February 2015
| Business World
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heard in order to create a safer environment
for themselves."
The pair point out that the award really
stands out because they're competing against
private sector organizations, who have bigger
budgets to fund health and safety initiatives.
"Being a public sector employer, we're far
more accountable to the dollars being spent
because they are our taxpayers dollars, so we
have to do a lot more with a lot less," Andrea
explains. "Health and safety is always at the
forefront of our agenda and our employees
really buy into our initiatives. The award
shows that our employees are doing all the
right things."
Impressively, the County of Wellington was
also the Gold Recipient in the Psychologi-
cal Safety category thanks to their proactive
approach to "removing the stigma associated
with mental illness." This has been integral
to their success, as they have found that the
majority of their absenteeism has been due
to diagnosed conditions such as depression
and anxiety.
"We provide our employees with a safe forum
to voice their concerns and report some situ-
ations they may feel are not psychologically
safe for them, and we do it in a non-threat-
ening and compassionate way," Michele says.
"As I mentioned before, our CAO made the
