precious funds towards programs and services for members. Going paperless will decrease costs associated with purchasing office supplies, storing, printing, and mailing documents, as well maintaining associated equipment (i.e. photocopier, postage meter).  It will also save us time otherwise spent producing and disseminating hard copy documents. 

And it’s good news for our members, too. They’ll have faster access to any documents sent out from the CCSA (i.e. certificates). 

As for the environment, did you know that the paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy in the world? This over-use of paper has a huge impact on a company’s carbon footprint – not just from the chopping down of trees to make the paper, but also on the fossil fuel power used for printing, and the chemicals involved, too.

There really is no downside to going paper-light and we encourage you to give it a try. We’ll keep you posted (electronically, of course!) as we continue our journey.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will this impact you and your team?

Course completion e-certificates will be emailed to each registered participant to the email address provided when they registered for the training event.
An electronic copy of the appropriate CCSA training manual will be emailed to each registered participant a minimum of one-week prior to the training event.

Which CCSA training manuals will continue to be provided in hard copy?

Registered participants will continue to receive a hard copy of the following CCSA training program manuals:

Occupational Health and Safety Management System Basics for Auditors
Auditor Training
Musculoskeletal Injury Reduction Program: Train-the-Trainer

What if my staff do not have an email address?

The course completion e-Certificate will be electronically delivered to the email address provided by the ticket buyer.
The digital copy of the CCSA training program manual will be electronically delivered to the email address provided by the ticket buyer.

What if I want to provide my staff with a hard copy of the CCSA training program manual?

You can choose to print the training program manuals on your own.
You can request that CCSA print the training program manuals you require for your staff, for an additional fee.

These corporate wellness program ideas are designed to change policy and improve the work environment so it is easier for employees to adopt and maintain health behaviors.

Little or no wellness budget?  Here are some great wellness ideas and tips that you can do on any budget.

View the wellness ideas and tips at https://www.wellsteps.com/blog/2019/06/30/employee-wellness-program-ideas/