Workforce Compliance Safety Ltd.

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Assisting Canadian Contractors with achieving and maintaining

Compliance with ISNetworld® Requirements since 2006

Winter Driving

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Happy New Year!

Preparing your work and personal vehicles is one step of winter driving that often gets overlooked. By now most of us have our Winter Tires and Wipers on, snow brushes in our vehicles, and have had winter Preventative Maintenance done, but is that enough? Safety professionals recommend that you also carry a first aid kit, triangles, water, snacks (granola bars and nuts are great!), and a blanket.

As we all saw near London and Sarnia Ontario mid December 2010 that a simple trip could lead to an extended, uncomfortable, wait for the weather to improve; leaving you stranded in your vehicle for days.

Before pulling out of your driveway you should:

  • check the weather, if the weather is or will be poor assess if the trip can wait.
  • ensure your gas tank is full, plan to top up often.
  • make sure you can see out of every window and every mirror is clear.
  • make sure your washer fluid is full and that you have extra windshield washer fluid (winter type of course!).
  • put extra weight in the back of your truck if you drive a pick up (sand bags and hockey equipment keep my truck weighted down!).
  • make sure you have your cell phone and ensure it is charged.

And now for the hard part…Driving! Stay safe and be prepared.

Meet Workplace Safety’s Newest Celebrity Spokesperson

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New safety videos have been created by the WHSCC. They address a number of key issues in occupational health and safety as told by an animated character called Rod Stickman. The video series offers tips for workers and employers alike on sprains and strains, returning to work, improving communication on workplace safety, avoiding slips and falls, and working from heights.

See the videos here: http://bit.ly/gb38Zx

Benefits of Insurance Agency uploading COI to ISNetworld®

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Each Owner Client (such as Encana, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Murphy Oil ….) have varying insurance submittal requirements on ISNetworld®.  For example each owner client has a varying coverage amount for Commercial General Liability and Automobile limits. As well, some Owner clients require a Waiver of Subrogation while others Owner Clients don’t require this. These differences in insurance requirements can get very confusing and time consuming to explain what is necessary to the Insurance agent for ISNetworld®. Therefore, ISNetworld® has added a new functionality to their website that allows the individual contractor to grant permission to their Insurance Company to upload the applicable insurance into ISNetworld®.  Once the insurance agency has been granted permission to upload the insurance into ISNetworld ®, the insurance agency can go ahead and upload and check that the insurance document has been passed in ISNetworld®.

The insurance agent is the expert at understanding coverage and completing certificates. Statistics show that when the Insurance agent uploads the insurance certificate (verses us or your Clients) is has a much higher chance of passing the first time.

The insurance agent must only sign up once with ISNetworld® using the following link

http://www.isnetworld.com/net/homepage/BrokerSignUp.aspx

which allows brokers or insurance agents to get signed up on ISNetworld®. The registration process is free and only needs to be completed once per insurance agent.

TransCanada Grading Scheme in ISNetworld®

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At the ISNetworld® User Group meeting in Red Deer, Alberta, the speaker indicated that they will manually add the worktypes that apply to your company in addition to those you have selected. They have a different grading scheme depending on whether you are a general Contractor or Prime Contractor.

  General Contractor Prime Contractor
MSQ 37.5% 25%
RAVS 25 37.5%
WCB 37.5% 37.5%

Alberta 2010 Workplace Injury and Fatality Records

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Albertans can now see information about worksite injuries and fatalities involving more than 140,000 employers insured by the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB). Government of Alberta, September 30, 2010

 The Alberta Government has recently posted information about Alberta employers including Lost Time Injuries, Lost Time Claims Rate, Fatalities, and whether companies have a COR/SECOR.

It is interesting to review but in my opinion it does not truly reflect the company Safety program. These statistics are easily misleading based on the following:

  • The company charged in the lost time injury may not be the direct employer.
  • Reporting of injuries may be driven underground due to increases in rates (cost) and Safety Management databases (like ISNetworld®, ComplyWorks, CanQual) grading you based on Statistics.
  • Not all companies are listed making comparisons difficult.

A glass door on this type of information is the best start in showing employers how important a Safe Workplace is to potential employees and Clients; it will also serve as a license for disgruntled worker to disclaim other previously private reported information.

 Go to the Government of Alberta website and look up your current employer, past employers, and your competition, but keep in mind the limitations to this type of published information.

Interesting Facts From Red Deer ISNetworld® User Group Meeting

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Some interesting facts we learned at the ISNetworld® User Group Meeting:

Encana – As of Jan 4, 2010 they will no longer use Contractors with an F score. There score scheme is as follows:

    35% Regulatory (RAVS ® – safety manual, WCB Clearance, etc)
    30% Self Reported (MSQ ™ – WCB Rate, TRIF, etc)
    10% SECOR/COR
    25% Field Verification (of the 2300 contractors they have connected with them only 766 have been field verified). The only way to become an A with Encana/Cenovus is to go through a Field Verification.

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan – Are completing performance evaluations of contractors. They also indicated that frequently scan through contractors they are not yet connected with, using the location tool in ISNetworld® to find approved local contractors.

Kelly Hrudey was great. His message revolved around teamwork and the struggles he went through to get to the top. His talk was very motivating and humorous.

ISNetworld® and the speakers indicated that the slide presentations will be available on the ISNetworld® website. To access the presentations follow the steps below:
1. Login to your ISNetworld® account
2. Expand the “User Group Meetings” icon
3. Select “2010 ISN Canada Annual Users Conference Presentations”

ISNetworld ® Conference in Red Deer

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It is always great to meet face to face with clients, with our business being mostly conducted on the phone or via email we do not always get to meet the people we are working with.

There were many interesting topics discussed including insurance requirements and submittals, defining injuries using the CAPP Reporting of Occupational Injuries and specific owner requirements.

 The overall theme coming from ISNetworld® and the Owner Clients was that ISNetworld® is only the messenger. All requirements (including RAVS, insurance, and MSQ questions) come directly from the Owner Clients and the Master Service Agreements that most of you already have signed and agreed to abide by. All Owner Clients have used a selection of questions in the MSQ and uploaded documents to determine a grade or score for your company; this may be published in your account or you may not see the score. Some interesting facts we learnt at the User Group Meeting will be published in our next blog post. Stay tuned.

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