Although we’re spread across the province, SafeCare BC’s members make up a community. It’s events like Safety Den—our annual Dragons’ Den-inspired competition—that bring our community together to share amazing ideas. No matter how big or small, these safety ideas and innovations make a difference.

As we approach the end of the year, we want to look back and reflect on some of the great health and safety ideas and innovations we received as part of the 2021 Safety Den. We hope these ideas not only inspire you, but encourage you to submit to Safety Den when submissions open up.

The Workplace Health and Safety team at Interior Health showing the “DDP” pose

Interior Health – Diamond Dallas Page Yoga

Here’s a question for you—what does a professional wrestler have to do with improving workplace health and safety? As it turns out, quite a bit!

Interior Health’s workplace health and safety team have implemented “DDP Yoga”—named after wrestler Diamond Dallas Page—into their regular routine. The staff-led program consists of stretching and dynamic poses over a short six-minute session in the morning.

What started as a small group activity quickly expanded to 50 people from across all Interior Health’s sites video conferencing in to join the sessions. “This has led to greater team connections, helped to ease the loneliness of people working at home, keeping us all connected, and strengthening our bodies at the same time,” says Interior Health’s Richard Gerow.

Like the best Safety Den submissions, “DDP Yoga” is simple but effective, requiring only a few minutes and a dedicated staff member to lead the session.

Vantage Living – Improving Fitness and Flexibility

It’s not a stretch to say Vantage Living’s 2021 Safety Den submission is full of great ideas—particularly when one of those ideas involves just that: stretching!

As a way to address soft tissue injuries in workers, Vantage Living has two proposals organizations can use: renovating underused amenity rooms into an exercise room for staff to use, and implementing “Stretch Zones”— areas where staff can go to perform stretching exercises—throughout their organization.

The hope is to improve fitness and flexibility by providing staff with easy access to something they may not otherwise have the time to do.

For more health and safety ideas, check out the Safety Innovations Database. And remember—no idea is too small to make a difference.

Submit to Safety Den.