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Workplace Health & Safety

IEC successfully launches new Basic Safety Orientation

January 27, 2022/By: Bluewater Association for Safety, Environment, and Sustainability

The Industrial Educational Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of our new 2020 Basic Safety Orientation (BSO) course.

This revised program design includes an online “pre-requisite” course for new workers to complete prior to attending the BSO. The BSO is now a half day classroom program available to both qualified new workers and experienced people returning for their three-year refresher. The online prerequisite reviews topics from previous BSO courses, while the classroom portion introduces new concepts.

Our classes now begin with leadership messaging highlighting the importance of inclusion, respect, and mental health. Instructors then facilitate discussions around law and hazards utilizing worker stories and experiences. A new work planning exercise incorporates actual footage of work by a local contractor at a member company site. A connection between incident reporting and safety culture creates an effective bridge to a controlled review of mental health awareness.

Feedback from across the tripartite has been invaluable – from early sketches, to detailed storyboarding, to online reviews, to classroom pilot(s). Within the first two weeks of 2022 over 400 workers completed this course!

Worker response has been very positive with consistent references to increased confidence, respect, and enhanced awareness of inclusion and mental health.  Thanks to many leaders across our tripartite, all indications are that the 2022 BSO continues the legacy of IEC Excellence that has defined our region for decades.