Essential Skills through Safety and Health (ESSH) is a two-year project of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (HRSDC - OLES) with the mandate to embed essential skills in Occupational Health and Safety training (OHS).

The work we did was firmly rooted in the statistical data and research that demonstrates the sea change in the future labour force: It is estimated that almost 100% of manufacturing new hires in the next decade will be immigrants. On the Prairies, in addition to immigration, the significant growth in the First Nations population will also be providing the future labour force.

Because of this reality, in our project we focused on workers who do not have English or French as their first language or who have difficulties with reading and writing in English or French. We wanted to develop innovative ways to design and deliver OHS to these workers. The model we developed would not only be for the delivery of OHS, but could serve as a model for other types of workplace training.

We began with a few assumptions and plans - we had already decided to deliver the training over the Internet so we could reach workers at a distance; we needed to support trainers and employers in working with immigrant workforces; we wanted to create humane learning environments and supports for the workers; and, the solution had to be designed to provide the least disruption to manufacturing production requirements.

We developed six strands in the project, each intended to make the context or the content of the training relevant and educationally sound.

The six strands and a brief description of each follow:

1. Curriculum

We hired Dr. Robin Millar, the pre-eminent Canadian authority on teaching ESL and adult literacy, to develop a curriculum that would engage, as well as teach, the participants. We also partnered with Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, the Ontario Health and Safety Association for the manufacturing and retail industries, to ensure the content was correct. We chose the Essential Skills we could "embed" in the course, using ones that had behavioural components supervisors could see in action back on the job.

The curriculum, called Learning a Culture of Safety, was developed as a ten-week program of one hour a week, with two workers from each of the 35 companies who agreed to be our pilot sites. The response by the participants and the companies has been overwhelmingly positive (even better than expected) and we are delighted with the results, all of which will be made available at our upcoming Regional conferences in the fall of 2011.

2. New Media

The training was delivered over the Internet on a platform called Adobe Connect, which functioned as a live classroom in which the participants and facilitator could see and speak with each other face to face. To support the learning, four new media products were developed which could be used by the class to check their understanding or give them practice. The learning products were fun for all, but were fundamentally strong educationally.

3. Research

We conducted a qualitative research project in which we interviewed recent immigrant workers in their own language about health and safety, both in their home countries and in Canada. We chose the three largest linguistic populations: Chinese (Mandarin); Punjabi; and, Tagalog (Philippines) and found researchers who were native speakers of each of those languages. The interviews were recorded, translated, and analyzed for commonalities that might provide more context for the curriculum.

The results of the research demonstrated the primacy of OHS as the first means of acculturation to the Canadian workforce and coloured all future perceptions of the employers for each of the workers interviewed.

4. First Nations

We hired a First Nations elder who has expertise in training and community development to assess the state of OHS training for First Nations workers in companies in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Through interviews and the collection of materials we learned what was being used at present and which of the materials were successful and had potential elements we could incorporate into our curriculum. The report is being written and will be available.

5. Statistical Analysis

We analyzed statistical data on labour markets and on injury and LTI rates throughout Canada. The information will be animated for presentation at our regional conferences.

6. Survey of Best Practices in OHS training, both national and international

There are five Principal Investigators (PI) working for the ESSH program, each located in a CME office in one of the five regions: British Columbia; Manitoba (with responsibility for Alberta and Saskatchewan); Ontario; Quebec; and, Nova Scotia (with responsibility for the Atlantic Provinces.

Each PI was required to interview 25 manufacturing companies in their region for a total of 125 companies across the country. The primary reason for the interviews was to get a snapshot of the number and types of employees; the existing OHS training arrangements and type of arrangements (out-sourced or in-house); data on the types of hazards faced in the particular company being interviewed; as well as indications of effective (or best) practices.

Based on the collected data, seven companies per region were selected to participate in the beta and pilot versions of the project. The data is stored in a database along with information on international best practices. The information will be housed eventually in the Centre for Workplace Skills database so it is available to a wider audience.