Today’s Virtual Breakfast Meeting had the privilege of welcoming our newest member: Kate Baillie, VP Marketing & Communications at Technical Safety BC.  Kate shared that one of Technical Safety BC’s key pillars is education: getting out into the field and talking about how to help organizations make better decisions and finding out what this most important to each organization when it comes to safety.  To Technical Safety BC, “safety-minded” decision making is key, being more about people than it is about equipment. The decisions that people make for maintenance, decommissioning or upgrading equipment are the first line of defence to avoid any safety issues.  We are looking forward to Kate sharing more information and case studies with our members in the coming months.

Discussions around COVID-19 revealed potential issues with communication to staff regarding a case of potential contact. Should you have a case of staff having had potential contact, how you communicate the information is crucial to avoid panic within your team. Be clear and concise (was it a case of a person in the building having tested positive for COVID-19, or was it a case where someone came into contact 2^nd or 3^rd party with someone who tested positive?) Staff needs to understand when/how the contact occurred while being cognizant of privacy of the individual in question.

We are all reminded about the issue of complacency both in our personal lives as well as in our organizations. With our bubbles expanding due to kids going to school and others, we are in contact with opening up their own bubbles, we need to be extra vigilant to maintain proper distancing and sanitizing protocols. We are all concerned about how we’ll survive the winter. It won’t be so easy to social distance outside socially or for meetings when the days get shorter and the weather turns.  Remember that some individuals might struggle with mental health and wellbeing over this period. Please remember to address this in your communications with your team regularly and be sensitive to these issues as we head into the winter months.

 

Our Virtual Breakfast Forum today revolved around international (US) work issues and concerns about a second wave of COVID-19.

While the border to the United States is closed for non-essential travel, members have been identifying concerns within their organizations with this closure not being good for business.  Customers are impacted, skilled personnel and physical resources are scarce. The US has been enormously impacted and there seems to be no end in sight. Members are keeping a close eye on how the pandemic is impacting our neighbours to the south and preparing for the possibility of a second wave in BC. There is also a concern about travel to other areas across the country and many people prefer to stay close to home.

Many jobs have been and will continue to be impacted. Automation is replacing tasks otherwise being performed by humans. This seems to be increasing production efficiency as well as human safety in some dangerous conditions. Working from home is becoming preferable for many people and regardless of what happens, it seems that some prefer to not go back. If you are bringing staff back it is important to have an MOU of the tasks that they are expected to perform, and have this documented and signed off by the returning staff.

Many members also commented on having had very positive experiences working with WorksafeBC during COVID-19.

As we enter into the summer months, we’ll be hosting one meeting per month for July and August.  July 9^th will be a special guest speaker, Andrea Zwack, who will talk about legal issues arising from the pandemic.  Included in this will be the Temporary Layoff period, union issues, protected leave, workers who don’t want to return to work and WBC requirements.

Thanks to Dr. Joti Samra for a very relevant and informative presentation on psychological health and safety in the workplace.  As we have all experienced, COVID-19 has had a universal impact on all of us personally, and our organizations. Our work and personal lives have collided in a way they never have before. We need to think seriously about work/life integration and harmony for ourselves and our employees. As leaders, being flexible and adaptable is key. Authentic, vulnerable & compassionate leadership goes a long way to helping keep stable mental and physical health in the workplace.

Interestingly, we noticed a very strong correlation between our weekly Breakfast Forums’ regular topics and the key takeaway from today’s presentation: having open, strong, and frequent communication with your teams.  Train your management team to evaluate employees for signs of distress, anxiety, or performance changes on their usual baseline performance. Notice the issue, then check in with the colleague, stating the observation neutrally, identify that it’s different from their normal performance and ask what you can do to support them.

Following the presentation, Dr. Samra shared several resources with our group, including her “open virtual office hours” where she will make herself available for questions. Dr. Samra invited everyone to reach out to her during her next time slot, Tuesday, June 2^nd at 2pm. Visit www.myworkplacehealth.com and sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the website. Links to other resources are also available – if you missed them, please email George directly at gwhiggins@ehscbc.ca to obtain them.

We now are moving to a bi-weekly format. We invite you to join us on our next Breakfast Forum check in call on Thursday, June 11^th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all that joined us on our 4^th virtual Breakfast Forum. Some more great discussions around the current activities/concerns about COVID-19 in the workplace.

We came away realizing that there were four common topics within today’s discussions:

• Mental health of leaders and staff both on-site at the workplace and those working from home
• Communication is key (both for ongoing support and on a return to work/reopening rollout plan)
• What return to work/reopening will look like – don’t move too quickly
• Positive outcomes, lessons learned and silver linings

There are two groups of people in each organization – those who want to come into work due to either social aspects or challenges with working from home and those who are more productive and thrive in the home environment. In both scenarios, we need to be aware of the mental health effects of COVID-19 for both groups, for those individuals who are off work, and when it comes time to bring people back to work.  We should expect an increase in emotional concerns at about the 3-6 month mark of return to work. Make sure you’re talking to your teams and having open conversations. There are resources available free of charge on the Diversified Rehabilitation website: ptsdrecovery.ca

It is imperative that as leaders we continue to support our teams with regular communication be it through town hall meetings virtually, one on one touch bases or newsletters. With Premier Horgan’s recent announcement of phase 2 beginning next week, there will be some organizations that are preparing to shift towards a resumption of work or reopening. Reopening for your organization may be creating a different structure with additional precautions in place. Be clear in your communications with your expectations of how this will look in your own organizations. Ensure that you’re involving your teams in these discussions for their buy-in.

It was widely agreed that in terms of return to work/reopening, it would be catastrophic to ease up on the new policies put in place in the workplace too quickly. A few things that organizations can do to continue to maintain safe practices are:

• Split shifts to separate staff and staff continuing to work from home.
• Temperature checks and making sure staff know to stay at home when they are sick.
• reducing overlapping shifts
• For those in the office, have measures in place for physical distancing, cleaning and sanitizing regularly (ie every 4 hours)
• Masks offered to all employees
• Crews working alternate shifts, staggered break times for everyone to allow each to have their own table in the lunchroom
• “Parking lot meetings” for suppliers and clients to avoid unnecessary entry into the workplace

Our participants widely agreed that one big positive outcome is the increase of face-time in front of their teams, and more regular communication has been established. A few tips were shared for keeping things interesting, engaging and connective – have a different team member chair some of your daily meetings, or have meeting participants each share a personal story of how they have been affected by COVID-19.

We hope you’ll join us next week on May 14^th at 8:00 am to join in on the continued discussions.

 

EHSC Virtual Breakfast Forum
8:00 – 9:00am
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Zoom Conference Call

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topic: WorkSafe BCs Approach to COVID-19

We had a fantastic turnout this week for a special presentation by Worksafe BC at this week’s EHSBC Breakfast Forum. COVID-19 is top of mind for all of us, so it was very timely for the group to learn about the approach WSBC is taking with regards to managing workplaces during the pandemic.

WSBC is taking guidance from Public Health officers to develop an approach on how to evaluate employers & workers in essential service organizations that had to remain open.  It is understood that maintaining physical distancing can be challenging in many workplaces due to the types of jobs that are being done, and using PPE in the various workplaces can be difficult. WSBC is still open for business, however, they are now doing 50% of their inspections remotely to avoid putting officers at risk.

WSBC considers these factors when offering consultations with employers vis-à-vis COVID-19 and the workplace:

• does this particular work need to be done, or by workers in the same environment at the same time, and how can we best maintain the physical distance?
• How is the employer controlling the workers on-site?
• Do all workers need to be at work?
• Is the employer identifying everything that must be done to prevent exposure?
• Does the facility have adequate hygiene at the workplace (washing stations with soap or sanitizer)?
• Do staff know not to come to work if not feeling well? Is the organization supportive of this?
• Ensuring that workers are included as part of this wellness discussion to get worker buy-in
• Employers should encourage workers to keep their minds on task as best as possible to avoid distraction that might lead to physical injury, resulting from mental health concerns due to the pandemic

WSBC reports that they have seen employers doing things to help protect workers such as:

• staggering shifts
• ensuring adequate cleaning of horizontal surfaces regularly
• ensuring availability of washing stations, soap or sanitizer and paper towel
• appointing an onsite “COVID-19 Officer” to review practices to make sure people are adhering to the provincial health guidelines at all times

WSBC is not mandating that workers wear a facemask upon return to work, but that employers review the overall possibility of transmission and prevention.

If a workplace has a positive case of COVID-19, if it is presumed to be work-related then their regular reporting of injury needs to be adhered to, to determine if the workplace was the cause.

Employers still have an obligation to ensure their employees’ health and safety when they are working from home. WSBC recommends to employers to prepare a checklist/self-assessment tool to run through when staff is at home to ensure there is an appropriate setup, the area is adequately lit, etc.

WSBC has created a fantastic resource page on their website with a page dedicated to COVID-19. The to this is in the Resources tab on the EHSCBC website https://ehscbc.ca/COVID-19-resources/.

WSBC has also set up a phone number open to both workers and employers, staffed by 30 prevention officers 24/7 to be available to answer questions. The number is:  604-276-3100.

Moving forward, WSBC is starting to turn attention to business resumption and how they can be of support, taking the lead from the provincial health office. Guidance for return to work is being formulated based on an industry by industry basis, working with Health and Safety Associations.