Lilydale Honoured

Lilydale Foods has become the first B.C. food processor to earn the COR
(Certificate of Recognition) award from the BC Food Processors Health
& Safety Council (BCFPHSC) and Worksafe BC.

Lilydale Foods has become the first B.C. food processor to earn the COR (Certificate of Recognition) award from the BC Food Processors Health & Safety Council (BCFPHSC) and Worksafe BC.

First for Lilydale Lilydale chief executive officer Ed Rodenburg and the safety officers of Lilydale’s two B.C. processing plants, Derrick Wiens of Abbotsford and Mel Panagapko of Port Coquitlam, received the Certificate of Recognition award from BCFPHSC and Worksafe BC. Presenting the award is BCFPHSC executive director Lisa McGuire. Advertisement

Lilydale chief executive officer Ed Rodenburg and the safety officers of Lilydale’s two B.C. processing plants, Derrick Wiens of Abbotsford and Mel Panagapko of Port Coquitlam, received the award at an industry breakfast in Langley, B.C., on Sept. 23.

Formed just two years ago, the BCFPHSC is one of about a dozen sector-specific health and safety councils in the province. The first to be formed was the Farm & Ranch Safety & Health Association (FARSHA) and there are others in construction, forestry and other industry sectors. Each council/association develops educational materials and programs intended to reduce injuries in the workplace.

Available in many provinces, the COR program is an audited program that incorporates both an occupational health and safety and a return-to-work/injury management program. While many elements are the same in all programs and all provinces, each includes an industry-specific control program.

The comprehensive audit reviews a company’s safety documentation, looks for evidence the safety system is actually in place in the plant, and interviews management and plant level staff.

“For the Lilydale certification, our auditor conducted 79 interviews,” notes BCFPHSC COR program manager John McMahon. Lilydale’s two B.C. plants employ a total of about 500 workers.

While the COR program is voluntary, WorkSafe BC offers a 10 per cent premium reduction for the health and safety program and a five per cent reduction for the injury management program. It also leads to reduced injuries, a saving in itself.

“Alberta’s claim cost ratio was 23 per cent lower for COR companies,” McMahon states.
 
Worksafe BC worker and employer services division vice-president Diana Miles congratulated the BCFPHSC for the “speed with which this safety association has brought programs to industry.” She said the program is long overdue, pointing out the food processing sector has a 7.1 injury rate, over twice the B.C. average of 2.9.

“Our industry has a lot of room for improvement and we are committed to that at Lilydale,” Rodenburg said. “Employee safety is critical to our overall prosperity.”

Although Lilydale’s Alberta plants are not COR-certified, Rodenburg believes the B.C. achievement could encourage the Alberta plants to follow suit.

Wiens, a founding member and chair of the BCFPHSC, called the audit process involved in earning the award very beneficial.

“The auditor’s recommendations helped make a good safety program a great one.”

Since 2006, Lilydale’s B.C. plants have shown steady year-on-year improvements in reducing the number of lost days due to workplace accidents. The first eight months of 2009 show a 50 per cent reduction in lost-time accidents compared to 2008.

“So far we have only nine lost days in Abbotsford in 2009. That’s phenomenal,” Rodenburg said.