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2009-10
Departmental Performance Report
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
The original version was signed by
The Honourable Lisa Raitt, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Labour
Table of Contents
Section I – Departmental Overview
Section II – Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome
Section III – Supplementary Information
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.
S. Len Hong
President and CEO
Section I – Departmental Overview
Summary Information
Raison d’être
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1978 with a mandate to promote health and safety in the workplace and to enhance the physical and mental health of working people.
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:
Improved workplace conditions and practices that enhance the health, safety and well being of working Canadians.
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
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
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.
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.
Section II – Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome
2.1 Strategic Outcome – Improved workplace conditions and practices that enhance the health, safety and well being of working Canadians.
The Act to create the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) was based on the concept that all Canadians have “… a fundamental right to a healthy and safe working environment.” A national centre would be an essential requirement to enable people to exercise this right everywhere in the country, a concept launched and supported by stakeholders across Canada. The resulting Act in 1978 had unanimous support from every federal party.
The Centre was created to provide a common focus for and co-ordination of information in the area of occupational health and safety. Prior to 1978, Canada was the only major industrialized nation that did not have a central body for this task. Given the large, diverse and multi-jurisdictional aspects of Canada, such a service is essential. Its key stakeholders, government (all levels), employers and labour work closely with CCOHS to promote occupational health and safety, and to foster consultations and co-operation with the mutual goal of reducing or eliminating occupational illnesses and injuries.
CCOHS is governed by a tripartite Council of Governors, comprised of representatives from labour, business and provincial, territorial and federal governments. This tripartite structure helps to ensure that CCOHS remains an independent and trusted source of unbiased information. The stakeholders participate actively in the governance of CCOHS making it unique as a tripartite organization that helps ensure its programs and services are unbiased, credible and meet the on-going needs of Canadians. Our recent evaluation (2009) stated:
- The core strategic outcome for CCOHS is that Canadians will be provided with unbiased occupational health and safety information and services for the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries. This objective involves CCOHS being recognized as a national clearinghouse for health and safety information and as the recognized leader in providing unbiased occupational health and safety (OHS) information and services to Canada’s OHS community. This community includes workers, their unions, employers, governments, educational institutions and related OHS professionals. Access to a leading and unbiased source of health and safety information provides further benefits to Canadians through a reduction in the extent of workplace disagreement and conflict over appropriate health and safety initiatives.
- The evaluation used multiple lines of evidence to assess the extent to which CCOHS has achieved this recognition as an unbiased national OHS centre. We conducted interviews with leading members of the OHS community; we surveyed paying clients and users of free services and surveyed users of the CCOHS web site.
- The activities of CCOHS are related to the promotion of occupational health and safety in the context of Canada’s decentralized system of OHS internal responsibility. The benefits of these activities are difficult to measure directly. CCOHS products and services are intended to lead to improved workplace conditions that ultimately lead to fewer illnesses, fewer injuries, and fewer deaths. In addition to these risk reduction benefits, reduced time loss and increased productivity from fewer accidents and injuries are an additional source of benefits. Current research on the value of reducing occupational fatality risks and preventing accidents indicates that Canadian society assigns a very high value to such reductions in workplace risks.
- Data in this evaluation study show that there have been very significant and continuing declines in workplace fatalities and injuries relative to the number of workers employed. Many factors have influenced the decline in injury and fatality rates over time so that it has not been possible to determine the independent impact of CCOHS on these declines. In this report, the extent of the improvement in workplace conditions, attributed by users to the information disseminated by CCOHS, is used as a proxy measure of the health and safety impact of CCOHS. Our analysis, based on interviews and surveys, found that the reach of CCOHS products and services is substantial. As a result, we can establish plausible linkages between CCOHS activities and its intended effects on improving workplace conditions.
- While directly attributing reductions in injuries and illnesses to CCOHS programs is not feasible due to many variables affecting this outcome, independent evaluations of our services indicate wide spread use of CCOHS information to effect change in workplaces. The extensive use of CCOHS information may result in reductions in injuries and illnesses throughout.
- Exhibit IV-1 shows comparative data on occupational injuries and fatalities for 2007 (the latest year for which published data are available), and selected earlier years going back to 1970. There have been significant reductions in injuries and fatalities relative to numbers of workers but the numbers remain high and require our continuing attention. The reductions in both injuries and fatalities likely result from a variety of factors including a changing industry mix, changing production technologies, better educated workers and industry initiatives together with occupational health and safety policies and programs, including the activities of CCOHS. 3
Exhibit IV-1 Occupational Injuries and Fatalities in Canada
| Year | Employees (millions) | Time-Loss Injuries | Fatalities | Injuries per million workers | Fatalities per million workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 7.03 | 301,653 | 918 | 42,909 | 131 |
| 1998 | 14.33 | 375,360 | 798 | 26,201 | 56 |
| 2003 | 15.80 | 348,854 | 963 | 22,709 | 61 |
| 2005 | 16.17 | 337,390 | 1,097 | 20,865 | 68 |
| 2007 | 16.87 | 317,524 | 1,055 | 18,822 | 63 |
| 2008 | 16.48 | 307,802 | 1,036 | 18,677 | 63 |
Source: Human Resources Development Canada, Occupational Injuries and their Cost in Canada, 1993-1997, 1999, and Statistical Analysis: Occupational Injuries and Fatalities, Canada, 1994-1998, 2000. For 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008: Work Injuries and Diseases National Work Injuries Statistics Program, Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, 2001-2003, and 2005-2007 and Labour Force Survey,2003, 2005, 2007,2008 Statistics Canada.
2.1.1 Program Activity
| 2009-10 Financial Resources ($ thousands) |
2009-10 Human Resources (FTEs) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned Spending |
Total Authorities |
Actual Spending |
Planned | Actual | Difference |
| 2,203 | 2,567 | 2,866 | 73 | 67 | 6 |
| Expected Results |
Performance Indicators |
Targets | Performance Status |
Performance Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy access to Occupational Health and Safety Information And Service | % of users satisfied with ease of access and retrieval of OHS information from Inquiries Service, web access and other CCOHS resources |
Overall 80% Satisfied or very satisfied:
|
Met expectations |
Overall 86% satisfied or very satisfied
|
| Application of occupational health and safety information to improve workplace practices. | Percentage of respondents that say information is being applied in the workplace by employees, government and employers to make change. | 110 post secondary institutions | Somewhat met | 98 Institutions, reach of 3 million |
| Number of participant institutions in the academic support package | Usage statistics and satisfaction surveys | Met expectations | ||
| High quality information products and services available for the workplace | e-learning 95% satisfaction 94% Referral rate |
Expectations met | Satisfaction 97% Referral 94.6% |
|
| Usage and satisfaction statistics for educational programs | Webinar 80% Satisfaction rate |
Satisfaction 81% | ||
| Increased Awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. | Numbers of Distributions of OHS information to employees and employers to improve their understanding of OSH | Increase distributions of materials by 10% Webinars Naosh week Day of Mourning Posters Workscape Liaison |
Met expectations | Posters – new program, 3,000 posters and 24,537 pdf versions New –1,230 participants New – increase 29% subscribers |
| Satisfaction of attendees from Forum and post forum web statistics | 85% satisfaction 2,000 downloads |
Met expectations n/a |
91% Satisfaction Too early for results |
|
| Reach, impact and satisfaction with the Health and Safety Report | 85% Satisfaction 83% impact to make safer work place 10% increase in usage |
Exceeded expectations | 99% Satisfaction 83% to improve workplace 12% increase in distributions |
|
| Providing Canadians new information to Canadians through partnerships | Reach of partnerships outcomes | Met expectations | 5 new partnerships 5 Collaborative websites/portals |
Program Activity Summary:
CCOHS has one program activity (PAA), occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration.
As a national institute, CCOHS undertakes a wide range of activities to achieve its objectives. These activities include the following:
- The provision of technical documents, data and related safety information to workers, workplaces and the health and safety community, Canadian workplace communities and the education system. An important element of these activities is to improve the coordination of the flow of occupational health and safety information.
- The promotion and evaluation of research on occupational health and safety issues.
- The provision of expert advice and training in occupational health and safety.
- Participation in meetings and conferences to contribute to improving prevention of safety and health problems.
- Other activities consistent with the mandate of promoting improved health and safety in the workplace and enhance the physical and mental health of Canadian workers.
Maintaining the health of Canadians is an important goal for Canada. Workplace health is an essential component of overall health of Canadians. CCOHS contributes to Canada’s goal of a healthy population, sustainable development, improving workplace productivity, safe communities, and Canada’s role in the world. CCOHS works closely with labour, business and all levels of government to establish high standards for occupational health and safety, to foster consultation and co-operation, and reduce or eliminate occupational hazards.
Benefits for Canadians
CCOHS is a national centre dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of unbiased information on occupational health and safety. CCOHS provides Canadians with information about occupational health and safety that is trustworthy, comprehensive and intelligible. The information facilitates responsible decision-making, promotes improvements in workplace health and safety, increases awareness of the need for a healthy and safe working environment, and supports training.
This program activity contributes to the goal of Healthy Canadians. Occupational diseases, illnesses and deaths are serious health risks faced by Canadians. The government plans to strengthen our social foundations by improving the overall health of Canadians starting with health promotion to reduce the incidence of avoidable disease. One of the most effective strategies in reducing ill health is the prevention of the causes. CCOHS’ primary role is to support Canada’s capability to improve prevention of work-related illnesses and disease by providing information and knowledge to enable Canadians to identify hazards and minimize or eliminate risks in the workplace and assist them to address issues and take remedial action.
CCOHS contributes to greater collaboration among nations to promote the sharing of information and knowledge for programs relating to occupational health and safety to reduce injuries and illness and improve conditions for workers. This promotes a safe and secure world through international co-operation. CCOHS also benefits Canadians by providing extensive information on a wide range of health hazards on hazardous chemicals and their impact on health and the environment. CCOHS is a major source of environmental health information relied upon by government regulators, the chemical industry, manufacturing sectors, fire fighters and citizens.
Performance Analysis
CCOHS organizes its activities to meet the expected results linked to our program activity and strategic outcome:
- Easy access to occupational health and safety information and services
- Application of occupational health and safety (OHS) information to improve workplace practices
- Increased awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace
- Partial recovery of costs from user fees (raise other revenues)
Easy access to occupational health and safety information and services
This service is partially funded by contributions from Canadian provinces and territories. The primary risk to this goal is the funding provided as each jurisdiction has its own goals and priorities and there are no guarantees funding will continue. Another risk is the large volume of information available from other sources free on the internet. In order to mitigate this risk, CCOHS strives to distinguish itself as a trusted and reliable source of information by keeping information current and relevant to the users. CCOHS also adds value by providing information web portals and partnerships with trusted organizations so users can rely on the credibility of the data provided.
CCOHS offers an Inquiries Service that has fully trained information officers who specialize in occupational health and safety and information retrieval. CCOHS has extensive publications, worldwide database and an in-house library to provide current and relevant answers to Canadian Inquiries. In addition, we have a self-serve website, OSH Answers that answers 6.4 million on-line inquiries. Our person to person service answered 11,178 inquiries. Our recent evaluation provided satisfaction results as follows:
Level of Satisfaction with CCOHS Inquiries Service (% of respondents indicating either very satisfied or satisfied)
Inquiries Service Satisfaction Survey
| Inquiries Service Satisfaction Survey April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very Dissatisfied | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Very Satisfied | not applicable | |
| Has staff understood your question? | 3.7% | 5.2% | 29.0% | 60.9% | 1.2% |
| Time required to receive the response | 4.7% | 7.0% | 34.7% | 52.7% | 0.9% |
| Completeness of the response received | 4.2% | 7.9% | 32.1% | 54.9% | 1.0% |
| The usefulness of the information | 4.8% | 8.9% | 30.6% | 54.4% | 1.3% |
| The clarity of the response | 3.8% | 5.6% | 32.7% | 56.8% | 1.2% |
| The courtesy of the staff | 3.1% | 1.3% | 19.7% | 71.3% | 4.6% |
| Overall, your satisfaction with the response | 4.5% | 7.9% | 28.4% | 58.2% | 1.0% |
Source: CCOHS survey of clients April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010, 946 respondents.
CCOHS performs its own surveys on an ongoing basis as evaluations are done every 4 to 5 years. Our internal surveys are done within two to four weeks after service delivery.
CCOHS provides additional information through copyright requests resulting in 278,834 copies of CCOHS information being made available to the public through many institutions. These distributions are shared with many more users. CCOHS developed and maintains several web portals on various topics such as workplace health, pandemic planning, CanOsh, and NAOSH.
OSH Answers provides over 680 documents answering over 6.4 inquiries to 3.5 million unique visitors to the site. CCOHS monitors trends and current developments to provide current information to meet the needs of Canadians.
CCOHS also publishes guides each year to reach workers as an on the job tool. There are currently 21 titles available. This year, a new booklet Business Continuity Plan – Infectious Diseases was issued. Revisions were done to the School Workers Health and Safety Guide and Violence in the Workplace Prevention Guide. Our satisfaction survey for publications indicates a 93% satisfaction rate and a 93% recommendation rate. Clients feel this publication delivers good value for money, stating 96% satisfied or very satisfied. Over 93% said that the publication helped them improve their understanding of health and safety.
Clients feel this publication delivers good value for money, stating 96% satisfied or very satisfied. Over 93% said that the publication helped them improve their understanding of health and safety.
Application of occupational health and safety (OHS) information to improve workplace practices
The expected result of CCOHS activities is to improve the application of occupational health and safety to improve workplace practices. This includes several priorities to achieve this goal. CCOHS promotes collaboration and exchanges through national dialogues, forums and conferences to increase applications in the workplace and improve practices. We work closely with the education sector and partners to expand and improve teaching of health and safety in schools and providing them with resources.
CCOHS promotes application in the workplace with tools such as the CanOsh website, http://www.canoshweb.org/ to help Canadians locate Canadian occupational safety and health information for the purpose of legal compliance, improving workplace health and safety practices and ultimately to facilitate the acquisition of information required for the reduction of workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. This website helps Canadians navigate 14 governmental jurisdictions and multiple websites. This site was completely redesigned this year and new content was added and enhanced. In 2009-10, more than 18,958 people accessed this site 69,109 times.
CCOHS has numerous partnerships and collaborative relationships. Details are available in our annual report. CCOHS measures the application of its programs through surveys asking if information provided will result in changes in the workplace. Our ongoing performance management surveys indicate that 79% of the uses of CCOHS information relate to either current or future changes to the workplace that may result in improved workplace health and safety. This clearly demonstrates that CCOHS goals are being met.
In terms of the overall importance of the CCOHS Inquiries Service in meeting the health and safety needs of their organization, 88% of respondents said that CCOHS was either very important or important.
Training and education remains one of the most effective ways to improve both employers’ and workers’ awareness of their rights and responsibilities for health and safety. A recent study found only one in five Canadian workers received training in their first year of a new job.4 The risk to health is related to the workers newness to a job, a lack of training and hazardous work conditions. CCOHS offers courses in various environments that include traditional classroom, customized courses and e-learning to help meet the needs of Canadians. Courses are reviewed by tri-partite external reviewers to ensure relevancy and comprehensiveness.
CCOHS continued to expand its internet based e-learning courses this year. There are currently 12 new courses and a total of 56 bilingual courses. There are also free courses available on the website for the general public. These courses have helped train thousands of workers and have a very high satisfaction rating of 97.5% and a recommendation rate of 95.9%. The students reported 95.6% helped improve their understanding of occupational health and safety and 66.4% say the information will be used to make changes in the workplace.
Increased Awareness and Understanding of Occupational Health and Safety issues in the Workplace
CCOHS’ goal is to increase awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. Awareness is the first step leading to changes that will result in reductions in workplace illness and injuries and death. This is accomplished through a wide variety of communications methods.
The primary risk in achieving this goal is the limits of financial resources and staffing. CCOHS also relies on partnerships with other organizations to expand its reach. During the year, CCOHS undertook many initiatives to increase awareness and understanding of health and safety.
The Health and Safety report is a monthly free e-newsletter distributed to everyone who signs up for the service. The content is widely reproduced by other organizations to enhance their own health and safety program. The service is very popular with a 16.9% increase this year to over 27,410 members. Each year a readership survey is conducted and it showed a 99.3% satisfaction rating and 92.6% saying the newsletter provides value to their organization. They also reported that 71.2% of respondents said the use of the information from the Report is directly/indirectly related to changes in their workplace that might improve health and safety. The report is often used for other newsletters, bulletin boards and orientation kits. 93.4% of subscribers share the report with others.
CCOHS expanded its poster program to provide the public tools to help raise awareness of workplace health and safety issues. This program has been very successful with over 24,537 free downloads and 3,100 sales of posters. These posters are seen by thousands of workers.
In 2009, CCOHS launched a new web discussion board to encourage knowledge exchange and community building amongst OHS professions and those with an interest in workplace health and safety. There are now 1,230 members and thousands more that view ongoing discussions.
CCOHS also provides a webinar program to encourage people to host webinar sessions as an easy and efficient means to share information. These programs have been held to promote NAOSH week and Healthy Workplace week. Cost recovery webinars included a webinar on chemical exposure and impact on hearing loss in the workplace. These events resulted in 868 locations with many participants and over 15,000 downloads. There are also several web portals to increase awareness of key issues. They include the Young Workers Zone, Bringing Health to Work, Pandemic Planning and many others. A summary of links is provided at the end of the report.
CCOHS has also begun a social media campaign using Twitter, Slideshare and Facebook to increase awareness to promote workplace health and safety and improve understanding.
A summary of the quantitative data establishing the reach of CCOHS products and services in Canadian workplaces is shown in Exhibit IV-4. The key point of this exhibit is that not only does CCOHS have a large number of users and clients of its products and services but that the information and products they provide have a large number of users within the organization. Using the data in Exhibit IV-4, (together with a relatively conservative assumption that the “more than 500” category is 750) allows us to calculate the average number of workers affected by the products, services and information in each of the three columns of the exhibit. This average number of workers who could benefit from the information is 81 for the Inquiries Service, 80 for paid web products, 97 for other paid products and 208 for information supplied to users of the web site. 6
Exhibit IV-2 Reach of Information in Organizations Using CCOHS Products and Services
| Persons using within Organization | Inquiries Service | Paid Web Products | Other Paid Products | Web Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-10 | 62.4% | 62.3% | 65.6% | 28.7% |
| 11-100 | 25.3% | 26.6% | 15.6% | 36.1% |
| 101-500 | 7.0% | 4.8% | 12.5% | 17.0% |
| More than 500 | 5.6% | 6.2% | 6.3% | 18.1% |
Partial recovery of costs from user fees
CCOHS generates 41% of is own revenues through cost recovery initiatives and support from other organizations. CCOHS was directed to recover costs to finance 50% of its budget, it is necessary to have a cost recovery program. While it is extremely difficult to finance, CCOHS develops products to promote workplace health and safety and encourage attitudes and methods that will lead to improved worker physical and mental health. Our annual report outlines many cost recovery initiatives.
Lessons Learned
CCOHS has learned that by listening to our clients we are able to accurately understand their needs and deliver cost effective beneficial services. New products are doing well with a high satisfaction rating from clients. By embracing change and quickly adapting our operations negative impacts have been minimized. CCOHS has learned that information must be provided in a meaningful format that is understandable to the user. In order to meet the changing needs of Canadians, CCOHS has implemented an ongoing performance management program to seek feedback at various service points. CCOHS has also learned that there must be continuous change in its communication strategies and the delivery of various products. With this in mind CCOHS implemented webinars, podcasts, e-newsletters, posters and e-learning to help Canadians learn about health and safety. CCOHS also uses social media. By delivering communications in a variety of methods we are able to serve many more Canadians of diverse backgrounds.
2.1.2 Program Activity: Internal Services
| 2009-10 Financial Resources ($ thousands) |
2009-10 Human Resources (FTEs) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned Spending |
Total Authorities |
Actual Spending |
Planned | Actual | Difference |
| 2,652 | 3,012 | 2,380 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| Expected Results |
Performance Indicators |
Targets | Performance Status |
Performance Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internal Services | % of employees engaged as measured by employee engagement survey. | Over 70% satisfaction rating | Met expectations | 75% of employees engaged and 94% participation rate. |
Section III – Supplementary Information
3.1 Financial Highlights
The financial highlights presented within this DPR are intended to serve as a general overview of CCOHS’ financial position and operations. CCOHS’ financial statements can be found on our website at:
http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports/reports_council.html
| Condensed Statement of Financial Position At End of Year (March 31, 2010) |
% Change | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assets | |||
| Total Assets | -6% | 1,031,600 | 1,096,228 |
| Total | 1,031,600 | 1,096,228 | |
| Liabilities | |||
| Total Liabilities | +0% | 3,703,177 | 3,682,466 |
| Equity OF CANADA | |||
| Total Equity of Canada | -3% | (2,671,577) | (2,586,238) |
| Total | 1,031,600 | 1,096,228 |
| Condensed Statement of Operations At End of Year (March 31, 2010) |
% Change | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expenses | |||
| Total Expenses | +4% | 10,595,163 | 10,185,784 |
| Revenues | |||
| Total Revenues | +7% | 3,858,745 | 3,590,251 |
| Net Cost of Operations | +2% | (6,736,418) | (6,595,533) |
Financial Highlights Charts/Graphs
Assets are lower this year as there were no large outstanding amounts at year end from government clients. We have been purchasing less computer equipment resulting lower values as assets depreciate yearly.
Liabilities are higher due to employee severance benefits increases as staff are older and have been at CCOHS longer resulting in higher liability.
Salaries and benefits represent the largest expense and our employees are our biggest asset. We also incur costs for professional services for items such as translation, royalties on information products and staff development. Overall, expenses are comparable to prior year, excluding compensation increases and retirement benefits.
CCOHS earns revenues from the sale of various products and services relating to health and safety. This includes e-learning, collaborative projects, legislation, chemical databases and management services. Overall, revenue is higher than last year as a result of increases in sales of training programs, our bi-annual national Forum and increases in revenue from legislation products.
3.2 Supplementary Information Tables
The following tables are located on the Treasury Board Secretariat website:
- Table 1: Sources of Respendendable Revenue
- Table 2: Internal Audits and evaluations
- Table 3: Policy on Service Standards
3.3 Other Items of Interest
A. Contacts for Further Information
For further information about this document or any of the products and services available from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety please contact:
CCOHS
135 Hunter Street East
Hamilton ON L8N 1M5
Tel: 905-572-2981
1-800-668-4284 Canada and US
Fax: 905-572-2206
www.ccohs.ca
|
|
B. Legislation Administered by Name of Department
The federal Minister of Labour has sole responsibility to Parliament for the following Acts:
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act R.S., 1985, c. C-13
C. Key Reviews
During the period of this report, there were no new reports. All previous reports, evaluations and reviews can be accessed at: http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html.
D. Listing of Statutory and Departmental Reports
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Council of Governors’ Annual Report to Parliament 2009-010
- Report on Plans and Priorities 2009-10
- Program Evaluation and Cost Recovery Study 2001
- CCOHS Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement Study, 2005
- CCOHS Program Evaluation and Financial Capacity Assessment, 2009
- Modern Comptrollership Capacity Assessment 2002
- Customer Satisfaction Research Report 2004
These items are available at http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html.
E. Links to CCOHS web portals:
- http://www.canoshweb.org/
- http://www.eu-ccohs.org/
- http://www.naosh.org/english/
- http://www.workscape.ca/
- http://www.ccohs.ca/newsletters/hsreport/
- http://www.ccohs.ca/pandemic/
- http://www.ccohs.ca/healthyworkplaces/
- http://www.ccohs.ca/youngworkers/
1 Commencing in the 2009-10 Estimates cycle,the resources for Program Activity: Internal Service is displayed separately from other program activities; they are no longer distributed among the remaining program activities,as was the case in previous Main Estimates. This has affected the comparability of spending and FTE information by Program Activity between fiscal years.
2 Type is definided as follows: previously commited to-commited to in the first or second fiscal year prior to the subject year of the report;ongoing-commited to at least three fiscal years prior to the subject year of the report;and new-newly commited to in the reporting year of the RPP or DPR.
3 CCOHS Program Evaluation and Financial Capacity Assessment, 2009.
4 Smith, Peter and Mustard, Cameron, How Many Employees Receive Safety Training During Their First Year of a New Job?, Injury Prevention, 2007, Volume 13, Issue 1