(From left to right) Penny, Director of Health and Safety, Hadia and Evan, Health and Safety Coordinators – Kensington’s Health and Safety team

What does health and safety mean to you? For many of us at Kensington, it’s more than just following rules and regulations – it’s about creating and maintaining a culture of care for everyone in our community. Our dedicated Health and Safety team aims to help everyone feels protected, valued, and respected across our range of programs and services.

The team is small, yet mighty. Hadia and Evan, Health and Safety Coordinators, design and monitor the safety protocols at Kensington, making necessary changes to ensure all safety measures are functioning properly. Penny, Director of Health and Safety, began her journey at the Gardens as a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) and now oversees the team, leading important initiatives to reduce work-related accidents and injuries, and ensuring all policies and procedures are in place.

The Health and Safety team champions the ‘Empower’ pillar of our unified strategic plan, focusing on promoting a positive environment where Kensington teams feel empowered, safe, and valued.

“Our primary goal is to empower staff by continuously improving training and encouraging open communication, so we know what works and what doesn’t,” says Penny. “It’s important for everyone to know what to do if they are faced with harm.”

The team’s core responsibilities include investigating and managing incidents as they happen, conducting workplace inspections, updating policies based on current legislation, identifying and assessing safety hazards and more. They provide extensive training on health and safety topics including CPR and first aid, wellness initiatives, violence and harassment prevention, Infection, Prevention and Control initiatives and the use of personal protective equipment.

Training, whether it’s in-person or online, plays a big role in Kensington’s safety culture and helps us learn and grow. Evan explains that “in our in-person training sessions, we focus on preventative measures and proper body mechanics. Staff, like nurses and personal care attendants, learn correct lifting techniques and safe ways to transfer residents, so they can prevent injuries before they happen.”

Emergency preparedness is another significant focus for the team. To help us be as prepared as possible in the event of a real emergency, the team conducts numerous fire drills in long-term care and hospice, and an annual mock evacuation at our ambulatory clinics.

Kensington staff members standing outside after finishing the annual mock evacuation at our ambulatory clinics.

A unique aspect of the annual mock evacuation at our ambulatory clinics is having staff members role-play as staff, clients or patients who are nervous or afraid of what’s happening while they await instructions from the team on how to evacuate safely. Practising how to help in these hypothetical scenarios helps our team to feel confident they would know what to do in the event of a real emergency.

Antoinette, Leadership and Development Specialist, has role-played in many mock drills. “This year, I played a nervous patient who was scared of the alarm. The helpful staff wearing safety vests reassured me throughout the process, and cautiously brought me outside to the meeting area,” Antoinette says. “The Health and Safety team always looks for new ways to improve our staff training and they ensure everyone is well-prepared and confident in handling emergencies with ease.”

Looking to the future, the team will continue to integrate the One Kensington vision as they enhance health and safety standards across the organization. They aim to remain proactive by adapting strategies to stay ahead of any potential challenges. By promoting an open-door policy and building a strong culture of incident reporting, they hope to continue building a safety culture where staff can teach and support each other.