Are You Up for the Challenge?

Make your workplace a healthier place

Back for its eights year, Canada's Healthy Workplace Week is now a month-long celebration. From September 29 to October 26, you and your organization are invited to participate in a fun, friendly competition against others across Canada.

Why Healthy Workplace Month? Because everyone benefits. When workplace health systems provide support on physical, social, personal and developmental levels, workers feel valued, respected and satisfied - and are likely to be more productive and committed to their jobs. When the workplace is unsafe, stressful or unhealthy, both the organization and its employees suffer.

Learn more about Healthy Workplace Month and register your organization online. (Prizes and bragging rights are up for grabs.)

After you've signed up your organization, it's time to get moving, motivated and on the way to wellness. CCOHS offers many resources including:

Healthy Workplace Month Webinar (anchor link to article below)

Workplace Health and Wellness Guide - A pocket safety guide packed with tips on how to develop and promote workplace health, safety and wellness programs.

Bringing Health to Work - An online one-stop shop with free information, tools and resources for employers, employees and practitioners.

OSH Answers - Easy to read answers to frequently asked health promotion and wellness questions.

Driven to Distraction

Call in the car? Seven tips for driving safely

You're out driving, and you can easily spot one of them. The car swaying to and fro within its lane, sometimes crossing over the dotted line. Not keeping up with traffic. Suddenly cutting in front of another car (without signalling, of course).

You manage to pull even with this car. You glance over and see that the driver is holding a cell phone in one hand and steering with the other.

Distraction is a leading cause of traffic accidents, putting the driver and others near them in danger. The growing popularity of portable technology such as cell phones and electronic navigation systems add to the many demands today's drivers already face on the road.

Here are 7 safety tips to keep in mind while using cell phones and other portable devices in the car:

• Whenever possible, simply avoid using the phone or device.
• Have a passenger answer or place the call, if possible.
• Know the location of the buttons on your phone.
• Use a voice activation program if it is available.
• Pre-program frequently used numbers.
• Use a hands-free or speaker option, but remember that the conversation itself is still a distraction.
• Opt for voice mail and allow it to pick up messages.

By limiting distractions caused by electronic handheld devices, you can limit the potential for injuries to workers or bystanders as well as damage to company or other property. And depending on where you work or travel to for work, there could even be laws restricting or banning their use altogether.

Newfoundland and Labrador became the first jurisdiction to have a specific ban on the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. In 2007, Quebec's Highway Safety Code and Nova Scotia's Motor Vehicle Act banned the use of handheld devices. Quebec also has a restriction on using television screens that can be seen directly or indirectly by the driver.

While other provinces may not have laws banning their use, those who drive unsafely while using these devices may be charged with offences such as dangerous driving, careless driving, and criminal negligence causing death or injury.

Drivers travelling to other countries should always check the local, provincial, state or country laws. Using a cell phone while driving is banned in some areas, while others require hand-free sets.

More tips on using cell phones in the car from OSH Answers

Recommendations for the safe and legal use of handheld electronic devices while on the road are available from CCOHS' Canadian EnvironOSH Legislation plus Standards Service.

Take the Journey to a Healthier Workplace

Sign up for our free webinar

CCOHS invites you to envision a healthier workplace. On October 21, we present a free webinar called Journey to a Healthier Workplace, as part of Canada's Healthy Workplace Month activities.

Learn how Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, incorporated health and well being into their workplace. What began as a healthy workplace inititiatve has become ingrained into the everyday organizational life at Trillium.

Join Karen Jackson, Director of Knowledge Practice at Trillium, and Allan Smofsky, workplace health strategist and senior consultant with Towers Perrin plus Chair of the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council, for an inspiring one-hour webinar. Hear first hand how they implemented a healthy workplace strategy. You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions.

To attend, all you need is a computer with an Internet connection, along with a telephone.

Learn More and Register