Did you know the Town of New Glasgow is fully COR® Certified?

The Town of New Glasgow is a leader in safety excellence and a proud Associate Member Plus of Construction Safety Nova Scotia (CSNS). Their commitment to safety is clearly demonstrated by their Certificate of Recognition (COR®) Certification. The town first obtained their COR® Certification in 2005 in their Public Works Department. After consulting with the municipality, the Town’s Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS) Committee recognized the benefits of being COR® Certified and proceeded to work with CSNS to get all their departments up to the national safety standard.

The safety culture and programs within the municipality have been continuously developed and improved over the last decade. Through the work of their JOHS Committee, and the collaboration of all departments and employees, the municipality has cultivated a leading workplace safety culture.

“Near-Miss, Good Catch” Program

Debbie Greencorn is the JOHS co-chair and a Safety Champion at the Town of New Glasgow. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of their “Near-Miss, Good Catch” program, designed to make the reporting of near misses more accessible for workers.

“The effectiveness of these reports comes down to whether individuals use the reporting tools at their fingers to proactively think about near misses,” says Debbie. “This program hopes to provide various ways of reporting so that workers will feel more inclined to report near misses.”

Currently, employees can report near-misses via their incident reports. The Town of New Glasgow also purchased Near Miss Report Form booklets from CSNS and placed them in all municipal vehicles. Soon, the JOHS committee will be launching a QR code that will give workers access to fill out a form using their mobile devices.

Another key to the success of the program was to make submissions anonymous. “A lot of people don’t like reporting near misses because they think they’re going to get in trouble,” says Debbie. “So, we want to change this way of thinking.”

By simplifying the wording, allowing anonymity, and by educating supervisors and employees about the importance of this program, the Town of New Glasgow now receives monthly submissions to the program.

Mental Health Initiatives

Ryan Leil, Deputy Chief Officer of the New Glasgow Regional Police has been working with the town to develop and implement systems to recognize mental health injuries with first responders and better support them in their recovery.

During the pandemic, the Regional Police saw an increase in the number of psychological injuries among first responders.

To better support their staff, the Town of New Glasgow’s Police Department adopted Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and Peer Training. With the support of accredited education and training, CISM is designed to help individuals and groups manage the effects of a traumatic event or critical incident.

“By increasing our awareness as it relates to psychological and stress-related injuries and our knowledge base, we are simply lowering the stigma, and people are feeling more comfortable coming forward, to acknowledge their struggle, and receive support,” shares Ryan.