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Issue link: https://www.wsps.ca/resource-hub/i/1414685
Workplace Safety & Prevention Services | 10 Assisting food processors through interactive webinars was a safe, effective way to share critical health and safety information and provide opportunities for questions. WSPS produced sessions throughout the year, such as a 90-minute virtual Safety Connection on Safety Insights and Safe Work Practices for Food Manufacturers during COVID-19 in May 2020. WSPS also partnered with Food in Canada magazine to present a free webinar for food and beverage manufacturers in the spring of 2021. The One Year Later: Navigating Health and Safety in the World of COVID-19 session covered topics such as best practices and solutions, keeping up with evolving requirements, and promoting a psychologically safe workplace. Creating digital resources, such as a 3-minute Getting Back to Work: Food Processing video—was also a focus in 2020/21. The video features guidance on compliance solutions for the meat processing industry; reinforcing different strategies these businesses can use to protect workers and other contacts from COVID-19. Improving safety during the pandemic Riverside Natural Foods, a Canadian organic snack producer, joined WSIB's Health and Safety Excellence program in late 2019, choosing WSPS as its program provider. Since then, they have experienced dramatic results despite the health, safety and business challenges of COVID-19. As the pandemic began to take hold, Riverside quickly incorporated COVID-19 considerations into its work on emergency response and emergency preparedness and prevention. "This helped us make a lot of decisions in a short period of time," says Health & Safety Specialist Vincent Fortuna. The program's approach to continuously improving processes and products resonated with Riverside. "It really improved the culture and everybody's way of thinking about safety," says Fortuna. Focus on food processing Recognizing the risks presented by COVID-19 to workplaces in Ontario's critical food supply chain, WSPS reached out to help businesses directly. Manufacturing