Safe Communities Ottawa

Description

Safe Communities Ottawa (SCO) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making Ottawa the safest city to live, learn, work and play. We believe that injuries are predictable, preventable and unacceptable. Our Mission is to make Ottawa a leading community of safe workplaces through collaboration with our health and safety partners and delivery of health and safety information and education to employers and workers. We work to build partnerships and deliver these programs to improve the lives of people in our community. With the generous support of our premier sponsor Hydro Ottawa , we are able to promote health, safety and injury prevention to employers, employees and students throughout the Ottawa area. Every week in Ottawa, 80 workers are injured and every year $16 million in benefits are claimed. There were 106 deaths due to injuries in children and youth between the ages of 0 - 19 years from 1992 to 1998. This represents a total of 6,593 potential years of life lost. In 1998 alone, there were over 200 injuries that required hospital admission in that same age group in Ottawa. Safety is of utmost importance to all of us. SCO is committed to making Ottawa a safer city each and every year. HISTORY On March 12, 1997 Kim Wild-Lewis lost her partner Peter Scott-Lewis in a tragic accident at the Ottawa International Airport when he was run over and crushed by a snow sweeper. Later that year Kim began to seek support to establish Ottawa as a Safe Community. In 2000 she partnered with William DeSouza had formed the Bells Corners Safe Community Initiative. William believed safety was everyone's responsibility. Together they brought a coalition of groups from both the public and private sector to raise awareness to reduce injuries and deaths to young people. In December 2003 Paul Kells, the founder of the national initiative for safe communities handed the "Key to Safety" to Mayor Bob Chiarelli and Ottawa was officially designated the 46th municipality to be a Safe Community as part of a national strategy. SCO was born out of a need to bring together all injury prevention, health & safety organizations in Ottawa, the challenge to keep Ottawa safe continues today. SCIP The Safe Communities Incentive Plan (SCIP) is a program offered by the WSIB to small business owners who want to implement and/or enhance a health & safety program in their workplace. Through SCIP, employers can receive a 5% rebate on their WSIB insurance premiums after the owner/senior manager completes the program requirements.

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