2015-2016 Departmental Performance Reports

Minister's Message

MaryAnn Mihychuk

As Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, I am pleased to present the Departmental Performance Report for 2015-2016, for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

Core to the work of the Centre is the principle that Canadians have a fundamental right to a healthy and safe workplace.

The Centre was created to provide reliable and practical occupational health and safety information and solutions to help employers and employees in Canada to be productive, healthy and safe at work.

Through its programs, services, knowledge, and leadership, CCOHS continued its efforts to advance health and safety in the workplace to improve the lives of the working population in Canada, and to deliver on the priorities set forth in the 2015-2016 Report on Plans and Priorities.

CCOHS partnered and worked with agencies and organizations from across Canada to improve the quality and quantity of the resources and programs it offers, as well as expand the breadth of usage to many different segments of society.

CCOHS engaged stakeholders in regions across the country to share information and learn about their priorities. This year, I had the pleasure of delivering the opening remarks at CCOHS’ Forum 2016. Experts, employers, labour and government representatives shared perspectives about the implications of the changing world of work on occupational health and safety.

We all have a role to play to ensure that Canadians’ right to a healthy and safe workplace is protected. I look forward to working with CCOHS to help create a Canada in which people can thrive in their jobs, safe from work-related illness, injury and harm.

The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour

Institutional Head’s Message

Gareth Jones

I am pleased to present the 2015-16 Departmental Performance Report for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

Lives matter. Over the past year, CCOHS continued its efforts to serve the working population in Canada to affect positive workplace change and help prevent work-related illness and injury. Work can be hazardous And some jobs come with higher risks than others. We remained focused on our priorities: to provide solutions in high risk sectors; address current and emerging issues such as mental health and changes to the national hazard communication standard; reach and help more Canadians by providing employers with the tools they need to help create healthy, productive workplaces and put credible information and advice into the hands of workers, so that they can make informed decisions and work safely.

Building on our multi-year strategic plan to cultivate new collaborative partnerships, our efforts to provide solutions in high risk sectors have forged new relationships in the construction and transportation sectors. CCOHS partnered with several of the provinces and labour organizations leveraging technology to create web portals and mobile apps that help promote safe work. Our collaboration with the federal government and the provinces and territories on WHMIS.ORG, offered current information through approximately 70,000 sessions to help prepare workplaces for the changes to the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System.

CCOHS continues its national focus on building awareness on the issue of workplace mental health and has been active in promoting anti-stigma messages. The Centre launched an enhanced web portal, Healthy Minds at Work, with tools and information to address mental health helping organizations work their way towards a psychologically safe and healthy workplace.

In 2015-2016, CCOHS served more people than ever before. The Centre answered the questions of thousands of Canadians, person-to-person, through its Safety InfoLine service and there were 7.3 million self-service sessions of our online fact sheets. The CCOHS website is the primary channel for service delivery and in 2015-2016, overall usage of, and traffic to, the website increased substantially with a 31% increase in page views (17.3 million) and a 25% increase in web sessions (10.6 million).

In its role as a collaborating centre the CCOHS has continued to strengthen existing relationships with international partners including the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union. Through these relationships the Centre has shared its knowledge, expertise and Canadian perspective helping to advance health and safety in the workplace on a global level. As collaborating partners these relationships have also enabled CCOHS to provide Canadians with some of the best information from international sources.

Moving forward, we will continue to work closely with provincial and territorial governments, employers, organizations and unions to create innovative solutions with the long term goal of inspiring a movement of culture change within the workplace. A change in which the health, safety and well-being of workers is held as a critical and necessary priority within the Canadian workplace.

Gareth Jones
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer

Results Highlights

What funds were used?

$9,918,117

Actual Spending

Who was involved?

85

Actual FTEs

Results Highlights

  • Hosted a national forum on the Changing World of Work with delegates from Employers, Labour and Government collaborating on solutions to workplace safety issues
  • Significant growth in the reach of our web based safety information with a 31% increase in webpage views and a 42% increase in web sessions specifically in Canada
  • Excellent stakeholder satisfaction ratings ranging from 87% to 99%
  • Improved cost recovery program yielded record revenues of $5.5 Million to be reinvested in development of safety tools and information

Section I: Organizational Overview

Organizational Profile

Appropriate Minister: The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour

Institutional Head: Gareth Jones

Ministerial Portfolio: Employment and Social Development Canada, Labour Program

Enabling Instrument(s): Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act

Year of Incorporation / Commencement: 1978

Organizational Context

Raison d’être

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1978 with a mandate to promote health and safety in the workplace and to enhance the physical and mental health of working Canadians.

CCOHS operates under the legislative authority of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act S.C., 1977-78, c. 29 which was passed by unanimous vote in the Canadian Parliament. The purpose of this Act is to promote the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment by creating a national institute (CCOHS) concerned with the study, encouragement and co-operative advancement of occupational health and safety.

CCOHS functions as an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour. Its funding is derived from a combination of appropriations, cost recoveries and collaboration with the provinces. It is expected that a portion of the budget will be funded through cost recoveries from the creation, production, and worldwide sales of fee-for-service and revenue generating occupational health and safety products and services.

Responsibilities

As Canada's national occupational health and safety resource, CCOHS is dedicated to the advancement of workplace health and safety. We do this by providing information and knowledge transfer services; training and education; cost-effective tools for improving occupational health and safety performance; management systems services supporting health and safety programs; injury and illness prevention initiatives and promoting the total well-being – physical, psychosocial and mental health - of working people.

CCOHS is a recognized leader in providing effective programs, products and services, which are based on the centre's core knowledge, collection of occupational health and safety information, and application of information management technologies.

CCOHS is governed by a tripartite council representing governments (federal, provincial and territorial), employers, and labour organizations. The Council of Governors assists in overseeing a policy framework for a trustworthy and complete occupational health and safety service, and ensures that the information CCOHS disseminates is unbiased. Our key stakeholders are directly involved in the policy, governance and strategic planning for the organization. They also assist with reviews of programs and services to help ensure that our information is impartial and relevant. Our inquiries service is supported and funded from contributions provided by provincial and territorial governments.

CCOHS has a broad range of collaborative arrangements with many national and international health and safety organizations. These include the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO), North American Occupational Safety and Health Week (NAOSH), European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and Health Canada. Further information on the many partnerships is available on CCOHS’ website and in our annual report.

Collaborative projects serve many purposes at CCOHS. They are opportunities to enhance our occupational health and safety information resources, generate revenues and collaborate with partners worldwide to access and share global perspectives. This collaboration among nations serves to promote the sharing of information and knowledge for social and economic programs relating to health and safety, reduce injuries and illness, and improve conditions for workers. They also contribute to Canada's leadership role in the world and bring the wealth of global occupational health and safety information for use by CCOHS to improve the health and safety of working people in Canada.

Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture

1. Strategic Outcome: Improved workplace conditions and practices that enhance the health, safety and well-being of working Canadians.

1.1 Program: Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration.

Internal Services

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Key Risks
Risk Risk Response Strategy Link to the Organization’s Program
  • Operating deficit due to the reliance from partners
CCOHS keeps regular contact with all partners. CCOHS is increasing its focus on cost recoveries in order to continue to provide all of its services to Canadians. SO1
  • Technology changes are impacting the way in which we must deliver our products
CCOHS has discontinued the sale of CD based products and expanded its Internet-based products and information channels. We are developing apps to deliver our key services to mobile devices. SO1

Key Risks

CCOHS relies heavily on cost recovery programs and contributions from partners to supplement its parliamentary appropriations and cover fixed costs. The CCOHS funding model is based upon an estimate of 50% of our operating budget being generated through cost recovery sales of our products and services as well as program funding contributions from our partners. Changes to our partners’ funding can have a direct impact on our ability to deliver our services to Canadians. Likewise, economic downturns can reduce demand for our products and services and in turn reduce our revenue stream.

CCOHS is proactively managing this risk by continuously improving the products and services we sell as part of our cost recovery program. We also monitor and review our commercial agreements with our suppliers in order to help reduce the cost profile.

The organization also faces the risk that technological advances have rendered traditional delivery methods for its content unsustainable and out-dated. CCOHS has responded by expanding its on-line resources to include more specialized web portals, e-learning programs, webinars, podcasts, Facebook and Twitter promotion and on-line discussion groups. We continue to develop mobile apps to help workers assess hazards and risks. These new channels are key to supporting our priority to expand our reach and impact of Canadians on a daily basis. CCOHS is investing in the technology required to support these new communication channels on a limited operating budget.

Organizational Priorities

Name of Priority: Continuously improve the national profile of CCOHS

Description: Improving the national profile of CCOHS and increasing awareness of the available products and services increases general workplace health and safety.

Priority Type 1: Ongoing

Key Supporting Initiatives
Planned Initiatives Start Date End Date Status Link to Department’s Program Alignment Architecture
  • Multifaceted communication strategy using various outreach initiatives
April 2013

To be determined

On track

  • P100-0001
  • Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration

Progress Toward the Priority

In an effort to raise CCOHS’ national profile, the Centre regularly engages its Canadian audience and increases its reach through new content via webcasts, podcasts, social media, twitter, and newsletters. In February of 2016, CCOHS hosted a Forum in Vancouver focused on the theme of The Changing World of Work. The Forum was well attended by representatives from employers, labour groups and governments reflecting the tripartite nature of CCOHS.

A revitalized website, incorporating feedback from stakeholders, user groups and customers, provided more intuitive navigation and increased accessibility to resources and attracted 2.2 Million new users in 2015-16. Usership of the CCOHS sites climbed to a record 10.6 Million web sessions.

Name of Priority: Improve cost recovery program

Description: CCOHS sells a portion of its products and services in order to recover some of the costs associated with developing and delivering occupational health and safety content to Canadians. An improved cost recovery program will enable the organization to reinvest those resources to develop new products and services, including free public services, ultimately leading to safer workplaces in Canada.

Priority Type 2: Ongoing

Key Supporting Initiatives
Planned Initiatives Start Date End Date Status Link to Organization’s Program

Continue rationalization of existing products and services to free up resources

April 2014

To be determined

On track

P100-0001

Review marketing strategy, pricing program and terms of commercial arrangements with suppliers

   

On track

Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration

Progress Toward the Priority

CCOHS has focused on improving its cost recovery program in order to increase revenues needed to develop new occupational health and safety materials. Total revenues increased 25% in the year to a record $5.5 Million in 2015-16. The revenues are being redirected to the development of new OH&S material and to the necessary investments in infrastructure required to deliver the materials.

Name of Priority: Increase the number of Canadians impacted by CCOHS

Description: Broadening the reach of CCOHS to include more Canadian workplaces helps ensure that more Canadians benefit from best practices in workplace and safety.

Priority Type 3: Ongoing

Key Supporting Initiatives
Planned Initiatives Start Date End Date Status Link to the Organization’s Program

Develop partnerships with other safety organizations

April 2013

To be determined

On track

P100-0001

Launch new products that are better suited to meet the health and safety needs of Canadian employers

   

On track

Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration

Progress Toward the Priority

CCOHS continued its partnership with Health Canada focused on delivering prevention information, specifically focused on WHIMIS 2015. CCOHS also engaged employer associations from high risk sectors to partner on delivering health and safety training to employees and managers throughout Canada.

For more information on organizational priorities, see the Minister’s mandate letter.

1-2-3 Type is defined as follows: previously committed to—committed to in the first or second fiscal year prior to the subject year of the report; ongoing—committed to at least three fiscal years prior to the subject year of the report; and new—newly committed to in the reporting year of the Report on Plans and Priorities or the Departmental Performance Report.

Section II: Expenditure Overview

Actual Expenditures

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)
2015–16
Main Estimates
2015–16
Planned Spending
2015–16
Total Authorities Available for Use
2015–16
Actual Spending (authorities used)
2015–16
Difference
(actual minus planned)
$5,070,269 $5,070,269 $11,214,151 $9,918,117 $4,847,848

In collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, CCOHS implemented a change to its funding model for 2015-16 and onward in order to better support the ongoing operations of the organization. As a result, the Centre no longer uses vote netting authority to collect and spend revenues but instead uses an authority provided in Section 6(l)(g) of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act . Previously, revenues collected by CCOHS were netted from the expenditures and only the net amount of expenditures was reflected in the Planned Spending column above. Under the new model, revenues earned under the statutory authority cannot be netted from the expenditures and therefore the Total Authorities Available for Use and the Actual Spending figures displayed above better reflect the actual expenditures of CCOHS. This significant change in funding model will allow CCOHS to invest in growth in order to better meet the needs and demands of working Canadians.

Human Resources (FTEs)
2015–16
Planned
2015–16
Actual
2015–16
Difference (actual minus planned)
96 85 (11)

Budgetary Performance Summary

Budgetary Performance Summary for Program and Internal Services (dollars)
Program and Internal Services 2015–16
Main Estimates
2015–16
Planned Spending
2016–17
Planned Spending
2017–18
Planned Spending
2015–16
Total Authorities Available for Use
2015–16
Actual Spending (authorities used)
2014–15
Actual Spending (authorities used)
2013–14
Actual Spending (authorities used)
Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration. $2,259,188 $2,259,188 $6,141,291 $6,141,291 $8,011,564 $6,728,530 $1,846,820 $2,335,006
Internal Services $2,811,081 $2,811,081 $2,811,081 $2,811,081 $3,202,587 $3,189,587 $2,839,118 $2,912,740
Total $5,070,269 $5,070,269 $8,952,372 $8,952,372 $11,214,151 $9,918,117 $4,685,938 $5,247,746

Departmental Spending Trend

Departmental Spending Trend Graph

Expenditure Profile - Spending Trend Graph

Text version of Spending Trend Graph

For the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 the total spending includes all Parliamentary appropriations and revenue sources: Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, Treasury Board Vote 10, 15, 23, 25 and 30 and carryforward adjustments. The totals are shown net of respendable revenues. As described in Section II above, CCOHS transitioned to a statutory revenue authority in 2015-16. Therefore, for the 2015-16 to 2018-19 periods, the graph illustrates the statutory revenue authority separately in order to clearly identify that spending of Voted Authorities declines in 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively before flattening through 2018-19.

Expenditures by Vote

For information on the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2016.

Alignment of Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework

Alignment of 2015-16 Actual Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework (dollars)
Program Spending Area Government of Canada Outcome 2015–16
Actual Spending
Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration Social Affairs Healthy Canadians $9,918,117
Total Spending by Spending Area (dollars)
Spending Area Total Planned Spending Total Actual Spending
Economic affairs    
Social affairs $9,918,117  
International affairs    
Government affairs    

Financial Statements and Financial Statements Highlights

Financial Statements

CCOHS’ 2015-16 Annual Report

Financial Statements Highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited)
For the Year Ended March 31, 2016 (dollars)
Financial Information 2015–16 Planned Results 2015–16 Actual 2014–15 Actual Difference (2015–16 actual minus 2015–16 planned) Difference (2015–16 actual minus 2014–15 actual)
Total expenses 9,370,269 10,911,251 10,095,904 1,540,982 815,347
Total revenues 4,300,000 5,507,098 4,419,670 1,207,098 1,087,428
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers 5,070,269 5,404,153 5,676,234 333,884 (272,081)
Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited)
As at March 31, 2016 (dollars)
Financial Information 2015–16 2014–15 Difference (2015–16 minus
2014–15)
Total net liabilities 3,522,828 3,672,888 (150,060)
Total net financial assets 1,246,058 1,250,746 (4,688)
Departmental net debt 2,276,770 2,422,142 (145,372)
Total non-financial assets 525,372 353,503 171,869
Departmental net financial position (1,751,398) (2,068,639) (317,241)

Condensed statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position

In 2015-16, CCOHS continued to build financial stability by increasing cost recovery revenues to $5.5 Million, building on the record sales revenues set in 2014-15. The fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 yielded the best financial results in the history of the Centre due to some strong growth in Project income and E-Learning products combined with continued fiscal prudence on the expenditure side of the ledger. CCOHS has generated a surplus that will be carried forward to offset investments in the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position

The decrease in net liabilities of $150K is primarily driven by the decrease in deferred revenues $120K from the sale of web delivered subscription products due to timing of sales throughout the year. The Centre has also seen a decline in employee related liabilities ($88K) as some of its long-tenured employees have retired. The improvement in departmental net financial position is due to the surplus generated on the strength of the cost recovery revenues generated in the year.

Section III: Analysis of Program and Internal Services

Program 1.1: Occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration

Description:

The goal of this public service program is to provide free information on occupational health and safety to support Canadians in their efforts to work safely and create healthy and safe workplaces. Citizens are provided information through a free and impartial personalized service via telephone, e-mail, person-to-person, fax or mail. Alternatively, they can independently access a broad range of electronic and print resources developed to support safety and health information needs of Canadians. This may include cost recovery products and services and is supported financially by contributions from various stakeholders.

Through health and safety information development, CCOHS collects, processes, evaluates, creates and publishes authoritative information resources on occupational health and safety for the benefit of all working Canadians. This information is used for education and training, research, development of policy and best practices, improvement of health and safety programs, achieving compliance, and for personal use. When the product or service provided by CCOHS is offered to identifiable external recipients with benefits beyond those enjoyed by the general public, the product or service becomes part of the cost-recovery program and a fee is charged.

CCOHS promotes and facilitates consultation and cooperation among federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions and participation by labour, management and other stakeholders in the establishment and maintenance of high standards and occupational health and safety initiatives for the Canadian context. The sharing of resources results in the coordinated and mutually beneficial development of unique programs, products and services. Collaborative projects are usually supported with a combination of financial and non-financial contributions to the programs by partners and stakeholders and result in advancement of the health and safety initiatives.

Program Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)
2015–16
Main Estimates
2015–16
Planned Spending
2015–16
Total Authorities Available for Use
2015–16
Actual Spending (authorities used)
Difference
(actual minus planned)
$2,259,188 $2,259,188 $8,011,564 $6,728,530 $4,469,342
Human Resources (FTEs)
2015–16
Planned
2015–16
Actual
2015–16
Difference (actual minus planned)
73 65 (8)

Performance Results

Performance Results (in dollars)
Expected Results Performance Indicators Targets Actual Results
Easy access to CCOHS occupational health and safety information and services. Satisfaction with and ease of access and retrieval of occupational health and safety information from Inquiries service, web access and other CCOHS resources such as our web portals, articles and presentations. Overall 85% satisfaction rating from Inquiries and web usage and 10% increase in usage
  • 87% satisfaction rating from Inquiries
  • 31% increase in web page views
  • 42% increase in Canadian web sessions
  • 99.4% overall satisfaction amongst CCOHS’ Health and Safety Report newsletter readers
  • 90% overall satisfaction rate amongst CCOHS’ Liaison newsletter readers
Increased awareness and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. Distribution of information to employees and employers to improve understanding of occupational safety and health. Increase distributions and usage of awareness information by 10%
  • 21% increase in poster and infographic downloads
  • 12.5% increase in repurposed content
Application of occupational health and safety information in the workplace. Percentage of respondents that say information is being applied in the workplace by employees, government and employers to make change. 72% of clients who use information provided to make change in the workplace.
  • 70.7% of Health and Safety Report readers use the information in the report to make current or planned changes in their workplace that might improve occupational health and safety
  • 72% of Liaison readers use information from the newsletter to affect change in the workplace

Program Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

In order to achieve these results, CCOHS executed the following activities:

  • Hosted a national forum on the Changing World of Work which attracted a wide spectrum of experts, employers, workers, labour and government representatives together to learn about emerging issues, share best practices and brainstorm solutions.
  • Participated in collaborative projects with different levels of government and organizations. Examples of this include our work with the Workplace Hazardous Materials Bureau of Health Canada (formerly the National Office of WHMIS), Health Canada, the Canada School of Public Service and WorkSafeNB
  • Continued to grow our social media presence in order to engage our community. In 2015-16, we grew our retweet audience 14.5% to 3.4 Million, we grew our LinkedIn followers by 43% and we grew our reach on Facebook to 335,324 fans.
  • Canadian web sessions for CCOHS websites grew 42% to 3.5 Million
  • CCOHS collaborated with Canadian health and safety organizations and other health organizations as well as international organizations on various health and safety issues in order to bring to Canadians the most useful and relevant occupational health and safety information.
  • CCOHS continued to support the issue of mental health in the workplace by developing new educational tools and services around the topic and participating in the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s case study research project, sharing experiences, data and challenges that may benefit others and helping improve the lives of the working population.

CCOHS works diligently to provide the information that our clients demand and in many different formats to meet their needs. We have been working for years to identify trends and stay ahead of the curve by providing timely and relevant information on emerging issues that are relevant for Canadian workplaces, and develop free and paid services to support future health, safety and wellness needs. Areas of focus include mental health, the impact of legalized cannabis on the workplace, and changes to WHMIS due to the implementation of the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Emerging issues continue to drive development of new presentations, courses, fact sheets, micro sites, apps, podcasts and articles for our newsletters.

In response to client feedback, we’ve moved beyond database services, but that clients expect to find resources instantly through web-based, App-based and social-media resources. When there are changes in legislation, current events and best practices we need to respond quickly. In order to expand our reach we need to adopt new technologies quickly. It is also critical to keep our employees engaged since improved engagement leads to improved employee health, workplace health and wellness.

Internal Services

Description:

Internal services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization, and not those provided to a specific program. The groups of activities are Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; and Acquisition Services.

Program Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)
2015–16
Main Estimates
2015–16
Planned Spending
2015–16
Total Authorities Available for Use
2015–16
Actual Spending (authorities used)
2015-16
Difference
(actual minus planned)
$2,811,081 $2,811,081 $3,202,587 $3,189,587 $378,506
Human Resources (FTEs)
2015–16
Planned
2015–16
Actual
2015–16
Difference (actual minus planned)
23 20 (3)

Program Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

The focus for Internal Services continues to be to support the occupational health and safety information development, delivery services and tripartite collaboration program. The Internal Services team focuses on three areas in order to accomplish that goal: employee engagement, systems infrastructure and cost-recovery.

CCOHS regularly conducts both formal and informal employee engagement surveys in order to truly understand what the team needs to accomplish its work. The management team has implemented several important initiatives as a result of those surveys in order to increase current and future employee engagement as well as ensure a solid knowledge transfer as a significant portion of our staff approach retirement. A formal survey is planned for 2016-17 to help quantify some of the gains that are being achieved.

Significant investments have been made in order to refresh the CCOHS systems infrastructure in order to better support the organization’s ability to deliver its program. New software to help manage client relationships has been launched and we continue to refresh our hardware to ensure that our information, products and services are always available.

Ongoing improvement on the cost-recovery program have yielded record revenues for the third consecutive year and we continue to reinvest those resources to support the ongoing operations.

Planning Highlights

In the 2015-16 Report on Plans and Priorities we committed that Internal Services at CCOHS would continue to focus on its three main goals:

We continue to sharpen our focus on the cost recovery program in order to support the strategic outcome of the organization. A successful cost recovery program is key to ensuring the sustainability of CCOHS operations.

  • Record revenue of $5.5M raised in 2015-16 is up 38% in three years while expenditures are relatively flat.

We are also committed to improve the overall working experience at CCOHS. This includes improving the performance management system, fostering open communications and consistent and equal treatment of staff across the organization.

  • CCOHS is implementing the CSA Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace and participating in the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s case study
  • We continue to experience a very low turnover rate and high employee engagement scores

We will continue to refresh our Information Technology (IT) infrastructure to ensure we continue to meet ongoing needs of CCOHS stakeholders.

  • CCOHS invested a record $221K in infrastructure in 2015-16 in order to modernise its hardware and implement new software to improve our ability to engage our stakeholders.

Section IV: Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information Tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s website.

Federal Tax Expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures annually in the Report of Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational Contact Information

For further information about this document or any of the products and services available from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, please contact:

CCOHS

135 Hunter Street East
Hamilton ON L8N 1M5
Tel: 905-572-2981
1-800-668-4284 Canada and US
Fax: 905-572-2206
www.ccohs.ca

Gareth Jones

Acting President and Chief Executive Officer
905-572-2981, ext 4537
Gareth.Jones@ccohs.ca

Frank Leduc

Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer
905-572-2981, ext 4401
Frank.Leduc@ccohs.ca

Appendix: Definitions

  • appropriation: (crédit): Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
  • budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires): Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
  • Departmental Performance Report (rapport ministériel sur le rendement): Reports on an appropriated organization’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Reports on Plans and Priorities. These reports are tabled in Parliament in the fall.
  • full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein): A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. Full time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.
  • Government of Canada outcomes (résultats du gouvernement du Canada): A set of 16 high level objectives defined for the government as a whole, grouped in four spending areas: economic affairs, social affairs, international affairs and government affairs.
  • Management, Resources and Results Structure (Structure de la gestion, des ressources et des résultats): A comprehensive framework that consists of an organization’s inventory of programs, resources, results, performance indicators and governance information. Programs and results are depicted in their hierarchical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The Management, Resources and Results Structure is developed from the Program Alignment Architecture.
  • non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires): Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
  • performance (rendement): What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
  • performance indicator (indicateur de rendement): A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.
  • performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement): The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.
  • planned spending (dépenses prévues): For Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs) and Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs), planned spending refers to those amounts that receive Treasury Board approval by February 1. Therefore, planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditures presented in the Main Estimates.

    A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their RPPs and DPRs.
  • plans (plan): The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.
  • priorities (priorité): Plans or projects that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s).
  • program (programme): A group of related resource inputs and activities that are managed to meet specific needs and to achieve intended results and that are treated as a budgetary unit.
  • Program Alignment Architecture (architecture d’alignement des programmes): A structured inventory of an organization’s programs depicting the hierarchical relationship between programs and the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute.
  • Report on Plans and Priorities (rapport sur les plans et les priorités): Provides information on the plans and expected performance of appropriated organizations over a three year period. These reports are tabled in Parliament each spring.
  • results (résultat): An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.
  • statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives): Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
  • Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique): A long term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.
  • sunset program (programme temporisé): A time limited program that does not have an ongoing funding and policy authority. When the program is set to expire, a decision must be made whether to continue the program. In the case of a renewal, the decision specifies the scope, funding level and duration.
  • target (cible): A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
  • voted expenditures (dépenses votées): Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.
  • Whole of government framework (cadre pangouvernemental): Maps the financial contributions of federal organizations receiving appropriations by aligning their Programs to a set of 16 government wide, high level outcome areas, grouped under four spending areas.