ASGA H&S Committee Awarded OHS Innovation & Engagement Grant Go back

Sunday, April 9, 2017

The Alberta Sand and Gravel Association Health and Safety Committee has been award funding through Alberta Labour’s Innovation and Engagement Grant Program. This funding will be put towards the committee’s completion of an Aggregate Industry Safety Toolkit, which aims to provide the Sand and Gravel industry a recommended safety standard.

The Committee has been working on the Safety Toolkit since mid-2016, and will be using the funding the complete the project for the end of 2017. Pending completion, ASGA member’s will have access to this resource by 2018.  Below, you can read a summary of the project as provided to the OHS I&E program:

Currently, the Sand and Gravel industry does not have many resources available for the development of safety programs. Most larger aggregate operations have programs in place that vary from company to company; however, medium to small operations often don't have the means to access or develop such programs.

The Alberta Sand and Gravel Association Health and Safety Committee has identified this knowledge gap and has begun developing a toolkit to provide a recommended safety standard for the industry. The Committee believes that the creation of this resource will increase awareness and reduce the amount of incidents related to industry activities. This toolkit will provide companies of all sizes with the resources they need to implement safe practices on their worksites.

The Alberta Sand and Gravel Association Health and Safety Committee is made up of a number of Subject Matter Experts working for a variety of aggregate producers across the Province. Many of these members hold safety designations and have experience in varying aspects of sand and gravel operations. Using their combined expertise, the committee has developed a detailed outline of the toolkit, which will include the following topics/ items;

                                 - Related legislation

                                 - Worker Orientation & Training

                                 - Hazard & Risk Assessment 

                                 - Sample Practices

                                 - Sample Procedures (Code of Practice)

                                 - PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

                                 - Incident Reporting

                                 - Emergency Response

                                 - Forms and Checklists

The Committee will spend the next several months developing content related to these items and compiling it into a user-friendly reference for the industry. Once complete, this reference will then be shared with industry through the ASGA.AB.CA website, at ASGA AGMs and other ASGA events hosted specifically for the purpose of raising awareness of the newly developed document.