Municipal Safety News
May 2019
Message From Acting Executive Director

Spring 2019 has been a busy season at AMHSA!

The provincial Strategic Steering Committee has met twice, and working groups for the priority areas have been formed. AMHSA is participating in the MSD working group as this is a major source of claims in the municipal sector. When specific initiatives are launched, we will share them with our membership.

In April, we organized the joint meeting of the Northern and Southern Alberta Safety Councils which was hosted by Camrose County. The meeting was attended by over 30 members, representing 27 different municipalities, and there was a special educational session on Psychological Safety by Bob Stenhouse of Insight Corporate Care. The Workers’ Compensation Board and Partnerships program both provided representation at the meeting and were available for questions. AMHSA has followed up on a concern about a recent legislation interpretation related to issuing development permits and received the OHS policy group’s response.

Planning is underway for the 2019 Health, Safety, and Utilities conference in Red Deer – mark your calendars for December 4-5, 2019 to attend sessions on mental health, OHS legislation, national safety code, hazards and controls for decontamination of firefighters, contractor management, crime prevention, and more! Pre-conference sessions on Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committees, Cargo Securement, and Tailgate Meeting Essentials will also be available on December 3. See the RUSA website, www.rusa.ca , for details. AMHSA is a proud co-sponsor of this conference, along with the Rural Utilities Safety Association.


AMHSA recently joined the Board of Directors of the Alberta Occupational Safety Auditors Association and has participated in two meetings this spring. See the AOSSA website for details about membership and upcoming workshops at www.aosaa.ca .

We have recently incorporated several new ways to communicate with us:

  • Email audits@amhsa.net for sampling approvals and audit submissions
  • Our website now includes a chat function which connects you directly to AMHSA staff
  • Our telephones are now being answered electronically, with quick connection to the appropriate area, and access to a staff directory

Providing quality training and COR support has been a focus of AMHSA since its inception, and this commitment will continue into the future. This newsletter details many opportunities for members to participate, learn, and contribute. Together, we are working to prevent occupational injuries and disease in Alberta, and our commitment to you continues to be AMHSA’s primary focus.  

Shannon Thomas
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2019 Member Survey

It's that time of year when AMHSA wants to hear from you! It’s important for us to understand what products and services you and your co-workers need to stay safe on the job. The information in this survey will be used to help us develop our business objectives for next year. It will only take a few minutes of your time.

Please fill out and return the survey  by 11:59 pm on June 25, 2019.  

Each municipality that returns a completed survey will be entered into a draw for a $100 gift certificate for training through AMHSA! 

Thank you for your continued support!
REGISTER NOW -- MORE NEW DATES!
Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committee/
Health and Safety Representative Training
AMHSA's government-approved Joint Work Site Health and Safety Training Committee/Health and Safety Representative open registration courses continue to be popular and fill up quickly, so we have added more! Please note the following new dates:

May 21 - AMHSA's Calgary Office Full
May 24 - AMHSA's Calgary Office 1 seat left!
June 10 - AMHSA's Calgary Office Full
June 21 - AMHSA's Calgary Office
June 24 - AMHSA's Sherwood Park Office
July 3 - AMHSA's Sherwood Park Office
July 17 - AMHSA's Calgary Office
July 19 - AMHSA's Calgary Office
August 9 - AMHSA's Calgary Office
August 14 - AMHSA's Calgary Office
August 28 - AMHSA's Sherwood Park Office
September 10 - AMHSA's Sherwood Park Office

Please contact 1-877-537-9063 to register TODAY!
Full-day courses
$100 for members / $150 for non-members

Or, if you would like to book an on-site full-day classroom course for your municipality, please complete and submit the on-site course request form found in this link (minimum of 10 registrants required):
Register Now! WHMIS Train-the-Trainer
Open Courses
AMHSA is offering new dates for our WHMIS Train-the-Trainer course. This full-day course is in compliance with legislation that requires employers provide training to all employees who work with, or in proximity of a controlled product.

This course provides participants detailed WHMIS information so they can provide the required training to other municipal workers.

This course is available on:

May 28 - 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (our Calgary office)
June 10 - 8:30 am - 4 pm (our Sherwood Park office)

$60 for members/$90 for non-members.

Please contact 1-877-537-9063 to register TODAY!

AMHSA is Launching Newly-Revised
Tailgate Meeting Essentials - June 17
Early Bird Pricing!
AMHSA's classroom-based Tailgate Meeting Essentials course is designed to provide individuals with the skill and knowledge to lead tailgate meetings.

Classroom participants will be given strategies to address on-site activities, hazards and controls, by means of communication techniques and logistical considerations. This course covers Tailgate Meeting specifics such as:

  • Time frames,
  • Location Selection,
  • Audience interaction techniques,
  • An opportunity to practice public speaking,
  • Use of field level hazard assessment, and
  • Follow-up approaches.

The course aims to help the classroom participant deliver an effective Tailgate Meeting by providing the audience with practical information in a manner that will engage them to work safely. It also incorporates the latest Alberta Occupational Health and Safety legislation information that is related to Tailgate Meetings.

This 4-hour course delivers classroom instructions with interactive group discussions.

Recommended for: Foremen, Lead Hands, Supervisors, Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committee Members, Health and Safety Representatives, Health and Safety Advisors, Coordinators, and any personnel responsible for leading on-site health and safety meetings.

This course is available in Calgary in our corporate office training room on  June 17 .

To receive your special introductory rate of $25 per person ($50 for non-members),  register for the course prior to J une 10  by calling 1-877-537-9063.
AMHSA's Open House at our new
Sherwood Park address
You are invited to attend our Open House at our new office in Sherwood Park on June 13 from 1 - 4 pm .

Please join us in celebrating our new office and training space! We will also be presenting annual training awards, long-service awards for instructors, and sharing a message from our Board of Directors.

Please let us know if you can attend our Open House:

NEW!
Impairment in the Workplace Workshops
AMHSA is the proud recipient of an OHS Innovation and Engagement Grant through Alberta Labour which will be applied to developing and hosting two impairment in the Workplace Seminars this fall.

The first half of the session will be instructor-led, and the second half will be an interactive workshop. The heart of the event will spotlight increasing knowledge

We will be offering two sessions free to members only :

September 18 - Leduc Civic Centre ( day before the Sept 19 NASC meeting in the Town of Edson )
September 25 - Genesis Airdrie ( day after the Sept 24 SASC meeting in the Town of Sylvan Lake )

(Both of these locations are close to the NASC and SASC meeting locations.)

Each session will run from 10 am - 3 pm. Capacity for each of these sessions is set at 50 participants. Lunch is included.

Please use password AMHSA to register (same password for both events).
Annual Training Awards for 2018

Each year, AMHSA recognizes municipalities in Alberta for their commitment to health and safety training in the workplace. In 2018, we based the awards on total trainings as a percentage of population, with one award for each of our industries. Congratulations to:

  • City of Leduc
  • Flagstaff County
  • MD of Lesser Slave River
  • Special Areas Board
  • Town of Calmar
  • Village of Rockyford
  • Improvement District No 9 (Banff)

In addition, the Town of Vegreville was recognized for its commitment to its health and safety training portal and creating a matrix and forms which were utilized by several other municipalities.

The Town of Westlock was also recognized for its commitment in the early adoption of the new health and safety training requirements by the 2018 Legislation.

These municipalities will be recognized at our Open House in Sherwood Park on June 10.
Chat with Us Online

AMHSA is pleased to announce a help link on our website that floats in the lower right-hand corner.

Feel free to send us a message, and it will instantly link you to one of our live representatives. If no one is live at the moment, you can send us a message and a representative will get back to you.

You can also update your contact information by providing your name and email address in the event no one is available to chat live with you. 
New to our Calgary Office

We would like to introduce you to Stacey Berube who is new to AMHSA! She coordinates and schedules instructors for training, books online and classroom courses, manages invoicing, and provides administrative support to our Calgary office.

Stacey comes to AMHSA after working in the oil and gas industry for almost 20 years. She is a graduate of SAIT with a Petroleum Land Administration Certificate.

She is an animal lover and has 10 years' experience in the small animal health field. Her passion is spending time with her family, traveling, hiking, and kayaking.

Next time you call or come into our Calgary office, please say hello and welcome to Stacey!

Meet Our Training Instructors!

In every newsletter, we will highlight one of our training instructors.

For this newsletter, we would like to introduce you to Mona Cooley , a Certified Mental Health First Aid through the Mental Health Commission of Canada. All of our health and safety instructors have unique stories to tell as to what influenced them to teach. This is Mona's story:

"In 1995, our daughter was diagnosed with a mood-related disorder, bipolar disorder. We had no understanding of what mood-related disorder was, how to cope with it, and even wondered what her future held.
 
Our daughter was getting the medical help she needed, however, as a family, we were left to fend for ourselves. Taking care of yourself, along with many other lessons learned, are what I now teach other families navigating the tumultuous waters of mental health and substance-related disorders. Over the many years involved in learning how to help our daughter, identifying what has worked and not worked, and learning skills needed so our family could manage mood-related disorder more effectively, I felt a passion to be able to help other families with similar struggles to achieve a healthy, happy, strong family long-term…welcome Cool Family Solutions.
 
Cool Family Solutions goal is to focus on collaborating and partnering with organizations to support and guide the entire family through the challenges of mood-related disorder and addictions. One of the main ways we do this is through our 10-week course learning how to use LUV (listen, understand, validate) and ACE (accountable, commitment, engage) to manage difficult situations.
 
Throughout this time, I have also become a Distinguished Toastmaster and do public speaking surrounding mental health."

We hope you will get a chance to meet Mona through one of her training sessions. If you would like to book our Mental Health First Aid course:

Audit Dispatch

Congratulations to all of our members who participated in the COR program in 2018! AMHSA has completed processing for the 164 audits submitted last year, including 118 COR Certification and Maintenance Audits. Congratulations also to our new auditors – 45 auditors-in-training completed qualification audits in 2018!

Auditor Expiry & Training

In April, AMHSA sent letters to all of the auditors expiring in 2019 who have not already fulfilled their certification requirements. Remember that auditors must successfully participate in 2 audits and attend Audit Refresher training every 3 years. If you have not conducted 2 audits by your expiry date, you will need to re-certify to continue as an auditor. If you have conducted the required audits but have not attended Refresher training, you have a 6-month grace period to complete training and maintain your certification. Note that you may not audit for AMHSA between expiry and attending your training.

If you have completed your renewal requirements, you will receive a confirmation letter and new auditor number during the month of your current number’s expiry. Questions about your auditor status? Email audits@amhsa.net .

We have room in our May and June 2019 offerings for Health and Safety Management Systems, Auditing, and Audit Refresher - call Carla Smith at 1.800.267.9764 to register . Look for additional offerings (including SECOR) to be scheduled this month!

Reminders

  • All audits conducted in 2019 must use the 2018 Partnerships Standard, available as a free Excel workbook or for purchase from eCompliance.
  • Contact us by June 1 to request an external peer audit.
  • Email audits@amhsa.net. 
Municipal Moments

All of our municipalities are encouraged to attend our safety council meetings according to the area of Alberta they represent. These meetings are for members only. Breakfast snacks and lunch are provided free of charge for our members.





Acting Executive Director Shannon Thomas with Linnet Henderson, our host of the Joint NASC/SASC Meeting in Camrose County in April. Thank you Linnet for hosting this meeting!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE FOLLOWING DATES:

Northern Alberta Safety Council
  • Date September 19, 2019
  • Time: 10 am - 3 pm
  • Location: Town of Edson

Southern Alberta Safety Council
  • Date September 24, 2019
  • Time: 10 am - 3 pm
  • Location: Town of Sylvan Lake

To learn more information about our Safety Council Meetings, please click here .
OHS & WCB Reports
Alberta Labour

Latest News on OHS information for workers and employers can be found here:


Click on the below button to view Alberta Labour's March e-newsletter with the latest OHS news and events.
Workers' Compensation Board

Day of Mourning was April 28.

The latest News and Announcements can be found here:
Upcoming Conferences & Trade Shows






LOOK FOR AMHSA
at the following conferences and trade shows!



Alberta Fire Chiefs Association 72nd Annual Trade Show
May 26-27, 2019
Stockmen's Pavillion, Westerner Park
Red Deer, AB


Come see us at Booth #311
Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE)
September 22-25, 2019
RBC Convention Centre, Winnipeg, MB

F or more information, click here!

Come see us at Booth #45
Alberta Urban Municipalities Association Convention & Alberta Municipal Services Corp Trade Show
September 25-27, 2019
Edmonton, AB

Rural Municipalities of Alberta Fall Convention & Trade Show
November 12-15, 2019
Shaw Convention Centre, Edmonton, AB

Contact Us

AMHSA Calgary
1.877.537.9063 
AMHSA Sherwood Park
1.800.267.9764