Big challenges for small organizations

To me, CCOHS’ value is reaffirmed when other national health and safety organizations access our information and recognize that our expertise on prevention issues can make a positive impact on their own challenges.

That happened last week when delegates from the Korean Occupational Health and Safety Administration (KOSHA) visited CCOHS to learn about Canada’s perspective on health and safety program access for small to medium-sized enterprises (SME). Their concern arises from the fact that 80% of lost-time accidents in Korea occur in small organizations, and wanted more insights as to how CCOHS has improved accessibility by SMEs through its online and social media strategies that involve plain language programs targeted at small organizations in Canada.

Our meeting was extremely fruitful and they left with practical solutions that involve many of our online solutions. We also toured a successful small organization that has implemented progressive health and safety policies. By doing so, the KOSHA delegates were able to see first-hand the results of these strategies, and to talk directly to company management and staff about their successes and challenges.

Thanks to Larry Masotti at Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS) for coordinating the site visit to Brabender Technologie.

Our initiatives for SMEs have received significant interest from jurisdictions throughout Canada, and now from international organizations because I believe we share similar challenges with awareness and accessibility to SMEs and a similar desire and focus to improve in that respect.