News & Events
BCA News
IHSA Member Update
Publication date: 26th January 2010
January 25, 2010
IHSA Member Update
22 January 2010
As we move forward in amalgamating the three founding organizations of the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), I believe it is important to keep our member firms up to date on our progress and our plans.
Customer Focus
First and foremost, I want to ensure that we continue to provide high-value-added prevention services to our entire membership. We will do this by becoming much more customer focused. Our short-term plans to support this are as follows:
1. We are building a database of email addresses for all of our 75,000-plus members. This will allow us to communicate frequently in a much more cost-effective manner. Today we have email addresses for approximately 12% of our members—our goal is 100% in the next six to nine months.
2. We are holding a meeting for all trade associations and trade unions on February 8, 2010 at CHSI from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM to update our valued stakeholders on our progress to date and on our plans.
3. We are planning a series of member/client focus groups throughout the province in May 2010 to collect information on the existing and emerging requirements and expectations of our membership.
4. We will conduct a member/client satisfaction survey to ensure we are meeting the expectations of our membership.
5. From March 9 to 17, we will hold a series of information sessions regarding the IHSA Advisory Councils. The purpose of the meetings will be as follows:
• Outline the role of the Advisory Councils
• Selection of the initial members of each of the advisory councils
• Discuss the process for the formation of the initial IHSA Board of Directors
• Schedule advisory council meetings for the remainder of 2010.
The purpose of the advisory councils as described in our terms of reference is as follows:
REQUIREMENT FOR ADVISORY COUNCILS
To facilitate the objectives of Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), the membership may be organized into Advisory Councils as follows:
• Transportation
• Residential
• General ICI
• Heavy Civil & Aggregates
• Mechanical
• Electrical
• Priority Rates.
PURPOSE OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
To serve as a forum providing sector-specific expertise to assist IHSA in the achievement of its mission which is to enable the workplaces of its rate groups to work toward zero injuries.
ROLE OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Advisory Councils may perform the following functions:
(a) Serve as a formal mechanism to exchange ideas and concerns related to the programs, services and products provided by IHSA.
(b) Provide sector advice to IHSA on its programs, services and products.
(c) Provide feedback to IHSA on the quality and effectiveness of programs and products in the education of the workforce and the elimination of incidents, injuries and loss in the workplace.
(d) Identify existing and emerging occupational health and safety issues and trends to support the strategic development of new initiatives.
(e) Provide a forum for the exchange of health and safety information between IHSA, members of the Advisory Council and selected guests.
(f) Act as advocates of IHSA by supporting and promoting the activities and initiatives of IHSA and participate in Association events and programs as appropriate.
A separate communication will be sent out outlining the specific dates, times and locations of the meetings.
Improvement in the Prevention System
IHSA has been actively participating in the ongoing system-wide discussions addressing how the entire prevention system can become more effective and efficient.
On March 2, 2010, the WSIB will be holding a meeting for the existing Boards of the four new Health & Safety organizations to discuss the progress and the plans for the system. It will be an opportunity for our Board members to participate in crafting the changes to the prevention system in Ontario.
Our Structure
We have recently announced an organizational structure that has been put in place to ensure we continue to provide prevention services as well as manage the amalgamation process. The new structure will have the following five organizational units:
• Prevention—Core Services, located at our Voyager Court office. This unit will have a team of skilled field consultants, located throughout the province, who will provide the fundamental services to our clients regardless of their industry. These services will include but not be limited to consulting, basic certification, JHSC training, and supervisory training.
• Prevention—Specialty Services, located at our Voyager Court office. This team will tackle our customers’ unique, industry-specific needs. There will be an expanded utilization of the Skills Development Centre.
• Technical Services, located at our Voyager Court office. This unit will comprise our research and development work. The team will investigate the underlying causes and effective controls for workplace hazards. They will develop our training programs and technical resources. They will also address our customers’ occupational-health needs.
• Client Services, located at our CHSI office. This unit will forge strong links between IHSA and the customers we serve. The team will engage and support our labour-management network, Safety Groups, and advisory boards. It will also provide our customers with the critical information they need, and get feedback to improve our service.
• Corporate Services, located at our CHSI office. This is the unit that—behind the scenes—supports all of our work. It will include such areas as human resources, finance, and information technology. The customer-support team will strive to achieve the highest standards of customer satisfaction.
Future Plans
To ensure we meet the objectives of the amalgamation, we are working on the following:
• We are about to begin a process-improvement project that will map all of our existing processes to enable us to review and analyse them for effectiveness, efficiency and reliability. Once the analysis is completed, we will create new processes for IHSA that ensure we deliver outstanding frontline service as well as effective and efficient support services.
• We are working on the development of a new business model. As you know, the three founding organizations had different practices in terms of charging for services. Each of the existing practices is being reviewed in line with the expectations of our membership.
• We are working intensely on providing more frontline resources. The following chart outlines our plans for 2010. I believe this will represent the minimum increase in frontline staff:
Month Frontline Consultants
Oct-09 91
Dec-09 93
Dec-10 98
As we continue to move forward, we will continually strive to eliminate workplace injuries and illness. Please feel free to contact me at mdelisle@ihsa.ca to discuss this report and our new association. I look forward to providing you with prevention services that are value-added and world-class in design and execution.
Sincerely,
Michael Delisle
President and CEO
Infrastructure Health and Safety Association