There are clear, actionable steps that every company can take to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The higher up the corporate ladder, the fewer women we see. That’s true in Canada and around the world.

Consider the data: in Canada, men continue to hold over 90 percent of C-level executive roles. In 2021, women were only 52 of the 533 named executive officers among Canada’s publicly-traded corporations.

Despite this, there have been some gains. In Canada, women accounted for slightly more than a third of all managers last year. The proportion of women in senior management roles globally grew to 31 percent, the highest number ever recorded.

That’s meaningful progress, but there’s still a lot of work left to do to reach gender equity in leadership, especially at the highest ranks.

Here’s where companies can start:

Secure commitment at the top

Ensure that senior leaders, including the CEO, are committed to the intentional and hard work it takes to close equity gaps.

Measure what matters

Commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) measurement and transparency. Measure employees’ experience of inclusion. Measure and track board diversity, workforce diversity by employee level, and gender pay equality. Establish DEI targets and mechanisms for holding senior leaders accountable for progress.

Create equitable pathways

Develop fair and transparent talent management systems and procedures to mitigate unconscious bias, including objective advancement criteria, specific and constructive feedback, and equitable allocation of high-visibility jobs associated with leadership positions.

Prioritize sponsorship

Sponsorship is an important career accelerator for women, particularly women from underrepresented ethnic or racial groups. Sponsorship programs can help build an inclusive leadership pipeline for organizations.

Be flexible and practise empathy

Make empathy a management practice. Empathic leadership improves inclusion, engagement, and retention and decreases burnout, particularly for women of colour. Understand what your employees need and design inclusive, flexible work options and hybrid work models to meet those needs.

As we enter year three of the pandemic, I’m optimistic that we have an opportunity to reimagine the workplace and reimagine leadership. Let’s use this moment to drive equity for women.

The post How Companies Can Reimagine Leadership for Women appeared first on HiveInnovates.

The Canadian film industry dates back to the late 1800s and the rise of filmmaking itself. Over the years, our country has produced many incredible films, notable directors, and world-renowned actors, producers, and writers.

Canadian films are often financed with a mix of government funding and incentives, broadcaster investment, and film distributors. Central to supporting the industry’s development is Telefilm Canada, an organization that finances and promotes Canadian productions through its various funds and programs.

Telefilm is a catalyst for talent at all career stages. Its support has enabled thousands of writers, directors, producers, distributors, cast, and crew to develop careers throughout Canada.

Christa Dickenson

Executive Director & CEO of Telefilm Canada

Key supporters of the Canadian film industry

As a Government of Canada Crown corporation in the Canadian Heritage portfolio, Telefilm supports dynamic companies and creators by providing financial support to Canadian film projects and by promoting and exporting Canadian content at festivals, markets, and events — regionally, nationally, and globally.

“Telefilm is the primary federal funding agency for the film industry,” says Christa Dickenson, Telefilm’s Executive Director, and CEO. “We also administer the funding programs of the Canada Media Fund, which is basically anything to do with television and digital media, and we certify coproduction treaties on behalf of the government.”

Telefilm is a catalyst for talent at all career stages. Its support has enabled thousands of writers, directors, producers, distributors, cast, and crew to develop careers throughout Canada on productions in both official languages as well as in Indigenous languages.

Telefilm’s timely modernization

To best direct this support and to fairly represent the diversity of Canadian filmmakers, Telefilm has worked hard to evolve with the times and to stay relevant. Recently, the organization has made some major improvements. These include redefining the decision-making process of its Production Program, ensuring that its selection process for funding new projects is more equitable.

“We shifted away from what had been a 10-year infrastructure called the Success Index, which was a mathematical formula we used for scoring. It made sense 10 years ago, but things have changed,” says Dickenson. “The new scoring system is about cultural resonance and audience engagement.”

Telefilm has also been working consciously to be more inclusive. “We’re committed to fostering and supporting an industry that’s representative of all of Canada,” says Dickenson. “That means racialized people, Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, people from official language minority communities, the LGBTQ2S+ community, and women.”

Better together

Dickenson has over three decades of experience spanning broadcast television, technology, telecommunications, and interactive digital media, having worked at CTV, CPAC, Rogers, and Interactive Ontario — making her the perfect person to spearhead Telefilm’s modernization and also to facilitate productive partnerships between government, for-profit organizations, and not-for-profits.

“The three working together always has stronger results,” she says. “Collaboration is an opportunity to share resources, to lean in on each other’s strengths, and to gain each others’ insights.”

The future of Canadian film is bright. “Post-COVID, filmmakers will continue looking for creative ways to continue production,” says Dickenson. “And Telefilm will be there to support them along the way.”

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On this 20^th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers, Volunteer Canada is reflecting on the evolution of volunteering, to prepare us for the next 20 years of individual and corporate social responsibility.

Civil society calls for the braiding of a responsive government, a thriving business, and a vibrant non-profit sector. We have seen the branching out and braiding of sectors and people, of formal volunteering, organic movements, and informal helping of family, neighbours, friends, and strangers.

Unlike blending, braiding retains the unique characteristics of each strand and we have seen these sectors branch out and reach out to each other in new ways. The pandemic has accelerated these changes while illuminating social injustices, economic inequities, and environmental crises. 

Businesses have branched out from charitable giving to social-cause marketing, and from employee volunteering to employee engagement. We have seen the braiding of employee volunteering, employee giving, and corporate giving into corporate community engagement strategies that facilitate both individual social responsibility (ISR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

In non-profit organizations, volunteer resource management has branched out from fundraising units or human resources departments, and then integrated into community engagement initiatives, braiding the engagement of stakeholders, donors, and volunteers together, recognizing a spectrum of social purpose expression.

In preparation for the next 20 years, we are challenging ourselves to branch out to seriously address colonialism, racism, and diversity, and to choose equity and justice over a (false) sense of stability and continuity. The evolving ways that volunteers connect and engage have been a catalyzing force for achieving our social purpose and creating change. We begin to braid ISR, CSR, formal and informal volunteering in all their glory.

Volunteer Canada convenes, connects and collaborates with all sectors to provide national leadership and expertise on volunteerism, building strong and connected communities to create a vibrant Canada.

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The impact of the personal and economic sacrifices the world experienced during the pandemic will be felt for years. In these unsettling times, Dr. Baljit Singh (PhD), the Vice-President, Research at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) says Canadian-based research and innovation offer hope and a source of pride, at a time when they are deeply needed. 

As an example, he points to researchers at USask’s VIDO — the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization — who were ready to step up in the world’s most pressing time of need. This response was made possible thanks to visionary leaders in 1975 supporting the establishment of a centre to understand and battle infectious diseases. Today, VIDO has grown into a world-class research institute that is an innovative leader in developing vaccines that protect human and animal health. 

“VIDO researchers were the first in Canada to isolate the SARS-CoV2 virus, and the first to develop an animal model of COVID-19. In the coming months, VIDO operations will expand to include vaccine manufacturing,” says Singh. 

Singh says we have learned that vaccines by themselves cannot offer all the answers to the crisis created by a pandemic. “We need to bring innovation to other facets of our operations with the same foresight and determination  that brought VIDO to Canada’s fore over the past five decades,” Singh says. “The blows from the pandemic disproportionately affected marginalized and remote Indigenous communities, and groups of newcomers, compared to other Canadians. To prevent from this happening in the future, we need robust social sciences and humanities analysis and leadership from scholars.” 

Canadians, and indeed the world’s population, have seen medical researchers develop a vaccine in real-time and some express inoculation hesitancy. The role of policy experts and communicators becomes crucial in reassuring people safety of the process that led to what might seem a fast vaccine development. 

“Our research in the humanities is vitally important at a time when Canadians are re-evaluating their way of life, and looking for inspiration and innovation from creative endeavours to find meaning in difficult times,” he says. “Whether it is examining public policy, exploring the potential of the arts or otherwise adding to a body of scholarly work, these pursuits will help shape how we innovate and emerge from the COVID-19 crisis. Universities play a vital role in all of these areas.” 

Whatever crisis the world faces next — whether it is food security, access to quality water, threats to the environment, upheavals resulting from climate change, or a proliferation of conspiracy theories that create social unrest and political chaos, we can’t wait until disaster is imminent before we start looking for innovative science-based solutions. Singh says the work must be ongoing. USask, like many Canadian universities, is deeply embedded in its community and is a crucial link in the innovation ecosystem. Singh says the institution also embraces multiple approaches to research, including Indigenous ways of knowing, land-management and living in harmony with the environment. 

“Imagine how the global economy would have collapsed and chaos would have emerged without strong science, devoted university research, and evidence-based decision making,” he says. “Whether it is in a lab or out in the field, university researchers are already uncovering the solutions the world will need next. Throughout our history, USask has demonstrated that we are ready to be the university the world needs — this has never been more evident than during the pandemic.”

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Thirty years ago, Canada held its first official National Day of Mourning. Since then, every April 28th, we pay our respects and remember those workers who tragically lost their lives, were injured, or suffered illness while working. We think of those who feel the impact today, their lives forever changed: loved ones, family members, friends, and coworkers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven home the importance of workplace health and safety to workers, unions, and employers. Our government is working hard to provide a vaccine for everyone who wants one. Tens of thousands of Canadians are getting vaccinated every day.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven home the importance of workplace health and safety to workers, unions, and employers.

As Minister of Labour, I’ll continue to make sure that workers are secure and protected. We’ve made many legislative and regulatory changes in the past two years that put workers’ safety first. We’re ensuring that the Westray provisions of the Criminal Code are properly understood. Criminal conduct resulting in serious injury or death in the workplace will be penalized. Working with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, we’ve increased education on workplace health and safety for workers and employers.

I’m consulting with workers, unions, and employers about making the protection of workers’ mental health a part of our occupational health and safety rules. I’m also examining the changing nature of work — the trends of automation, gig work, and the right to disconnect.

Let us remember all workers who have lost their lives or felt the impact of unsafe working conditions. We must continue working together towards ensuring workplace health and safety.

The post Working Together Towards Ensuring Workplace Health and Safety appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Airports are far more than glass, metal, and concrete — they’re distinctly human spaces filled to overflowing with a variety of emotions, experiences, and perspectives. People are the heart and soul of Pearson — its travellers, their friends and families, the communities it serves, and, of course, its valued employees. For this reason, health and safety are, above all else, Pearson’s top priorities.

National Day of Mourning is a time to remember those who have lost their lives or experienced illness or injury while on the job. It’s also a day to reaffirm Pearson’s commitment to health and safety, understanding that Pearson, the 400-plus employers at the airport, its union partners, and its workers are on a continuous and collaborative journey to enhance worker health and safety.

“The most fitting way to honour workers across Canada who have lost their lives or been injured on the job is to develop a culture of health and safety that permeates every corner of the airport,” says Kath Hammond, Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Safety and Security at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA). “This means having honest conversations, recognizing areas for improvement, and making changes where necessary. It’s also about highlighting past successes, improving on them and amplifying them, in the context of the current environment.”

Kath Hammond

Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Safety & Security, Greater Toronto Airports Authority

“Mourning is more than remembering,” says Steven Tufts, Toronto Airport Workers Council (TAWC) spokesperson. “Mourning is a process of paying respect through actions. It means continuing to support Pearson Works! Online, the online resource centre for workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic. It means establishing a vaccination hub at Pearson to serve airport workers and the surrounding communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19.”

“All over the country, countless dedicated workers before us have paid a price that serves as a reminder of our human frailty,” says Mike Garabedian, Senior Chaplain at Pearson’s Aviation Interfaith Ministry. “Although this is a solemn occasion, we commemorate the National Day of Mourning with a sense of expectation for the present and hope for the future as we reflect together on better things to come.”

Steven Tufts

Spokesperson, Toronto Airport Workers Council

Mourning is more than remembering. Mourning is a process of paying respect through actions.

— Steven Tufts, Spokesperson, Airport Workers Council

The launch of the Healthy Airport initiative

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a variety of challenges around health and safety, but it has also resulted in opportunities for collaboration among the Pearson airport community. In June 2020, Pearson launched its Healthy Airport initiative, a comprehensive program that outlines the steps the airport and its partners are taking to be ready for the new realities of air travel and to lead the aviation industry in advancing the future of healthy travel corridors.

An airport is a complex environment, and everything from airport security and public safety to employee-customer interactions and day-of operations needed to be considered as part of Healthy Airport. In fact, many of the 400-plus organizations operating out of Pearson have implemented a variety of health and safety measures, and work closely with the GTAA to ensure their employees comply with the Healthy Airport commitment.

Healthy Airport consists of measures such as enhanced cleaning, mandatory mask-wearing inside the terminal, and limiting terminal access to employees on duty and same-day travellers. Pearson has also employed a host of innovations, from upgrades to the HVAC system, real-time, publicly-available air quality monitoring, and autonomous cleaning robots to COVID-19 testing pilots, four different applications of UV-C light sanitization, and the installation of plexiglass barriers throughout the airport. These advancements benefit passengers and employees alike, but the airport has also worked closely with its partners to develop a number of COVID-19 responses aimed directly at employees.

Focusing on employees

In addition to conducting airport-wide workforce education sessions at the launch of Healthy Airport, the GTAA has worked with public health officials and a growing number of airport employers to develop a COVID-19 case log. The log is voluntary and provides high-level, depersonalized information about confirmed COVID-19 cases at the airport, with 94 employers currently participating.

Earlier this year, the GTAA announced the deployment of 1,000 COVID Safety Alert devices to frontline GTAA employees. These devices were designed to help reinforce physical distancing and rapidly enable workplace contact tracing in the event of a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

Finally, selected workers at Pearson now have the opportunity to participate in a first-of-its-kind study into the use of repeated antigen tests to identify COVID-19 in the workplace. Study participants are being asked to take a rapid antigen test two to three times per week, to support an understanding of enhanced safety in group settings like workplaces and further strengthen a science-based approach to COVID-19.

Strength through support

Airport workers have acutely felt the dramatic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, the GTAA partnered with TAWC to create Pearson Works! Online, a virtual resource centre dedicated to supporting the employee and employer communities at Pearson.

“We’re encouraged with how the GTAA has recognized the impact of COVID-19 on the worker community at Pearson,” says Sean Smith of TAWC. “The future of our airport community will be shaped by our collective response to this unprecedented crisis. Now is the time for us to work together to make the changes needed so that Pearson will remain Canada’s gateway to the world, providing good jobs to anchor the communities where we live.”

“It’s vital that employers and workers continue to collaborate on our efforts against this pandemic so that the airport community can emerge from this crisis stronger, and so that the airport can fulfill its role as an anchor in the new economy for the region,” adds Deborah Flint, President and CEO of the GTAA.

Looking to the future

While the COVID-19 pandemic is anything but predictable, Pearson looks toward a future where a safe and healthy restart of air travel takes place at the right time. When that happens, there will inevitably be new challenges and opportunities with regard to worker health and safety. The GTAA is confident that continued collaboration with all airport partners and an unwavering focus on agility in the collective response will ensure that the health and safety culture at the airport continues to grow and flourish.

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Trish Penny works in corporate health and safety at Black & McDonald. She’s a member and volunteer of Threads of Life — Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support. Trish’s older brother Luke died when a wall collapsed and he was crushed while working in a trench. He had just started a new job weather proofing buildings.

What inspired you to enter a career in health and safety?

It wasn’t until Luke’s passing that I even considered a role in health and safety. I began taking courses when we started court proceedings, as a personal venture to understand a little more about things we may hear during the trial. Once I started the courses it became evident that this was something I could do long-term.

Thinking back on some previous jobs, I couldn’t recall any emphasis on worker safety. I felt like it was a gap, and that I could come in with enthusiasm, passion, and a personal understanding to fill that gap. 

What was your planned career before this?

I had gone to school to be a hairstylist. I’d been working in a local salon when I started taking my occupational health and safety courses. 

What’s your personal philosophy of health and safety?  

I would say that my personal safety philosophy is to make sure it’s relevant. Developing and implementing safety processes that can integrate into operations is very much the goal. I feel like this is achieved by actively listening to the workers, and ensuring that they have input in the development of programs. Collaboration is essential. 

I feel like this is achieved by actively listening to the workers, and ensuring that they have input in the development of programs. Collaboration is essential.

How has the pandemic affected your work?

I’ve been in a corporate health and safety role for almost three years now. This means much less field time or visits to project sites. I’m fortunate to be able to work from home during the pandemic. 

We do have many employees who do essential work. They’ve been continuing to work in various roles, and truly deserve recognition for the work they’ve done throughout the past year.

What has shifted for me, personally, is the need for continual updates as new information becomes available. Laws, standards, and requirements in health and safety do change frequently, but the data from COVID-19 (be it recommendations for masking or facial coverings or occupancy requirements) seems to change hourly. It’s been a pretty fast-paced year, just making sure we’re on top of all the latest information. 

Where would you say you are today in your own grief journey?

To be honest, I have to say I’m in a state of limbo at the moment. 
It’s been almost 11 years since Luke passed away. There have been so many milestones since then that he has missed, and those hurt the most.

I’m currently five months out from my own wedding and the grief of him not being there for that is huge. But, most days I’m good. I have mostly happy memories.

I can’t say it gets easier, but you just learn your emotions and triggers and kind of prepare for it. 

What did Luke’s death teach you (good or bad) about workplace safety?

1. New and young workers are so vulnerable. They don’t know what they don’t know, and even the most confident person may be hesitant to ask questions or request clarification. Employers need to understand that gap and take necessary steps to fill that gap. Ongoing coaching and mentorship go a long way. 

2. The value of building relationships is imperative to ensuring safety in workplaces. People need to feel like they can speak to their health and safety team without fear of reprisal. 

3. Supervisors need to understand what their role entails. The role greatly increases your responsibilities when it comes to health and safety. It’s important to understand that what you tell people, how you coach them, how you lead them, and what you allow or don’t allow will translate in how they’ll work. It’s an integral position within any organization. 

How did you first learn about Threads of Life?

An ex-girlfriend of Luke’s reached out to us about a year after he passed away. She had found Steps for Life (an annual fundraising and awareness event) and thought we may be interested in starting a team and doing the walk. We were able to gather a small group and raise some money (much more than I thought we could!). The walk put us in contact with Threads of Life, and that fall we attended our first forum. 

What value do you feel Threads of Life offers for a health and safety professional?

Hearing the stories that Threads of Life members share definitely reinforces the reason why I work in safety. Those true stories are the fundamental reason why I do what I do, and you don’t have to have my personal experience with tragedy to feel that commitment. No one should go to work and come home injured, or not come home at all.

The post Motivation From the Heart appeared first on HiveInnovates.

April 28^th marks Canada’s Day of Mourning, commemorating those who suffered workplace injuries or have lost their lives due to hazardous workplace incidents or accidents. In 2019, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board reported 23 deaths while working on injury claims, and 4,873 lost time injuries and illnesses — all within the construction industry alone.

Know better and do better

An accident is an event or incident that happens unexpectedly, out of your control. Most workplace injuries, however, aren’t accidents because they’re preventable. We have the resources, knowledge, and expertise to know better and to do better. Workers are fully trained on job performance and safety measures and are fully aware of the consequences of unsafe work.

Closing the gap

The gap lies in job sites where contractors are more interested in checking off safety boxes than in diligently enforcing safety standards. When deadlines get prioritized, safety standards take the back seat. This is where discrepancies get built, liabilities are formed, and workers are expected to adhere to unsafe work. When the focus shifts from safety to project completion, workers are the ones taking all the risks to provide contractors with the final rewards. We need to close the gap between safety and deadlines, and shift our belief that we must sacrifice one for the other. We can have both. We can perform our jobs safely without risking our lives and still meet deadlines efficiently. No job is worth a life. Ask questions when unsure and say no to unsafe work. Only then will we start seeing safer job sites, safer workers, and fewer injuries and deaths.

It’s all a joke and ‘not that serious’ until it’s you or a close family member laying in a hospital bed, or worse, in a casket. Is the risk really worth it then? You don’t think something like this could ever happen to you — until it does. And it changes your life and your family’s. Say no. Stand up for your life before you risk losing it.

— David Gardner,
The International Association of
Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 95 Union

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There is a “Union Safety Effect” in the Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional construction sector that creates safer workplaces.

This had long been believed by the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS), but there was no real data to substantiate the claim. So six years ago, the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) launched an in-depth study of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) claims made by workers in the ICI sector.

The data was clear — lost-time claims by unionized workers were 23 percent lower than those made by their non-unionized colleagues.

But that study, released in 2015, relied on data up to 2011. Last year, the OCS once again engaged the IWH to update the research.

And what they found not only reinforced that the Union Safety Effect exists, but that it is getting stronger.

The team of researchers lead by IWH scientist Dr. Lynda Robson analyzed WSIB data from more than 58,000 companies representing 1.7 million workers in the ICI construction sector between 2012 and 2018.

The new report, Updating a Study of the Union Effect on Safety in the ICI Construction Sector, found lost-time injury claims are 31 percent lower on unionized building trade construction jobs than they are in a non-union environment — a jump of eight percentage points over the past six years.

The updated study also found that claims for critical and musculoskeletal injuries are 29 percent and 25 percent lower respectively on union job sites.

Interestingly, the updated research also concluded that as the size of the company grows, fewer claims are filed for injuries requiring time away from work, with 36 percent fewer claims in unionized companies with more than 50 employees — and it’s no coincidence that the bigger building trade construction firms tend to be unionized.

This study was thorough.

It started by cross-referencing the companies in WSIB records with those of ICI building trade unions and union contractor trade associations to identify which records were from the unionized sector, and which were not.

A statistical analysis of six types of injury or illness — lost-time allowed (LTA), musculoskeletal LTA, critical (severe) LTA, no-lost-time allowed (NLTA), total allowed and total allowed and not allowed — then determined whether unionization had an impact on the injury rate claims.

Injuries that caused the workers to miss work were of primary interest. The researchers also took steps to minimize the influence of outside factors such as geographic location, the nature of the work being done, and the size and complexity of the company.

This methodology mimicked the study from six years previous, to ensure a fair comparison of the results.

The data doesn’t lie, and reaffirms what we have always suspected: A unionized building trade construction job is being done safely and properly by men and women who know what they are doing.

The obvious question is why?

Why are unionized building trade construction sites demonstrably safer than those being worked by non-union workers?

The research was focused on hard data and didn’t delve into this question. However, there are several solid hypotheses to answer that question.

Building trades unions and their contractor partners offer the best-skilled trades training, with significant investments in health and safety training — an estimated $40 million annually.  This is in addition to the capital investments made in training facilities and equipment.

The unionized building trades construction sector has more than 95 training centres across the province, offering health and safety training and trade-specific upgrade training, funded and operated by a partnership of building trade unions and contractors. Of those, 39 are government-approved training delivery agencies offering trade apprenticeship training with health and safety training a significant component of each trades’ curriculum.

Strong partnerships like this make for safer workplaces. The ICI building trades construction sector benefits greatly from the joint partnerships between contractors and unions. This collaborative working relationship has made the unionized building trades construction sector a safety leader in the construction industry.

This training not only teaches skilled trades workers how to work safely and responsibly, but it also gives them knowledge about safe work practices, educates them to recognize unsafe working conditions, and empowers them to refuse work that may be hazardous until appropriate measures are made to make it safe.

Unionized building trade construction firms also tend to employ more registered apprentices and have higher journeyperson-to-apprentice ratios, according to their trade’s respective collective agreement.

This gives apprentices better on-site training and first-hand experience identifying unsafe working conditions — knowledge that they put to use throughout their career in the skilled trades. Union workers are also three times as likely to hold a Certificate of Qualification than non-union workers.

The Union Safety Effect could also, in part, be the effect of unionized ICI construction companies providing more stable employment, less worker turnover, and longer tenure for their tradespeople.

This creates more experience on a job site, and again, the wherewithal and empowerment to refuse work that is unsafe.

The next question is what?

Now that a Union Safety Effect has been identified, what can be done with this insight?

From a practical standpoint, this is an opportunity to make construction safer for everyone. Knowing that the Union Safety Effect exists allows us to examine in depth the “why” question raised above. 

Doing an analysis of the factors that make the union work safer in the building trades construction sector will help us identify the best practices that make it that way.

Adapting these best practices from unionized building trade construction sites and applying them across the construction industry will make work safer for everybody.

Adapting these best practices from unionized building trade construction sites and applying them across the construction industry will make work safer for everybody.

Preventable incidents hurt people, reduce productivity and affect worker morale. The more that can be done to reduce lost-time due to injury, the better it is for everybody.

The post The ‘Union Safety Effect’ is Real and Getting Stronger appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Kevin Bryenton

President, Ontario Ironworkers District Council

Ironwork is the pillar of modern infrastructure, but its workers suffer alarmingly common workplace injuries and suicides — a situation made worse by the pandemic. Here’s why leaders in the field say the trade is overdue for a serious conversation about mental health. 

The father of all skyscrapers — the Home Insurance Building in Chicago — was built in 1885 following a series of innovations around structural steel. Ten stories high with a steel skeleton frame and reinforced concrete, the building is widely regarded as a major architectural milestone. It was also among the first structures that gave rise to the ironwork trade — a physically, and psychologically, demanding job that’s been among the world’s most dangerous since its inception, despite being the cornerstone of modern infrastructure. 

On this year’s National Day of Mourning — which commemorates those whose lives were forever changed or lost due to workplace injury — Canadians pause to recognize the pandemic’s impact on all workers, and especially those in trades as critically important as they are hazardous. Aside from the physical stresses of ironworking, the work takes a psychological toll, and like many trades, it has a historically-embedded culture of silence around mental health. 

“Many ironworkers work hundreds of feet in the air and don’t want to be known as nervous or scared, since that might be taken as a sign of weakness,” says Jason Roe, Business Manager at Ironworker Local 700. “The typical ironworker sees themselves as having to be tough and thick-skinned. Don’t deal with your problems or emotions, keep them locked up is a common attitude. But asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness.” 

Alarming mental health and substance use statistics among ironworkers 

Like many trades, the early history of ironworking was marred by lax safety regulations, poor job site conditions, and many resulting injuries and deaths. Thanks to safety innovations and the work of unions like the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers, conditions have improved greatly, but there’s still significant work to be done — especially on the mental health front.

“Currently, we have the highest per capita suicide rate of any construction trade. And the De Novo Treatment Centre in Ontario, which treats substance abuse in workers in all construction trades, has seen demand for its services roughly doubled during the pandemic,” says Kevin Bryenton, President of the Ontario Ironworkers District Council. “That’s in addition to our already high rate of workplace injuries, which tend to be on the chronic side for ironworkers. We’ve lost a lot of people over the years.”

Shifting workplace culture is key for suicide prevention 

Bryenton wants to see conversations about mental health normalized among ironworkers. “It’s my goal to get our membership leaders to have an active conversation about the fact that it’s okay to speak about the stresses you have and to seek help,” he says. 

Through their member organizations, ironworkers can access a variety of supports. Most local union health and welfare plans offer confidential, no-cost member assistant programs that offer services like 24-hour call lines, short-and long-term disability, counselling, and legal and financial support services, among others. Mental health coverage has increased in recent years — an effort meant to not only bolster institutional supports, but to encourage conversations about mental health in the field. “We’re trying to get people to start talking about mental health with their coworkers, and to let them know it’s okay to reach out for help,” says Roe. 

It’s a major culture shift for a trade built on tightlipped grit, but leaders like Roe and Bryenton — both of whom have decades of fieldwork under their belts — are leading the charge. Their overarching message is that strength can take many forms, including the courage to ask for help. Whether you’re an ironworker, in another construction trade, or a worker in any other field — on this year’s National Day of Mourning, make space to talk about mental health and substance abuse in your workplace. 

Their overarching message is that strength can take many forms, including the courage to ask for help.

The post The Devastating Impact of COVID-19 on Ironworkers appeared first on HiveInnovates.