All 65 employees at Tarkett-Johnsonite Canada receive individualized, personal treatment when it comes to safety. Every single employee is video recorded completing all his or her job tasks. The safety team reviews the video and discusses any hazards or risks it sees with each employee and then puts the appropriate countermeasures in place.
“The reason we do that is because we all come in different shapes, forms, skills… If I am six feet two inches and (another worker) may be five foot something, he might be exposed to a reaching hazard and the risk of strain as opposed to myself, so we would implement a two-step stool for him in that area,” says Hugh Le, health, safety and environment manager at the Waterloo, Ont.-based company that manufacturers commercial wall base.
Anytime there is even an unsafe act or condition at Tarkett-Johnsonite, a root cause analysis is completed, which follows a standard template.
“It allows everyone to go through and ask the right questions and the scenarios and be able to document all the data so we can look at trends, concerns and opportunities for improvement is really what it comes down to,” says Scott Lackenbauer, operations manager.
Every employee at Tarkett-Johnsonite has a scheduled one-on-one safety discussion with a member of the management team every month. The managers hit the shop floor with the goal of driving behaviour-based safety and engaging the workforce.
“They involve the person, they get feedback from a safety point of view — what works, what doesn’t, is there anything we could do better?” says Le. “During this process, they are also able to identify any unsafe conditions or unsafe acts and do something immediately about it.”
Shifts at Tarkett-Johnsonite start with a safety conversation around what transpired the day before. From a voiced safety concern to a damaged cord, everything that happened on other shifts is communicated. The meeting also discusses incidents that occurred at other Tarkett facilities worldwide.
Tarkett-Johnsonite has a safety training matrix that is created every year, which includes legal, regulatory, mandatory and internal safety programs. All employees must undergo the full training annually. Individual abilities, language skills, literacy and risk are taken into account when developing and rolling out the training.
Employees are given monthly pop quizzes to ensure they are following the proper procedures and if they do well, they get a $5 Tim Hortons gift card.
“And they accept the fact that it is only $5,” says Le. “That has created a culture and dialogue with these employees.”
“The reason we do that is because we all come in different shapes, forms, skills… If I am six feet two inches and (another worker) may be five foot something, he might be exposed to a reaching hazard and the risk of strain as opposed to myself, so we would implement a two-step stool for him in that area,” says Hugh Le, health, safety and environment manager at the Waterloo, Ont.-based company that manufacturers commercial wall base.
Anytime there is even an unsafe act or condition at Tarkett-Johnsonite, a root cause analysis is completed, which follows a standard template.
“It allows everyone to go through and ask the right questions and the scenarios and be able to document all the data so we can look at trends, concerns and opportunities for improvement is really what it comes down to,” says Scott Lackenbauer, operations manager.
Every employee at Tarkett-Johnsonite has a scheduled one-on-one safety discussion with a member of the management team every month. The managers hit the shop floor with the goal of driving behaviour-based safety and engaging the workforce.
“They involve the person, they get feedback from a safety point of view — what works, what doesn’t, is there anything we could do better?” says Le. “During this process, they are also able to identify any unsafe conditions or unsafe acts and do something immediately about it.”
Shifts at Tarkett-Johnsonite start with a safety conversation around what transpired the day before. From a voiced safety concern to a damaged cord, everything that happened on other shifts is communicated. The meeting also discusses incidents that occurred at other Tarkett facilities worldwide.
Tarkett-Johnsonite has a safety training matrix that is created every year, which includes legal, regulatory, mandatory and internal safety programs. All employees must undergo the full training annually. Individual abilities, language skills, literacy and risk are taken into account when developing and rolling out the training.
Employees are given monthly pop quizzes to ensure they are following the proper procedures and if they do well, they get a $5 Tim Hortons gift card.
“And they accept the fact that it is only $5,” says Le. “That has created a culture and dialogue with these employees.”
