Pictured here is Star, she was up for adoption when we were creating this safety content but has since been adopted and I am sure she is enjoying her new home with her family.
Our pets are a part of our family, and to some, they are our children. Remember to keep them safe and cool in the summer heat. Now that fall is here, we may not have to worry about the hot summer temperatures, but we do have to remember these tips for when summer comes around again. Lavina, Amanda, & Star Lavina, Amanda, & Star Safety content is being created each and every day. I want to say a huge thank you to our volunteers, our subscribers, our members, and our community champions for your help in creating, sharing, and helping us work towards a province of safety excellence in Saskatchewan! If you would like to become a volunteer with us, please reach out, we would be overjoyed to work with you. You can send an email to: volunteer@sasksafety.org today. Thanks for taking time to read the Blog. For now, we have to say good-bye to summer, and hello to fall! Stay tuned everyone, more safety content is on the way.
Driving through a school zone is more than simply slowing down to 30 km/h. It also requires a strong layer of attention and patience, which are most effective when they are working hand in hand. This gives drivers the ability to better react to a potentially sudden situation. A child can be injured just as severely by a car driving at 30 km/h as one moving at 50km/h however the reduced speed gives the driver much more control of the vehicle and the ability to pay more attention to the surroundings. An excellent safe practice is to create a wider school zone area than that of the posted 30km/h signs. You don’t necessarily have to slow down (it would be great if you did) but widening the zone by a few blocks has many benefits. You mentally prepare yourself before entering the actual school zone instead of spending the first block paying your attention to slowing down. As well, children are walking to and from school much farther away than the school zone so you’re creating an even safer environment for them to walk in. This is especially important during the winter season. Keep in mind the attention of a child can be very narrow. While they understand safety rules and procedures, such as looking both ways before crossing a street, they may not be able to see a potential problem as far ahead as an adult. Therefore, it is up to the driver to take up the responsibility and make sure we’re ready for anything that can happen in a school zone. Slow down, pay attention, and make safety the right choice. School Buses School buses are a unique vehicle on the road. They make frequent stops, often in places that other vehicles don’t such as railway crossings. They have access to areas that we aren’t used to accounting for in normal traffic flow which can catch us by surprise. They also have a lot of lights and signs that can be confusing for other drivers to understand what exactly to do since there are different models of school buses and different laws that apply to them. If we aren’t prepared for all of the extra possible scenarios a school bus can present to us, then the chances of an incident increase. The best way to start preparing yourself is to know the school bus laws. Each city, town and village has their own bylaws for school buses so if you move to a new area, check with City Hall for clarification. For Regina and Saskatoon, the use of flashing safety lights and bus stop arms are prohibited. While this seems odd, there are actually very good reasons for this. As Sgt. Koroluk from the Regina Police Service states:
Another way to adjust your driving during the school season is to leave 5-10 minutes earlier than normal for work for the first few weeks of September. This will give you that extra time to deal with increased traffic in school zones and to compensate if you have school buses in front of you that make frequent stops. If you find after those few weeks that there isn’t any interruption, then go ahead and take back those extra 10 minutes of sleep! Not only will making this time adjustment make sure you get to work on time, it also ensures that you keep calm during your drive. If a school bus is holding you up and making you late for work, your stress level will increase. You might accelerate quickly around a bus or speed above the limit after the bus isn’t in front of you which greatly increases your chance of a traffic incident. Then you’ll be late for work and you potentially injure someone. Take the time to plan for the increased traffic changes from school buses. Students, parents, and bus drivers will all appreciate you for it. A popular practice for the police during the school year is to set up speed radars in school zones. It is a pretty sure bet that every school zone in your city or town will see a police setup within the first few weeks of the school year.
A vehicle takes a longer distance to stop even at slightly higher speeds. A simple concept, yes, but it’s more than you may know.
According to Forensic Dynamics Inc., here is the stopping distance for vehicles travelling at 40/50/60 km/h in ideal conditions: 40 km/h = 8.6 meters 50 km/h = 14.05 meters 60 km/h = 20.24 meters These numbers, of course, can vary depending on the type of vehicle, tires, etc. however the point is that even from 40 to 50 km/h there is a significant difference in how long it takes your vehicle to stop. It would be a true achievement if a school zone speed radar blitz issued zero tickets. That is the goal of the police service and it should be everyone else’s goal as well to make safety the right choice and not speed. by Amanda LePine - Community Relations Coordinator The other day, I had mentioned to Lavina that I’d never been to the Vintage Tea Room in Regina. She said, “They have great food, and an amazing atmosphere, we should go!” So Lavina and I went for lunch that same day. I can’t speak for Lavina, but I know the experience I had was extraordinary. Several types of tea to choose from, a large menu with tasty mixtures of ingredients, and the dessert list was my weakness. I had 3 different kinds of desserts, and every single bite was delicious. I highly recommend a visit to the Vintage Tea Room. The owners, Karen and Doug, sure have a passion for what they do and they provide outstanding customer service. As we indulged in lunch, I mentioned how neat it would be to talk about our new informal speaker series called Safe-Tea while in the Vintage Tea Room. “We could get all dressed up, sip tea, and make content to share with everyone in the community,” I suggested. Now, you may be wondering, what is Safe-Tea? The Safe-Tea is a FREE one-hour presentation at a venue of your choice. The Saskatchewan Safety Council created Safe-Tea as a platform for conversations with seniors and their caregivers. Initially, the topics will include home fall prevention, fraud prevention, and our Mature Driver Refresher Course (55-Alive). Within a couple of days, Lavina and I were back at the Vintage Tea Room for our production day. Karen and Doug were thrilled to have us. Karen brought out her special silver tea set and shared with us some tea drinking etiquette. Did you know lifting your pinky while drinking tea is not proper? I did not! To properly sip tea, you can hold your teacup with both hands, but when you bring your cup to your lips… you should be holding the teacup with one hand. I always used to loop my finger through the teacup handle, which as it turns out, is also improper. That day, I learned way more than I thought there was to know about teas and the proper way to drink them. Now, I am ready to drink all the tea and smile knowing I’m a proper tea-drinking lady. Lavina and I will be taking a #Safe-Tea break often. Safe-Tea builds relationships with active seniors in the community. We focus on seniors, their families, caregivers, and community service providers. This is an opportunity to bring quality information to those in our community.
Want to host a Safe-Tea event? Call us today or visit our website to choose a date and time. Let’s take a #Safe-Tea break together! We’ll even supply the tea. Everything is better with tea, right? We are looking for passionate, capable partners who would like to promote and champion Safe-Tea events. The Safe-Tea focuses on building awareness and delivering safety information to seniors in our community. If you would like to support Safe-Tea, please email: safetea@sasksafety.org. Watch the video and let us know what you think her answer was.
Would he have increased the likelihood of getting where he was going with a vehicle inspection before setting out with his grand plan? What does your pre-trip walkaround or inspection look like? Comment below or share a video. Have a little fun with it. Share your inspection routine (dance) using #JiveB4UDrive Sometimes things don't go quite as you had planned. A pre-trip vehicle inspection increases the likelihood of getting where you planned to go. Developing a practice where you walk around your vehicle checking to ensure tires have air in them, that nothing is behind or underneath your vehicle (inclusive of puddles caused by fluid leaks), and that all lights are working before driving is a safe choice. This habit should be combined with a more thorough weekly and monthly routine multi-point inspection to ensure you are not surprised by a failure or breakdown at the least opportune time. Worse yet, having a vehicle system failure that leads to a traffic incident resulting in injury or death. Lavina talks about her on-location video shoot with Amanda at the Vintage Tea Room creating a promotional piece for the Council's Safe-Tea events. The Safe Tea sessions, held at various care homes and community centres, engage residents in conversations about the prevention of fraud and discuss the creation and maintenance of a living environment which will reduce the likelihood of a slip, trip or fall. Exercise, know your limits, rest often, consider a personal emergency device, and keep important numbers by the phone in case you do need help quickly. Know others? Find more free fall prevention resources and senior safety information at http://www.sasksafety.org/resources/seniors-safety Tips to keep your stairs and stairways safe. Have tips you'd like to share? Comment below. Knowing how to properly insert an earplug will pay off in the bedroom and in the workplace. The later leading to an increase in the possibility that you may actually be able to hear your grandchildren wish you a happy birthday. The definition of “community” is a group of people living in the same place or having a characteristic in common and a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. Here at the Saskatchewan Safety Council, we are dedicated to the prevention of injury across our province, creating a province of safety excellence! Do we want everyone to make safety their number one priority? Yes, absolutely! With your help, we can spread the word and spread the action, prevent injury in Saskatchewan… at home, at play, and at work. Being out in the community, allows me to engage and interact with others, show the great work we are trying to accomplish and hear feedback on what is needed in the communities as well.
My name is Amanda LePine and I am the Community Relations Coordinator with the Saskatchewan Safety Council. Born and raised here in Regina, I’ve seen how the city has changed and how it has grown. I love our city, and am proud to be a city-girl from Regina, SK. Every day, I learn more about the places, people and cultures that are in the community. Interacting with people brings me such joy and being out in the community, learning new things, and building relationships is what excites me about future possibilities. Lavina Wagner, our Content Specialist and I have been busy safety bees the last couple of months- making connections, taking video footage and pictures for our content that we are working hard to create. We are creating informative safety videos for the simple tasks that you may do every day, but are we doing the task safely? Riding a bike, wearing a helmet, and using your stair case at home, are you holding the railing when going up or down? Do you have a railing installed? Tips and tricks on how to be cautious in your bathroom, living room, laundry room and outside of your home, having tools and checklists in place will allow you to be prepared for a potential hazard, and to realize something you do every single day may not be the safest way to complete the task at hand. That’s what Darlene helped us with, doing what she does every day on video: laundry, walking up and down the stairs, making a cup of coffee, folding towels, simple tasks that will help us build our content for our informational videos! Lavina and I arranged a meeting with a roofing professional named David who has been roofing since he was 17 years old. He allowed us take footage of him preparing for a roofing job, showed us how to safely wear and assemble a harness. Are you safe for the job and using Adventuring out into the community we made connections with the Regina Senior Centre on Winnipeg Street. We were fortunate to attend one of their afternoons of dance, three hours of polka, line dancing and meeting those who took time out of their day to attend this amazing event (which is open to all ages by the way!). Lavina and I boogied to the music and bless miss Gladys’ heart who tried to teach me to line dance, but I have two left feet (which I inherited from my mother, thanks mom!). Then we joined the fellas in the Pool Room and got to chat with those who have been going to the center for years. To play, they purchase tickets or become members with the center, but when you hit the age of 90, you play for free! Mr. Abel was celebrating his 91st birthday on April 17, 2019. We got to sing him happy birthday and enjoy some delicious cake! Gabe, an 88-year-old member has been coming to the center for years. You can find him in the Pool Room every Wednesday and Friday enjoying a good game of pool with great people, staying active and having fun while doing so. I look forward to meeting and interacting with others in our community. We want to share your story, share your ideas, and the work we have done… together. In the meantime, don’t be a stranger, you can connect with me at any time, we are all part of this community. Today, the Saskatchewan Safety Council is hosting the second annual ‘Cade Sprackman Safety Day’ at Hudson Bay Community School. Students participating in this one-day event have previously completed online safety education through the Career Safety Education program and will further expand their knowledge by learning about Fall Protection and Fire Safety from the Saskatchewan Safety Council, Lockout and Control of Hazardous Energy with Weyerhaeuser, and Eye Protection, Ladder Safety, Hazard Recognition and Head Protection from Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA). As an additional sponsorship, Weyerhaeuser will also provide a BBQ lunch for the entire Hudson Bay Community School. On January 27th, 2015, Cade Sprackman was killed at his workplace. Michelle, Cade’s mom, said, “I remember him and I talking about what sort of work he would be doing. I asked him about safety and he assured me it was safe. I will never forget the night the RCMP came to the door with news that Cade had died. All they could tell me was that it was an industrial accident that had happened at work. They knew no details.” Michelle has advocated for youth safety in the workplace and supports Career Safety Education for youth. “Career safety education is so vitally important. Cade naively saw his workplace as safe as he had nothing to compare it to. His employer told him it was safe and so he believed it. We all think that someone has our back; that systems are in place to keep us safe. Systems are only as good as the people behind them and people are fallible. Just like we have to be defensive drivers today, we have to be defensive on the worksite as well.” Cade, who was raised and educated in Hudson Bay, was creative and imaginative and loved the arts as well as gaming and cinema. He aspired one day to work in the arts as a cinema director. A video on Cade's story can be viewed on YouTube. Career Safety Education encourages the development of awareness, attitudes and habits which result in a culture of safety affecting both workplace and home life. Career Safety Education is the first program of its kind in North America, providing universal access to safety training to all youth in Saskatchewan. Thanks to generous partners, the training is completely FREE for youth between 14 and 21 years of age. Career Safety Education is comprised of Young Worker’s Readiness Certificate Course (YWRCC), Mental Health - Wellness Strategies, Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), and an elective from the following: Agriculture: Online Agriculture Training System (OATS), Heavy Construction Roadbuilders: Roadbuilders Safety Training System (RSTS), Trades and Building Construction: Safety Construction Orientation Training (SCOT), and Healthcare: Workplace Assessment and Violence Education (WAVE). Amanda LePine, Community Relations Coordinator, at the Saskatchewan Safety Council is grateful that the Sprackman Family is sharing their story. She comments that “Cade Sprackman had a vision and dreams to do what he loved. Parents, youth and employers need to hear his story and work to promote safety for youth while at work. We are honoured to be a part of the Cade Sprackman Safety Day and thankful for the support of partners and sponsors. Hopefully hearing Cade’s story will help to prevent youth injuries and fatalities in the workplace.” The Cade Sprackman Safety Day is an annual event. To be involved, contact the Council at 306-757-3197. Cade Sprackman Safety Day Schedule
Volunteer Application Request - The Saskatchewan Safety Council is accepting volunteer applications from those interested in participating in the creation of multi-media content which will be published and distributed via our website and social media properties. Opportunities vary greatly from simply being the subject of a safety video participating in an activity you regularly participate in, to playing a role with an assigned script. You may be just another face in a crowd or the primary subject with a safety message to deliver. You need only be comfortable with being photographed, or filmed, and willing to sign a release and non-disclosure agreement. Beyond that, you determine which projects you are a part of and how. We need all ages from all walks of life in settings both rural and city. Topics include farming, sport / recreational activities, traffic, in-home and home maintenance safety, and workplace safety. Be a part of the #SafeChoice movement. Learn more about the ways you can volunteer by visiting http://www.sasksafety.org/about-us/volunteer Did you know our province spends millions treating injuries associated with home falls? Taking the time to ensure your loved ones are as safe as possible at home could save you more than just money. The most common reason for permanent and total disability is falls. There have been years in which falls have cost the province of Saskatchewan over 300 million dollars. Residential falls in 2010 cost the province 153 million. The most common reason for injury around the home is a slip, trip, or fall. Find fall prevention resources here. Lavina Wagner is the Saskatchewan Safety Council's new Content Specialist. Got an idea for a new spin on an old safety message? She'll help tell the story. Want to talk about what bugs you or the safe choices you make everyday that you feel others should also be making? Leave a comment. Want to set a safe example? Send us a message During the 46th Industrial Safety Seminar, Tricia Gibney, CRSP, was named and honored as the 2018 Saskatchewan Safety Professional of the Year. Tricia, HSE Supervisor at PCL Construction, has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of safety and finds many ways to give back to the profession. Tricia graduated with a Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety from the University of Alberta, a diploma in Civil Engineering, and has achieved the Gold Seal standard as a Construction Safety Coordinator during her 14 years of work related to safety. An active volunteer, Tricia serves as Chairperson of the Saskatoon Regional Screening Centre for the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals, is a member of the CSSE Northern Lights Executive and an active member of the Saskatchewan Safety Council Industrial Safety Seminar Steering Committee. Tricia works with the Saskatchewan Polytechnic OHS Program Advisory Group and volunteers with for the Saskatchewan Public Works Association annual conference and the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association. “I was rendered as speechless as I could possibly be with this”, Tricia commented about receiving notification of the award. Although Tricia has spent hours helping to mentor others by facilitating study groups, taking on practicum students and speaking at conferences, she placed great emphasis on her mentors during her acceptance speech. She said one mentor taught her to listen while another instilled in her the importance of speaking up. She closed with this advice for those new to the safety profession, “You cannot do this alone. You can try but it will not work. You must build your team and they will take you.” In the community, industry and worksite, Tricia exemplifies the Professional in Safety Professional. Presented annually and first awarded in 1985, the Ed Amaolo Memorial Award, was named in honor of its first recipient. It is a joint award of the Northern Light and South Saskatchewan Chapters of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and the Saskatchewan Safety Council. The Safety Professional of the Year Award is designed to give recognition to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of Health and Safety in Saskatchewan. By recognizing those who have made significant contributions, it is hoped that it will help promote the art and science of safety and inspire others to do the same. Nominations are submitted by the 2 CSSE Chapters as well as individuals, companies and other organizations. Nominations are open to any safety professional. These nominations are then sent to a selection committee. The nominees are evaluated using an objective scoring system to determine a winner. The selection committee is made up of CSSE members and Safety Council representatives. The award has been presented to people who have made an outstanding contribution to the safety field in a single year and has also been presented to those people who have made outstanding contributions throughout their career. Visit this page to nominate someone for Safety Professional of the Year. This past February during the Industrial Safety Seminar, Mr. Ed Dyna, a pillar within the province and across Canada for the safety profession and beyond, was inducted into the Volunteer category of the Saskatchewan Safety Hall of Fame. Ed has actively volunteered with the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering every year since 1986. In that time, he served on every position of the Executive for the Northern Lights chapter, including as Chair Person. He also served as the national Regional Vice President of CSSE, representing Saskatchewan and Manitoba for 4 years. He was co-chair of the national CSSE Professional Development conference for four years and was Chair of other committees including the National Committee on Advocacy of the Safety Professional and the #NAOSHWeek national committee. Ed has volunteered with:
Learn more about the Saskatchewan Safety Hall of Fame Ryan Jacobson, CEO of the Saskatchewan Safety Council, is pleased to announce the election of Kevin Mooney, MBA, Canadian Registered Safety Professional, and Director of Prevention with Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board, as President of the Board of Directors. Kevin has sat on the Council Board of Directors for 5 years, having previously served as Vice President. He brings over 15 years of experience in delivering high impact health and safety solutions in the workplace and was recognized as the Saskatchewan Safety Professional of the Year in 2011. Kevin recently received the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Public Service and is a graduate of the Executive MBA program at the University of Fredericton. The Board of Directors is responsible for the governance of the organization. The Board's role is to guide the strategic direction of the organization in fulfilling its mission of creating a safe Saskatchewan in which to live, work and play. Directors are elected by the Membership to represent their collective interests. Lavina Wagner is the Saskatchewan Safety Council's new Content Specialist. Got an idea for a new spin on an old safety message? She'll help tell the story. Want to talk about what bugs you or the safe choices you make everyday that you feel others should also be making? Leave a comment. Want to set a safe example? Send us a message. |
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