December 18, 2009

New Infrastructure Health and Safety Association pledges enhanced service

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Construction industry stakeholders need to be patient as the Construction Safety Association of Ontario merges into the new Infrastructure Health and Safety Association, says a safety association official.

“The intent is to provide at least the same level of service and enhanced levels of service,” says Roy O’Rourke, former chief executive of CSAO and senior member of the IHSA. “There will be some growing pains ... but it should improve service delivery to Ontario employers.”

CSAO members recently voted in favour of merging with the Electrical and Utilities Safety Association and the Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario to form the IHSA.

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has explained that the merger is designed to achieve greater efficiencies in services such as accounting, IT, HR and administrative services and to allocate the savings to safety and prevention programs.

“We have been guaranteed by the WSIB that not one cent of money will be removed from the program,” says Clive Thurston, chair of the construction industry WSIB task force. “This consolidation is not about money saving, but improving efficiency. We’ve been guaranteed that every penny of savings will be redirected to front-line services.”

Steve Mahoney, chair of the WSIB, told CSAO members earlier this year that of the $90 million in WSIB funding to safety associations, 50 per cent goes to the “backroom” leaving 50 per cent “to go to the shop floor” and work sites.

Michael Delisle, recently appointed president and CEO of the IHSA, has reportedly said that within 24 to 36 months that should change to 25 per cent for support services and 75 per cent for front-line services.

“The industry is very proud of the record and services the CSAO has provided over its tenure,” says David Zurawel, vice-president, policy and government relations at the Council for Ontario Construction Associations. “While we recognize that it may be time for a change and all things evolve, the CSAO will be missed in its current form. They have done a superb job.”

The governance model of IHSA is a “pretty fair reflection” of the organization’s membership with construction, in essence, having a 50 per cent share of seats. There will be a dual-branding of the associations which have merged into the new IHSA for a short period of time, O’Rourke says.

Concerns over future pricing models for products and services provided by CSAO and the other associations now under IHSA are still being addressed. There currently is a three-tiered service model being discussed and roughly 80 per cent of present services have been allocated in the three tiers. Once that is done, a service delivery model and organizational structure can be finalized, says O’Rourke.

“One tier would be prepaid services which are a series of services that the industry is entitled to through paying their premiums. A second tier would be a fee-for-service but at a cost recovery level,” explains O’Rourke. “The third tier would be an elite level that would be at market level.”

Thurston says the task force has been assured that the services the CSAO has provided at no charge will continue that way.

“We do recognize there will be enhanced services and they may require payment,” he says. “If this is going to work, these groups will need sufficient funding to implement training and injury prevention programs.”

Also, assurances have been made that the construction industry in northern Ontario will be serviced by the IHSA and not the new Safety North health and safety association. COCA hopes that the northern Ontario construction industry will indeed be serviced by the IHSA.

“We need as an industry to be constituted within a single health and safety association,” says Zurawel.

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