ARCHIVED - Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety - Report

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

The Message

The Centre was created to provide a common focus for and coordination of information in the area of occupational health and safety. CCOHS focuses on assisting Canadians to use the best available knowledge to improve the prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses. CCOHS is committed to providing Canadians with information on workplace hazards and conditions to promote health and safety in the workplace and enhance the physical and mental health of working people.

The vision of CCOHS has not changed: to eliminate workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths, and that at the end of every working day, Canadians return home healthy and safe. CCOHS relies on its tripartite Council of Governors for vision, direction and support. CCOHS is governed with representation from labour, business and provincial, territorial and federal governments. This tripartite structure helps to ensure that CCOHS remains an independent and a trusted source of unbiased information for employers, workers and governments.

CCOHS hosted is third bi-annual forum: Leading Workplace Change. This event provided a platform for meaningful dialogue and the exchange of ideas for Canadian workers, employers and governments. The goal is to raise awareness of the issues that contribute to health, and safety and well being of workers.

The world of work is continually changing in fundamental ways and that the knowledge and methods we deploy to keep workplaces safe and healthy have to keep pace. CCOHS uses current communication strategies to get this information out to the public including podcasts, webcasts, web portals and e-learning.

Working together with our partners, we advocate for a comprehensive approach to improve occupational health and safety so that injuries and illnesses will be recognized and avoided by applying prevention practices.

It is the fundamental right of all Canadians to a healthy and safe workplace that is the cornerstone to the mandate of CCOHS. By working together, we can make significant changes to improve workplace health and safety.

Section I – Departmental Overview

Summary Information

Raison d’être

Responsibilities

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) operates under the legislative authority of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act S.C., 1977-78, c. 29 which was passed by unanimous vote in the Canadian Parliament. The purpose of this Act is to promote the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment by creating a national institute (CCOHS) concerned with the study, encouragement and co-operative advancement of occupational health and safety.

CCOHS is Canada’s national occupational health and safety resource which is dedicated to the advancement of occupational health and safety performance by providing necessary services including information and knowledge transfer; training and education; cost-effective tools for improving occupational health and safety performance; management systems services supporting health and safety programs; injury and illness prevention initiatives and promoting the total well-being – physical, psychosocial and mental health - of working people. The Centre was created to provide a common focus for and coordination of information in the area of occupational health and safety.

CCOHS functions as an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour. Its funding is derived from a combination of appropriations, cost recoveries and collaboration with the provinces. It is expected that 50% of the budget will be funded through cost recoveries from the creation, production and worldwide sales of fee-for-service and revenue generating occupational health and safety products and services.

CCOHS is a recognized leader in providing effective programs, products and services, which are based on the centre’s core knowledge, its collection of occupational health and safety information, and its application of information management technologies.

CCOHS is governed by a tripartite council representing governments (federal, provincial and territorial), employers, and labour. The Council of Governors provides guidance in the creation and delivery of a trustworthy and complete occupational health and safety service. Our key stakeholders are directly involved in the policy, governance and strategic planning for the organization. They also assist with reviews of programs and services to help ensure our information is impartial. Our inquiries service is also supported and funded from contributions provided by federal, provincial and territorial governments.

Strategic Outcomes

In order to pursue its mandate, CCOHS has the following strategic outcome:

Program Activity Architecture

Program Activity 1: Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration.

The goal of this program is to provide free information on occupational health and safety to support Canadians in their efforts to improve workplace safety and health. Citizens are provided information through a free and impartial personalized service via telephone, e-mail, person-to-person, fax or mail. Alternatively they can independently access a broad range of electronic and print resources developed to support safety and health information needs of Canadians. This may include cost recovery products and services and is supported financially by contributions from various stakeholders.

CCOHS collects, processes, analyzes, evaluates, creates and publishes authoritative information resources on occupational health and safety for the benefit of all working Canadians. This information is used for education and training, research, policy development, development of best practices, improvement of health and safety programs, achieving compliance, and for personal use. When the products or services provided by CCOHS are used by identifiable external recipients with benefits beyond those enjoyed by the general taxpayer, a user fee is charged.

CCOHS promotes and facilitates consultation and cooperation among federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions and participation by labour, management and other stakeholders in the establishment and maintenance of high standards and occupational health and safety initiatives for the Canadian context. The sharing of resources results in the coordinated and mutually beneficial development of unique programs, products and services. Collaborative projects are usually supported with a combination of financial and non-financial contributions to the programs by stakeholders and result in advancement of occupational health and safety initiatives.

Program Activity 2: Internal Services

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. These groups are: Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Material Services; Acquisition Services; and Travel and Other Administrative Services. Internal Services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization and not to those provided specifically to a program. This is the first year that CCOHS has segregated this program activity.

Strategic Outcome

Canadians will be provided with unbiased occupational health and safety information and services for the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries

Program Activity

Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration

Program Sub- Activities: Expected Results

• Easy access to occupational health and safety information and services
  • Inquiries
  • Web access/design
  • New Resources
  • Osh Answers Content
  • New risks
  • Refinement of existing products
• Application of OHS information to improve workplace practices
  • OHS management System
  • High quality Information
  • Improved Application in workplaces
  • Foster collaboration
  • Education
• Increased awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace
  • National Forum
  • Training, conferences and presentation
  • Enhance web presence
  • Resources for Chemical health and safety
  • Health and Safety Report
• Partial Recovery of Costs from User Fees
  • OHS products

 

1.2 Performance Summary

2009-10 Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
4,855	5,579	5,246

Planned spending represents the amount authorized through the main estimates process. Authorities represent the total amounts authorized for the entire year, including the main estimates. The increase in total authorities represents funding received for compensation relating to collective bargaining, rollover amounts and other transfers. Details are provided in our annual report at: http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html The difference between total authorities and actual spending is due to timing of cash receipts at year end. A large portion of revenues are earned and collected at year-end and it is not feasible to responsibly spend all these funds within a short time frame. The resulting carryover is used in the next fiscal period.

2009-10 Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference
96	90	6

The difference between actual and planned is that there are more FTE’s in the estimates than can be funded. Since CCOHS must earn a substantial portion of its operating funding, we must earn the funds prior to making the commitment to spend. This includes assurance of available funds for the staffing of additional needed positions.

Strategic Outcome 1: Improved workplace conditions and practices that enhance the health, safety and well being of working Canadians.

Performance Indicators	Targets	2009-10 Performance
Satisfaction with access and ease of use for resources	Over 80% satisfaction ratings for Inquirers and clients and 85% for web usage	Overall satisfaction of 86% inquirers and 96% clients
Increase awareness and understanding	Increase distributions and participations in awareness information by 10%	Increase of awareness through increase distribution of information materials and web site – over 12%
Application of occupational health and safety information	72% used information to make positive change in the workplace to improve health and safety	79% used information to make change
Evaluation ratings	Positive satisfaction rates for above targets and key informant interviews. Overall meeting objectives of the mandate.	Overall satisfaction with key stakeholders

Summary of Achievements against Priorities

• Achieved an 86% satisfaction rating from Inquirers from average of six attributes measured through an ongoing survey of our clients.
• Achieved a 96% satisfaction rating from customers (average of six attributes) from an ongoing survey of our clients.
• Most of the uses 79% for Inquirers relate to either current or future changes to the workplace that may result in improved workplace health and safety.
• When asked CCOHS’ importance to meeting the health and safety needs of their organization, 88% of respondents said that CCOHS was either very important or important.
• Increase in distributions of health and safety report, website and e-learning participants greater than 10%.Specifically, 16% increase in e-learning courses and 33% increase in participation. 12% increase in the Health and Safety Report distributions.
• 12,401 listens for new pods casts.
• 23,000 Poster downloads.
• Key informants were nearly unanimous in their positive assessments about the high quality of its products and services.

($ thousands)

Program Activity	Expected Results	2009-10				Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
		2008-09 Actual Spending	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration.	Easy access to Occupational Health and Safety Information And Service Increased Awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. Application of occupational health and safety information to improve workplace practices	4,925	2,203	2,567	2,886	Healthy Canadians
Internal Services 1	Complete an employee satisfaction survey. Participation in strategic planning.		2,652	3,012	2,360
	Total	4,925	4,855	5,579	5,246

Contribution of Priorities to Strategic Outcome(s)

Operational Priorities	Type 2	Status	Links to Strategic Outcome(s)
Provide additional resources on chemical health and safety Importance relates to high numbers of questions relating to chemicals and need to provide tools for their safe use	New	Met all Developed Patty’s Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology chapter on chemical toxicity information sources which will be published next year. Created WHMIS after GHS resources such as fact sheets and two free e-courses for the public. Designed software to assist MSDS users to systematically review the accuracy of MSDS content. A launch of the product is expected next year. Worked with stakeholders to review discrepancies to resolve outstanding classification issues relating to various hazardous materials.	Linked to improved workplace conditions and practices that enhance the health, safety and well being of working Canadians Working with chemicals safely is essential to workplace safety. It is important that safety inspectors and the medical community fully understand the issues and health concerns.
Promoting healthy workplaces through, meetings, internet, training and eduation Awareness is key to changing attitudes which leads to change in the workplace	ongoing	Met expectations Provided Health and Safety Report via the internet with 99% satisfaction ratings Promoted health and safety via webinars, podcasts, NAOSH week, awards, Day of mourning, presentations and posters. Distributed 24,537 dowloaded posters and 3,100 printed posters Launched new pod cast program with 18 new episodes this year resulting in 12,400 listens. Creation and launch of Workscape OHS discussion Board resulting in 1,230 members.	As above Information resources apply directly to enhancing well being of working Canadians eg. Healthy Workplaces, Young Workers Zone and Workspace
	Expand e-learning resources including customized courses Training has direct impact on improvements in workplace	Met Added 12 new courses this year and additional public awareness events on important occupational health and safety topics. 33% increase in course participation.	As above Improves direct knowledge of workers for application in the workplace to improve health and safety.

Management Priorities	Type	Status	Links to Strategic Outcome(s)
Enhancement of  e-commerce to attract more clients to contribute to our requirement to pay 50% of operating costs.	Ongoing	Exceeded expectations Increased sales 112% in e-commerce Adding e-learning to e-commerce product offerings	As above Important to make our information and resources accessible electronically 24 hours and to improve our cost recovery to support our public programming.
Improve website	New	Met expectations Improved Common look and feel Updated infrastructure Improved reporting and statistics using google analytics Improved IT security	As above Important to stay current with IT infrastructure to meet the needs of the Canadians.

Risk Analysis

CCOHS relies on partnerships and resources from many organizations and governments to deliver its programs. Governments and non-profit organizations are subject to changing priorities and limited resources. These changes in priorities impact stakeholders’ and partners’ ability to support CCOHS and fiscal changes within those organizations also impact CCOHS. Risks include funding levels, support and participation in programs and access to information and revenue streams. CCOHS often experiences changes in funding from our stakeholders and partners.

CCOHS maintains close relationships with its stakeholders and partners. We also seek their feedback in product development and satisfaction with our services. This information is used for strategic planning and ongoing improvements. CCOHS regularly seeks partnerships and relationships with a wide variety of organizations. CCOHS is continually updating and revising our products and communications methods to take advantage of technology to reach clients. CCOHS mitigates this risk by diversifying revenue sources and continually seeking feedback to improve products and services.

While the internet has resulted in decreases in sales of traditional database products, it has also allowed for the development of many more products such as e-learning, webinars and podcasts. In order to remain financially viable, constant change is required. This involves careful management of limited resources to finance product development. This decline in revenues from these traditional products continued during 2009.

When operating in a government environment it is difficult to achieve financial success, as the goal of helping people does not always coincide with the mandate to achieve cost recovery. In order to remain competitive, CCOHS defines itself as being able to provide trusted information and related management services.

Our clients value and expect current credible information. CCOHS products are information based, which require constant updating to remain current. In addition, with continually changing technologies, our infrastructure must be updated on an ongoing basis. Information, secured from other sources, for CCOHS’ information infrastructure and product development, frequently requires payment of royalties and CCOHS is at risk from business decisions being made at other organizations. CCOHS’ traditional database resources have been declining in revenue for many years. With this trend, generating 50% of its budget from these sources is not realistic. CCOHS has mitigated this risk by developing OHS management programs as more of a value added service. This strategy has successfully, over the past few years,offset the declines in sales from databases and maintain a balanced budget. Reductions in contributions from funding partners did occur in 2010.

A number of staff will soon be eligible for retirement. This is a serious concern as technical, scientific and business knowledge will be lost and it will be difficult to replace. In order to plan for the retirement of staff members, the staff has been re-organized into working groups or teams. This promotes knowledge transfer, in anticipation of retirements, so there will be other trained staff available to replace the loss of key employees. With careful planning CCOHS has been able to replace its key personnel upon retirement. This will be an ongoing challenge for CCOHS over the next ten to fifteen years.

Expenditure Profile

 

Departmental Spending Trend

[D]

For the year 2007-8 to 2009-10 periods, the total spending includes all Parliamentary appropriations, Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, Treasury Board Vote 10, 15 and 23. It also includes carry forwards and adjustments. The planned spending represents the main estimates.

CCOHS’ funding remains consistent from year to year other than increases for compensations. Fluctuations in funding are primarily due to carry forward amounts and recovery of paylist shortfalls relating to retirements and maternity leave. Spending is impacted by the ability to raise revenues to cover the un-funded portion of the budget.

Actual spending is expected to be higher than Main Estimates in future years due to in year recoveries of paylist shortfalls for retirements and maternity leaves.

Voted and Statutory Items
($ thousands)

Vote # or Statutory Item (S)	Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety	2007-08 Actual Spending	2008-09 Actual Spending	2009-10 Main Estimates	2009-10 Actual Spending
25	Operating expenditures	3,672	3,929	3,828	4,129
(S)	Contributions to employee benefit plans	979	996	1,027	1.117
Total		4,651	4,925	4,855	5,246

Actual spending in 2009-10 was higher than last year due to increases in compensation. This included severances due to retirements, maternity leaves and negotiated amounts through collective bargaining. Retirement costs are expected to increase over the next several years as our work force is aging and more employees are eligible to retire.

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page