Health and Safety Excellence program

In brief

• The Health and Safety Excellence (HSE) program was introduced in 2019 by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario (WSIB) to help Ontario firms improve workplace health and safety.
• The emphasis of the HSE program is to develop a comprehensive occupational health and safety management system based on best practices in health and safety.
• We completed a five-year impact evaluation of the effectiveness of the program, employing a multi-method approach that combined key informant interviews with representatives of enrolled firms, document analysis, and quantitative analysis of progression through the program and the impact of participation on firm injury rates.

Findings

• The initial qualitative assessment of the program led to program changes, including increasing rebates for small firms and improving program supports and the online platform. The document analysis of program materials identified opportunities for improvement in the evidence submission and validation processes.
• The quantitative assessment of the impact of program participation on firm injury rates showed some evidence of program participation reducing injury claim rates, but this varies by context, including the time period (time of enrollment, follow-up year), industry sector, injury type, firm size, and level of participation in the program.
• The analysis of progression through the program indicated that some of the changes made after the initial rollout may have improved participation outcomes. For example, growth in participation among smaller firms suggests that the increased financial incentives were successful in increasing recruitment among smaller firms over time.

Next steps

• We are now embarking on a second five-year project focused on identifying programs and services that work best at improving safety in small firms. While changes have been made to the HSE program based on our finding that small firms experience challenges in successfully participating in the program, further research is needed to better understand the ongoing experience and unique needs of small firms.
• We are currently recruiting workers from small firms in Ontario to participate in online, confidential interviews to understand what parts of these programs help the most to keep you safe, what gets in the way, and how workplaces can keep improving safety over time.

Related publications

Contact

Suhail Marino