Like most managers, Brad Savela wants his employees to be safe on the job.
The general manager at Lakehead Scrap Metal has spent the past work week educating his staff on a variety of ways to protect themselves from injury, part of his North American Occupational Health and Safety Week efforts.
Workers and employers both have roles to play, Savela said on Friday, which is why he invited the Thunder Bay Fire Service to his Mission Island property for a pair of demonstrations on teamwork.
“The theme this year is What’s Your Plan? So we’ve taken every day of the week and made it our plan. Our plan is ALERT. That’s awareness, learning, evaluation, responsibility and teamwork. Today is T, so for teamwork, so we thought we’d get the fire department down here and watch how they do their job and work as a team,” Savela said.
The firefighters use the jaws of life to pry open the roof on one wrecker, then set another on fire to show how they work together to tackle a dangerous situation.
“It’s just a great event to raise awareness for our employees,” Savela said. “I think there are some of our customers here and some of the public. We just want to make an event that’s focused on safety, but we can have some fun doing it too.”
Though his staff is well-versed in what they do, you can never be too cautious, he added.
“Every business is dangerous. Every day there are hazards and we just want to keep safety at the focus of every day. I think it’s really grown with our guys in the yard, too.”
David Paxton, the acting director of training with Thunder Bay Fire Service, said community partnerships like this are beneficial to both sides.
“We come and train on site for our auto extract training. As part of their health and safety week, one of the components is teamwork, and they asked us to come out and demonstrate a little bit of what we do,” Paxton said.
Lakehead Scrap Metal employees have gone 345 days without losing time on the job because of injury. Before that the streak reached more than 2,000 days.
The general manager at Lakehead Scrap Metal has spent the past work week educating his staff on a variety of ways to protect themselves from injury, part of his North American Occupational Health and Safety Week efforts.
Workers and employers both have roles to play, Savela said on Friday, which is why he invited the Thunder Bay Fire Service to his Mission Island property for a pair of demonstrations on teamwork.
“The theme this year is What’s Your Plan? So we’ve taken every day of the week and made it our plan. Our plan is ALERT. That’s awareness, learning, evaluation, responsibility and teamwork. Today is T, so for teamwork, so we thought we’d get the fire department down here and watch how they do their job and work as a team,” Savela said.
The firefighters use the jaws of life to pry open the roof on one wrecker, then set another on fire to show how they work together to tackle a dangerous situation.
“It’s just a great event to raise awareness for our employees,” Savela said. “I think there are some of our customers here and some of the public. We just want to make an event that’s focused on safety, but we can have some fun doing it too.”
Though his staff is well-versed in what they do, you can never be too cautious, he added.
“Every business is dangerous. Every day there are hazards and we just want to keep safety at the focus of every day. I think it’s really grown with our guys in the yard, too.”
David Paxton, the acting director of training with Thunder Bay Fire Service, said community partnerships like this are beneficial to both sides.
“We come and train on site for our auto extract training. As part of their health and safety week, one of the components is teamwork, and they asked us to come out and demonstrate a little bit of what we do,” Paxton said.
Lakehead Scrap Metal employees have gone 345 days without losing time on the job because of injury. Before that the streak reached more than 2,000 days.
