Safety & Loss Prevention

General

Since commencing business in 1988, Whelan has maintained a strong emphasis on safety. Various common forms of promoting safety have been used over the years including regular crew meetings, safety sign boards, project site visits by executives and by the safety director, the president’s monthly safety letter and other promotional devices.

Management has placed an emphasis on safety as well as on all human relations aspects of our operations. Any lost time accident or occurrence is communicated directly to the head office without delay.

Safety & Loss Program

Whelan’s Safety & Loss program currently consists of thirteen elements:

Leadership & Administration

Provides the direction for the program through policy and Senior Management participation in the day to day activities of our program.

Induction/Orientation Program

Each newly hired Whelan employee is required to participate in an orientation that covers our safety rules, what is expected of each worker and any site specific safety rules that our client may require our employees to adhere to.

Five Point Safety System

Whelan will implement the five point safety system on all projects within the the first two weeks of the start of the project.

Accident/Incident Investigation

It is essential that all incidents and/or accidents which result in or have the potential to result in employee injuries, or illness, property and equipment damage or loss to process be promptly reported by employees to their immediate supervisor.

Whelan’s project management teams are well trained in accident/incident investigation and strive to ensure that investigations are done in a timely and efficient manner.

Communications-Weekly Group safety Meetings

In order to ensure the effective communication of industry related safety topics and to provide our workers with an opportunity to participate in Whelan’s Safety & Loss program, Whelan will implement weekly group safety meetings at the start of each project.

Occupational Health & Safety Committees

Whelan will establish a Health & Safety Committee in accordance with the provincial regulations in which the project is situated. We also have an internal policy which requires any site that has 20 or more workers to establish a Health & Safety Committee within the first month of the project.

Planned Inspection Program

Whelan project management teams will ensure that every effort is taken to identify and correct any substandard practices and/or conditions that exist in a workplace through the implementation of a planned inspection program. The program consists of various levels of management performing planned inspections on a regular basis.

Job Task Analysis & Procedures

Whelan will ensure that all critical tasks on any of their projects are identified, analyzed and job procedures written in a timely manner. These procedures will be periodically reviewed with all crews at group safety meetings.

System Engineering/Failsafing

Prior to the beginning an unusual or non-routine job or part of a job Whelan will take every precaution reasonable to protect their workers and clients from the occurrence of downgrading events through the use of system engineering/failsafing.

Promotion-safety Award Program

In order to recognize individual and group safety achievements Whelan has developed an internal policy and procedure that is designed to motivate our employees, towards, safe, efficient production.

Safety Audits and Program Measurement

Safety program measurement is essential in achieving success in accident prevention on our projects. Whelan will therefore conduct a minimum of one safety audit per project per year. The audit will be performed by the Safety Director and a team of impartial auditors that are selected to assist in the process.

Training and Education

To ensure the health and safety of our employees through the continuous process of safety and skill training Whelan will provide all relevant training as per the provincial regulations as well as what is required by our own internal standards. We continually provide and offer training in the following areas: WHMIS, First Aid & CPR, Common Core training for miners and supervisors, Ground Control and management training courses.

WCB Claims and Injury Management

Whelan will pro-actively manage their WCB claims and make every reasonable attempt to assist the injured worker in a timely recovery and return to his pre-accident job.

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