Employees and management at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards have been recognized for their dedication to working safely. In fact, the company won an award for being one of Canada’s safest employers. (Photo by Dan Walton)
Encounters with rattlesnakes, dealings with drunks and working heavy machinery for farming and wine production are among the potential dangers at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, but thanks to a rigorous safety program, the winery was given Canada’s Safest Employers Award in this year’s hospitality category.
“We have a wildly huge health and safety program,” said Sandra Oldfield, president and CEO. “We have 29 employees – 29 families with a member who works for us year-round, and another 20 or so employees that work for us part-time. I know their kids and their husbands and wives, and I can’t imagine what it would feel like if we had a big accident here and I had to be the one who breaks the news to their family that work was responsible for them losing a finger or something worse.”
On top of her staff, 60,000 guests come through the property each year, whose safety also has to be accounted for.
“It really drives me to keep getting better at this because I really can’t imagine the alternative.”
While it was Tinhorn’s hospitality department that won the award, the safety program used by kitchen and serving staff is the same that applies throughout the entire workplace.
“It’s not just lip service,” Oldfield said,” adding that 11 departments all undergo monthly inspections.
“Initially for us it was a way to get everybody at our winery talking to each other and give our employees equal treatment.”
Oldfield said staff take a proactive approach, filing near-miss reports and rewarding ideas that improve workplace safety.
“Our staff have come to see it as a fun part of the job. It’s had a snowball effect.”
She admits that her company’s thoroughness can seem a little bit geeky, “but there’s nothing that geeky about sending people home in the same condition they came in.”
Since administering the program, the culture of safety has become contagious for everyone.
“I can’t say we’ve always been this way but we kicked it up a gear about eight years ago. When we get new employees in who haven’t experienced safety practices to our degree, it’s not the normal thing they do. But after they see everyone else doing it, they figure ‘I guess that’s what I’m doing too.’”
Oldfield accepted the award on Oct. 25 at a gala event at the Arcadian Court in Toronto.
“We live in the stunning Okanagan Valley of British Columbia; where land is expensive and so are the grapes, but I can tell you unequivocally, it is our people that are our most valued resource,” she said. “The health and safety of all of our employees is one of our top priorities and we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the hard work and dedication they show every single day.”
By Dan Walton
