With 928 work related deaths from injuries and work-related diseases, safety is a serious health, safety, and management issue.

On September 6, 2006 the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) announced that they were able to gain consensus on a voluntary safety standard with labour, business, government and representatives from other organizations.

Workers in Canada are among the most at risk of dying* or being injured on the job when they punch their time card, the Canadian Standards Association said Wednesday as they unveiled a new voluntary standard to keep employees safe. Via CBC News

What I like is that the CSA Z1000 standard was designed to be compatible with ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 9001 (quality management) which should make it much easier to integrate with these management systems.

Plus CSA is offering guidance material in hardcopy and PDF electronic format, in both English and French. Later in the year they plan to release a CD ROM which will include assessment checklists, forms and templates.

This is a real solid step forward that will help employers, small and large develop a standards compliant, preventative safety program. Now small employers cannot say that "I do not know where to begin" because they can use the CSA resource materials to guide them in the creation of their own workplace safety program.

As the standard says "Plan-Do-Check-Act". To learn more stop by the CSA Learning Center to access PDF's.

* Source: Rates of Fatal Workplace Injuries in OECD Countries, Canadian Centre for the Study of Living Standards