Patty Whitehill
Principal Investigator

Patty Whitehill works in the Manitoba CME office in Winnipeg, although she also has responsibility for Saskatchewan and Alberta. Before joining CME, Patty worked in the travel industry for years in various departments including human resources, payroll, finance, customer service and in-flight service. She was employed by Air Canada as the in-flight performance manager responsible for managing the in-flight base for all cabin personnel based in Winnipeg, until the base closure in November 2008. Patty is fully committed to Occupational Health and Safety excellence.

Phone: 204.949.1454   |   e-mail: patty.whitehill@cme-mec.ca

Reflections      Success Stories      Participants

Reflections

By Patty Whitehill

One of the first tasks I was asked to do as Principal Investigator for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta was interview employers and find out what issues they face with conducting health and safety training for immigrant employees who have English as a second language (ESL) issues or low literacy skills.

After interviewing 50 manufacturing companies throughout the Prairie Provinces, it became very apparent that most companies faced the same challenges.

The cultural differences and best practices in foreign countries played a huge role in the way they worked on a daily basis. What really makes a culture of safety in a workplace? Did the employees really understand?

Finding out the issues and training obstacles that employers faced when dealing with a large population of immigrant employees was exemplified during the employer interviews. Most companies who had solid safety practices demonstrated what worked for their policies and employee population. The main issues and best practices were brought together to formulate the curriculum for Learning a Culture of Safety. This training program was developed with the assistance of participants during our pilot project and focused on safety awareness, analyzing a job hazard analysis, oral communication, rights and responsibilities and being able to read and understand charts and graphs related to health and safety.

The ESSH program has provided many employers and employees a unique experience, demonstrating increased workplace moral. I am thrilled with the outcome!

Success Stories

All-Fab Building Components

The beta project conducted with All Fab Building Components in Winnipeg featured two men who had only been in Canada for less than five years. Throughout the training period, Patty Whitehill noted that the workers became more confident in identifying health and safety on the shop floor and, as a result, changes were made constantly based on their dedication to the program.

Duha Color Services

Pasqual works for a manufacturing company in the Prairies. He is an immigrant who has been living in Canada for two years. His assignment, after the first session of the course, was to ask a question of his supervisor about safety. So, Pasqual looked up some potential safety hazards related to the chemicals used at his job and realized that wearing a mask would be very important, but the mask wasn't located anywhere near his workstation. When Pasqual needed a mask, he had to walk across the building to get it and, as a result, he often didn't wear one.

Now that he knows the risks of not wearing a mask, Pasqual asked his supervisor whether they could construct something near his workstation so that he could easily access the masks and goggles required for working with the chemicals. Within a couple of weeks, there was a new series of hooks next to Pasqual's machine so he could have the masks and goggles at his workstation. This is just another example of the positive outcomes for our Learning a Culture of Safety course.

Acrylon Plastics Inc.

During the course training, Patty Whitehill asked Njani Bitajabuika if he had learned anything new, Njani replied that "last night, when my shift finished, I tried to share with my co-worker by asking him where potential hazards were found and how to prevent them". Njani also explained that "this is new for me as I never practiced this before." Njani's response has clearly demonstrated that the ESSH program has directly impacted the participants' confidence to speak up and guide others. This newly found confidence is a huge success to the companies and to our program.

Decor Cabinets

At the Decor presentation, Human Resources Director, Sharon Penner asked the participants if they thought other workers would benefit from doing job hazard analysis. Valeri replied, "Absolutely! It would make them more aware of safety in the workplace." During open discussion later that afternoon, she asked the other managers and supervisors in the room if they felt it would be beneficial in having them do a job hazard analysis during their safety training. As a result from the positive feedback, Decor Cabinets is currently considering implementing this to their training program.

Participants

	Acrylon Plastics Inc. is an ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturer of custom engineered rotomolded, thermoformed and profiled plastics products. Products are marketed across Canada & United States.
	All-Fab Building Components. Since 1970, All-Fab Building Components is a leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of premium structural building components to residential, commercial and agricultural markets.
	Decor Cabinets. Established in 1977, Decor Cabinet Company has been manufacturing custom cabinetry for the consumer market and specifically services a niche market in the kitchen and bath industry.
	Drader Manufacturing is an innovative manufacturer of a range of injection-molded products serving industrial and commercial markets, specializing in plastic part design, plastic welding and recycling.
	Duha Color Services, a member of the global Duha Group, that create color marketing tools for virtually any display requiring color samples.
	Hitachi Canadian Industries Ltd. offers a wide variety of products and services including custom industrial fabricating, machining, assembly and after sales services.
	Westland Plastics Ltd. is a manufacturer of high quality rotationally molded plastic products for a wide range of industries including marine, recreational vehicle, industrial, agricultural, sewer, water and others.