MINTO – Every year a health and safety update is provided to council in hopes of improving statistics from the year before.
The report is also intended to enable the mayor and council to monitor the town’s performance.
In a Feb. 4 meeting, town staff and council discussed the reported information.
Injury and incident statistics
“In 2024, there was a 20 per cent decrease in overall claims submitted to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) from the town,” stated the report.
“With a 100% decrease in lost time injuries relative to 2023.”
The primary contributors for these claims were injuries resulting from slips, trips, missteps and falls.
“Actions were taken to address the hazards that were identified to have caused these incidents and recommended actions were implemented to prevent these in the future,” deputy clerk Quinn Gorecki told council.
It is noted in the report that the town experienced zero critical or fatal injuries and no visits from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development of Ontario.
“Overall the invoice costs related to our current WSIB firm number, which covers the entire municipality, decreased by about $14,000 from 2023,” she said.
“This is the first time since 2016 that our invoice costs have decreased and it is very unlikely this will continue as invoiced costs across the province are on a upward trend.”
Key health and safety initiatives
In 2025, the town will focus on the following initiatives:
- psychological health and safety;
- completion and implementation of the new SDS management software;
- reviewing health and safety objectives;
- workplace health promotion; and
- workplace inspection procedures.
In previous years the town has focused on hearing conservation, risk assessment, incident investigation and analysis and first aid.
Council received the report for information and approved the annual health and safety policy statement and workplace violence and harassment policy unanimously.
