October 26, 2016 – A handful of utilities, among other companies, were presented with 2016 Safest Employers Awards from Canadian Occupational Safety, a workplace safety magazine, at a recent gala in Toronto.

The awards consist of 10 industry-specific categories, ranging from hospitality and health care to mining and manufacturing. Companies are judged on a range of occupational health and safety elements including employee training, OHS management systems, incident investigation, emergency preparedness and innovative health and safety initiatives.

Special awards were also handed out for wellness, psychological safety, young worker safety and overall culture.

PowerStream was the gold recipient in the Utilities category as well the gold recipient in the Wellness category. This marks the first time that PowerStream has been named first place in both categories in the same year and the company has now earned a total of nine Canada’s Safest Employers Awards over a five-year period.

“The health, safety and well-being of our employees have always been high priorities and an integral part of the culture at PowerStream,” said Maurizio Bevilacqua, PowerStream board chair and mayor of Vaughan. “The recognition we have received through the years from Canadian Occupational Safety speaks to our commitment in these areas as well as the enthusiastic participation we see from our employees in the various programs we provide.”

NP Power was another double-gold winner, securing first place in the Canada’s Best Health + Safety Culture category as well as in Psychological Safety.

Toronto Hydro and Burlington Hydro also won the silver medals in the Utilities category.

Toronto Hydro credited safety improvements in the identification of unground cables to its win, noting in 2015, “we achieved an entire year without a lost-time injury and total recordable injuries were 53% lower than our benchmarked peers”.

“We want to thank the Canada’s Safest Employers organization for recognizing our efforts to promote electrical safety within the workplace,” said Ave Lethbridge, executive vice-president and chief human resources and safety officer at Toronto Hydro. “At Toronto Hydro, our leaders and our employees are the reason we’re so successful at mitigating safety risks across our organization.”

Techmation Electric & Controls also won gold in the Young Worker Safety category.