-Carola Mittag
This coming weekend I will say a final goodbye and deliver a eulogy for a high school friend who passed away as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage. To have known Barry was to have known one of the most kind, compassionate and detailed people one could ever meet. He was a commercial pilot with a passion for flying from a very young age who came from a family of pilots. Flying was in his blood.

Barry had a wonderful sense of humour. What I remember him most for is his meticulous attention to detail and protocol as exhibited in this excerpt from the tribute I will pay him.

… he was a man of precision, care and exactness. Imagine this scene: in the middle of a grass field, with not a single person or other aircraft in sight on the ground or in the air, Barry, having completed the exterior aircraft check and pre-flight checklist, is now sitting in the pilot’s seat with me beside him when he opens the window and calls out in his loudest voice “clear the aircraft”. I suppose to the pilots in the room this may not seem funny, but to a non-aviation individual, this was comical. CLEAR THE AIRCRAFT!

Barry was the type of pilot who could have landed the airplane on the Hudson River (Miracle on the Hudson – gliding the plane to ditch in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan in 2009). Barry was the type of pilot I would have entrusted my life to.

This is the kind of trust and confidence that workers should expect from their employers and supervisors. They are the ‘pilots’ of a business with the responsibility to guide their workers to a ‘safe landing’. This responsibility must never simply be given to an individual because of seniority; this responsibility is a learned position that brings with it accountability, obligation, knowledge and duty. The Occupational Health and Safety Act has specific requirements and defines a supervisor as “a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker”. With the high expectations and legal responsibilities that come with the supervisory position, supervisors must be equipped to carry out their roles to meet Ministry of labour guidelines competently. OHSA S. 27 (1)(2)

One of the first things a Ministry inspector will ask for when conducting a surprise inspection is documentation that a Supervisor has received training to competently carry out their duties. Do they understand the role of the Internal Responsibility System (IRS); do they know how to navigate the Green Book (OHSA and regulations); do they adhere to and enforce the company’s health and safety policies and procedures; do they know how to identify and manage hazards; are they able to conduct an accident investigation and, very importantly, do they have the skills to communicate with employees to keep them safe?

Becoming a competent supervisor does not just happen, it is a learned skill and position that carries with it legal responsibilities that, if not met, can lead to fines from the Ministry, especially in the case of an incident or accident where training cannot be proven with proper training records.

May all workers have a Barry in their lives whom they can trust to keep them safe from harm in the workplace.

 

Watch for next month’s Blog published in the second week of July

Sincerely,

Carola Mittag

Consultant and Editor for Mentor Safety Consultants Inc.