NATIONAL FORUM TO FOCUS ON HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES OF CHANGING WORKPLACES

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) will host a national forum to explore health and safety issues that are emerging from changing workplaces. CCOHS Forum 07 will be held September 17-18, 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

With Emerging Health & Safety Issues in Changing Workplaces: A Canadian Discussion as the theme, this two-day event will bring together subject experts, workers, employers and governments to share their knowledge and experience around this pan-Canadian issue and to discuss problems and solutions.

To determine what issues were considered to be timely and crucial to creating healthy workplaces, research and interviews were conducted with representatives from governments, labour and employer groups, health and safety practitioners, as well as with a special advisory committee of CCOHS tripartite Council of Governors

The research showed us that people are very concerned with how the health and safety of workers are impacted by the changes they are facing today, explained Len Hong, CCOHS President and CEO. The workforce is aging and is increasingly more diverse. And the nature of the workplace is also changing with the growth of contract, seasonal and part-time employment and outsourcing. All of these present new issues such as gaps in worker protection, accountability and who is responsible for occupational health and safety in the changing workplace. These unique challenges impact the health and safety needs of workers – and deserve to be fully explored and understood.

This will be CCOHS second national forum. The first one held in 2005 brought together nearly 350 Canadians who shared concerns, debated issues and made recommendations on the issue of occupational disease. The benefits of the forum were extended to thousands more who reviewed the information and outcomes which were posted on the CCOHS website. It is expected that Forum 07 will generate a similar interest and enthusiasm, and will help stimulate creative solutions among Canadians to help ensure people can be safe and healthy at work.

CCOHS will be releasing more details on its website – http://www.ccohs.ca/events/forum07/ – in the upcoming weeks about the topics and speakers, as well as registration and exhibiting information.