ABOUT SAFE COMMUNITIES OTTAWA
Safe Communities Ottawa (SCO) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making Ottawa the safest city to live, learn, work and play. We believe that injuries are predictable, preventable and unacceptable. Our Mission is to make Ottawa a leading community of safe workplaces through collaboration with our health and safety partners and delivery of health and safety information and education to employers and workers. We work to build partnerships and deliver these programs to improve the lives of people in our community.
With the generous support of our premier sponsor Hydro Ottawa, we are able to promote health, safety and injury prevention to employers, employees and students throughout the Ottawa area.
Every week in Ottawa, 80 workers are injured and every year $16 million in benefits are claimed. There were 106 deaths due to injuries in children and youth between the ages of 0 - 19 years from 1992 to 1998. This represents a total of 6,593 potential years of life lost. In 1998 alone, there were over 200 injuries that required hospital admission in that same age group in Ottawa. Safety is of utmost importance to all of us. SCO is committed to making Ottawa a safer city each and every year.
On March 12, 1997 Kim Wild-Lewis lost her partner Peter Scott-Lewis in a tragic accident at the Ottawa International Airport when he was run over and crushed by a snow sweeper. Later that year Kim began to seek support to establish Ottawa as a Safe Community. In 2000 she partnered with William DeSouza had formed the Bells Corners Safe Community Initiative. William believed safety was everyone's responsibility. Together they brought a coalition of groups from both the public and private sector to raise awareness to reduce injuries and deaths to young people.
In December 2003 Paul Kells, the founder of the national initiative for safe communities handed the "Key to Safety" to Mayor Bob Chiarelli and Ottawa was officially designated the 46th municipality to be a Safe Community as part of a national strategy. SCO was born out of a need to bring together all injury prevention, health & safety organizations in Ottawa, the challenge to keep Ottawa safe continues today.
Passport to Safety is a national health and safety awareness program that aims to revolutionize thinking among youth about on-the-job safety. Through "Passport to Safety", students challenge an on-line, no-fail "test" and earn a transcript verifying completion to attach to their resumes.
Visit www.passporttosafety.com
Health & Safety information is provided through SCO's extensive network of member organizations, our website and media contacts. By having access to timely and complete information about Ottawa's safety initiatives, people will be better able to keep themselves, their families and friends safe - at work, school and play.
CONTACT US
Safe Communities Ottawa
CTTC Building, Suite 3100, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, ON K1S 5R1
Ph.: 613-523-1231
Fax: 613-230-1430
www.ottawasafecommunities.org
Board of Directors
