Did you miss Safety Day 2019? Find all the information right here

On October 1,2019, over 250 Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) and Local Safety Team (LST) members from across UBC Vancouver gathered in the Jack Poole Hall to celebrate and recognize achievement in making UBC Vancouver a safer place to work.

President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J. Ono opened Safety Day with an engaging introductory speech indicating UBC’s commitment to safety and shared his personal examples on the importance of safety. Check out his tweet from the day: https://twitter.com/ubcprez/status/1179055122921295872?s=20
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Safety & Risk Services and members of the Executive Management Team also acknowledged JOHSCs and LSTs. Andrew Szeri, Provost and Vice-President Academic and Ainsley Carry, Vice-President Students were present to provide opening remarks and discussed the role of the Executive Safety Management Team.
 

2019 Speakers

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Safety Awards

The annual “Innovative Safety Culture Promotion” awards recognizes the work of JOHSCs and LSTs that assist their departments or faculties in thee development and implementation of creative methods to:

  • Promote Safety Culture
  • Promote the committee or team across their area of responsibility
  • Reach out and provide safety assistance to the areas they represent
  • Address health and safety issues

Andrew Szeri, Provost and Vice-President Academic; Ainsley Carry, Vice-President Students and Gail Murphy, Vice-President Research and Innovation presented the following awards:

JOHSC Innovative Safety Culture Promotion Award

     

    Faculty of Arts JOHSC

    • Initiated a Faculty wide workplace ergonomics and wellness program
    • Hosted education campaigns to raise awareness
    • Distributed posters and emails to all units in the Faculty of Arts
    • Reached out to the Faculty Association for assistance with communication
    • Reached out to Classroom Services to explore general ergo related equipment as a classroom standard
    • Pilot program initiated in one Faculty of Arts unit where ergonomically safe equipment can be signed out by faculty as necessary

     
     
     
     
     
    Building Operations – Custodial JOHSC

    • Collaborated with Classroom Services to replace heavy blackboard with lighter ones as a result of reviewing incident statistics to reduce risk of injury to faculty and staff
    • Created an Standard Operating Procedure for service elevators
    • Promoted key safety messages through digital signage

     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    LST Innovative Safety Culture Promotion Award

     

    Klinck and Ponderosa Office Annex A LST
     

    • Conducted a working alone assessment followed by development of procedures and implementation
    • Updated onboarding process by working with local HR
    • Installed blind corner mirrors in corridors to decrease risk of hallway collisions
    • Replaced round door knobs with handles for ease of opening in the event of an emergency

     
     
     
     
     

    Earth Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS)/Earth Sciences Building (ESB) LST
     

    • Implemented a department wide policy requiring workers to submit safety orientation forms prior to permitting access to any department facility
    • Recognized the need to implement Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment process for field activities and as a result developed forms that need to be completed and submitted to head of department
    • Proactively identified dust issue in rock crushing room and worked with Building Operations and Safety & Risk Services to conduct an assessment and implement the recommendations

     
     
     
     

    Richard Hare Memorial Award

    The annual “Richard Hare Memorial” award is in honour of Richard Hare who was a CUPE 2950 safety advocate who worked in the UBC Library. Richard was a tireless advocate for safety on the Library Safety Team as well as the previous University Health & Safety Committee. The award is given to a worker representative who displays exceptional contribution to safety at UBC.
     
    2019 Recipient: Patrick Tamkee from Faculty of Science

    • Joined University 22 years ago
    • Chair of Zoology Safety team for 10+ years
    • Helped develop and implement a departmental Field Safety Procedure Template
    • Oversees the department new and young worker orientation program
    • Instrumental in the safe design and maintenance of the recently renovated InSEAS facility
    • Provides feedback and assistance on the implementation of pilot safety initiatives

     
     
     
     
     

    Resource Participants

    Thank You to all the UBC groups, unions associations as well as members of the community who set up booths providing the JOHSC and LST members with an opportunity to learn about the different services. The list of booths present at Safety Day were:

     

    If you attended Safety Day, give us your feedback. How we can improve the event next year? Complete our online survey.

    Safety is more than just one day. Thank you to all JOHSC and LST members for their continuing contributions to making UBC safer. If you are interested in helping improve safety at UBC Vancouver and attend next year’s Safety Day – join a JOHSC or LST! Contact Safety & Risk Services to express your interest.