Guides & Toolkits

Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (Ontario) and Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) are pleased to present Closing the Loop: Setting Up a Health & Safety System in Your Small Manufacturing Business, a practical guide to improving health and safety in your workplace. All organizations can operate more safely, but some organizations consistently operate more safely their competitors. Usually, these are organizations that are intentionally managing health and safety to produce highly successful results. Safe operation is not left to chance. They produce superior safety results because they have implemented pro-active safety management processes that reduce losses, injuries and illnesses. They have learned that health and safety can be managed and that occupational injuries and illnesses can be prevented. Many of these organizations also have superior business results – they are more profitable, more innovative, lead the competition in the marketplace, are more agile and responsive to changes in their business. There is a link between health and safety success and business success. These businesses have made an investment in systems and processes for safe operation – and the investment is paying off. Continuous improvement processes have been used to transform organization and work. Learning from improved safety systems has been reapplied to improve process reliability, and learning from quality management has been reapplied to safety processes. Safe operation is a critical component in optimizing the success of these organizations. Preventing injuries, illnesses and operational losses is good business. To be successful requires senior management (president, CEO, plant manager, etc.) vision, leadership and commitment to prevention. CME has long been involved in assisting manufacturers to become more aware of what they can do to improve their performance. We believe that we need to build awareness, provide education and training and offer tools that manufacturers can utilize to full advantage. We also believe that more can be achieved by working in partnership, and are pleased to again partner with WSPS on a new initiative to develop a practical guidebook that will assist Ontario's manufacturers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. This guidebook provides companies with some basic tools for assessing your health and safety needs and determining what tools are needed to improve health and safety in the workplace. It provides practical information and tools that will help you develop action plans and institute health and safety programs in your workplace. We are confident that this guidebook will lead to improvements in your workplace that will have a positive effect on every aspect of your business. It is just one of the ways that CME is helping and delivering services and success to manufacturers in Ontario. I would be pleased to hear any comments you have on this guidebook, or any other issue CME can assist on. Sincerely, Ian Howcroft Vice President, Ontario Division Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters 6725 Airport Road, Suite 200, Mississauga ON L4V 1V2 | t 1 800 268 9684 | F 905-672-1764 | www.cme-mec.ca

• Cover