The CEO Charter, currently managed by the Conference Board of Canada, was created in 2005 by President & CEO of Bruce Power Inc., Mr. Duncan Hawthorne and is intended to support continuous improvement of healthy and safe workplaces by Canadian CEOs. It is founded on the principle that the effective management of health, safety and wellness is essential to the operation of a successful business. There are currently over 250 CEOs from across Canada, most of them from the east, who have signed the Charter. More on the Charter is available at www.ceosafety.org.
By signing, CEOs commit their support to a total of seven principles thus demonstrating their intent to "walk the talk". Of the seven, I take particular interest in the following two as they extend health, safety and wellness efforts beyond the workplace and into the off-the-job lives of employees, families and the communities within which they reside:
"To subscribe to the principle that nothing is more important than the health, safety and well-being of employees, contractors, visitors and the surrounding community."
"To extend health and safety efforts beyond the workplace, recognizing and supporting related initiatives within the community."
I believe one of the keys to ending our unintentional injury epidemic is to have our business leaders take a lead role by putting the health, safety and well-being of their employees first and by supporting the family unit of the employee with holistic injury prevention efforts. The CEO Health & Safety Leadership Charter supports and enables that process.
On Thursday, June 10, 2010 in Regina, Safe Saskatchewan will be partnering with WorkSafe Saskatchewan and the Conference Board of Canada to bring the CEO Charter to Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan-based CEOs will be sent invitations and information packages to be a part of this historic event in our province's injury prevention efforts, and will be asked to consider signing the Charter and engage in a provincial and national CEO health and safety leadership learning community. Last week, at the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board's, Compensation Institute, 90 business leaders representing 60 organizations gathered to hear more about the Charter. If this positive response is any indication of the potential that the upcoming June, 2010 event holds, we will most surely be entering into a new decade of injury prevention in our province.
Watch for more information about the Charter and the June 2010 Signing Event in Regina on Safe Saskatchewan’s “What’s New” section.