Left to right: Tatiana Santos, CSST Communication, Carole Théberge, CSST Vice-President, Carole Paris, EHS Manager, Marco Deslauriers, Crane operator, Robert Gauthier, Maintenance technician, Antoine Desilets, Maintenance supervisor, Francis Vincent, Crane operator. 26 October 2011.
Every year the Canadian Health and Safety organization (CSST) encourages companies to demonstrate their health and safety initiatives by running a competition.
The Innovative Prize is aimed at recognizing the efforts of locations in involving employees, accident prevention and to encourage best practices by promoting good ideas to other companies.
Sapa has the policy that when working on a flatbed trailers workers must be protected from fall risks. One day, a worker could not use his mobile equipment (combi-lift) to unload the logs and he was aware of the Sapa standard for fall control and the need for flatbed protection. There was a problem that needed to be solved.
The operator, a maintenance worker, maintenance supervisor and EHS manager went to the shop floor to look for ways of doing the work safely. The idea started up with a piece of metal that was placed in slots around the flatbed (vertical) and a rope was attached from one pole to the other on the horizontal offering a protection. The idea then soon progresses to the system we have today.
This simple but effective idea was the entry to the competition for the regional CSST award.
The criteria to win the CSST LAUREATE award are:
- Creativity: conceive a protective design for fall protection while working on a flatbed.
- Participation: degree of participation with workers and employers
- Complexity: degree of complexity to achieve the project
- Influence: possibility to use this innovation in other companies
- Proactively: plant capacity to find solution and resolve problem in regards to health and safety
- Elimination of the risk: reduce possibility of falling
Sapa Profiles won the Regional CSST Laureate, out of a short list of 20 finalists.
Sapa Montreal has also been invited to participate at the National CSST GALA in April 2012.
For more information please contact
Carole Paris
EHS Manager
Sapa Profiles Pointe Claire, Montreal
carole.paris@sapagroup.com