Partners in Prevention 2011 April 13, 2011 Brian Curran P. Eng. Investing in Community Safety

Partners in Prevention 2011 April 13, 2011

Brian Curran P. Eng.

Investing in Community Safety

Today’s Workplace Environment

• Many jobs have little risk exposure

• Extensive surveillance on jobsite

• Workplace training and job procedures

• Significant consequences for companies that don’t maintain a safe work environment

• Systematic effort to reduce injuries

Workplace Injury Trends

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Allowed Lost-Time Injuries/Illnesses

100,726 104,154 98,359 95,568 93,234 90,397

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009


89,734 83,179 80,863 78,256 64,824

Workplace Injury Trends …lower

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003


100,726 104,154 98,359 95,568 93,234 90,397

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009


89,734 83,179 80,863 78,256 64,824 4%p/a reduction over 10 year

period

Safety can’t end at the factory gate!

• Workplace injuries are still too high but the trend is in the right direction

• But, a safer workplace can’t be our only goal

• We need a safer community

• And businesses can help meet that goal and there is a model to help achieve it

Source:

U.S. Workplace Injuries vs Non Workplace Injuries

Off the job At Work

•146 million workers at risk

•53,200 off-the-job deaths

•9.4 million off-the-job disabling injuries

•$240.3 billion in off-the-job costs to society

•146 million workers at risk

•4,988 on-the-job deaths

•3.7 million on-the-job disabling injuries

•$164.7 billion in on-the-job costs to

society

Source: http://www.nsc.org/safety_home/BringSafetyHome/Pages/Bring_safety_home.aspx Copyright 1995-2010

http://www.nsc.org/safety_home/BringSafetyHome/Pages/Bring_safety_home.aspx

Non Workplace Injury Trends….higher

• Since 1992, the death rate from injuries in home and community settings increased 30 percent.

• Over the same period, the death rate for workplace injuries declined

17 percent and the death rate for motor vehicle collisions decreased by 16 percent.

• Accidents accounted for more than 24 million nonfatal injuries in 2005 in the US. (Is there a more recent statistic?...might want to replace with slide 71 from Unintentional injury highlights)

Some Questions

• Workplace injuries going down, non workplace injuries going up. Why the Disconnect?

• Does Northern Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie in particular have an injury pattern different from that of the province?

• Why should businesses care about non workplace injuries?

Why The Disconnect ?

• Many businesses especially those that operate in hazardous environments know the legal and financial consequences of workplace injuries

Cost of a workplace/non workplace injury

• The cost of an average workplace lost time injury in Ontario in 2004 was just over $59,000 (Is there a more

recent number )In 2007, the average cost (direct and indirect) to employers of a lost-time workplace injury was $106,500. http://www.news.ontario.ca/mol/en/2009/05/ontario-protecting-young-and-new-workers.html

• The amount of money it takes to offset the cost of an

accident and injury in a business depends on the profit margin. If the profit margin is 10% it will require $590,000 in sales to recover $59,000 in profits before taxes.

• If fines are involved, the cost is much higher.

Why The Disconnect ?

• Many businesses especially those that operate in hazardous environments know the legal and financial consequences of workplace injuries

• Businesses take an analytical approach to injury prevention and invest accordingly

• Businesses impress on their workers the need for safety

Why are non workplace injuries increasing?

• Aging Population?

• Better Reporting?

• Statistics are not available

Distinctive Injury Patterns?

• Every 4 minutes in Northern Ontario, one person visits an emergency department

• Every hour one person is hospitalized with an injury

• The emergency department visit rate in Northern Ontario is 1.5 times higher than the provincial rate

• The hospitalization rate is 1.7 times higher in Northern Ontario than in the rest of the province

Northern Ontario Factors

• Northern Ontario represents nearly 90% of Ontario’s land mass, but less than 10% of the provincial population

• Northern Ontario differs from the rest of the province in a number of ways:– Weather conditions (e.g., longer winter season)– Distance to hospitals (e.g., access to specialty

health care)– Availability of recreational activities utilizing the

vast geographic region

A Sault Ste. Marie Statistic

• Based on injury data for the year ending March 31, 2005 Sault Ste. Marie was ranked 29th out of 541 communities in Ontario (with 1 being the worst community for injuries)

• Ranking done by Safe Communities Canada

SAH 2010 Emergency Visits

Cause of Injury by ICD 10 code

Place of Occurrence, Home

Place of Occurrence: trade and service area

Place of Occurrence: industrial and construction area

Unspecified fall 87 24 4

Fall on and from stairs and steps

51 17 3

Fall on and from ladder 13 5 NA

Striking against or struck by other objects

78 31 19

Caught, crushed, jammed or pinched in or between objects

22 27 32

Foreign body entering into or through eye, natural orifice or skin

24 23 19

Assault by bodily force 19 26 1

Why Should Businesses Care

• Direct costs (health care costs arising from injuries): $10.72 billion

• Indirect costs (reduced productivity from hospitalization, disability, and premature death): $9.06 billion

• Total costs: $19.8 billion in 2004 (Source: Economic Burden of Injury SMARTRISK updated data not available at this time)

Why Should Businesses Care?

• We want our employees to go home safe at the end of their workday & we want them back safe the next morning

• The loss of a key employee will affect a business and the loss will increase with the length of the absence

• Businesses pay for health costs which are affected by the need to treat injuries

• Because businesses can bring resources and skill to injury prevention initiatives

How can injuries be prevented in a community?

• Community problems are best solved by those in the community

• A model for community action for injury prevention resides in the Safe Communities movement

The Attributes of Canadian Safe Communities

• LeadershipLeadership– Comprised of specified community organizations and individuals to assume a Comprised of specified community organizations and individuals to assume a

position of leadership focused on injury prevention and safety promotion position of leadership focused on injury prevention and safety promotion

• Priority SettingPriority Setting– Intervention programs based on systematic processes and methodologies for Intervention programs based on systematic processes and methodologies for

establishing prioritiesestablishing priorities

• SustainabilitySustainability– An operating budget which demonstrates sustainability and administrative An operating budget which demonstrates sustainability and administrative

capacitycapacity

• Community EngagementCommunity Engagement– A comprehensive and thoughtful plan to inform the community of injury A comprehensive and thoughtful plan to inform the community of injury

prevention priorities of The Safe Community Leadership Table, and to involve prevention priorities of The Safe Community Leadership Table, and to involve community members in intervention strategies community members in intervention strategies

Safe Communities Partnership in Sault Ste. Marie

Board of Directors

Executive Director

Algoma Council on Domestic Violence

CEO CharterRiskwatchSlips Trips and FallsKidsSafe AlgomaElder Abuse

Prevention Council

Sault Rising Stars

Smart Grad Kidz Summer

Saffety Festival

Standardized Safety Orientation

Safe Communities PartnershipCommittees

• GOAL:• To have an injury free graduation season by way of

promoting Safe Grad messages to all graduating students in Sault Ste. Marie working with community partners and student volunteers.

• To Provide advice & direction on the planning, implementation and evaluation of the program as it pertains to Safe Graduation activities.

• • REPORTING:• The Safe Grad Committee reports to the Ontario

Provincial Police which has become the lead agency in this campaign.

• OBJECTIVES:• Host a community wide communication campaign

to increase the level of awareness regarding the risks, including the risk of injuries associated with AOD use and their consequences.

• To sustain an appropriate partnerships including students

• To increase the number of effective initiatives to prevent Alcohol & Other Drug (AOD) abuse among youth

• To reduce the proportion of licensed drivers that report driving after consuming at least 2 drinks in the previous hour.

Safe Grad Committee


• One of the initiatives of the council is the Neighbors, Friends and Family Program which plans for and encourages the program 's message: Violence is Everyone's Business. The program reaches out to groups, large and small, to hold informational meetings regarding the nature of family violence and how all persons can play some part in stopping abuse and safely assisting victims and their families.


• Risk Watch is a curriculum based initiative designed to help children and families create safer homes and communities by teaching students in classrooms, the knowledge they need to make positive choices about their personal injury prevention behaviours

• The Risk Watch program is in all city schools, an achievement shared by only one other Canadian city.


• Its mission is to increase the public's awareness that unintentional, preventable injuries are the leading threat to children under the age of 15 and to collaborate with communities and groups to reduce the incidence and severity of those injuries.

PROJECTS • Car Restraint System

Training/Inspections • Helmet Safety • Safe Kids Week Annual Campaign • Period of Purple Crying DVD’s • Car Seat DVD’s


Elder Abuse Prevention Council

Goals• Raise awareness and understanding

of the issues, resources and implications of abuse of older persons through sharing information

• Educate people on how to recognize abuse of older persons stimulating research into abuse, neglect and exploitation of older adults

• Collaborate on development of tools that increase individual and societal capacity to advocate for the cessation of abuse and neglect of older persons

• Facilitate review of public policy and formulation of plans to bridge the gap to prevent a lapse in service provision


Falls are Predictable and Preventable

Goals and Objectives:• Increase the quality of life for older adults

by promoting the reduction of falls and fall related injuries in Algoma.

• Reduce the incidence of admission into LTC facilities by promoting falls prevention strategies.

• Promote healthy well being through active living, healthy eating, home hazard reduction, safe medication use, maintaining healthy bones and adaptation to sensory changes.

• Promote development of falls prevention policies

• Educate older adults, their caregivers and professional care providers about falls risk factors and prevention strategies.

Slip, Trips and Falls Committee


The Sault Rising stars are an acting troupe and originated as an offshoot of the Slips Trips and Falls subcommittee, however are now an independent committee

Goal: Raise awareness of injury prevention among local seniors through the delivery of vignettes geared to ward seniors safety at home and in the community


• The purpose of the CEO Charter Committee is to establish a local presence of the existing national CEO Charter group so that local CEO’s can enjoy the same benefits of membership in the national charter as their southern Ontario counterparts.

• Members of the Safe Communities CEO Charter Group benefit from the opportunity to share resources and experiences through mentoring and networking opportunities.

• The Safe Communities CEO Charter Group works to identify and develop initiatives that are appropriate to the needs of the CEO with respect to Health and Safety in the north.

Partners in SafetyPartners in Safety

Safe Communities Partnership in Sault Ste. Marie

• 2002, by city Council resolution, Safe Communities Partnership became the umbrella organization for injury prevention initiatives in Sault Ste. Marie

• 2003, designated by the World Health Organization as an international safe community, an honour shared among only 6 Canadian communities

• 2004 implementation of Standardized Safety Orientation

• 2002-2006 recipient of Safe Communities Canada Awards of Excellence

• 2008 recipient of CN award

• 2009 re-designated as an international Safe Community by World Health Organization

We can make a difference!We can make a difference!

• Businesses have shown the way in injury prevention

• We need business participation; its resources and its skills

• The payback:– Reinforcement of your safety culture at work and at

home– A more secure workforce– Lower health care costs– A safer & more secure community

Documents

Partners in Prevention 2011 April 13, 2011 Brian Curran P. Eng. Investing in Community Safety