Canadian Retailer - The Technology & e-Commerce Issue - 9

AT ISSUE

BETTER
FORMULA.
BIGGER
RETURNS.
Retail Council of Canada ensures
implementation of more sensible
safety auditing scorecard
BY SEAN C. TARRY

RETAIL Council of Canada boasts a strong and
proud tradition of working with industry partners
and members to ensure the safety of Canada's retail workforce and the continued prosperity of the
country's retail businesses from coast-to-coast.
For this reason, the association recently completed negotiations with Ontario's Workplace Safety
and Insurance Board ensuring significantly higher returns for retailers involved in RCC's Ontario
Safety Group Program.
Entering its eleventh year, the Program is an innovative, voluntary initiative implemented by the
Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
that rewards firms with operations in Ontario for
implementing effective health and safety management systems.
Benefits of participating in the Program are numerous, including the opportunity to network with
retailers on health and safety topics, hear first about
Ontario's health and safety legislative changes and
consultations, and decrease administrative costs
associated with loss-time injuries and illnesses. In
addition, the Program also results in participating
retailers receiving up to a five per cent rebate in
premiums paid to the WSIB on an annual basis.
Aside from helping to ensure the safety of their
employees, this is a benefit that has had obvious
appeal among members of the Program.
The Program has been a massive success throughout much of its first decade, returning hundreds
of thousands of dollars of premiums paid back to
participating members. However, due to the nature of the outdated formula involved in scoring
participants based on their audits, the amounts of
returns in recent years have plateaued, prompting
RCC to take action.

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"The Safety Group formula that's been used up
until this year has been in place for more than ten
years," explains Sonny Brar, RCC's Vice President
Member Programs & Services. "Because part of
the rebates were based on continuous reductions
in the severity and frequency of injuries and loss
time incidents within the workplace, members of
the Program who although passed their audits
were losing rebate points, which means that they
were actually being penalized for their continued
success and not receiving the highest rebate potential possible."
Brar brought these concerns to WSIB earlier this
year and enjoyed positive meetings, negotiating a
new and improved formula by which participating
Ontario Safety Group Program member rebates will
be calculated, ensuring more significant returns.
"This is a huge win for members of the Program,
and for the employees of those retailers," says Brar.
"We've ensured a more robust Safety Program
through the use of a revised formula that makes
more sense for our members, incentivizing them
to continue focusing on evolving their cultures of
safety within their organizations, as well as helping their bottom lines."
For more information about RCC's Ontario
Safety Group Program and how to get involved,
visit www.retailcouncil.org/memberservices/
health-and-safety-program/rcc-ontario-safetygroup-program, or contact Sonny Brar, RCC's
Vice President, Member Programs & Services at
1-888-373-8245 ext. 230 or by email at sbrar@
retailcouncil.org.

THE TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE ISSUE

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