If you have any questions or comments regarding this report, or suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered in future reports, please write to us at:

GREATER TORONTO AIRPORTS AUTHORITY
Toronto Pearson INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
P.O. BOX 6031
3111 CONVAIR DRIVE
TORONTO AMF, ONTARIO, CANADA  L5P 1B2

or send us an email to PUBLICATION@GTAA.COM

Sustainability Overview

Safety and security

At Toronto Pearson, we take an uncompromising approach to safety and security. We have a saying – Be Safe. You mean the world to someone. – which reminds us of why we need to be vigilant and why we invest so much time and resources in our safety and security systems.

While all companies operating at the airport are responsible for the safety of their own employees, we work together to achieve our shared vision of zero injuries to everyone who travels through or works at Toronto Pearson.

Our Safety Policy sets out guiding principles. The Toronto Pearson Safety Program comprises seven safety systems that include policies, programs and training relevant to the various aspects of airport operations: aviation safety; security; terminal and groundside safety; environment; technical and construction; occupational health and safety; and emergency management. All contractors must have a Certificate of Recognition (COR) as confirmation that their health and safety program meets provincial standards and has been evaluated by a certified auditor.

All airports in Canada are required to have a security awareness program that educates employees about their roles and responsibilities in airport security. At Toronto Pearson, employees complete both the national and site-specific modules of the Canadian Airport Security Awareness Program. This training is mandatory for everyone who needs access to restricted areas and for any airport employee who has been away from work for more than a year.

Across our airport community, we try to bolster our safety and security culture through a constant focus on communications and risk identification. We also conduct an annual safety climate survey and use the findings to improve safety-related programs. Contests are run to encourage high employee participation in the survey.

Safety performance is tracked through the Toronto Pearson Safety Index, which measures employee lost-time injuries per million passengers. Despite growing passenger traffic volumes and new aviation technologies that often increase the complexity of managing safety, we strive for at least a five per cent reduction in injuries each year.

3,000 employees

Nearly 3,000 employees provided feedback on Toronto Pearson’s safety culture through the annual safety climate survey

2018 highlights

  • With manual handling injuries, such as back sprains and strains, accounting for 45 per cent of our lost-time injuries, we introduced a manual handling safety program airport-wide. Run by Pristine Condition International, the program is based on Olympic weightlifting techniques that are proven to take more than 70 per cent of pressure off the body when performing manual handling tasks. The program was launched during Canadian Airports Safety Week events, with Pristine Condition trainers teaching employees some of the key principles.
  • Safety forums and summits bring together health and safety representatives from across our airport community to discuss safety trends and issues and to generate ideas for improving performance. The 2018 Fall Safety Summit in October attracted representatives from more than 37 organizations including air operators, ground handling companies, general aviation and government agencies and other airport business operators. In November, the inaugural meeting of the Toronto Pearson Safety Leadership Forum brought together leaders from Toronto Pearson’s 16 largest employers. The meeting was an important first step towards tackling common issues and collaborating on strategic initiatives. In January 2019, we held our first Workers’ Council meeting, which included representatives from each of the unions at Toronto Pearson. The Council will meet on a regular basis to prioritize worker safety issues and propose solutions that can then be integrated into the master Toronto Pearson Safety Program.
  • We launched the Tenant Safety Education Program to facilitate safety discussions with Toronto Pearson tenants. Under the program, GTAA safety resources engage with tenants one-on-one to learn more about their safety programs, review their safety documentation and training, and provide feedback on how they could improve. We believe that this approach, which focuses on offering guidance and support as opposed to instructions, will be instrumental in changing the safety culture at the airport.
  • New safety reporting tools are being deployed across the airport to help us capture safety data more readily and identify trends early, with an eye to driving improvement. Among the features, the tools pinpoint exactly where at the airport most safety incidents are occurring, so that we can, in turn, implement targeted prevention programs. Ultimately, we want to expand our data gathering to capture more leading statistics, such as close calls or risk assessments, and to dig deeper into the data to obtain actionable insights.

In case of emergency

Emergency exercises are an important part of being prepared for the worst-case scenario by testing plans, protocols and communications for emergency and security incidents. In May 2018, our emergency exercise was a response to an aircraft incident. More than 150 airport employees and responders supported the exercise, and nearly 250 of our neighbours volunteered.

2018 performance

The GTAA was disappointed with the 2018 increase in the Toronto Pearson Safety Index (TPSI) to 0.46, up from 0.43 in the previous year. This was attributable to the increased number of lost-time injuries reported by many employers at Toronto Pearson. We are continuing to work with our community of airport employers to raise awareness around the importance of safety. In addition, we have instituted some innovative programs that focus on injury prevention and sharing best practices.

Sustainability Overview
© 2019 Greater Toronto Airports Authority