NAOSH 2001 puts the focus on prevention

Page 15

"Prevention is the Cure" is the theme of this year's North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week, May 6 to 12.

The goal of NAOSH week is to get a message out to employers, employees and the public about the importance of injury and illness prevention in the workplace.

As its name suggests, NAOSH Week is held continent-wide, with prevention awareness activities held in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. In Saskatchewan, NAOSH Week is being co-ordinated and promoted by Saskatchewan Labour, Human Resources Development Canada, the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board, the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, the Saskatchewan Safety Council, and Saskatchewan safety associations.

The objectives set out this year's NAOSH Week include increasing understanding of the benefits of investing in occupational safety and health, raising awareness of the importance of safety and health, and reducing workplace injuries and illnesses through promoting safety and health activities.

Each year, about 800,000 workplace accidents occur in Canada. In Saskatchewan, more than 30,000 workers become ill, or are injured or killed on the job every year.

Workplace accidents cost the Canadian economy more than $9 billion every year in direct and indirect costs. In Saskatchewan, the cost of direct compensation for workplace accidents is more than $140 million each year. Add to that the human costs in pain, suffering and grief, and the importance of workplace illness and injury prevention becomes clearly evident.

The message organizer's of NAOSH Week in Saskatchewan want to get across is this: Integrating health and safety into all work practices and processes helps make sure everyone at work think "safety first."

For more information about NAOSH Week in Canada, visit the NAOSH Web site at http://www.naosh.ca. For more information about Occupational Safety and Health in Saskatchewan, visit the Saskatchewan Labour Web site at http://www.labour.gov.sk.ca.

New Internet portal

Access to Canadian information on occupational health and safety (OHS) has become simplified, thanks to a newly updated Internet portal launched by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

The new Web site-CanOSH -is designed to provide Canadians with a convenient and efficient way to access health and safety information from various Canadian sources, including federal, provincial and territorial government agencies responsible for occupational health and safety, Worker's Compensation Boards, and the CCOHS itself.

CCOHS is Canada's national occupational health and safety centre, a non-profit organization established in 1978 by the government of Canada to foster and improve the prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses in Canada. CCOHS collects, evaluates and distributes information on workplace health, safety and environmental issues from sources around the world.

The new CanOSH Website was officially launched in February, making it Canada's most extensive gateway to occupational health and safety services and information.

The Web site provides links to occupational health and safety Websites, as well as OHS-related search engines, legislation, publications, statistics, training, research, good practices, programs, news and events, on-line discussion groups and resources.

People across Canada can use the information found through the indexed portal to be informed of their legal requirements and improve workplace health and safety practices. They can also easily search, find and compare what jurisdictional information is available to them via a colour-coded map of Canada, or a new navigational legend, helping to greatly reduce the time spent trying to find dependable, high-quality OHS information on other Websites.

"Both CCOHS and our federal, provincial and territorial government partners have assembled a wealth of high-quality OH&S information and services," said CCOHS president Len Hong. "The site has undergone majr changes in an effort to make it a more practical tool for Canadians. We're pleased to have an online system for sharing information with each other and with the Canadian workers and employers we serve, in a continued effort to reduce workplace illness and injuries."

The new CanOSH Web site is at http://www.canoshweb.org.