Safety and Environment

Commitment to Safety

After initial training of new employees, management and supervisors are required to monitor each other’s work habits and immediately bring unsafe conditions to the attention of new and seasoned employees alike. Incidents of failure to comply with established safety procedures will result in education and retraining. PWTransit believes that voluntary compliance rather than discipline for non-compliance is a more effective way to build the safety culture.

All locations of PWTransit undergo WorkSafe / WCB / WSIB Certificate Of Recognition (COR) and National Safety Code (NSC) audits conducted on an annual basis by a Director of Safety for one of the other lines of business or the Corporate Vice President of Safety for Pacific Western Transportation.

Six Steps to Safety

PWTransit uses the “Six Steps of Safety Management” in all our individual operations as a self-assessment tool to measure ourselves against DuPont and other industry safety leaders.

1. Identify the Hazards

2. Identify the risks associated with those hazards

3. Assess the risks according to Frequency, Severity, and Probability

4. Control the risks through Engineering, Administrative process, and Personal protective equipment

5. Document the process

6. Monitor and review the outcomes

Using the Six Steps, an assessment is made each quarter to gauge our progress and chart our future course towards being the leader in safety for our industry. Demanding goals are set with the input of managers, department heads, and lead hands so that the goals can be communicated to all Employees in our Division up to and including the newest person on the payroll.

The Six Steps were developed internally and adopted throughout the corporation to enable PWTransit to take advantage of the best safety practices currently being used at any of our operations across Canada. The broad range of experience and qualifications that we as a corporation can bring to bear on a problem, positions us to be an innovator and industry leader in safety.

Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S)

At PWTransit Occupational Health & Safety is more than just a statement. We believe that each and every one of our
employees is entitled to go home in the same, if not better, condition than when they came to work that day. PWTransit has
implemented many programs, policies and procedures to enable safety to be at the forefront of employees’ thoughts and
actions throughout their workday.

Key Performance Indicators

PWTransit takes pride in providing consistent customer service and monitoring all aspects of our performance to ensure
the quality of the service we provide. These strategies centre on setting targets and tracking performance using Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs). In conjunction with the financial budgeting process, each system manager is required to
develop KPI targets for its operation. These comprise the location’s KPIs for the year, against which the location will be
measured.

PWTransit’s KPI program is introduced to all new employees as part of their orientation. All employees are made aware of
the importance of their contribution towards meeting or exceeding the location’s Key Performance Indicator targets.

The tracking and communication of the KPIs, with our employees and customers, is very effective in ensuring that all of our
operations remain on track to meet our contractual obligations. We manage our contracts with the goal of providing
consistently excellent service with a focus on safety. We are confident in the effectiveness of this monitoring process and
believe that it will enable us to provide high quality and consistent service to the communities we serve and their residents.

 

These are the KPIs tracked by PWTransit each month:

Collisions

  • Preventable and Non-Preventable
  • Collision rates per million miles

Complaints & Service Issues

  • Complaints: operator, equipment, on-time, routing, stop,  missed trips, etc
  • Unresolved complaint rate

Workplace Safety

  • Reportable injuries and injury rates: Short term disability claims and workdays lost to such claims
  • WorkSafe / WCB / WSIB claims: workdays lost to claims, average claim length, claims costs

Staff Issues

  • Absences (non-scheduled)
  • Absentee rates
  • Driver violations (ticketed offences)
  • Turnover rates (percentage)

Maintenance

  • Breakdowns
  • Road calls

Service Statistics

  • Payroll hours& revenue service hours
  • Kilometres travelled
  • assigned shifts
  • Custom transit hours of service and passengers carried

The tracking and communication of the KPIs, with our employees and customers, is very effective in ensuring that all of our operations remain on track to meet our contractual obligations. We manage our contracts with the goal of providing consistently excellent service with a focus on safety.

We are confident in the effectiveness of this monitoring process and believe that it will enable us to provide high quality and consistent service to the communities we serve and their residents.

Safety Training

PWTransit promotes a culture of safe working environments for all its personnel in every aspect of its operation. Corporate programs are designed to reduce incidents and time lost incidents by increasing the level of safety awareness with all personnel. Each employee is charged with identifying any unsafe act or situation throughout their work day and bringing it to the attention of co-workers, supervisors
or the manager if they are unable to rectify it themselves.

The Company’s orientation and training program for all Operators, maintenance, and service staff will include a complete review of the Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS), current OH&S regulations, location and operation of safety features such as fire extinguishers, chemical eyewash, and first-aid posts, as well as specific Company policies and procedures. The Manager and Supervisory staff will complete a much more rigorous WHIMS course detailing the obligations of administering the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) program.

PWTransit adheres to a corporate policy of all formal meetings beginning with a safety component at the top of the agenda, regardless of subject of the meeting. Identified members of the maintenance and dispatch departments receive First Aid training certification to fulfill the responsibilities of First Aid Attendant during all times of the service day.