Today@Dal

This year’s winner of the Janice MacInnis Award for Healthy Workplaces (formerly the Healthy Workplace Award) is the Environmental Health and Safety Office (EH&S).

The EH&S Office has dedicated the award to their recently retired Director, Jerry Aguinaga, who believed a healthy workplace was pivotal in creating happy employees who perform at a high level. The EH&S Office is a shining example of what is possible for a healthy workplace.

The Janice MacInnis Award for Healthy Workplaces recognizes a Dalhousie workplace whose practices promote and support employee health, engagement, and well-being. The Award is aligned with the Workplace Wellness Strategy, which is part of the Inclusive Excellence pillar of the university’s strategic plan, Third Century Promise.

Some of the Office’s initiatives include:

• Physical activities for the group including a hike at Cape Split; skating trips to the Oval; lunchtime walks through the Public Gardens; meditation sessions led by a team member; and participation in the 2024 Bluenose Marathon Relay Race as the Safety Striders
• Team participation in university-wide events including the Summer Sociable, Annual Carol Sing, Dal Community Day, and volunteer activities including the Boots and Blooms event on the Truro campus
• Social gatherings including an annual washer toss tournament, a bowling night, in-office events such as potlucks and lunchtime trivia for various holidays, and pumpkin painting competition
• Equity, diversity, inclusion and accessbility (EDIA) initiatives including adding captioning to the safety videos, working with a design consultant on EH&S computer-based training courses to ensure design accessibility needs are met, hiring international students, and collaborating with other departments such as Communications, Marketing and Creative Services (CMC) and the Office of Sustainability on accessibility
• Participation in a workload management presentation, and incorporating practices including blocking time in schedules for focus time instead of meetings, a monthly meeting without managers to discuss workload and ways to manage it, and continuing to use a hybrid remote/in-person working model to allow for greater flexibility

“It is difficult to capture just how wonderful the EH&S Office is, and how lucky our office members feel to be working here,” says Maris Woodworth, EH&S Specialist.

“As each of us grows in our careers, we hope we can take what we have learned in our office and create healthier workplaces wherever life takes us.”

The Environmental Health and Safety Office will be formally recognized at the annual Dalhousie Legacy Awards being held this fall.