City Council Wrap-Up: January 21, 2025

Here is an overview of key discussions and decisions from the City Council meeting on January 21.
 
iCare Occupational Health and Safety Management System – Update
Staff provided an update on the iCARE project, highlighting progress made since the initiative began in October 2023. The project which enhances the organization-wide occupational health and safety system, is considered an industry best practice, providing several benefits to increase worker engagement and ensure employee safety while minimizing organizational risk.  

The iCARE project mandate includes:

•    Enhancing the existing Occupation Health and Safety (OH&S) management system.
•    Improving the use of technology.
•    Developing routine health and safety procedures with measurable key performance indicators (KPIs).
•    Managing organizational change to ensure successful implementation of the improved system.

Key Benefits and Engagement Initiatives:
Key expected outcomes include better data monitoring and compliance, enhanced role clarity and accountability, improved worker participation, and reduced risks of workplace accidents. Extensive consultation has been conducted across the organization through workshops, surveys and advisory panels that include subject matter experts, joint health and safety committees and business leadership groups.

Current Status and Next Steps:
The project team is working on the details of the management system as well as recommended solutions to address resource and technology gaps - the new system will be implemented using existing resources and no new costs are expected. Business cases will be brought forward for Council consideration as the system evolves. Next steps include the development of an implementation plan to transition from the current state to the future enhanced system.

The iCARE Project Team, led by Tony Cecutti and Project Manager Miranda Edwards, continues to work collaboratively to deliver meaningful improvements in workplace safety. The detailed report on the project from October, 2023, is available here.

Council Appointments to Various Boards
Due to vacancies on the Board of Health for Public Health Sudbury & Districts, the Conservation Sudbury Board and the Greater Sudbury Public Library Board, Council appointed the following new board members: 

•    Councillor Labbée was appointed to the Board of Health for Public Health Sudbury and Districts. 
•    Councillor McIntosh was appointed to the Greater Sudbury Public Library Board.
•    A Councillor was not appointed to the Conservation Sudbury Board. This item was deferred to the next Council meeting.

Each Councillor will serve in these positions until November 14, 2026, or until a successor is appointed.

Other Items
Council meetings often include reports as “Correspondence for Information Only.” At this meeting, there was a report on Council member attendance at City Council and Committee meetings for the fourth quarter of 2024. Read the report here. 

For more details on these and other items from this week’s meetings, visit www.greatersudbury.ca/meetings-agendas-and-minutes.