Free traffic safety resources, employee training available for businesses
Ontario employers have a new way to keep their workers safe while driving, walking or biking for work. The En Route to Safety program helps businesses create traffic safety programs for their workplaces with the goal of reducing motor vehicle incidents, injuries and fatalities. Employee training is also offered for free to all employers regardless of size, budget or business sector.
The program was created by Wilfrid Laurier University’s safety, health, environment and risk management (SHERM) department in Waterloo, Ont. The program includes an employer guidebook entitled How to Create a Traffic Safety Program – Your 8-Step Plan and three online training modules for workers.
“The goal was to take these somewhat complex, specialized health and safety processes and break them down into accessible steps employers can apply directly to their workplaces,” said Stephanie Kibbee, director of SHERM. “The hope is that our guidebook — when combined with the employee training — will provide a solid foundation for Ontario business owners to really give traffic safety the attention it deserves in the workplace.”
For many workers across the province, the streets are their workplace. Whether they deliver products, walk to a meeting, drive to a job site or just pick up lunch for a client meeting, they are travelling for work. Business owners whose workers travel on the job are responsible for their safety.
Motor vehicle incidents are the leading cause of workplace fatalities in Ontario.
En Route to Safety is a non-profit program created by and funded though the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Health and Safety Prevention Innovation Program.
