They’re Doin’ It!
On October 18, 2011, the Hotel Best Practice Group (BPG) held their third quarterly business meeting. Representatives from thirty-five larger hotels were in attendance. The purpose of the meeting was two-fold: (1) to review the third quarter injury statistics of the group, and (2) to discuss the next phase of endeavours towards true collective injury prevention.
To start the day off, the Service & Hospitality Safety Association’s (SHSA) new CEO Jim Bence addressed the audience with some encouraging and thought-provoking words based on his life time of working inside the hospitality industry.
Next, the audience was treated to some past and present positive experiences regarding Best Practice Groups from the opening guest speaker Kim Matheson. Kim has been working in Saskatchewan for nearly ten years. Her current work title is Manager of Health & Safety for the City of Saskatoon. Within the confines of her responsibilities along with a short tenure, Matheson has been able to drastically curb the number of injuries to the approximate four thousand employees of the City of Saskatoon.
During her presentation, Kim shared a major Best Practice Group success from her previous Saskatchewan employment that paid back millions of dollars to the participants. From her current successes with the City of Saskatoon, Matheson has been instrumental in developing a new Best Practice Group involving a number of major cities throughout Saskatchewan. As she indicated, there is already an effect on the overall performance of the group and they are anticipating additional cities joining the group at their November 2011 Meeting.
Matheson concluded by stating that Best Practice Groups are: (1) successful through active participation by all; (2) not always easy; (3) and most importantly – worth it! She also volunteered her contact information to all members of the BPG. The group was unanimous in their expressions of appreciation to Kim and the City of Saskatoon for allowing the time and expense to share her experiences.
Amanda Mallow, Business Development Advisor at SHSA presented training and injury statistics covering the first three quarters of 2011.
At the previous quarterly meeting of June 09, 2011, it was agreed that all participating hotels would commit to sending front line managers to two separate SHSA sponsored two-hour training courses covering Incident Investigation and Claims Management. This decision was the result of the Safety Evaluations performed on approximately forty hotels within the BPG prior to June 09, 2011. It was disappointing to note that the training statistics outlined on October 18, 2011 indicated that not all hotels participated. A discussion ensued concerning the need for adjustments to when and how SHSA provides these courses in the future.
Amanda then discussed the accident statistics, comparing the 2010 numbers with projected 2011 injury stats. Within the entire S23 WCB Code, the injury numbers are on a slight decline. Analyzing further, the S2301 Sub-code (Hotels/Motels) showed a greater decline. The most exciting news of the day was the greatest decline of injury stats came from the BPG!
The October 18, 2011 quarterly meeting date had been set to immediately follow the annual WCB Rate Setting Meetings. All in attendance anticipated participating in an open discussion regarding the 2012 WCB Hotel insurance rates. However, due to the WRIT of the provincial election the rate setting meeting has been postponed until Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at WCB in Regina. Three representatives of the BPG have volunteered to attend. They are G. Weir of the Best Western Seven Oaks Hotel, C. Young of the West Harvest Inn, and S. Lichtenwald of the Hotel Saskatchewan.
Jim Bence stepped back up to the podium to discuss the results of the Safe Work Practice Committee’s efforts – he provided handouts of the one dozen standard safe work practices that can be utilized in any hotel. The work practices are located on SHSA’s web site www.servicehospitality.com. Thank you to all active participants of this Committee – well done! All can look forward to further initiatives being accomplished through volunteer committees devoted to projects such as generic modified duty listings, etc.
An integral component of a successful long term best practice group is active member participation. To get this started, we placed Shelley Lichtenwald from the Hotel Saskatchewan in the Hot Seat to share some feed-back regarding the ups & downs of the BPG. She did a great job and the BPG is looking forward to others sharing this same Hot Seat at the February 15, 2012 quarterly meeting and beyond.
From a business perspective, we were delighted to have Gord Moker from Safe Saskatchewan presenting at the meeting. Gord outlined the need to change the thinking of workers in Saskatchewan not only while at work, but according to statistics, more so while away from work. This province spends four billion dollars on Health Care costs. Inside that enormous expenditure, we spend one billion dollars on preventable injuries (combined work/home) which is significantly higher than any other province in Canada. Consequently, what we teach regarding improved safety culture at work will eventually have an impact on our workers safety while away from work.
The future looks good for the BPG providing there is a steady decrease in injury numbers. To further assist in this matter, the SHSA presented four new initiatives commencing early in 2012. The first is a short in-house presentation outlined by Amanda Mallow entitled “Making Your Committee Shine” which is designed to empower safety committees to take on additional responsibilities and thereby lighten the load of the front line manager. Secondly is the “New Manager Training” presented by Jim Bence which is being offered to all incoming perspective managers. The course is one full day and will give the new person the basics of health and safety inside the hotel environment here in Saskatchewan. The course is designed for two to twelve participants whether from the same hotel or along with other BPG members participating. Thirdly is the concept of “All Cards On-The-Table” presented by one of SHSA’s Business Advisors Alison Zoerb which allows each participant to view other participating hotel accident statistics on a quarterly basis. This in turn will let each member see how they are performing and, where feasible, to offer assistance to those that are struggling in certain areas. Finally is the offer of a “One-year Safety Evaluation” presented by David Walker, Safety Advisor for SHSA. By re-visiting all the participants with a second private and confidential evaluation in early 2012, each hotel can see whether they are on the right road to further injury prevention.
The quarterly meeting ended with a feeling of accomplishment and a new positive direction for those in attendance. Congratulations to all!
P.S. Be sure and mark your calendars for the next quarterly meeting to be held in Saskatoon on February 15, 2012.
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