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Section II: Analysis of Program Activity Performance to Expected Results

As with other organizations dealing with social change, it is not possible to measure the direct impact of CCOHS' program on the reduction in injuries and illnesses. These outcomes are impacted by many other variables. We can measure the reach and impact of the programs and gain information on how the information is used and shared.

There is clearly widespread use and sharing of CCOHS information. It is known that the use of appropriate information on occupational health and safety will reduce risks. Our evaluations confirm that there is widespread use of CCOHS information in the workplace and that CCOHS' products and services have direct application. The evidence to support this includes survey data from customers, users of the Inquiries Service, users of the web site and key informant interviews. According to the evaluation, although these data cannot be linked to accident or illness data, the widespread and frequent use of CCOHS information implies that there will be important workplace impacts. "The evaluation has generated substantial data on the use of CCOHS. There can be little reasonable doubt about its widespread use." ⁴

Another measure of effectiveness is value for money. The evaluation reports that there is good value for money from CCOHS and the investment of public dollars and cost-recovery funds is cost-effective. The savings in time costs for health and safety professionals and workers in general who would have to access information in other ways is substantial. The evaluation states that, "it is our assessment that CCOHS produces very large quantities of useful information for a relatively modest public expenditure." ³

In order to ensure a high level of service, CCOHS seeks feedback from its clients and stakeholders on an ongoing basis. This information helps to improve service, identify needs of stakeholders and identify information needs.

Expected Result: Easy Access to Occupational Health and Safety Information and Service

Financial Resources (in thousands $)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
1,157	1,246	1,163

Human Resources

Planned	Actual	Difference
24	23	1

CCOHS strives to provide easy access to occupational health and safety information and services. A broad range of products and services are available to the public ranging from our Inquiries Services, OSH Answers web service, publications, various web portals and various information products. Content is continuously reviewed, updated and developed to meet the continually changing needs of the public. CCOHS seeks feedback from its clients and stakeholders on an ongoing basis from many service points. This information measures reach and impact as well as client satisfaction.

The primary risk in delivering this service is from funding sources. The Inquiries Service is partially funded by voluntary contributions from most Canadian provinces and territories. Each stakeholder decision to voluntarily support CCOHS is subject to internal political changes and financial constraints which change frequently. Contributions from these stakeholders are made to support the Centre, which is a federal entity.

The availability of vast amounts information from the Internet is another risk. In order to mitigate this risk, CCOHS strives to distinguish itself as a trusted and reliable source of information by keeping information current and relevant to the users. In addition, by providing information portals and partnerships with trusted organizations CCOHS provides added value as a primary source of information.

Inquiries Service

12,914 inquiries are personally answered annually through this free and confidential bilingual Inquiries Service center, in addition to the 6.8 million answers provided through the CCOHS website

The CCOHS Inquiries Officers are a team of specialists in occupational health and safety and information retrieval. They access all CCOHS publications, worldwide databases, and an extensive in-house library to provide up to date and relevant answers to Canadian inquiries. Over 6.8 million inquiries were answered through the CCOHS internet service "OSH Answers". By directing routine questions through the self-serve web site, information is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to Canadians. Specialists in workplace health are available through a free of charge telephone service or e-mail to assist Canadians with more complex questions. This service is confidential and is promoted throughout Canada by the Centre and its stakeholders through various means, such as health, safety and wellness trade shows, the World Wide Web, the blue pages, and the Centres literature. During 2007-8, this service provided responses to 12,914 calls in inquiries through its direct service.

The Inquiries Service is available to answer Canadians through its telephone service, e-mail, fax and internet. The Inquiries come from a variety of sources. This free service is essential to ensure that Canadian workers have access to information that enables them to exercise their right to a healthy and safe workplace. The service is equally important to employers to provide a safe environment and for government to assist with their role in the workplace.

Our 2004 Customer Satisfaction Research Report indicates that clients find the overall quality of the service, the usefulness of the information and the relevance of the information to be the most important to them. With this knowledge, CCOHS can focus efforts in these areas of information delivery. The study also measured client satisfaction on various service attributes. Overall, the Inquiries service resulted in 84% of survey respondents being either satisfied or very satisfied. The complete details are available at http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html. Approximately 74% of users' use of information relates to either current or future changes to the workplace that may result in improved workplace health and safety.

As part of its ongoing performance management program, CCOHS seeks feedback from users of this service in order to measure satisfaction and identify opportunities for improvement. We also track information on the reach and impact of the program.

Recent Inquiries users reported how information obtained from CCOHS was used. The most common are:

• Use with workplace health and safety committees
• Assist in complying with occupational health and safety regulations
• Personal use or information
• Health and safety programs or policies development and improvement
• Education or training purposes
• Develop best practices
• Keep current on health and safety developments
• Academic or other research purposes
• Gather information on workplace chemicals
• Assist in developing legislation or standards
• WCB claims
• Preparing a Material Safety Data Sheet.

"I received some very useful information that has helped to make changes that were necessary at my daughters' place of work. The information was very eye opening, especially for her as a young person. She now has an idea as to what her rights are re: health and safety and because of this there are changes being made at her workplace. Thank you for all your help."

"I use your website on a regular basis- more than any other. I find your information very clear and comprehensive. Thank you!"

While each inquiry is counted as one contact, we know the information is benefiting many more workers. We ask our inquiries clients how many individuals access the information provided by CCOHS. The results show that the reach of the information is extensive.

These answers showed substantial use:

• 9.3% indicated more than 500 individuals did benefit or share CCOHS information in their organization
• 15.4% shared CCOHS information with up to 499 individuals
• 43.2% shared CCOHS information with up to 99 individuals
• 22.1% shared CCOHS information with up to 4 individuals.

Clients also reported (56%) that their use of CCOHS information relates to current or future changes to the workplace that may result in improved occupational health and safety. This is based upon requests for feedback issued 2 weeks after receipt of information. Previous evaluations showed that 74% reported the information relates to current or future changes in the workplace when surveying clients within the previous nine months. The variance is attributed to the length of time the respondents had access to the information.

CCOHS' 2007/8 client feedback survey indicates high satisfaction ratings for understanding, timeliness, completeness, usefulness, clarity and courtesy. Satisfaction survey is sent two weeks after the client has been sent their information. In 2007/8, CCOHS has an 18% response rate, which is typical for this type of survey. We are seeking ways to improve the response rates. This includes sending the surveys mid week and also sending reminders.

Inquiries Service Satisfaction Survey
April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008

	Very Dissatisfied	Dissatisfied	Satisfied	Very Satisfied	not applicable
Has staff understood your question?	3.4%	4.2%	29.2%	62.2%	1.0%
Time required to receive the response	3.7%	4.7%	35.5%	55.7%	0.4%
Completeness of the response received	4.4%	6.2%	31.5%	57.3%	0.7%
The usefulness of the information	5.4%	7.7%	29.9%	56.5%	0.5%
The clarity of the response	4.3%	4.3%	31.1%	59.3%	1.0%
The courtesy of the staff	3.0%	0.5%	17.9%	74.9%	3.6%
Overall, your satisfaction with the response	4.6%	6.6%	27.6%	60.5%	0.7%

The survey also shows that satisfaction would increase in some cases if the information were provided on a timelier basis. This feedback is being used to help improve identification of urgent requests and respond accordingly. This includes improved communications to the client when specialized responses require additional time to complete. The client is advised of this at the time the question is received so their expectations can be met. These changes did improve client satisfaction for timeliness.

The survey results also indicated a lack of understanding with information being provided to the client. The inquiries group carefully reviewed the nature of the materials being sent and identified opportunities for improvement. The direct answer to the question was included in the cover letter and links were provided to more in-depth information. Clients found it difficult to extract the relevant information from the package and to apply directly to their situation. By highlighting the exact answer and providing additional information elsewhere, clients were able to understand the response. Often, information pertaining to legislation and scientific data can be difficult to understand. This did improve the satisfaction for clarity and completeness.

One of the unique features of the Inquiries Service is that telephone calls are answered directly by a highly skilled Inquiries Officer. The needs of the caller are more accurately assessed by this method so the most useful information can be provided. Callers are pleased they have direct access to assistance from one person rather than redirected from one person to another person or to a lengthy voice mail system. The satisfaction levels for courtesy are very high.

One measure of reach is monitoring requests for copyright publication. In 2007-8, 149 requests were received for copyright publication, up from 92 the previous fiscal year. As a result, information was duplicated over 127,000 times and potentially shared with many more individuals. The organizations included government departments, companies, unions, health care organizations and educational institutions.

CCOHS provides current information on areas of concern to Canadians. In 2007-8 Canadians were concerned about issues such as chemicals and reproductive hazards, ergonomics, indoor air quality, occupational cancer, avian flu, and a large number of questions regarding harassment, bullying and violence in the workplace. The issues are similar to last year.

Workers are the primary users of the Inquiries Service again this year, making 35% of the total inquiries received. Another 25% of the questions originated from employers, 3% from government (as legislators and enforcment), and 37% from non-affiliated professionals.

OSH Answers

Over 6,000 questions and answers are on the website, which answered over 6.8 million inquiries on health and safety this year.

OSH Answers is a bilingual web-based information service, which covers over 670 topic areas in occupational health and safety.

OSH Answers covers many topic areas in occupational health and safety. The information is presented in a Question-and-Answer format and the topics are based on questions that the Inquiries Service has received over the past 30 years.

The Inquiries Service started the OSH Answers with question-and-answer (Q&A) documents on various hazards - biological, chemical, ergonomic, physical (noise and radiation) and other safety hazards found in workplaces. We also answer questions about the diseases and injuries that can result from the hazards people are exposed to or the risks from the work activities they do.

Other work-related issues on OSH Answers are safety programs, accident and injury prevention, personal protective equipment (PPE), occupational health and safety legislation including WHMIS (right-to-know legislation). OSH Answers will cover more and more topics as it continues to grow and evolve to serve the needs of Canadians. The target audiences for the OSH Answers are the workers, managers, supervisors, joint health and safety committee members who are the "end users" of the information in the workplace. The internet has played a key role in helping CCOHS to reach millions of Canadians since this service was established several years ago. Workers are the primary users of the Inquiries Service followed by employers and professionals. In 2007-8, CCOHS successfully reached approximately 2.5 million inquirers and responded to over 6.8 million questions, through OSH Answers.

In order to meet the changing needs of Canadians, CCOHS' information resources are continually reviewed and updated.

2008 was the 10 year anniversary of OSH Answers. A user survey was conducted to obtain feedback on this service. In addition to satisfaction, the importance of each attribute was also measured. The results show excellent satisfaction ratings for all attributes. Users of the service also have very high expectations. The chart clearly demonstrates where service can be improved to meet user expectations. CCOHS will focus on improving the currency of existing documents and adding documents identified as emerging issues within the survey.

Attribute	Satisfaction (Average %)	Importance (Average %)	Variance
a. Comprehensive (number of topics)	83.94	89.28	-5.34
b. Relevance/usefulness	86.24	90.76	-4.52
c. Currency (up to date)	83.96	90.52	-6.56
d. Trustworthiness of information	87.84	93.3	-5.46
e. Ease of use (easy to read and use)	85.88	89.42	-3.54
f. Easy to find	81.42	88.8	-7.38

In addition, the "pass on rate" for OSH Answers is high – for every "hit" we register, the users indicate that they share this information with:

Response	Percent
One	4.7%
2 to 20	17.5%
21-200	27.8%
201-2000	25.6%
2001+	12.5%
Don't know	11.9%

Historical results of OSH Answers web usage show significant increases in usage over the past 10 years. This is a cost effective method of reaching Canadians and providing round the clock service.

The survey also asked what where the emerging issues for the next 3 to 5 years. CCOHS uses this information to identify new topics for the website. The most common responses were:

• Ergonomic
• General awareness and training
• Violence, including bullying and harassment
• Workplace stress
• Wellness, workplace health, mental health
• Aging workers
• Safety - general
• MSD (musculoskeletal Disorders)
• Leadership, workplace culture, and management buy-in
• Management – specifically use of management systems, but also compliance, legislation requirements, and due diligence.

CCOHS provides products and services in various formats to serve the needs of Canadians. Information is available in paper copy, internet, intranet, web, compact disc formats and DVD. Electronic delivery of information is presented in highly useable and searchable formats to serve the client. CCOHS provides many databases and other information sources within its product line.

New publications are produced to meet the expressed needs of Canadians. Publications are an inexpensive method of getting specialized information directly to workers to be used at the worksite.

Health and safety guides inform people of workplace hazards to reduce risk and help prevent injury, and are designed for use on-the-job as reference tools and information sources. Over 100,000 of these guides have been distributed. New and revised publications are developed each year to meet the needs of Canadian workers. In 2008, the newest guide, Office Health and Safety was published. In addition, Workplace Health and Wellness is being re-printed in its second edition. Two other guides were updated. Each year over 20,000 copies of various guides are sold throughout Canada. There are 19 titles available for our pocket guides.

During 2007/8, a small survey was conducted for publications clients. Over 94% of clients were satisfied or very satisfied with the content of the publications. Over 93% agreed or strongly agreed they were satisfied with the publication and 96% agreed or strongly agreed it was good value for money. Over 93% of publication purchasers felt the publication helped them improve their understanding of health and safety. Over 74% will use the information in this publication to make changes in the workplace that may improve health and safety. The information in the publication benefits far more people than the individual purchaser.

In our most recent evaluation, of the clients who purchased CCOHS products and services, 77% said that their use of CCOHS information relates to current or future changes to the workplace that may result in improved occupational health and safety. In terms of the overall importance of CCOHS in meeting the health and safety needs of their organization, 78% of respondents said that CCOHS was either very important or important. ⁵

CCOHS measures its client satisfaction with the delivery of services relating to products on an ongoing basis as part of its performance measurement program. The survey was sent to clients contacting customer service for information, service requests and product orders or technical support. We measured their satisfaction with six service elements, similar to the common measurement tool. Client satisfaction was extremely high with an overall average of 95%. Most clients had one contact (69%) and 2 contacts (21%) to receive what they wanted. This is in line with client expectations as outlined in our 2004 Client Satisfaction Survey. Clients stated they received what they needed in 92% of the time and part of what they need 5% of the time.

Expected Result: Increased Awareness and Understanding of Occupational Health and Safety Issues in the Workplace

Financial Resources (in thousands $)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
1,157	1,246	1,163

Human Resources

Planned	Authorities	Difference
24	23	1

CCOHS' goal is to increase awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. This is accomplished through many means of public promotion, training, web information, partnerships and information delivery.

The risk in achieving this goal is directly impacted by the financial and human resources available. This includes funding and cost-recovery to generate the required funding. CCOHS also relies on partnerships with many other organizations and therefore relies on funding and other external resources to achieve this goal. Some of the primary programs to increase awareness and understanding are highlighted below.

The Canadian Health Network (CHN) is a bilingual Internet- based health information service that ensures that Canadians have access to trustworthy information on health promotion and disease prevention. While fully operational during fiscal 2008, this project was cancelled by its funders effective April 1, 2008.

CCOHS was involved in the Canadian Health Network (CHN) for 10 years. It was:

• A not for profit internet-based health information service
• A website that ensures that Canadians have access to trustworthy information on health promotion and disease and injury prevention by showcasing only high-quality, reliable, non-commercial resources.
• Developed in partnership with the Health Canada and subsequently Public Health Agency of Canada.

Although the project was cancelled, CCOHS will continue to collect comprehensive workplace health material and make it available to Canadians in our various information products and services. During 2007/8, CCOHS promoted CHN through the Health@Work/Sante @u travail e-bulleting, conferences, workshops and employee health fairs across Canada.

The Health and Safety Report, CCOHS' free e-newsletter, is an initiative that increases impact of Canadian workplace health and safety. In addition to providing relevant content, the Report is regularly and widely reproduced by organizations to enhance their health and safety educational and information efforts.

This service, launched in January 2003, now has a distribution of 20,934 subscribers in more than 100 countries (as of Mar 31/08). This represents 28% growth in subscribers from the previous fiscal year. The Report includes icons in the sidebar linking to OSH Answers and the Bringing Health to Work portal. It is expected that this will help drive traffic to CCOHS' website and promote the free public services CCOHS provides to advance the improvement of workplace health and safety in Canada.

In the March 2008 readership survey, the Report received a:

• 100% overall satisfaction rating
• 66.6% of the respondents being "very satisfied"
• 96.3% responded that the newsletter provides value to their organization
• 89.9% of subscribers share the report with others- 20.8% share it with 50 or more people. The survey also indicated that 35% of the readers print the Report and use the information within to develop health and safety policies and procedures, for training purposes and as a resource for their own newsletters, bulletin boards and employee orientation kits
• 81.1% of respondents say they use the information to make the workplace safer
• 88% say they find the information provided helpful

Eight-one percent of the respondents to the survey replied that they will or are planning to use the information in the Report to make changes that may improve health and safety in their workplaces. As the readership of the Report continues to grow, so does CCOHS' commitment and efforts to increase outreach and provide credible, useful information that could help prevent work related injuries and illnesses. This is a cost effective method of reaching many Canadians on important health and safety issues. Results show that readers value this service and do use the information in the workplace for improvement.

Subscriptions to this free service can be submitted to: http://www.ccohs.ca/resources/communications/mailinglists/enews.html.

As part of its awareness campaign, CCOHS also promotes the National Day of Mourning, to remember the occupationally caused deaths, and ill or injured workers, and to give employees and employers an opportunity to publicly renew their commitment to improve health and safety in the workplace. Promotions include a website presence, national media releases, a memorial event, a banner headline and promotion through the Health and Safety Report. The website had 4,352 unique visitors. In addition, 4,634 posters were distributed, more than double the number than 2007. There were 1,263 sold, 356 free posters were mailed, and the free PDF version was downloaded 3,024 times.

Awareness campaigns also include participation in The North American Occupational Health and Safety Week. http://www.naosh.org/ This included offering live webinars, hosting the website and participating in the national NAOSH Canadian launch event. In 2007-08 the NAOSH site had 45,779 visitors, with 130,989 sessions. CCOHS offered a series of free webinars during NAOSH Week that included speakers from CCOHS, Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence, and General Motors. The webinars reached more than 800 Canadians. We also participated in the planning of the National Launch and continue to participate on the Ontario committee. CCOHS conducts various webinars throughout the year to promote health and safety.

CCOHS seeks ongoing feedback from its stakeholders as part of its role to deliver independent and unbiased services. Through its evaluations, the level of satisfaction in the quality and impartiality of the centre is reviewed. In addition, CCOHS utilizes tripartite participation in the review of new programs, products and services to provide objective advice for the relevancy, credibility of new unbiased products and services. This has been invaluable in the development of e-learning courses and publications. The Council of Governors, composed from representatives of labour, business and governments, assures that CCOHS is independent and operates as a tripartite organization. The Council meets three times a year to review operational plans and provides input from its constituents. All Governors are volunteers representing most provinces and territories throughout Canada, major employer groups and labour unions.

In the 2005 evaluation, the key informant interviewees reported that CCOHS has a strong reputation within Canada. OHS experts, professional leadership, unions, workers and employers with health and safety committees tend to be quite familiar with CCOHS. The high level of awareness was attributed primarily to CCOHS' own efforts and from partnerships with other organizations and the high level of visibility maintained by CCOHS executive. Respondents also noted that CCOHS does a good job of synthesizing research findings into unbiased information products that are useful and easy to understand for health and safety professionals, employers and workers alike.⁵

The satisfaction of the stakeholders is also demonstrated by the many collaborative projects completed throughout Canada. Details are available in our annual report http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html.

The support of various levels of government and industry for CCOHS can be demonstrated by various collaborative projects, which were led by CCOHS during the year. Some of the initiatives include:

• Pandemic Planning Web Portal: this portal was developed to provide credible, single source of practical pandemic information and planning resources for Canadian businesses and workers. This was funded by HRSDC. In 2007/8, the site had 20,727 unique visitors and 75,275 hits.
• Public Policy Investigation on Occupational Health and Safety of Migrant Labourers in Chongqing, China: a project to address the issues of injury prevention and insurance for migrant workers. This project funded by CIDA will enable members of the organizations to :
  1. work toward protection of the rights of migrant workers with work-related injuries and illnesses;
  2. to enhance the health and safety and quality of working life of migrant workers; and,
  3. to develop local legislation, which will provide guidance for national legislation through the research and experience of Chongqing.
• WorkSafe Saskatchewan website was developed in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Labour Department as an information resource to help prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. Content expanded to include workplace health, mental health, fragrances and indoor air quality. In 2007, over 320,000 website sessions were logged from 168,000 unique visitors. In 2008 a young workers quiz, Eye on Safety was added. A WHMIS for Saskatchewan Workers e-course was developed and released.
• Prevention Practices database and OSH for Everyone – Ontario: a development for the Workplace Safety Insurance Board of Ontario reached an average of 23,000 visitor sessions viewing 27,000 – 40,000 pages monthly. The prevention practices website averages 7,600 visitors per month.
• Transport Canada: the Marine Inspectors' Bookshelf was created for those working in remote areas without internet access to assist inspectors carry out their duties. Over 300 Transport Canada Marine Inspectors use this product.
• Enhancement of Occupational Health and Safety in Brazilian Industry: CCOHS is leading the development of an OSH information portal appropriate for workplace participants in Brazilian industry. This site was launched in July 2007.
• Customized courses for private companies and government organizations.
• Presentations and representation at various conferences and events for labour, business and government throughout Canada.
• Bringing Health to Work Web Portal Service: provides Canadian employers, employees and practitioners easy access to a comprehensive range of credible resources and practical tools for creating and promoting healthy workplaces. Statistics indicate 29,979 visitors accessing the portal 49,559 times annually.
• Alberta Health Care Best Practices Inventory: CCOHS researched and developed an inventory of best practices for the healthcare work settings. These best practices are focused on healthcare topics and with healthcare staff in mind.

Information about these and other collaborative projects is included in our annual report. The continued support of government, business, and all levels of government is a strong indicator of satisfaction with CCOHS.

CCOHS is recognized as a world leader in the advancement in occupational health and safety. This can be demonstrated by CCOHS' development of the IPCS INTOX program, for the World Health Organizations (WHO), International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS). It provides an integrated operational system, consisting of a databank and software, used at Poison Centres around the world to manage information on poisonings. Another project is the IPCS INCHEM, also produced through co-operation with the WHO. The program consolidates information essential for the sound management of chemicals that affect the environment and human health. IPCS INCHEM is an authoritative source of chemical related health, safety and environment reports from inter-governmental organizations.

This information has been released free of charge to enable access to people from developing countries. This service compiles chemical-related health, safety and environment documents and databases from several international organizations. On average, 200,000 unique visitors from 170 countries per month visit this site. During 2007/8, visitors viewed Inchem documents 10.5 million times, demonstrating the need for this type of information. A recent survey found that 90% of respondents felt the INCHEM service was useful.

IPCS INCHEM has achieved worldwide recognition for its high quality service, disseminating authoritative and peer-reviewed publications from trusted intergovernmental organizations to help prevent workplace injury and illnesses.

IPCS INTOX is a collection of documents aimed at those working poison centers or who are involved in the diagnosis and management of poisoning or in dealing with the health aspects of chemical incidents. The systems are used world wide to help prevent poisonings, save lives and minimize damage to health from toxic exposures. On an annual basis 76,500 unique visitors from over 145 countries accessed the documents 2.6 million times last year. Many users rely on this information for primary care relating to chemical exposures and poisonings.

CCOHS' skills and expertise in information development and knowledge transfer are also recognized internationally.

CCOHS is a member of a consortium of Canadian public and private sector organizations which formed a Brazilian-Canadian partnership to address occupational health and safety needs within selected industrial sectors in small and medium sized enterprises in Brazil. CCOHS is leading the development of an OSH information portal appropriate for workplace participants in Brazilian industry and conducting training to health professionals.

In our last evaluation, respondents in the key informant interviews reported CCOHS is perceived as one of the world's leading sources of OHS information, with a higher level of recognition than many other OHS national institutions.

The report also states that "by providing accessible information products that synthesize recent research including international research sources (e.g. WHO, UN) CCOHS has clearly increased the amount of information available, and has therefore contributed to the growth of knowledge of OHS" . The international relationships have enhanced the availability of information to benefit all Canadians.

Expected Result: Application of Occupational Health and Safety Information to Improve Workplace Practices

Financial Resources (in thousands $)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
1,157	1,246	1,163

Human Resources

Planned	Actual	Difference
24	22	2

The expected result of CCOHS activities is to improve the application of occupational health and safety to improve workplace practices. This includes several priorities to achieve this goal. These priorities include providing high quality occupational health and safety information and management systems. This also includes application of integrated occupational safety and health principles in the workplace through the promotion of a healthy workplace. This includes fostering collaboration and exchanges through national dialogues, forums and conferences to increase applications in the workplace and improve practices. CCOHS also works closely with the education sector, youth groups and partners to expand and improve teaching of health and safety in schools and providing them with resources.

CCOHS works with international organizations to secure up to date information for the benefit of Canadians. CCOHS has worked globally to enable the free distribution, via the internet of national collections of OSH information. For example CCOHS developed a web portal for the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health http://www.whoocchealthccs.org. This portal provides each national collaborating centre with a site to present its own occupational health information, and links to other information within their country. This site has 18,611 visitors with 452,140 hits in 2007/8. This web portal, that was recently developed, is in addition to the CIS Centres Information Network http://www.ciscentres.org.

A national website for the 14 governmental jurisdictions of Canada will help Canadians negotiate easily through the maze of regulations and information on occupational health and safety, compensation and labour.

www.canoshweb.org

To assist Canadians with the application of occupational health and safety information in the workplace, CCOHS created the CanOsh website. The purpose of CanOsh website is to enable Canadians to easily and independently locate Canadian occupational safety and health (OSH) information for the purpose of legal compliance, improving workplace health and safety practices and ultimately to facilitate the acquisition of information required for reduction in workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. It is designed to provide Canadians with a convenient and efficient way to access the health and safety information provided by the federal, provincial and territorial government agencies responsible for OSH, Workers' Compensation Boards and CCOHS. This site can be reached at http://www.canoshweb.org/. By using this site, Canadians can easily search and navigate 14 governmental jurisdictions and multiple websites. In 2007-08, 61,954 people accessed this site 335,400 times.

The quality of the Centre's products as measured in an independent evaluation study rates the over all satisfaction as follows for percentage of respondents who were very satisfied or satisfied:

Level of Satisfaction with CCOHS Products (% of respondents indicating either very satisfied or satisfied)

Indicator	% satisfied
Timeliness	89%
Completeness	85%
Usefulness	92%
Clarity	86%
Reliability	87%
Overall satisfaction	80%

Source: Data for CCOHS is from a survey of users conducted by TNS Canadian Facts in 2005.

In terms of value for money, 96% of respondents who answered this question said that CCOHS products were above average value for money or average value. In addition, In terms of overall importance of CCOHS in meeting the health and safety needs of their organization, 78% of respondents said that CCOHS was very important or important to them.

In 2004, CCOHS had an independent client satisfaction survey completed to measure the satisfaction with services and products, in keeping with the Common Measurement Tool and Citizen's First Research. The purpose was to identify satisfaction with various products /service attributes and compare to the importance of these attributes. This can be used as a baseline for future client satisfaction research. Overall, performance scores were high and are summarized below.

The complete report can be viewed at: http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html.

Training and Education

Training and education are effective means of improving employers' and workers' awareness and knowledge of their rights and responsibilities with regards to OSH and are directly applicable to the workplace. Another recent study found only one in five Canadian workers received training in their first year of a new job. The risk to health is related to the workers newness to a job, a lack of training and hazardous work conditions. CCOHS offers courses in various environments that include traditional classroom, customized courses and e-learning to help meet the needs of Canadians. Courses are reviewed by tri-partite external reviewers to ensure relevancy and comprehensiveness.

In 2007-8, CCOHS continued to expand its delivery of Internet based e-learning courses. Currently there are thirty four courses available on-line (in both English and French) and in addition several are in development. User feedback indicates a high satisfaction rate with this service with 98.4% satisfied and a recommendation rate of 96.7%. The courses undergo an extensive tri-partite review prior to release. Course participants also have the opportunity to seek clarifications from a CCOHS instructor. These features are unique to CCOHS. Customized courses have been completed and additional partnerships are continually being sought.

Participants replied that 66% will use the information in this course to make changes in the workplace in order to improve occupational health and safety. Over 94% of participants felt the course helped them improve understanding of health and safety. Annual seat sales have grown from 1,773 in 2004, to an almost 24,000 seats this year. The strong sales, satisfaction ratings and improved understanding of health and safety demonstrates that this knowledge will be applied in the workplace.

Academic Support Package

The CCOHS Academic Support Program (ASP) is offered exclusively to universities and colleges as both a resource to support the education of students about environmental and occupational health and safety and to assist Universities and Colleges in their efforts to provide a safe and healthy working environment. In the ASP program there are 103 universities and colleges, many of them very prominent, serving over 3 million students, faculty and staff.

• Health and safety in the workplace is being promoted through the education system by making CCOHS information available to students and
• The databases were made available to over 3 million students and faculty in 2007-2008
• Over 103 post secondary institutions participate

Recently, almost 110,000 young people were seriously injured on the job in one year alone. These statistics mean injured young people (ages 15–29) represent one in every four injured workers in Canada.

This information serves students, faculty, researchers and on-site health and safety staff, and workers. As future leaders, today's students need to be aware of occupational health and safety and how to prevent injuries and illnesses.

CCOHS also established the Dick Martin Scholarship, an occupational health and safety scholarship fund, in the memory of Dick Martin, a pioneer of workplace health and safety in Canada. This scholarship supports post secondary students to study subjects in occupational health and safety. Information about the program and the winners for 2007/8 are posted at: http://www.ccohs.ca/scholarship/winners/.

It is funded through private donations and by stakeholders. This program is promoted to 26 post secondary schools across Canada, and provides monetary awards to students who are successful in an annual competition for this scholarship.

CCOHS fosters collaboration and exchanges in ideas through increased applications in the workplace and improve practices through educational presentations and participation in conferences, workshops and webinars.

In September 2007, CCOHS hosted a national OHS forum in Vancouver to explore health and safety issues that are emerging from changing workplaces. With "Emerging Health & Safety Issues in Changing Workplaces: A Canadian Discussion" as the theme, this two-day event brought together subject experts, workers, employers and governments to share their knowledge and experience around this pan-Canadian issue and to discuss problems and solutions.

The topic was selected based upon a research project that identified the changing workplace as a current workplace health and safety issue of concern to Canadians. The Forum successfully met the objectives for the event: to encourage a dialogue between workplace participants and stakeholder groups searching for ideas, solutions and recommendations; increase impact and awareness of current occupational heath and safety issues in Canada. Participants rated overall satisfaction with the event at 4.2 out of 5.

The dialogue started at the Forum continued with a survey inviting Canadians to participate in the discussion. The results are available at: http://www.ccohs.ca/events/forum07/report.pdf

We also facilitate an on-line list serve, HS-Canada, as a means of distributing messages to a group of individuals with interests in occupational health and safety in a Canadian context.

Some of the events that CCOHS participated in are listed below:

Conferences, Exhibitions, Workshops and Presentations

CCOHS' objective of promoting OSH is supported by the activities in engaging diverse audiences by attending more than 37 events over this fiscal year through participation in meetings, conferences and presentations in most regions of Canada. Participation in these events serves both marketing and communications objectives by providing opportunities to showcase the wide range of products and services of the Centre. A complete list of events is included in our annual report.

Expected Result: Partial Recovery of Costs from User Fees

Financial Resources (in thousands $)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
1,157	1,245	1,163

Human Resources

Planned	Actual	Difference
24	22	2

CCOHS receives approximately 55% of its funding from appropriations and the balance of funds are generated through cost recovery initiatives and support from other organizations. CCOHS was a fully funded organization until 1989. A Cabinet decision was made at that time directing CCOHS to be become revenue self-sufficient. Appropriations were reduced a couple of years later with a directive that CCOHS cost recover to fund the Centre's program. It has been a long a difficult struggle to establish products and services and generate sufficient funds to offset costs. In 2002, a program review recommended re-aligning the funding balance to 50% appropriations and 50% cost-recovery. Products and services are developed with CCOHS' goal of improving occupational health and safety.

The trend of declining revenues from traditional information sources continues. CCOHS has changed its product line to include e-learning and management services for MSDS. This is helping to offset the loss of revenues. The availability of free information on the internet continues to strain CCOHS' ability to generate funds.

CCOHS fulfils its mandate to promote workplace health and safety, and encourage attitudes and methods that will lead to improved worker physical and mental health, through a wide range of products and services. These products and services are designed in cooperation with national and international occupational health and safety organizations with an emphasis on preventing illnesses, injuries and fatalities. A summary of revenues from our audited financial statements is listed below:

Revenue

	2008 $	2007 $
Proceeds from sales
Subscription – CCINFOdisc	389,169	417,646
Subscription - Specialty discs	200,903	255,198
CCINFOWeb	707,941	740,940
Specialty products - web	637,596	650,297
Publications	211,716	144,230
Training and education	405,685	403,549
Other	15,074	12,432
	2,568,084	2,624,292
Projects and collaborative agreements
Collaborative projects	748,210	863,263
Forum	121,780	-
Contributions to Inquiries Service	454,000	454,000
Recovery of travel expenses	113,794	57,093
	1,437,784	1,374,356
	4,005,868	3,998,648

Revenue Recognition

Revenues above are recorded using the full accrual method of reporting, recognizing revenues when earned. These amounts may differ from reporting for government reporting purposes as revenue is recognized when collected or credited to the vote. The difference in reporting methods is outlined and reconciled in the notes to the audited financial statements.

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