Jess Van Es, office manager at Just Working Construction, returned a call from the WSIB the Tuesday after Thanksgiving 2022. She was astonished to learn that JWC had won the Elizabeth Witmer Small Business Health and Safety Leadership Award. In fact, the company had won first prize, a cool $10,000.
Winning this prize was something that neither Jess nor the company had set out to do. Until a few months previous, Jess had not even been aware of its existence. The award was, however, a fitting recognition of the company’s consistent, painstaking attention to the welfare of its workers. And its health and safety story reads like a ‘how-to’ for showing love and leadership in business.
Committing to health and safety in residential construction
The journey to this moment began in 2015 when Jeff Van Gyssel started a residential construction company. Jeff’s previous construction experience had been in the ICI (industrial, commercial, and institutional) sector. Workplace health and safety had been ingrained in him there. But health and safety issues do not always receive the same kind of attention in the residential construction sector. Residential construction companies face unique challenges when setting up health and safety programs. They are often sole proprietorships, partnerships, or smaller corporations. They usually don’t have dedicated HR staff to implement health and safety programs. They typically hire multiple subcontractors on a single project, making consistent training and communication difficult. Furthermore, their projects are often shorter in duration, or in someone’s living space. It can be a challenge to create dedicated spaces for safety information boards, fire extinguishers, or first aid stations.
Putting workers’ health and safety first
Despite these challenges, Jeff was determined to prioritize the health and safety of his construction workers. “I wanted the newcomers that come to work for us to know that it’s a priority. I wanted them to know all their rights as an employee.” This attitude exemplifies the caring approach that gave birth to his company and continues to shape it.
Jeff understood that it takes consistent communication and attention to detail to sustain an effective health and safety program. When he hired Jess in 2021, Jeff realized he had found the person who could champion such a program. Jess was a caring and talented administrator. She was also likeable and easy to talk to – a perfect fit.
Jeff asked Jess to devote one day per week to develop the health and safety program. He also provided any resources she needed to create and maintain it. Jeff’s commitment to the program was key to its success. As Jess says, “It is easy to get things started but to keep them going is much harder. We wanted to create a culture of thinking about work through the lens of safety.”
Humble beginnings –the health and safety ‘toolbox’
Jess mulled over how to fulfill WSIB’s mandates for smaller sites, such as residential renovations. There was often no place for a bulletin board, especially in someone’s living space. How would they make critical health and safety information easily accessible? Where would the eye wash station be? How about the first aid kit? How could workers quickly find the fire extinguisher or emergency phone numbers at each location?
Jess’ answer was to create a health and safety ‘toolbox.’ She covered a large plastic storage box with red duct tape. She made a large white cross on the lid. “I told the workers, if you go to the job site, this box goes with you. If there’s an injury, your first aid box is right there. Your fire extinguisher is there. You’re not running out to a vehicle to access what you need in an emergency. Because emergencies are just that. You need the things at your fingertips.” The big red box also contained the binder containing the required health and safety information. This ‘toolbox’ became a visible piece of the company’s early health and safety efforts.
Later, when the company took on longer-term contracts, they set up more permanent bulletin boards and first aid stations. But the big red storage box is still part of their workplace culture. Jess gives ‘Toolbox Talks’ once a week. She covers topics such as the use of the fire extinguisher. Or how to reduce the long-term risks associated with breathing in silica dust when cutting concrete.
Caring communication about health and safety
Jess is acutely aware that health and safety measures can seem burdensome for workers who want to ‘get on with the job.’ However, she emphasizes that creating a safe work environment is efficient in the long run. She reminds employees that accidents result in significant loss of wages and workers’ time and require extensive reporting. But for Jess and JWC, the health and safety program is about much more than efficiency.
Jess’s approach to health and safety models ‘love in action.’ She consistently encourages employees to think beyond themselves. “This is really a team effort,” she explains to the workers. “Not only do we want you to go home safely to your family at the end of the day. We want everybody on your team to go home safely. It is our job as a team-oriented company to look out for each other.”
The WSIB Health and Safety Excellence Program
After these early initiatives, Jess stumbled across the WSIB Health and Safety Excellence Program. This program rewards companies which partner with consultants to improve their health and safety performance. WSIB pays companies $1000 for each policy they create, implement, assess, adjust, and document. Companies can choose up to five policies to work on. With Jeff’s encouragement, Jess enrolled Just Working Construction in the program. She was partnered with Infrastructure Health and Safety Association. They provided mentorship and guidance as she worked through this intensive program.
A successful policy-making process
The WSIB Health and Safety Excellence Program works with companies to “plan, do, check, and act.” This four-step approach encourages companies to assess their newly implemented policies and adjust them accordingly. Jess recalls how this exacting process resulted in improved policies. She had created an onsite fire safety checklist for new employees and sub-trades as part of their extensive onsite orientation. The checklist included information about assembly locations for each job site in case of fire. However, as we all know, the first day on the job can be overwhelming. When she followed up on the training, it became clear that not all the new hires remembered these assembly locations. Jess adjusted the policy to include follow-up training a few weeks after the orientation. The new hires benefited from this refresher, and Jess documented this for WSIB.
WSIB required careful documentation for every step in the process. Jess said, “I can’t tell you how many times our WSIB rep said, “we want to see you learn these things. We don’t want you to just put it into place and…maybe it’s getting done and maybe it’s not. We want to see that it’s working and that you’re working it, massaging it, and adjusting it. And those are the things that are going to stick, right? That was really beautiful.”
Jess values the fact that the program celebrates failure. “It celebrates the fact that we’ve found holes in the system. We can identify those holes and say, ‘No, this isn’t working.’ We are able to make something that works work better for us. Obviously, we have to follow legislation in all things. But we are able to do it in a way that works for our company. They do a really beautiful job of creating space to ask questions. We can say, ‘Hey, this is a situation that we’ve had come up. What are the rules around this?’”
The commitment to health and safety continues
Just Working Construction has an annual health and safety day for its workers. They have lunch together, compete in games, and watch videos on safety skills. This year, they are doing something different. Their Annual General meeting will be a day-long event and construction employees will participate. The health and safety goals and aspirations of the company will have a prominent place on the agenda. These innovations underscore the company’s stated mission to love and value others.
The Elizabeth Witmer Health and Safety Leadership Award
The kind of care and commitment to its worker that Just Working Construction has demonstrated doesn’t always get noticed. But this year, it has been. The Elizabeth Witmer award has opened the door onto a wider place of influence for the company. On January 26, Jeff and Jess received the Elizabeth Witmer Health and Safety Leadership Award during a WSIB webinar. WSIB has also created a series of video interviews with Jeff, Jess, and some of JWC’s workers. These will be used in WSIB campaigns to encourage other companies to improve their health and safety programs.
If you would like to learn more about the company’s experience with the WSIB Health and Safety Excellence Program, contact us today!