Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution in Ontario has won the first annual David Ellis Award for excellence in workplace safety, presented by MySafeWork and eCompliance.
In memory of David Ellis, whose life was tragically cut short at age 18 due to a preventable workplace accident, the David Ellis Award is granted to a Canadian company that has demonstrated the utmost excellence in workplace safety. This year’s recipient, Oakville Hydro, has proven its leadership and commitment to providing a safe workplace for every single employee by encouraging worker participation and communication at all levels of the workforce.
“Had my son, David, had the proper training, supervision or worked at a company where he was encouraged to speak up about unsafe worker conditions, he would still be here today,” said Rob Ellis, founder of MySafeWork and Jersey of Courage. “Our goal is to inspire companies to achieve greatness in safety culture. We want to see more companies respecting and protecting their workers like Oakville Hydro does.”
Oakville Hydro was recognized as one the Top Energy Companies in Canada. See this report to learn more about the winners.
Over the past year, the corporation has made a significant efforts towards increasing the level of worker participation in safety. On site employees are identifying and eliminating more hazards by performing far more inspections and creating more corrective actions than they were previously. Additionally, employees are proactively keeping up-to-date on their training and the number of safety documents being shared and read across the organization has drastically improved.
“Worker participation has been shown time and time again to be a leading preventative agent in reducing workplace accidents,” said Josh LeBrun, president and COO, eCompliance. “Companies like Oakville Hydro are forging the path for other Canadian companies to follow. They’ve given their employees the tools for success and have created an environment where workers are encouraged to participate in and contribute to the safety program.”
The David Ellis Award was celebrated at the annual Safety Talks 2016: A Lunch to Celebrate and Advance Worker Participation hosted by eCompliance.
Photo: Josh LeBrun, eCompliance; Peter Michaud, Oakville Hydro; Rob Ellis, MySafeWork (Courtesy of eCompliance)
