February 29, 2024
At Karis Disability Services, our commitment to providing safe and supportive environments for the people who use our services is unwavering. Recently, we’ve undertaken policy changes to address two critical aspects of safety within our organization: pest control and drinking water systems.
Pest Control (Ontario and Saskatchewan)
The driving force behind one of these important changes was the realization that our existing policy lacked guidance on pest control measures, especially considering the diverse living environments of the people using our services. We needed to provide some direction to our employees through the creation of this policy.
Our pest control policy is simple and focuses in on 3 main points. Prevention and awareness measures, addressing issues with common consumer products, and engaging professional pest services for pest issues that may be beyond general household care.
Drinking Water Systems (Ontario only)
Our policy regarding drinking water systems have been updated as well. While these policy changes impact only a few service locations in Ontario that have their drinking water supplied by a source other than their municipality, it is important for us to share how we are updating our policy to adapt to new technology and pressures.
The drinking water systems policy has been updated to reflect new technologies that are used to meet the needs of daily testing, which in turn has an impact on our training expectations for locations that use this technology. Updated policy also provides some additional guidance on the number of managers in a district that require training based on the needs of the district. If your work location has a drinking water system, please refer to the policy in PolicyManager.
We would like to thank the Community Facilities Specialists, Program Managers, Team Leaders, and other District leaders for their participation of reviewing and updating both of these policies.
The recent policy updates at Karis underscore our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. By proactively addressing areas of concern and staying responsive to the needs of our community, we are better equipped to fulfill our mission of providing safe, supportive environments where people who use our services can thrive.
Thank you!
Dave Petkau
Executive Director, South District