Get your safety program working
Practical how-to posts: editing a safety manual in Word, getting ready for a bid or ISNetworld review, choosing safe work practices and manuals by trade.
Safety manuals
Setting up, editing and keeping a health and safety manual current, from the first download to the annual review.
- Safety manuals
How to edit a safety manual template in Word, step by step
Brand it, set real responsibilities and routines, keep the safe work practices that fit, refresh the contents and sign it: a Word safety manual in 8 steps.
· 4 min read - Safety manuals
The first 90 days with a new safety manual
A written program only counts once it is working. A 90-day plan to put a new safety manual to work: sign it, start the routines, then test and improve.
· 2 min read - Safety manuals
Is your safety manual out of date? A refresh checklist
Signs your safety manual is out of date, a checklist to bring it current, and when replacing it with an up-to-date template is faster than patching it.
· 2 min read - Safety manuals
How to roll out a safety manual in 30 days
A week-by-week plan to take a new safety manual from download to working program in 30 days: make it yours, sign it, orient everyone, start the routines.
· 4 min read
Bids and prequalification
What clients, general contractors and ISNetworld ask for, and how to get your safety documents ready before the deadline.
- Bids and prequalification
Bid due this week? What clients ask for in a safety package
The safety documents clients and general contractors usually ask for in a bid, what you can have ready this week, and what takes longer than a deadline.
· 2 min read - Bids and prequalification
ISNetworld RAVS checklist: written programs ready for review
A checklist for ISNetworld written programs: find the required list, match the province, tailor each program, upload, fix deficiencies. $9 each.
· 2 min read - Bids and prequalification
ISNetworld RAVS by province: why Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan and Ontario programs differ
Why a RAVS written program has to match the province where the work happens, with examples from fall protection, excavation, H2S and working alone rules.
· 4 min read - Bids and prequalification
How to prequalify and manage subcontractors, step by step
A 7-step process to prequalify, orient, supervise and evaluate subcontractors, and the prime contractor and constructor rules behind it in each province.
· 4 min read - Bids and prequalification
Running a short service worker program on site: mentors, markers and sign-off
How to run a short service worker program day to day: who qualifies, crew limits, mentors, the green hand marker, check-ins and signing a worker off.
· 4 min read - Bids and prequalification
What auditors look for in a written safety program
What a safety auditor checks in your written program and records: commitment, hazard assessment, inspections, training, incidents and emergencies.
· 4 min read
Safe work practices
Which safe work practices your crews need, how to tailor them, and how to show they are used.
- Safe work practices
The safe work practices construction clients ask for
The high-risk construction tasks clients expect written safe work practices for, how to show they are used, and ready-to-edit practices for $9 each.
· 2 min read - Safe work practices
Safe work practice vs safe work procedure vs code of practice: which do you need?
The difference between a safe work practice, a safe work procedure and a code of practice, which ones the law asks for, and how to decide what to write.
· 4 min read
Running your program
The routines that keep a written program working: hazard assessments, toolbox talks, inspections and records.
- Running your program
Toolbox talk topics by season: a year of weekly safety talks
Toolbox talk topics for winter, spring, summer and fall, from the weekly talk packs in our construction, oil and gas and general manuals.
· 4 min read - Running your program
Formal hazard assessment vs field level hazard assessment (FLHA)
What a formal hazard assessment and a field level hazard assessment (FLHA) each do, when to complete them, what the law asks for and common mistakes.
· 4 min read
Rules by province
What the health and safety law in each province and territory asks of employers, with the sections to look up.
- Rules by province
Alberta construction safety program requirements: what the law asks for
The Alberta rules a construction company works under: the 20-worker program rule, prime contractors, hazard assessments, fall protection and reporting.
· 6 min read - Rules by province
BC construction safety program requirements under WorkSafeBC
When BC requires a formal safety program, what it must include, prime contractor duties, notices of project and construction rules commonly checked.
· 6 min read - Rules by province
Ontario construction health and safety program: policy, program and project rules
What Ontario's OHS Act and Construction Projects regulation ask of contractors: the written policy and program, constructor duties and reporting.
· 4 min read - Rules by province
Saskatchewan oil and gas safety program requirements
When a Saskatchewan drilling or well servicing employer needs a written OHS program, the 10 items it must contain, prime contractors and the Part 29 rules.
· 5 min read - Rules by province
Working alone rules by province: what each jurisdiction requires
Working alone rules across Canada: Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, the Atlantic provinces and the territories, with the sections to cite.
· 5 min read - Rules by province
How long to keep safety records in each province
How long to keep incident reports, first aid records and committee minutes in each province and territory, with the section that sets each period.
· 4 min read - Rules by province
Health and safety committee or representative: when you need one in each province
The worker counts that trigger a joint health and safety committee or a representative in each province and territory, and how often they meet.
· 4 min read
By industry
What a safety manual needs to cover for a particular trade or workplace.
- By industry
Warehouse safety manual: what it needs to cover
What a warehouse safety manual must cover, from forklifts and lifting to chemicals and working alone, with manuals for 9 provinces and territories.
· 2 min read - By industry
Why your safety manual should match your trade
A generic manual leaves out the safe work practices your crews need. How trade-specific manuals differ, across 24 trades and 9 provinces and territories.
· 1 min read - By industry
Alberta NSC carriers: getting ready for your new carrier compliance review
Which Alberta carriers need a Safety Fitness Certificate, what the new carrier compliance review asks for, and the records to keep and for how long.
· 4 min read