The following information concerning Occupational Health and Safety has been reposted from Bruce Sloan at Eastside Safety. Please check back often for helpful information concerning safety in the workplace.
Responsibilities of Workers
The safety in a workplace is dependent upon effective communication between the workers, supervisors and the employer. This is called the “Internal Responsibility System” or the “Workplace Responsibility System”. These systems are referring to the same thing, just different terms.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act specifies every worker’s right to a healthy and safe workplace. The legislation also creates a legal duty for creating and maintaining a healthy and safe workplace. This duty is placed upon every person in the workplace, to the degree that they have the authority and ability to fulfill that duty. In this system, the workers must take reasonable care to protect their own health and safety, other workers as well as any other people that may be affected by their work. This includes unsafe acts, and the failure to complete a safe act through omission or willful blindness. In some cases may be commonly called a “short cut”.
The internal responsibility system is a process that encourages all people to work together, identify hazards, identify hazard control, and develop safe work procedures. The goal of the workplace responsibility system is make safety fully integrated into everyone’s everyday work tasks. An effective workplace responsibility system requires competent management and supervision, employees who work and act safely, and an effective occupational health and safety committee. Effective communication between the workers and the employer is paramount to this system working. Everyone at the workplace is a stakeholder in safety. The employer is able to retain healthy employees and saves money on WCB premiums, reduces turnover, reduces training replacement workers, and increases productivity by having content workers in a stable work environment. The workers benefit by being safe, feeling valued by having input to the employer, and being able to go home uninjured.
The worker is also required by law to cooperate with any person exercising a duty under this legislation. This would include the OHS Committee in its duties, the employer in their duties, and any other person such as an Occupational Health and Safety Officer in their duties. Additionally, the law is very specific that the worker has a duty to comply with the OHS legislation. This would include using proper safeguards, safety equipment, and personal protective that are provided to them to comply with the legislation. Although this equipment is provided in response to the law, the worker must remember that they are using it for their safety. The worker must use it with the idea that it is to protect them so they may leave the worksite safely at the end of the day, and not on an ambulance stretcher (or worse).
The law also requires that workers refrain from causing or participating in harassment of another worker. Harassment, in all of its legally described forms, must not be tolerated in the workplace. This point of law is a very important section and will have an entire column dedicated to it in the future.
Finally, the last responsibility that the law imposes on the worker is that they are required to follow the safe work processes developed in accordance with the law. Safe work processes may be confined space entry procedures, felling a tree properly, or lifting boxes in a warehouse. The employer is required to identify risky tasks, identify the steps involved, identify control techniques and create a safe work practice that is the result of incorporating all this information into the process. The employee has a responsibility to follow this process. The worker also has the responsibility to communicate with the employer to improve the process when applicable.
The worker has rights in the system, but also has responsibilities to fulfill. Occupational health and safety is not a passive system. It is not just having paper in a binder that sits on a shelf until an incident. Safety is a living process in the workplace that benefits everyone. It is a system that grows and expands as the tasks change, protecting the worker, the supervisors and the employer.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act specifies every worker’s right to a healthy and safe workplace. The legislation also creates a legal duty for creating and maintaining a healthy and safe workplace. This duty is placed upon every person in the workplace, to the degree that they have the authority and ability to fulfill that duty. In this system, the workers must take reasonable care to protect their own health and safety, other workers as well as any other people that may be affected by their work. This includes unsafe acts, and the failure to complete a safe act through omission or willful blindness. In some cases may be commonly called a “short cut”.
The internal responsibility system is a process that encourages all people to work together, identify hazards, identify hazard control, and develop safe work procedures. The goal of the workplace responsibility system is make safety fully integrated into everyone’s everyday work tasks. An effective workplace responsibility system requires competent management and supervision, employees who work and act safely, and an effective occupational health and safety committee. Effective communication between the workers and the employer is paramount to this system working. Everyone at the workplace is a stakeholder in safety. The employer is able to retain healthy employees and saves money on WCB premiums, reduces turnover, reduces training replacement workers, and increases productivity by having content workers in a stable work environment. The workers benefit by being safe, feeling valued by having input to the employer, and being able to go home uninjured.
The worker is also required by law to cooperate with any person exercising a duty under this legislation. This would include the OHS Committee in its duties, the employer in their duties, and any other person such as an Occupational Health and Safety Officer in their duties. Additionally, the law is very specific that the worker has a duty to comply with the OHS legislation. This would include using proper safeguards, safety equipment, and personal protective that are provided to them to comply with the legislation. Although this equipment is provided in response to the law, the worker must remember that they are using it for their safety. The worker must use it with the idea that it is to protect them so they may leave the worksite safely at the end of the day, and not on an ambulance stretcher (or worse).
The law also requires that workers refrain from causing or participating in harassment of another worker. Harassment, in all of its legally described forms, must not be tolerated in the workplace. This point of law is a very important section and will have an entire column dedicated to it in the future.
Finally, the last responsibility that the law imposes on the worker is that they are required to follow the safe work processes developed in accordance with the law. Safe work processes may be confined space entry procedures, felling a tree properly, or lifting boxes in a warehouse. The employer is required to identify risky tasks, identify the steps involved, identify control techniques and create a safe work practice that is the result of incorporating all this information into the process. The employee has a responsibility to follow this process. The worker also has the responsibility to communicate with the employer to improve the process when applicable.
The worker has rights in the system, but also has responsibilities to fulfill. Occupational health and safety is not a passive system. It is not just having paper in a binder that sits on a shelf until an incident. Safety is a living process in the workplace that benefits everyone. It is a system that grows and expands as the tasks change, protecting the worker, the supervisors and the employer.
If you have any questions about Occupational Health and Safety, please e-mail them either to this paper or to bruce@eastsidesafety.com I will research them, and try to answer them in this column.
The information contained is accurate and up-to-date to the best of our knowledge as of the date of the publication. The material contained within this publication is provided as a generic guide only and the actual Legislation or information that specifically applies to the situation should be consulted. Due to the technical nature of the subject matter contained in this publication, all information should be checked and updated before use or reliance upon the material contained therein. For specific information or interpretation of the legislation, please contact the Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour - Occupational Health and Safety Division. Telephone:(306)787-4496 or Toll Free:(800)567-7233
OH & S Information
