Education in workplace health and safety: professional development & the challenge of Ontario's diverse workforce. Presented by Kiran Kapoor at the Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum, June 19-20, 2012, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

1. Education in workplace health and
safety: professional development & the
challenge of Ontario’s diverse workforce

2. Your Partners in Prevention
About Health & Safety Ontario

3. • 154,000 businesses
• 3.8 million employees
• Ontario’s agricultural, manufacturing and service
sectors
“Whether you design it, grow it, pick it, can it, make it, ship it,
shelve it, sell it or serve it. WSPS is your trusted health and safety
advisor. WSPS helps businesses large and small, achieve zero
workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities by providing health
and safety information, products, programs and services.”
About WSPS

5. Knowledge
Mobilization (KMb) is
about making
connections so that
our collective
knowledge is ready to
use, and will create
new value and benefits
for our people, clients,
and communities.
Knowledge Mobilization @ WSPS

6. What did our staff have to say...
 "It’s both our relationship to the outside world – research,
consultants, clients – and our internal system... we need more
connections….knowledge sharing we need both externally and
internally is not happening as well as it should or could...“
 "It’s about what our clients, customers, and partners really need
– not about what we think they need.“
 "WSPS needs to be in the middle of process – we push
knowledge out, we pull people in, we create value by bringing
good knowledge to them (clients) and by learning from them so
we can do our job better."
Are We Ready?
Focused Stakeholder Consultations

7. Ways That We Mobilize
Are we creating value for our people,
clients, and communities?

8.  WSPS Staff: broad representation engaging in the survey (75%)
 Higher percentage of responses in some operational areas
(client services)
 75% of people have been at WSPS for more than 5 years (a third
for more than 15 years)
 Challenge: Professional/organizational knowledge exchange
required:
– Transfer of existing knowledge base to newer staff from
established knowledge base
– Capture of senior level experience before retirement and or
further re-organization
Digging Deeper – Baseline Survey

9. What is KMb to you?

10. Knowledge Mobilization @ WSPS is social, a people-focused process
 Access to the knowledge of their team members;
 Sharing among team members is wide spread;
 Coaching and mentoring as a positive method to building
capacity;
 Split preference of formal and informal methods of training
Respondents are:
 Split on if they have the tools to gather and collect
information;
 Moderately comfortable with technological change;
 Require multiple, simple, channels for a consistent flow of
information
Key Insights – Baseline Survey

11. 5
We are listening…
 Enhance ability to share,
collaborate, and capture knowledge
 Simplify access to information
through an improved navigational
structure, corporate taxonomy, and
enhanced search capabilities
 Accurate, up-to-date information
and resources to help with our work
and improve services to clients and
stakeholders

12.  KMb “Re-introduction” and
critical path
 Leading Practices:
Telling our Stories
 Online Communities:
Extend our Reach
 Learning Cells:
Sharing across teams
 Data Visualization:
Network mapping to
identify influencers, nodes,
and leverage points
On the Horizon

13. • For more information, contact:
Kiran Kapoor, kiran.kapoor@wsps.ca
Manager, Research & Program Evaluation
Innovation & Knowledge Mobilization
Thank You

14. WSPS - Your trusted advisor
• A network of dedicated health and safety
consultants who understand your business and the
unique challenges and hazards that you face
• Sector and hazard specific training materials and
information
• A variety of products and materials that you can use
to build health and safety into your operation
• Conferences and workshops across the province
• WSPS Network News and HSO Network Magazine
• Online Resources over 250 downloadable resources
available on our website at no additional cost