CTA & CCOHS sign MOU to enhance trucking health & safety
The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has signed the first-ever memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two organizations.
The MOU is meant to increase awareness for improved workplace safety in the trucking industry, which, despite ongoing efforts among carriers to heighten health and safety, continues to suffer from high workplace injury and fatality rates.
The MOU signed today by CTA Senior Vice-President Stephen Laskowski and CCOHS President Gareth Jones builds from the commitment both organizations have expressed in working together to develop and implement programs and activities to uphold and improve occupational health and safety in the trucking industry.
“The signing of the MOU signals our industry’s commitment to workplace health and safety. We are fortunate to have found such a willing and capable partner in CCOHS,” says Laskowski. “This collaboration will facilitate and enhance safety cultures in the industry and provide carriers new leading edge solutions.”
“This is a partnership built on the mutual goal of preventing injuries and illnesses for workers in the trucking industry,” says CCOHS President Gareth Jones. “We are confident that by working together we can create productive, meaningful change to achieve that goal.”
As part of this new partnership, CTA and CCOHS will strive to promote health and safety best practices and comprehension of federal labour standards through new and innovative programs and products, including customizable training, e-learning and app/portal tools, statistics and data mining, health plan/policy development and certification programs.
The MOU will also have a strong provincial component aimed at providing targeted support where it is needed most.
“Through the MOU, each of the provincial trucking associations in the CTA federation will have direct access to CCOHS resources and staff to recognize their own priority areas in each province and to identify the tools the industry needs to address those issues,” added Laskowski.
The MOU, which was signed today at the CCOHS head office in Hamilton, will be reviewed and amended on an ongoing basis to ensure the partnership between the two organizations remains strong and productive.