Is there a pattern in your workplace safety incidents?
What story do your trending safety issues tell?
An organization can learn a lot by examining trending issues, identifying patterns, and then applying a lens of curiosity to determine what story they’re telling.
An organization can learn a lot by examining trending issues, identifying patterns, and then applying a lens of curiosity to determine what story they’re telling.
What are Trending Safety Issues?Trending safety issues are the issues, problems, or concerns that keep coming up over and over. When an issue arises once and is swiftly and effectively resolved, it’s not a trend. But when the same things happen more than once, patterns start to form, and these become trending safety issues in the workplace. These issues may be minor, such as JHSC members consistently identifying the same housekeeping concerns month to month, or major such as more than one staff being seriously injured during the same work process.
The Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) is a key player in documenting and identifying safety trends in the workplace. They are also responsible for making recommendations to ensure that safety issues are controlled, and trending issues are addressed. |
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When you have a pattern or trend you want to investigate further, start looking beyond what’s in front of you
Where to Look
You don’t need to be a detective to identify trending issues in the workplace, but it helps if you know where to look! There are many sources of information available to you. Trending issues may be apparent in one source, and relatively easy to identify. Or you may need to dig a little deeper and look at trends across multiple sources to identify a trending issue.
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First Aid Logs
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Regulation 1101 – First Aid Requirements, employers must keep a record of all circumstances respecting an accident, including the first aid treatment given. Most employers use a first aid log to track this information. Look at the log. What is it telling you? Look for patterns and repeated incidences, or incidences similar in nature. Look for excessive use of one item in the first aid kit. For example, are many band-aids being used to cover cuts all resulting from one sharp tool? Is one employee using more first aid supplies? |
JHSC Minutes
The JHSC minutes are an excellent place to identify trending issues. Look at the past three-six months. What issues keep coming up month after month? Are they the same issue that’s not been resolved, or is the control so ineffective that the issue re-occurs month to month despite the efforts of the JHSC? |
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Accident and Injury Reports
Accident and injury reports are an obvious place to identify trends. A staunch safety expert might suggest that any more than one accident that results in an injury or certainly fatality indicates an alarming trend. Accidents and injuries that happen with any regularity indicate a trending issue. |
Ministry of Labour, Training, and Skills Development Inspections
The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD) could definitely be identifying a problematic pattern if they keep having to come to your workplace! Frequent visits, tickets, or involvement due to critical injuries or fatalities all point to one or more trending safety issues. The Grapevine While hearsay and gossip are never encouraged or recommended as sources of truth, the so-called grapevine could help identify trending issues. What are employees talking about? Have you heard grumbling about missing guards or lack of training, even though it hasn’t been officially reported? If you are hearing a lot of the same complaints, it’s worth looking into. |
Nothing will make your JHSC more effective and efficient than JHSC Training.
Pulling it Together
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When you have a pattern or trend you want to investigate further, start looking beyond what’s in front of you. For example, if the MLTSD has been at your workplace a few times due to work refusals, the surface trend is that a lot of employees are exercising their right to refuse unsafe work. But if you look deeper and determine the “why,” or the root cause, you may find the story is a little different. Maybe you find that employees are refusing the work because a new piece of machinery was brought in and that no one was given training on the various safety features. Once you have a root cause in place, you can provide safety training, create SOPs and job aids, and ensure all required PPE is available. Now your story has a happy ending.
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Get TrainedNothing will make your JHSC more effective and efficient than JHSC training. Having certified members on the JHSC ensures that your organization is compliant and operating properly and that the JHSC is equipped to both identify trending issues and make recommendations for effective controls. To maximize the effectiveness of your JHSC, ensure that all JHSC members get certified. Members who are already certified can benefit from JHSC Refresher training.
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Trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting
MidSouthWest Training and Consulting provides JHSC training in association with Langlois Safety Training and Consulting Services, an approved CPO Provider. We offer in-house and on-site JHSC Part One, Part Two, and Refresher training, and our training is now also available via distance learning. You can trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting to provide you with cost-effective training solutions tailored to meet your organization’s unique health and safety needs.
To learn more, contact us online or call 289.309.1143. Visit us 24/7 on the web at midsouthwest.ca.
To learn more, contact us online or call 289.309.1143. Visit us 24/7 on the web at midsouthwest.ca.
Last updated November 2, 2021
