Committees
Human Resources
The Human Resources Committee has continued their commitment to provide training and information sessions to the ECAO membership. In the Fall of 2006 several workshops were conducted on the Addendum to the Electrical Contractors Guide to WSIB which were offered in several locations across the province. The focus of the workshops was to provide updated information on regulatory changes within WSIB, for example Early Safe Return to Work. Participant feedback indicates they had a clearer understanding of the regulations and found the workshop to provide an excellent refresher on the proper use of forms and reporting processes. The Electrical Contractors Guide to WSIB is currently being rewritten and will be available for distribution sometime in the late Fall of 2007.
Another hot topic of interest within the electrical industry is ARC Flash hazards. ECAO has coordinated numerous workshops with CSAO to deliver information sessions on Electrical Regulations Updates 2006 and ARC Flash Hazard Awareness. These sessions have been very well attended and come highly recommended from those contractors who have participated in the workshops. These workshops are delivered at no charge to the industry and can be conducted at any location across the province.
The above workshops can be arranged to be delivered in any area within the province by contacting Susan Boorman at sboorman@ecao.org.
Future Building 2007
Future Building 2007 was held in Ottawa this Spring, and was very well attended by over 6,000 grade seven through grade twelve students. The interactive booth was overwhelmed with enthusiastic students participating in a variety of hands on projects which provided them with opportunities to gather information from the trade volunteers and obtain a small glimpse at the trade of Electrician. The HR committee continues to promote the awareness of the electrical trade through this event and others such as the 2007 Ontario Skills Competition being held in Kitchener in May.
Electrical Project Supervision
Electrical Project Supervision training continues to be delivered in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario. Other provinces are exploring the possibility of having the program delivered in their areas.
Provincial Advisory Committee for the Electrical Trades
Provincial Advisory Committee for the Electrical Trades continues to meet on a bi-monthly basis with HR Committee representatives acting as resource to the committee. Agenda items which continue to be discussed are Ratios, Trade Splintering, Provisional Certification, Exemptions. Six representatives currently serving on the PAC will be leaving as their terms have been completed. ECAO continues to promote the application for a representative from the Ottawa area to sit on the PAC. MTCU advised the PAC at their last meeting in April that all PAC representative applications are being reviewed by Minister Bentley and his decision on the appointments to the committee should be concluded sometime in May.
ECAO Contractor Guide to Accident Prevention Education Program (APEP)
ECAO Contractor Guide to Accident Prevention Education Program (APEP) is being developed as an information guide to contractors and their safety representatives. This guide will provide information on what APEP is and the contractor’s obligations to training under the program. A first in a series of information bulletins will be distributed to ECAO contractors starting in the Summer of 2007. The HR Committee will be encouraging contractors and their safety staff to respond to these bulletins with questions, concerns and comments on the subject of APEP training which will then be addressed in the guide.
COCA Occupational Health & Safety Committee
COCA Occupational Health & Safety Committee is regularly attended by ECAO staff to discuss and have input on a variety of issues concerning health and safety within the construction industry. Presently the committee is involved with WSIB on the Consultation Paper on Accreditation for Ontario Workplaces. Below is an excerpt from the Executive Summary of the consultation paper.
To fulfill the promise of its prevention mandate and leadership role, the WSIB proposes to establish a work place health and safety accreditation program, in consultation with key participants and stakeholders.
Workplace health and safety accreditation was proposed because it has the potential to promote the systematic prevention of injuries, illnesses and fatalities and to reduce the human, financial and societal costs they entail.
In this context the term “accreditation” refers to the recognition that a workplace’s occupational health and safety (OH&S) policies and programs meet an accepted standard.
The primary purpose of an accreditation program is to promote the adoption of a health and safety management system that includes world class policies, programs and practices in Ontario workplaces. An essential part of this objective is to recognize employers or organizations that have superior health and safety programs and performance, and who encourage others to achieve similar results.
ECAO Board of Directors and HR Committee members had the opportunity to review the consultation paper and provide their responses which were submitted to COCA’s OH&SC.
Assurance has been given that this is a voluntary program and other existing accreditation programs such as the Quality Connection Health & Safety Program will be recognized. Recognition of other existing programs will go through a screening process to ensure that elements within these existing programs match those of the WSIB program. In other words there may be one or two elements that are not within an existing program that will have to be completed in order to be accepted for recognition. Therefore the entire program does not have to be completed just the missing elements.