HS&E
The White River Health, Safety, and Environmental program has been developed to provide a systematic approach to safety and health in order to have an incident free culture of safety.
Scope
The White River Safety & Health Management System applies to all operations conducted by White River. Any new acquisition, project, joint venture or contract controlled by White River shall follow its requirements.Â
Audit — the systematic and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled.
Audit program — a set of one or more audits planned for a specific time frame and directed towards a specific purpose. Note: An audit program includes all activities necessary for planning, organizing, and conducting the audits.
Competence — demonstrated ability to apply Health, Safety, and Enviromental  knowledge and skills.
Continual improvement — the process of enhancing the Health, Safety, and Enviromental  to achieve ongoing improvement in overall safety management performance.
Contractor — an organization or individual providing services to another organization in accordance with agreed-upon specifications, terms, and conditions.
Document — a medium containing information related to the Health, Safety, and Enviromental .
Employee — a person employed by the organization or a person under the day-to-day control of the organization.
Employee representative — a non-managerial employee who is:
(a) a representative of other employees according to the requirements of law or collective agreements; or
(b) selected by non-managerial employees for other reasons.
Ergonomics — integrated knowledge derived from the social and technical sciences, used to match jobs, systems, products, and environments with the physical and mental attributes of the people involved.
Hazard — a source of potential harm to an employee.
Incident — an occurrence, arising in the course of work, that could result in an injury or illness (includes near misses).
Legal requirements — requirements of applicable OHS federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal laws, regulations, and bylaws, and where applicable, provisions of the organization’s collective agreements that relate to health and safety.
Organization — a White River, operation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, or association, or a part or combination thereof, that has its own management. An organization may be incorporated or unincorporated, public or private.
Other requirements — other occupational health and safety provisions to which the organization subscribes.
Procedure — a documented method to carry out an activity.
Process — a set of interrelated or interacting activities, that transforms inputs into outputs.
Record — a document that states results achieved or provides evidence of activities performed.
Risk — a combination of the likelihood of the occurrence of a hazardous event and the severity of harm caused by the event.
Safety health and safety management system (HSE) — part of the overall management of the organization that addresses occupational, health and safety hazards and risks associated with its activities.
System — a set of interrelated or interacting elements.
Workplace parties — managers (including supervisors), employees, and employee representatives.
Health, Safety & Environmental Elements
The following is a general listing and description of the White River Health, Safety, and Enviromental (HSE) elements and their application.
Policy
Policy
Scope & Boundary, Policy Procedure, Policy Statement.
Planning
Planning
Hazard Identification, Risk Control, Objectives, Legal Requirements, Safety & Health Programs.
Implementation & Operations
Implementation & Operations
Structure, Training, Communications, Document & Operations Control, Emergencies
Checking & Corrective Action
Checking & Corrective Action
Performance Measuring & Monitoring, Non-Conformances, Records, Inspections.
Management Review
Management Review
Safety Management System Review, Reviewing Effectiveness.
Leadership & Commitment
Senior management of White River shall provide leadership for safety and health activities and assume overall responsibility for the HSE. This responsibility includes:
- Establishing, actively promoting, and maintaining the HSE;
- Providing appropriate financial, human, and organizational resources to plan, implement, check, review, and correct the HSE;
- Defining roles, assigning responsibilities, establishing accountability, and delegating authority to implement an effective HSE;
- Establishing and implementing an safety and health policy and measurable objectives;
- Reviewing the organization’s HSE at planned intervals;
- Ensuring that employees and employee representatives are consulted; and
- Encouraging active participation on the part of employees and contractors in the establishment and maintenance of the HSE.
The White River senior management shall, if warranted due to White River workforce size, designate one or more representatives of management who, irrespective of other responsibilities, shall have defined roles, responsibilities and authority for ensuring that this HSE is established, maintained and reviewed to support:
- Effective processes to identify and eliminate or control work-related hazards and risks;
- Reporting on the performance of the HSE to senior management, employees, and employee representatives (if present) as appropriate for review and as the basis for improvement.
Employee participation is an essential aspect of the HSE. White River shall provide employees and employee representatives, if warranted due to White River workforce size, with time and resources to participate effectively in the development of the safety and health policy and in the process of HSE planning, implementation, training, evaluation, and corrective action; and encourage employee participation by providing mechanisms that:
- Support employee participation, such as identifying and removing barriers to participation.
- Establish workplace health and safety committees or employee representatives where required by legislation and, where applicable, collective agreements or other requirements; and
- Ensure that employees and employee representatives are trained in, and consulted on, all aspects of HSE associated with their work.
The White River Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) is driven by leadership and commitment from senior management and its readiness to provide resources for HSE matters. White River is committed to providing a productive, safe and healthy work environment for our employees, contractors, clients, customers and visitors.
Our commitments are communicated to all employees, contractors and suppliers and include:
- To instill a corporate culture where harm to our staff through work is totally unacceptable;
- To be proactive in assessing health, safety and environmental hazards for new business, new and existing work systems, practices and equipment;
- To encourage team problem solving at all levels of the organization to implement work practices that continually improve safety, environmental standards and productivity;
- To report and investigate incidents and implement systems and practices that prevent reoccurrence;
- To ensure compliance with legal requirements and industry standards;
- To train managers and employees to competently perform work described in safe work procedures;
- To provide information to all employees, contractors and customers that inform them of health safety and environmental issues relevant to White River operations;
- To ensure products are safe and without adverse environmental impact.
- All White River staff have a responsibility for implementing this Health, Safety, and Environmental policy by striving to achieve a zero tolerance towards hazards, incidents and injuries.
- We continuously improve safety and health management by setting objectives, plans and performance measures and regularly reviewing progress against the targets set.
- We involve our staff in safety and health management through training and by contributing in identifying, assessing and controlling hazards.
Policy Overview
The objective of the White River Safety & Health Policy is to state its commitments to provide safe and healthy working conditions. It outlines the steps that are taken to meet these commitments and provides the framework for the White River Safety & Health Management System.Â
Corporate Management
- Adopts the White River Health & Safety Policy and all legal requirements;
- Requires that the policy be distributed to all operations for display;
- Supports the implementation of the policy throughout all operations.
Managers and Supervisors
- Discusses the policy during induction orientation;
- Communicates the requirements of the policy to all employees through safety & tailgate meetings;
- Ensures the posted policy is current and easily visible.
All Employees
- Comply with the requirements of the policy and support implementation of the policy.
In consultation with employees and employee representatives, White River shall establish and maintain the safety and health policy and shall ensure that the policy:
- Is appropriate to the nature, scale, and safety and health hazards and risks associated with White River activities;
- Includes a commitment to comply with applicable safety and health legal requirements and other requirements;
- Includes a commitment to protect employees and to ensure continual improvement;
- Provides the framework for setting and reviewing safety and health objectives and targets;
- Is documented, implemented, and maintained;
- Is posted and communicated to all employees;
- Is available to external interested parties, as appropriate;
- Is discussed during safety meetings on an as-needed basis and is included in all site specific HSE plans which are received by employees; and
- Every year the policy is reviewed for relevance and appropriateness to our White River and amended as appropriate and disseminated again.
We are committed to comply with all applicable safety and health legal requirements. We are committed to our guiding principles which include ensuring that Safety, Health and Environment is First – never compromise on the health and safety of our customers and our people and to manage responsibly the impact that our business has on the environment. The following points summarize our employee’s commitments to Health and Safety:
- Comply with Health and Safety regulations and related White River policy and procedures.
- Use all required personal protective equipment where indicated.
- Decline to operate any machinery or equipment without proper instruction regarding safety and general operation.
- All employees shall report unsafe conditions and/or hazards to their supervisors promptly.
- Follow all White River Safety Procedures and Practices.
- Promptly report all injuries/incidents and work related diseases and actively participate in the Return to Work process in accordance with our Return to Work Policy.
- Attend all required health and safety training.
- Follow safe work instructions and assist in prevention.
All White River Managers and Supervisors are committed to take ownership of their areas of responsibility by ensuring that the following important activities occur:
- Accept direct responsibility and accountability for all matters relating to Health and Safety for the employees and/or contractors they supervise directly and/or indirectly.
- Deal promptly with employees’ Health and Safety concerns and advise employees of actual and potential hazards that are known by the manager or supervisor.
- Maintain and ensure transfer of knowledge of all duties and obligations under all relevant legislation, client requirements and White River policies and procedures.
- Ensure that employees use Personal Protective Equipment as prescribed in addition to following all safety procedure and practices.
- Provide appropriate training in use of equipment, safe work practices and procedures and handling of hazardous materials.
- Ensure that all contractors, suppliers, vendors and other visitors adhere to all White River policies and procedures.
- Investigate accidents/incidents and perform workplace inspections.
- Review any accident investigation and facilitate the corresponding corrective action plan.
- Assist any injured employee to the fullest possible extent including facilitating the Return to Work process in accordance to our Corporate Return to Work policy.
- Continue to improve our health, safety, environmental and operational standards in all sites.
- Take every other reasonable precaution to protect employees.
Implement and enforce Health and Safety rules, regulations, policies, procedures and prescribed instructions.
White River recognizes that environmental concerns are of critical importance. White River encourages its employees to join with the White River in full acceptance of and compliance with this policy. We will create procedures that fully comply with federal, state and local regulations. We will provide adequate training to our employees to ensure our workers are aware of these procedures and are capable of following them.
Protection of the Environment
We will employ practical measures to protect the environment. We will conserve and protect the water, air, and land resources we use. We will strive to eliminate any releases to land, air or water that may harm human health or the environment. Continuous improvement in our environmental performance will be a principal objective.
Waste Management Policy Statement
We will work to prevent waste and pollution at the source whenever possible. New facilities and improvements of existing operations will use processes designed to minimize the environmental effects of our operations and will incorporate functional pollution control equipment.
Recycling and Waste Disposal
We will support recycling programs where practical and will use environmentally safe treatment and disposal practices for waste that is not eliminated at the source or recycled.
Compliance
We will manage existing facilities so that we meet or exceed legal requirements. We will implement programs and procedures to satisfy compliance. We will conduct compliance audits and monitor procedures and practices to evaluate our performance.
Disclosure
We will inform our employees of our progress in environmental issues. We will cooperate with the authorities and regulatory agencies in responding to inquiries. We will encourage our employees to report to the White River conditions that they reasonably believe could be harmful to the environment or pose health or safety hazards so the White River can initiate prompt corrective actions.
Commitment
Management will consider the environmental and cultural implications of its decisions.