We are committed to a safe and injury free work environment for all our employees, contractors, customers, vendors and visitors.
We have implemented policies and procedures to aid in the prevention of occupational injuries, illnesses and accidents, such as:
- A comprehensive health and safety policy setting out standard operating procedures geared toward hazards present in our specific operations;
- Extensive in person pre-employment training and continued ongoing training, both in person and through our health and safety portal;
- Prompt reporting of lost time incidents and other leading indicators to the management team;
- Corporate, regional and local health and safety professionals who have advanced health and safety training;
- Benchmarking of our performance versus industry and competitor data;
- Engagement of independent third-party experts to advise on health and safety matters where appropriate; and
- Engagement with governmental agencies to review our program
Management continuously monitors our health and safety performance. We focus on monitoring and reducing the number of loss time accidents and their severity.
We also carefully monitor leading indicators such as first aids and medical aids and dedicate additional resources and attention to any operation with above average incident rates or indicators.
The table below shows our primary health and safety metrics and the number of employees over the last three years.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Employees | 3,501 | 3,350 | 3,300 |
| Number of Lost Time Accidents | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Number of Lost Time Days | 201 | 289 | 613 |
| Frequency1 | 0.20 | 0.24 | 0.33 |
| Severity2 | 5.80 | 8.65 | 19.93 |
| Medical Aids3 | 116 | 101 | 111 |
| First Aids4 | 170 | 136 | 110 |
1 Frequency is calculated using the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z16.4 Code, Method of Recording and Measuring Work Injury Experience. The calculation is an industrial standard and is obtained by multiplying the number of lost time injury cases by 200,000, and then dividing that number by the number of hours worked by employees of the company in such year.
2 Severity is calculated using the ANSI standard as is obtained by multiplying the number of lost time days by 200,000, and then dividing that number by the number of hours worked by employees in such year.
3 Medical Aid is defined as treatment by a medical professional for illness or injury.
4 First Aid is defined as any assistance given to any person for illness or injury, where professional assistance is not required
Our health and safety program is overseen and directed jointly by our President and Chief Executive Officer and Vice President, Service Center Operations who report on health and safety directly to the Environmental Management and Health & Safety Committee of our Board. Our management teams have received specific health and safety training. In addition, each operation and health and safety manager has had extensive training and all employees have a responsibility for a safe workplace and to report any items which may lead to an unsafe environment.
Our health and safety performance is reviewed quarterly by our Board and our Environmental Management and Health & Safety Committee meets a minimum of three times a year. Our Board of Directors visits operating locations to provide the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the potential hazards of our workplace environment.
Our legislated occupational health and safety requirements fall under provincial jurisdiction in Canada and federal jurisdiction in the U.S and we believe that we are in compliance with all such requirements. Management assurance that these requirements are met is accomplished by audits of our facilities on a rotational basis and continuous monitoring of safety performance. Our facilities are required to achieve a minimum score of 80% on the audit, failing which a remediation plan is developed and they are re-audited within 60 days. Any deficiencies identified, pass or fail, are followed up until the items are closed. In 2022 and 2023, the number of audits that corporate health and safety completed were 51 and 47 audits respectively. Our internal auditors conduct a high-level compliance audit to identify open matters that have not been resolved.