Zero injuries possible

AHS reaffirms workplace safety goal on National Day of Mourning

Flags will fly half-mast at Alberta Health Services (AHS) sites across the province on April 28 to recognize the National Day of Mourning.

The day, recognized throughout Canada and North America, is an opportunity to remember workers who may have experienced a workplace incident that resulted in injury, illness or death.

AHS leadership is working hard to increase safety awareness to reach an ambitious goal: zero workplace injuries. A new strategy for Workplace Health and Safety is promoting a culture of safety across all workplaces in the organization.

“Safety begins fresh everyday,” says Annamarie Harper, senior advisor for Workplace Health and Safety in Lethbridge. “It’s a choice you make throughout the day and one you take with you everywhere. It’s an attitude that starts small and begins to percolate.

“Eventually, it can change our workplaces. We have a renewed commitment to creating a culture of safety. We believe zero injuries are possible.”

About 4,000 health-care workers at 32 southwest Alberta sites, including Lethbridge, recently went 68 days without a single lost-time work incident.

Why?

“We’re more safety aware,” says Harper, “and it’s making a difference.”

The new safety strategy has the support of the AHS Board, leadership and management. Each share a role and is accountable for ensuring AHS workplaces are safe, employees have the right tools to do the right job and hazards are identified and eliminated to avoid injuries. But the strategy goes further, by encouraging everyone to take responsibility for their own safety and the safety of co-workers.

“Every incident investigation comes down to choice. Everything is preventable. We’re asking all staff to do what’s right, to do what’s safe,” says Harper.

Todd Gilchrist, vice-president of Workplace Health and Safety, says safe health-care workplaces are directly linked to the quality and safety of patient care.

“Everyone who chooses to work safe in nutrition, laundry, maintenance or any of our frontline services contributes to a safe, healthy stay for our patients. We each share that responsibility,” he says.

Last year, AHS gardener Sheldon Miller died on the job at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. His co-workers will pause for a moment of silence April 28 and understand in a personal way the importance of creating safer and healthier workplaces for everyone.

“Sheldon Miller’s death should be the last one in Alberta Health Services,” Dr. Stephen Duckett, AHS president and chief executive officer, wrote in his blog shortly after Miller’s death.

“Safety is everyone’s concern. We can and will do better,” he vowed.

On April 28, AHS staff, physicians and volunteers are encouraged to take a moment in their work day to pause, remember and commit anew to working safer, making healthier choices and supporting one another in creating a workplace culture where safety matters.