The Prevention Initiative: Targeting Alberta’s big three OHS priorities

Dave Elniski, Industry Advisor, Safety & Compliance, AMTA

In March of 2019, the Government of Alberta published a document titled Prevention Initiative for Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety System.  In eighteen succinct pages, Alberta Labour identifies the types of injuries and diseases leading to the most Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) claims and highest Province-wide claim costs [1, 2]:

-Slips, trips, and falls.

-Musculoskeletal injuries.

-Psychosocial injuries and illnesses.

Alberta Labour also identified workers, workplaces, and characteristics of work particularly vulnerable to harm [1, 2]:

-Small, private businesses.

-Precarious jobs like temporary, casual, and seasonal positions.

-Workers who are younger (24 or younger), older (55 or older), Indigenous, those working multiple jobs, migrants, and temporary foreign workers.

So, what is Alberta Labour doing with the occupational health and safety (OHS) Prevention Initiative?  Simply put, they’re targeting areas of high occupational injury risk in Alberta with the goal of improving the Province’s OHS performance.  The three general categories of injuries and illnesses above represent high claim costs and frequencies, so efforts in these areas are particularly impactful – especially when vulnerable workers are given special attention.

Other jurisdictions take a similar approach to Alberta.  In the USA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) pays special attention to areas of high rates of incidents and lost time cases [3].  Safe Work Australia, an Australian government agency, set specific targets for the 2012-2022 decade, including specifically addressing work-related musculoskeletal disorders [4].

These efforts of the Government of Alberta are to be applauded.  To keep the applause specific and nonpartisan, Alberta Labour and the individuals involved in the Prevention Initiative are to be credited with doing significant and impactful work towards the goal of making Alberta a safer place for workers.  Working groups welcoming external industry input have been established to craft free resources to assist employers in managing their OHS obligations [2].  Alberta OHS enforcement officers have been conducting proactive and focused inspections of workplaces based on the Prevention Initiative’s goals [5].  Health and safety associations like AMTA have responded to the Prevention Initiative’s call to action by creating free industry-specific resources like bulletins and micro-learn videos [6], and Alberta Labour continually monitors the program and any emerging trends to tailor their efforts to the needs of the Province [5].

The world of work is constantly changing; occupational health and safety changes alongside it.  Alberta first passed the Occupational Health and Safety Act in 1976 [7, 8]; since that time, the Act has been revised and bolstered along with other Federal and Provincial legislation.  Interestingly, though, this 1976 version of the Act contains much of the spirit and wording we find in today’s Act: employer and worker obligations, the reporting of serious and potentially serious incidents, and joint health and safety committees are some of the elements of the 1976 Act seen in today’s OHS legislation [8].  As our OHS legislation has changed, important protections have been retained.

It is encouraging to see meaningful and collaborative action like the Prevention Initiative occurring in addition to and alongside legislation changes.  To learn more about this program, check out the links in the References section below.  We encourage everyone to take advantage of the free resources as we begin 2022 with a renewed commitment to “make Alberta a leader in occupational illness and injury prevention” [1, pg. 5].

References

1 – Alberta Labour (Government of Alberta).  2019.  “Prevention Initiative for Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety System.”  Accessed January 12th, 2022, https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/ec4efe3e-469f-4926-ba64-0f3ec6362e98/resource/6ba00b2a-9c3a-4e18-8249-c8f2bb31bef0/download/prevention-initiative.pdf

2 – Government of Alberta.  2021.  “OHS prevention initiative.”  Accessed January 13th, 2022, https://www.alberta.ca/occupational-health-and-safety-prevention-initiative.aspx

3 – Occupational Safety and Health Administration (U.S. Department of Labor).  2019.  “OSHA Instruction.”  Directive Number: FAP 01-00-008.  Accessed January 13th, 2022, https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/directives/FAP_01-00-008.pdf

4 – Safe Work Australia.  Specific date unknown, but likely 2011 or 2012.  “Measuring Progress Towards Targets: Reducing the incidence of work-related death, injury and illness.”  Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022.  Accessed January 13th, 2022, https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1702/measuring-progress-against-targets.pdf

5 – Alberta Labour (Government of Alberta).  2020.  “Prevention Initiative for Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety System: 2019-20 Annual Update.”  Accessed January 14th, 2022, https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/0080ab5e-b25a-4325-9adb-e223728bd860/resource/29682cac-af08-4482-ac32-aa657b0199da/download/prevention-initiative-albertas-occupational-health-safety-system-2019-2020-annual-update.pdf

6 – Alberta Motor Transport Association.  2022 (most recent video release).  “AMTA Micro-Learn Library.”  Accessed January 14th, 2022, https://amta.ca/what-we-do/safety-training/amta-micro-learn-library-2/

7 – Alberta Labour History Institute.  2021.  “Workers’ History Workers’ Stories.”  Accessed January 14th, 2022, https://albertalabourhistory.org/historical-timeline/1970s/

8 – Government of Alberta.  1976.  “The Occupational Health and Safety Act.”  Bill 39, assented to May 19th, 1976.  Accessed from the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) on January 14th, 2022, https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/laws/astat/sa-1976-c-40/latest/sa-1976-c-40.html