What is SAFE Work Certified?
SAFE Work Manitoba has established a standard for occupational safety and health in the province called SAFE Work Certified. The goal is to help reduce workplace injuries and illnesses and promote a culture of safety in Manitoba by working with safety associations, such as RPM Trucking Industry Safety, to offer safety and health certification to Manitoba employers that meets this standard.
RPM is a Certifying Partner with SAFE Work Manitoba. We assist SAFE Work in the administration and development of this safety certification program by providing training and advisory support to Manitoba’s trucking industry, and are working with dozens of Manitoba’s trucking companies to achieve SAFE Work Certification. Contact RPM for training and advisory supports to get a head start on certification.
Safety certification is built upon 10 foundational principles:
1. Be consistent with the Workplace Safety and Health Act and regulations and be designed to serve as a tool to help workplaces meet legislated safety and health requirements.
2. Provide generic occupational safety and health measures and audit process that can be used or adapted by industries to meet their sectors’ needs. The program must be designed to apply to all industries and include guidance on how it can be adapted to meet industry-specific needs.
3. Serve as a voluntary program that is accessible to all Manitoba workplaces. The program will be accessible and relevant to all Manitoba workplaces, including different industries and workplaces of all sizes.
4. Include a special certification program for small employers tailored to their specific needs and resources. Certification requirements, processes and tools will recognize and make provisions for the differences in practices, internal resources and legislated safety and health requirements between large and small employers.
5. Be coordinated and overseen by SAFE Work Manitoba and implemented by a network of safety associations acting as certifying partners. Certifying partners will be not-for-profit, industry-based safety associations that will facilitate workplace participation in the certification program by ensuring they obtain the needed training, auditing services and by making certification recommendations.
6. Emphasize and provide guidance for fostering a culture of safety and health within individual workplaces and throughout Manitoba. The program needs to serve as a roadmap to support workplaces in growing into and beyond certification, continually improving the effectiveness of their safety and health management systems. The certification program will highlight leading safety and health indicators and measures that go beyond certification requirements to build robust and industry-leading safety and health management systems, while fostering ever-growing commitment to safety and health within the workforce.
7. Emphasize the importance of active participation by workers in the safety and health management system of a workplace and the certification process. The certification program will acknowledge that workers and their representatives have detailed knowledge and experience regarding how work is accomplished and how it affects them. For this reason, worker involvement is crucial to creating meaningful improvements in their workplace. The program will include an integral role for workers in actively participating in training, safety and health management system development, hazard assessments, auditing, reviewing audit results and other aspects of the process.
8. Support the measurement of prevention performance by workplaces, industry associations and SAFE Work Manitoba. The program will provide tools for measuring progress, opportunities for improvement, and success.
9. Build on the strength of current certification programs, leveraging opportunities for improvement and building confidence between programs. Develop the program based on best practices, strengths and lessons learned from similar programs in other jurisdictions and here in Manitoba. The program should build upon existing certification programs, preserving and leveraging their strengths.
10. Incorporate robust quality assurance features, including processes and criteria for overseeing quality in the certification process (approving audit tools, oversight of certifying partners, reviewing and verifying of audit results, etc), evaluating quality and effectiveness of the program itself, and managing stakeholder issues such as complaints and concerns.