W. Brett Wilson addressed the CEOs of the BC Safety Charter Thursday morning saying that, in his business, he considers safety to be crucial part of a successful business plan.
Wilson, of Dragon’s Den fame, was a keynote speaker at the BC Safety Charter’s annual Roundtable held at the Terminal City Club in Vancouver. Wilson, spoke at the one-day conference along with former Vancouver Canucks captain, Trevor Linden, and Dave McAnerney, CEO of Sun Rype.
He told delegates of the reason he cares as much as he does about health and safety. While managing an event several years ago, one of the staff putting the up the tent for the event was killed.
Wilson met with the family a month later and he described for delegates some of the emotions he went through in the long painful process of dealing with the issue.
It changed his life and he has believed in the necessity, not only of workplace health and safety, but in the leadership required at the top of organizations to do the right thing. Wilson spoke passionately about corporate responsibility and his belief that business leaders have a crucial role to play in ensuring their employees know their wellbeing is a crucial value of the business.
“There was no technical guilt on our part but I assumed an enormous amount of moral guilt,” says Wilson.
He then described how he has completely overhauled the business practices of his company and the demands he now places on those businesses who work with his business.
The Charter was launched in 2011 by a small group of industry leaders within the food and beverage processing and manufacturing industry in BC determined that injury rates in their industry and throughout the province were too high. They decided to do something about it.
The Charter had 22 inaugural signatories.
The organization’s first roundtable was held November 27, 2012 and delegates were updated on the progress made on the group’s objectives and the new signatories were publicly introduced.
Since its launch in 2011 the BC Safety Charter has been recognized both nationally and internationally and has been described as one of the most significant business initiatives in Western Canada.
The Charter Steering Committee had set itself a goal of having 60 signatures on the Charter by 2013 but has already surpassed its goal with 72 signatories.
“We are committed to driving that safety culture message home across all industries, businesses, organizations and communities in BC through our commitment to corporate and social responsibility,” says Ben Hume, Chair of the BC Safety Charter Steering Committee.
For more on the BC Safety Charter please visit www.BCSafetyCharter.ca.