From The Hotline, Summer, 2009 
Business Manager Doug McKay, center, joined with union brothers and sisters, including Unit Chair Gerry Pope, left, and Assistant Business Manager Dan Giesbrecht, right, in honouring workers killed or injured on the job at this year’s Day of Mourning ceremony that took place in Vancouver on April 28th. Sparking a culture of safety As a union that’s always prided itself on putting safety first, one thing we’ve always agreed on with the company is that we’re 100% behind safety – it’s priority #1 that all of our members go home at the end of the day as healthy as when they came to work. You can be assured that we continue to do our best to firmly establish safe working environments for all of our members. Safety in the workplace, though, is a two-way street – there is only so much the worker can do as an individual. They can rely on their training, experience and professionalism. And they can contribute to the culture of safety in the workplace. In our talks with members, we reinforce the fact there is no good reason why a safety rule gets broken. If we don’t agree about a particular safety rule, we sit down, discuss, clarify and go over the meaning of the rule. But it is the commitment, style and proficiency of the company that provides the leadership in ultimately determining the culture of safety in the workplace. Saying that, we now have reservations about the way BC Hydro handles situations with safety violations. In the eyes of many of the members I represent, it seems like BC Hydro sees any breach of the rules are to be dealt with by “the big stick” approach. With a recent incident in Invermere, it is clear the company is sending a message that it has no compassion for the well being of members who have been injured on the job and are still struggling to accept the results of the horrible accident that took place. Yes, there may have been a breach of safety rules along with a miscommunication and a mindset that what was being done was being done safely, but I can assure you, the members who got lit up didn’t intend to get hurt, and now have to live with the trauma, the scars and the missing parts. Nothing has changed in the union’s commitment to safety in the workplace. We talk about it every day, we reinforce safety in all of our training, and we encourage members to come forward and talk about their concerns about safety issues with management. We trust one another and we look out for each other’s backs. We know what we are doing. And we can accept blame when we have to. But when the workplace lacks a style of management that shows leadership and engenders confidence in creating a culture of safety – we have a problem. When the employer loses the confidence of its workforce by being highly reactive and blaming workers alone for safety violations and accidents, workers get the message that safety is not a priority for the company. When mutual trust has been eroded, cynicism towards safety initiatives or programs will be the call of the day. Safety needs to be a part of every day conversations at work and management needs to be seen as being sincerely committed to safety in the workplace. They need to listen to what is being said and they need to take what they hear seriously. The big stick approach isn’t working. Its time to take a good look at what is really taking place when it comes to safety at work. | 
