Manitoba’s new Chief Prevention Officer will lead a review of provincial workplace safety and health services to provide clear direction on injury prevention priorities, address stakeholder concerns and improve the safety of Manitoba workplaces. This announcement was made by Family Services and Labour Minister Jennifer Howard.
“As we mark the annual Day of Mourning, it’s important that we continue to strengthen our efforts to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses,” said Howard. “We have doubled the number of health and safety officers and reduced the time-loss injury rate by more than 40 per cent over the last decade, and this review will renew our commitment to ensure all Manitobans go home safe after work.”
The chief prevention officer position is designed to enhance co-ordination of prevention initiatives between the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Division and the Workers Compensation Board (WCB), and to continue to improve Manitoba’s workplace injury and illness prevention strategy, the minister said.
The chief prevention officer will be responsible for:
• overseeing development and implementation of the joint WSH-WCB injury- and illness-prevention strategy;
• ensuring public awareness and prevention activities promote understanding of and compliance with WSH enforcement efforts; and
• ensuring delivery of effective public-awareness programs and prevention activities.
The minister also announced Manitoba will renew funding for a $20,000 grant program aimed at stimulating creativity in Manitoba schools to develop innovative projects encouraging and educating students on workplace safety, as well as a $10,000 grant for Threads of Life, an organization that provides peer-to-peer support to victims and families of workplace tragedies in Manitoba.
Manitoba will continue its long-term funding agreement with the Safe Workers of Tomorrow to provide stable and sustainable funding of $155,000 annually to help educate young people about their safety, health and rights in the workplace.
These commitments build on the recent creation of a victims services co-ordinator position at WSH to assist families and workers in accessing information on the status of their investigations and to help link them with additional support services.
Howard announced the review and funding commitments following the Day of Mourning Leaders’ Walk organized by the Safe Workers of Tomorrow. The event draws attention to the importance of workplace safety and health, emphasizing young worker safety, she said.
