ARCHIVED - Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

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Minister's Message

As Canada’s national occupational health and safety resource, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is uniquely equipped to provide leadership to help foster the much needed shift to a more fully integrated health and safety culture.

As Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, I am proud to present the Centre’s Report on Plans and Priorities for 2008-2009.

CCOHS is Canada’s national occupational health and safety resource which is dedicated to the advancement of occupational health and safety performance by providing services on 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 focuses on assisting Canadians to use the best available knowledge to improve the prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses.

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.

It is the fundamental right of all Canadians to a healthy and safe workplace that is the cornerstone to the mandate of CCOHS.

The Honourable Rona Ambrose, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Labour

Section I: Departmental Overview

1.1 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 assists in delivering a trustworthy and complete occupational health and safety service, and ensures that the information CCOHS disseminates is unbiased. 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 provincial and territorial governments.

CCOHS also participates in many collaborative arrangements with national and international occupational health and safety organizations. These include the World Health Organization (WHO), the Canadian Health Network, North American Occupational Safety and Health week (NAOSH), International Labor Organization (ILO), Enhancement of Occupational Health and Safety in Brazilian Industry (EOHSBI) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Further information on the many partnerships is available at http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/partner.html and in our annual report.

Collaborative projects serve many purposes at CCOHS. They are opportunities to enhance our information holdings, generate revenues and work with partners worldwide. This collaboration among nations serves to promote the sharing of information and knowledge for social and economic programs relating to health and safety to reduce injuries and illness and improve conditions for workers. It also contributes to Canada’s role in the world.

CCOHS fulfils its mandate to promote workplace health and safety, and encourage processes and methods that will lead to improved worker physical and mental health, through a wide range of products and services. These products and services are designed in cooperation with national and international occupational health and safety organizations with an emphasis on preventing illnesses, injuries and fatalities.

Organizational Information

CCOHS operates as a departmental corporation of the Federal government, and is governed by an independent tripartite Council of Governors comprised of representatives from labour, business, federal, provincial and territorial Canadian governments. This structure helps to ensure that CCOHS remains a well informed and a trusted source of unbiased information for employers, workers and governments.

The internal departments have recently been reorganized. This change will align resources by service and program area so that every area includes the technical, marketing and subject specialists necessary for delivery. Systems will maintain the infrastructure necessary to deliver products and support the products and services developed and the web. The Inquiries Service provides direct free front-line service to Canadians via telephone, fax, mail and Internet. They also provide customer service for cost-recovery products. Communication will continue to promote the use of CCOHS products and services, communications to Canadians and marketing activities. The Controller’s group provides services to the departments including finance, operations support, facilities management and internal computer systems. Human resources support all departments.

Program Activity Architecture

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

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.

Through health and safety information development, 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 product or service provided by CCOHS is to 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 partners and stakeholders and result in advancement of the 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.

1.2 Planning Summary

Financial Resources ($000) (Appropriated amounts)

2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012
$ 4,855	$ 4,855	$ 4,855

The financial resources table above provides a summary of the total planned spending for CCOHS for the next three fiscal years.

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012
96	96	96

The human resources table above provides a summary of the total planned human resources for CCOHS for the next three fiscal years.

The presentation of the expected results has been aligned to focus on the key results expected in relation to the strategic outcome. The programs of CCOHS are aligned to achieve these inter-dependent key results. The logic model in Exhibit 1 shows the relationship of our various programs and activities to the achievement of key results. The model shows that there is inter-relationship between activities and outputs to the key results. As CCOHS is an information-based organization that also generates revenues from information, these inter-relationships are necessary to ensure the efficient use of limited human and financial resources. Revenue generation from cost- recovery is necessary as our programs are only partially funded through appropriations.

As CCOHS has one strategic outcome for programs, the performance reporting is presented based upon our expected results for our program area. Financial resources reflect an equal allocation between expected results due to the inter-relationship. CCOHS is a small organization where resources and staffing are shared amongst various programs. Internal Services are being shown separately for the first time this year.

Summary Table

Strategic Outcome: (SO1)
Improved workplace conditions and practices that enhance the health, safety and well being of working Canadians
Performance Indicators:	Targets:
Satisfaction with and ease of access and retrieval of OHS information from Inquiries Services, web access and other resources such as web portals, articles and presentations.	Overall 80% Satisfaction Rate from Inquiries Services and 85% for web usage and 10% increase in usage
Increased awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace.	Increase distributions and participations in awareness information by 10%
Application of occupational health and safety information in the workplace.	Ratings of 72% use information to make change in the work place
Evaluation ratings:	Positive satisfaction rates for above targets and key informant interviews. Overall meeting objectives of the mandate.
Program Activity 1	Forecast spending ($000)	Planned Spending ($000)			Alignment to Gov’t of Canada Outcomes
	2008-09	2009-10	2009-11	2009-12
Program Activity 1: Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration	$5,403	$2,203	$2,203	$2,203	Healthy Canadians 2
Program Activity 2: Internal Services		$2,652	$2,652	$2,652
Services Provided without charge	$1,190	$1,175	$1,175	$1,175

For program activity descriptions, please access the Main Estimates online at: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/estime.asp

For the government of Canada outcomes refer to the website at: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/mrrsp-psgrr/wgf-cp-eng.asp

Exhibit 1: CCOHS logic model

Contribution of Priorities to Strategic Outcomes

Operational Priorities	Type	Links to Strategic Outcome	Description
Provide (Material Safety Data sheet) MSDS management services to support compliance and assist workers to be more effective in safely using hazardous chemicals.	ongoing	SO1	Provides the ability to build and maintain a customized collection of the MSDS that they use in their workplace. This supports our goal of assisting workers to be more effective in safely using hazardous chemicals.
Training and Education through provision of e-learning and classroom based courses	ongoing	SO1	Training and education remain one of the most effective ways to improve both work place conditions and processes that improve the safety and health of workers. This canpositively influence their actions and decisions in potentially hazardous situations to improve healthand safety in the workplace. The aim of this service is to provide a high quality and dependable service to fulfill the health and safety related training andeducation needs of Canadian workplace participants and to educate them about the many aspects of health and safety in the workplace.
Development of a occupational health and safety management service that is customizable for meeting the specific occupational health and safety needs of Canadian enterprises.	ongoing	SO1	This system helps organizations maintain and enhance their programs as well as apply the knowledge directly in the workplace that helps conform to national health and safety standards.
Provision of inquiries services to help workers with health and safety questions	ongoing	SO1	This service is important to provide access to individual’s nation-wide to the latest health and safety information that meets their specific needs. This confidential service is the corner stone to providing fair and equitable access to every Canadian to help improve workplace conditions. Every Canadian has a fundamental right to a safe workplace.

Risks Analysis

The major challenge for CCOHS is maintaining revenues sufficient to finance 50% of our operating budget. New products and services have been developed to offset losses in traditional revenue sources. It became evident several years ago that with out drastic change, CCOHS would not be viable without replacement income. In response, it was necessary to develop new products and services to offset the loss in revenues. Generating revenues of $4.3 million is challenging given our limited human resources, the absence of working capital and additional administrative costs of operating a government organization.

CCOHS is also subject to changes in the market place such as foreign exchange fluctuations, technology change, the life cycle of products and the availability of free information on the Internet. These changes make it difficult to replace lost revenues. The timeframe between new product development, implementation and ultimately sales is problematic as it generally does not coincide with the fiscal year end and there is no opportunity for financing of these initiatives.

Revenue generation in a government organization is difficult while complying with administrative policies. CCOHS is a Schedule II department and has administrative responsibilities that are not conducive to generating revenues. Examples include dollar limits on advertising, embargos on advertising due to policy changes, and the lack of funding for new product development and promotion. In addition, CCOHS does not have any working capital to finance accounts receivable or inventories that are carried on its balance sheet. These restrictions place CCOHS at a competitive disadvantage for functioning as a cost-recovery organization. CCOHS also cannot carry over funds, which makes multi-year planning and product development difficult.

CCOHS products are information based, which results in substantial fixed costs associated with developing and maintaining information databases. It is necessary to continually upgrade the infrastructure (hardware and software) and content in order to provide a comprehensive and efficient delivery of information to Canadians. CCOHS has expanded to include management services in addition to information to provide added value and counteract the decline in revenues.

The availability of free information on the Internet has decreased the demand for traditional information products. In order stop the decline in sales, CCOHS has been actively improving its website to specialize in more web portals and also providing seminars and e-learning opportunities. Development of new products and services is difficult without new sources of funding and ongoing declines in sales from older products. There is a time lag between development of products and attaining new revenue streams.

As CCOHS works extensively in various partnerships and collaborations, changes with these partners can have direct impact on our revenues and ability to deliver services. The support of our stakeholders is essential to the ongoing success of CCOHS. Changes with other governments and organizations priorities could have a direct impact on CCOHS.

As with many organizations, a significant portion of our staff will soon become 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 have been re-organized into working groups or teams. This promotes knowledge transfer in anticipation of retirements so there are other trained individuals available to cover the loss of key employees.

Expenditure Profile

Departmental Spending Trend

For the year 2006-7 to 2008-9 periods, the total spending includes all Parliamentary appropriations and revenue sources: Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, Treasury Board Vote 10, 15 and 23 and respendable revenues. It also includes carry forwards and adjustments. For the 2010-11 to 2012-13 periods, the total spending corresponds to the planned spending and revenues. Supplementary funding and carry forward adjustments are unknown at this point and are therefore not reflected.

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

Voted and Statutory Items listed in Main Estimates

($ thousands)

Vote or Statutory Item	Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety	2009-2010 Current Main Estimates	2008-2009 Previous Main Estimates
25	Program Expenditures	3,828	3,682
(S)	Contributions to employee benefit plans	1,027	1,031
	Total Agency	4,855	4,713

The overall change relates to compensation increases as a result of the collective agreement.

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