October is here and we hope all of you have been keeping safe and well. We can’t believe how fast time is flying by! Before we know it, we will be putting on our winter boots and coats.
As the HSEp is a rolling program and everyone is beginning their journeys at different times, we wanted to share some updates on completing your workplan and take some time to provide tips and tricks to writing effective Workplans.
Just like health and safety, the Health and Safety Excellence program changes too. The WSIB has alluded to changes coming to topic selection in 2025. Although nothing has been shared yet with providers, Dunk has made some changes to the process in the interim until the WSIB communicates these suggested changes to us. At that time, Dunk will communicate what the changes are and how we have adjusted to them.
For now, you can find the updated Dunk Workplan template in the “Program Resources” section of the Dunk Excellence Portal. This Workplan template is designed to share your business description with the WSIB Validation Team so they have a better understanding of your business and rationale for selecting your topics. The Workplan additionally sets out your implementation steps and timeline to keep you on track, including time for us to review and finalize your submissions before topic expiry. Firms who have detailed and well thought out implementation plans experience much higher rates of success with implementation than those who do not. The more time and effort you spend developing your Workplan, the easier it will be to implement your topics and prepare your submissions for validation.
Within each topic sheet, the first question we ask is if the topic is new to your organization. Remember, a topic will be considered new if no written policy/procedure/standard for it exists and it has never been implemented in your workplace before. If the topic is not new to your workplace, we ask that you complete a Topic Approval Form. This form requires you to identify a significant gap in the effectiveness of the topic, or outline a significant change in your workplace, leaving the topic’s current efforts ineffective. When answering these questions, provide as much detail as possible to demonstrate the significant gap or change in the workplace. As a reminder, the threshold for a “significant gap” and “significant change” is fairly high. As a result, we ask that you explain why the program has failed, is not being executed, or is broken. We will be looking for this type of language when approving your topics. Furthermore, we will be looking for qualitative or quantitative evidence that proves how the program has failed or isn’t working. Simply identifying weaknesses or missing components in your initiatives would be considered “continuous improvement” and cannot be approved.
When developing your implementation plan, we ask that you take your time and develop a well thought out plan that addresses all the topic’s requirements found in the WSIB’s HSEP - Health and Safety Topics Guide (available in the Program Resources tab of the Dunk Excellence Portal). We recommend that you get specific when filling out this section. For example, which specific methods of communication will your organization use, and which workplace parties will receive training on what aspects of the topic? What specific pieces of evidence will be produced by these actions? Who will be assigned to complete each step and what is your timeline for completion? The more work that is put into your Workplan now translates to less work during implementation and preparing your submission for validation.
As always, you have a dedicated support team who is available at excellence@systems24-7.com or 1-866-754-8839 who would be happy to work with you in the development of your workplan. Stay tuned via our newsletter and Dunk Excellence Portal for more information on the tools, webinars, and resources we have available to make the implementation of your topics as smooth as possible.
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