A Safety Partnership
Open, honest and constructive discussions between Canada Steamship Lines, CSL, crews, office personnel and management took place this past winter. The objective was to start to develop a health and safety culture with a program designed by and for seafarers. The initiative is part of a CSL Group effort to improve health and safety, promote best practices in each divisional fleet, and reduce lost-time incidents.
The discussions took place in a series of ‘SafePartners’ town hall meetings held in January and February 2012, representing the biggest single consulting exercise CSL has ever embarked upon. Participants were asked not only to openly share the safety problems and issues they experience in their current work environment, but also to provide solutions on how to simplify, improve and make working on CSL ships healthier, safer and more efficient.
An enormous amount of input and feedback referred to as “gold dust,” because of its value, was collected and has been examined by a workforce-led SafePartners committee.
The final Workforce Safety Plan will be presented to the top four Canada Steamship Lines and V.Ships senior executives, who along with six members of the SafePartners committee will form the implementation team and guide the process over the next few years. This team will meet regularly to ensure efforts to implement change are supported, the approved “passage plan” stays on track, and the process is effectively communicated to all stakeholders.
WrightWay will continue to offer support throughout the whole process using their experience from other companies who they have helped in similar “Workforce Involvement” initiatives.
