Heidi McCaskill, a receptionist with Cervus Equipment, was a WorkSafe Saskatchewan 2016 Safe Worker finalist.

Cervus Equipment encourages and promotes safety in the workplace. The safety culture has progressed and evolved over the years. Cervus signed the Saskatchewan Health and Safety Leadership Charter in 2014, acknowledging their commitment to Mission: Zero.

Since becoming a Charter member, Cervus has implemented safety goals, focusing on what they can do to reach Mission: Zero. “It’s like a performance review for the company – how can you make Cervus safer – not just how can you be a better employee, but how can you make our workplace safer. And it holds management accountable”

“It helps having management’s support and leadership,” says Heidi. “They’re often busy with other things. It’s good when employees can come to me with their concerns. They sometimes feel that it’s not important enough to involve management and their time. I’ll go forward and discuss with management. They have the final say if we purchase new PPE or implement something new.”

Heidi has a lot to do with keeping the safety program moving forward.

As the worker Co-Chair on Cervus’ occupational health and safety committee (OHC), Heidi has had opportunities to contribute to safety and improve safety audits and inspections. The OHC is proactive in identifying and eliminating hazards.

The OHC shares information with employees. Heidi regularly posts and emails safety meeting minutes, safety issues, WCB injury reports, personal protective equipment (PPE) usage, near misses and incident reports requiring first aid to all staff. “Open communication with everyone is important in promoting safety,” says Heidi. “The teams use this information in their toolbox talks and safety meetings.”

Heidi takes the information and compiles it into reports to use at their weekly safety meetings. She will also include safety information on a relevant topic of the week, like a new WHMIS notice, sun safety or a ‘what’s wrong with this picture’ safety picture where the person in the photo is not wearing the appropriate PPE or is in a dangerous predicament.

Heidi brought forward the question, “What are the five most important things in your life?” during one toolbox meeting. “They looked at me as if I was crazy. But I insisted they write five things down.” Heidi reviewed answers and most common were family, life, a good job and material things. “I went back to them and explained that what will make all that happen is ‘you’. Without ‘you’ what would your family do, how would you succeed or achieve what you want in your life if you were seriously injured at work?” By illustrating the importance of keeping themselves safe at work, Heidi has change her co-workers’ perspective and attitudes towards safety for the better.

Even if a safety audit doesn’t identify a hazard, Heidi actively looks for way to improve the safety of her coworkers. Heidi has worked on the project and implementation of adding traction paint to the pit shop floor to prevent slips and falls, and instituted safety signage throughout the workplace.

Over the three years that Heidi has been at Cervus, she has witnessed improvements to the safety program. She has also experienced some setbacks in improving the safety culture, but problem-solves with her coworkers to find solutions. “I’ll have a situation where someone might tell me that they can’t wear that PPE because the safety glasses fog up,” starts Heidi. She doesn’t give up. “I’ll suggest trying something new like another PPE product that won’t fog up. Rather than giving in to the idea that PPE doesn’t work, the worker learns that there are options in improving safety and eliminating hazards.” Safety is still top of mind, and involving the employees in the decisions improves support of the safety program.

Heidi insists that the employees bring forward their concerns and ideas. “I’m not in the shop every day and neither is management. Unless they tell us they don’t like the PPE or something isn’t right, I won’t know about it and I can’t work on improving it.”

Heidi makes safety part of her every day work, takes care of her co-workers and customers, and she reminds others to do the same. In her day-to-day efforts to improve workplace safe, Heidi monitors and replaces the face and grinder guards on equipment and regularly orders safety supplies. She maintains the fire extinguishers, and checks and replenishes the eyewash units. Heidi is approachable and encourages employees to come to her if something is wrong. “I am definitely a safety mom,” she says.

Promoting workplace safety and keeping her coworkers safe is a large part of what makes Heidi the person she is. It’s her nature. “To have my manager nominate me for Safe Worker, to get that pat on the back, means a lot. Getting that recognition and support from management shows that they’re on board and we’re on the right track.”