The Health Canada Policy Toolkit for Public Involvement in Decision
Making
Case Study:
Occupational Health and Safety Agency
Background
The Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OHSA) is a government
agency responsible for the provision of advice, consultation and
service delivery to managers of public service departments on all
aspects of occupational health and safety. OHSA became an agency
in 1996; prior to this it was a directorate under Health Canada's
Medical Services Branch (MSB) and included elements of the Indian
health program. OHSA reports to the Deputy Minister of Health through
MSB's Assistant Deputy Minister. OHSA is building partnerships
through service agreements with government departments.
In response to the Agency's desire to increase its accountability
and visibility of its services to its customers, OHSA initiated
a process to develop service standards in December 1994. This came
at a time when Treasury Board was requesting service standards
from all departments that had provided some information on "Quality
Service" and service standards. This case study will focus on the
consultations surrounding the development of service standards
for the occupational health and safety (OHS) programs of the Agency.
Over a two-year period, December 1994 to December 1996, OHSA developed
a working committee of staff which steered the development of customer-based
OHS standards for federal departments and agencies. This working
committee consulted widely with OHSA staff, customer focus groups
and existing consultation structures such as the National and Regional
Advisory Committees supporting the OHS program.
Why Seek Public Involvement?
OHSA's mission statement is to work in partnership with customers
and stakeholders to provide responsive, cost-effective occupational
and public health protection and promotion programs. Most of OSHA's
clients are public service departments and consultations occur
with government employees rather than the Canadian public at large.
However, the principles and mechanisms of this particular exercise
clearly have many features which could be applied to a public consultation
strategy.
Managers of federal departments are legally responsible for OHS
programs for their employees. There were still many misconceptions
about what is included in the health and safety programs and where
responsibility lies. There was a need to involve the customers
so that they could become aware of their responsibilities and the
systems and programs needed to fulfil these responsibilities.
Who Was Involved?
OHSA brought together 10 employees who formed a working committee
which was responsible for determining the service standards. Through
a series of surveys and focus groups with staff and customers,
the committee was able to create the occupational health standards.
Description of the Process
A set of service standards relating to various issues on OHS was
created. The OHSA recognized that it did not have the expertise
in service standard development in-house, although the working
group members were all experts in their program or work areas.
Therefore, the commitment was made to train OHSA staff to be able
to create and consult on the service standards. Also, the decision
was made to obtain information from various levels of government
employees, soliciting information from those working in the affected
departments. When consultants are used, they are used to facilitate
and train OHSA employees, rather than to do the work directly.
First, the 10 representatives to the working committee were chosen
from a range of occupations, professions and regions. No senior
officers were chosen. The representatives were chosen by the executive
group for their interest in the project. Once chosen, they were
sent to the Canadian Centre for Management Development (CCMD) for
a two-week training session. A consultant was contracted to help
facilitate the committee later in the process when it encountered
obstacles in developing service standards.
The committee examined other examples of service standards, attended
conferences on alternative service delivery and compared international
models of service standards and the British citizen charter. Next,
they developed a survey tool to obtain information from departmental
managers and OHSA's staff on the necessary indicators and service
standards to include. The working committee and departmental managers
identified key informants in the regions to participate in focus
groups, which continued throughout the entire process. Also, those
responsible for the project kept their colleagues informed of the
process. Finally, the developed standards were passed around to
the various committee members, clients and agency staff until agreement
was reached.
In the second phase of the project relating to the performance
indicators, the committee brought together the customer departments
in a working group meeting to provide input, which was beneficial
and also expedited the turn-around time. The customers found it
very rewarding and informative.
This was an example of a situation where clients were able to
provide direct input to the process. Agency staff were brought
in to review the service standards and customers were involved
throughout the entire process. Although this was not a process
that involved public consultation, many of the methods used could
be applied to a public consultation strategy. Furthermore, many
of the issues dealt with by the OHSA have a direct impact on most
Canadians.
Resources
The process was funded through the appropriation of the Agency.
Summary of the Outcomes
The first set of service standards was developed and released
to the customers in December 1996. The initiative is now firmly
into its implementation phase, which consists of delivering the
services and making routine measurements of its performance against
the benchmarks outlined in the Standards for Excellence publication.
Evaluation of the standards is done through a series of performance
indicators, such as questionnaires and reports. Tools are used
to determine which services continue to be valuable to the clients
and replace ones that are no longer useful.
OHSA offers similar cost-recovery services to both the federally
regulated and private sectors. It is likely that their role in
the future will be more advisory, while partners in the government
department or the private sector will provide the actual services
to their own organizations.
Analysis
Factors for Success
- The committee were chosen for the members' interest in the
process rather than on a skillsbased criteria. They were very
dedicated to this process and all were very results oriented.
They also understood the importance of standards to the organization.
- This was an extremely valuable learning experience for the
committee members. Because they were chosen from all levels and
occupations, it was a new experience for some of them, providing
challenges and the possibility for professional growth.
- The timing on this project was right. The committee was able
to get the government departments involved because there had
been interest generated surrounding these issues.
Barriers to Success
- Resourcing is always a problem. The committee members were
asked to participate in addition to their usual job-related duties.
OHSA was unable to bring them on-board full time, and this may
have prolonged the timing of the process.
- The changes from directorate to Agency made it difficult to
create the standards when they were not sure what the service
lines were going to be.
- It is hard to be accountable with the kind of services offered
by OHSA because many of the process steps move slowly.
- Some resistance was experienced in the governmental agencies
related to misunderstandings about what was to be accomplished.
Because OHSA's business is knowledge-based, there is often no
agreement between those in the affected professions and the OHSA's
staff on how much time is required to achieve a particular standard.
Policy Implications
Although OHSA does not directly develop policy, it does advise
Treasury Board on how the federal government should see itself
in relation to occupational health standards policy. One key area
is whether or not Treasury Board should be leading the way with
service standards, or following the lead of other industries. Nevertheless,
the process of creating service standards for the federal government
has allowed discussions on many different levels and so far the
government has been on line with the standards being developed
by the private sector.
A detailed synopsis of the OHSA is located on the Health Canada
website at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ohsa.
Public involvement techniques used
- Citizens' Juries
- Consensus Conference
- Focus Group
- Public Surveys and Polls
Contact information
Gillian Lynch
Chief Executive Officer
Occupational Health and Safety Agency
(613) 957-7669
Gillian_Lynch@hc-sc.gc.ca
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