ADMN-32604

Occupational Health & Safety

Lecture 2
Chapters 1 & 2
September 17, 2024

1-1
 Course Overview
• Course Syllabus is available on Blackboard
• Intro Lecture video on Blackboard
• Questions?

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 Chapter 1

Introduction

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 What Is
Occupational Health and Safety?
• Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S)
– The identification, evaluation, and control of
HAZARDS associated with the work environment
• Hazard
– Any source of potential adverse health effect,
damage, or harm on something or someone under
certain conditions at work
– Hazards include chemical, biological, physical, and
psychological agents

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 What Is
Occupational Health and Safety?
• Occupational Health & Safety Programs
Goal of OH&S Programs
• Reduce occupational injury and illness
Occupational Injury
• Any cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation resulting from
a workplace incident
Occupational Illness
• Any abnormal condition or disorder caused by exposure
to environmental factors associated with employment

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 Why we need OH&S
Rail Disaster at Lac-Mégantic
• In July 2013, railway cars filled with
crude oil crashed and exploded after
a derailment in Lac-Mégantic,
Quebec.
• 47 people died and much of the
town was destroyed.
• The Transportation Safety Board of
Canada (TSB) found 18 different
contributing factors including poor
company safety culture and
unresolved mechanical issues
previously identified by Transport
Canada.

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 OH&S Statistics
• Workplace Fatalities, Injuries, and Illness in
Canada
– Approx. 850 to 1100 workers die each year as a
result of workplace incidents (2007-2017)
– In 2017, there were over 250,000 “lost-time
injuries”
• Lost-Time Injury
– A workplace injury that results in the employee
missing time from work
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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Began in Ancient Egypt
– Stonemasons and potters experienced respiratory
problems
• Industrial Revolution
– Advent of new industries and occupations
resulted in new health and safety-related
problems
• Ex. Brown lung disease caused by excessive inhalation
of dust

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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Changing Perspectives on Risk and Liability
– Assumption of Risk
• Used until early 20th Century
• Belief that a worker accepted the risks of employment
when he or she accepted a job
• Associated is the view that injuries were caused by
accident-prone people

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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Changing Perspectives on Risk and Liability
– Accident proneness
• The notion that some individuals are inherently more
likely than others to be involved in accidents, as a result
of individual characteristics

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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Late 19th century
– Ontario legislation established safety standards
(Ex. machine guards)
• Early 20th century
– Canadian jurisdictions passed factory laws to
regulate heating, lighting, ventilation, hygiene, fire
safety, and accident reporting.

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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Royal Commission on Relations of Capital and
Labour in Canada (1889)
– Commissioners made several recommendations:
• Improving health and safety by establishing standards
and mandating regular inspections
• System for compensating victims of industrial
accidents, regardless of who was at fault
• Labour bureau to be created to oversee these activities

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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Royal Commission on the Health and Safety of
Workers in Mines
– In 1974, the three principal rights of workers first
articulated:
• Right to refuse dangerous work without penalty
• Right to participate in identifying and correcting health
and safety problems
• Right to know about hazards in the workplace

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 Historical Development of Modern
Occupational Health and Safety
• Workplace Hazardous Materials Information
System (WHMIS) legislation passed (1988; revised
in 2015)
– Reflects the fundamental right of workers to know
about potential workplace hazards
• Changes to the Criminal Code to allow for
criminal charges for some OH&S violations (2004)
• OH&S incorporates physical and mental health

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 Imperatives for Health and Safety
• Economic Considerations
– Work-related injury costs are direct and indirect
– Costs of workplace injuries estimated at 4% of the
world GDP
– Estimates of cost are likely underestimated:
• Injuries are not accurately reported
• Statistics do not adequately capture illnesses caused or
exacerbated by exposure to workplace conditions

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 Imperatives for Health and Safety
• Legal Considerations
– OH&S acts provide legal rights to safe workplaces
for every worker
– Due diligence
• Expected standard of conduct that requires employers
to take every reasonable precaution to ensure safety

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 Imperatives for Health and Safety
• Moral Considerations
– Ethical arguments that safety is the “right” focus
for employers
– Management commitment to health and safety
results in higher levels of employee motivation to
work safely and better organizational safety
records
– Workers also have a responsibility to learn about
and enact safety and health practices

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 The Stakeholders
• Government
– Legislation
• Occupational Health & Safety Acts
• Workers’ Compensation Acts
– Support Knowledge Sharing and Research on
OH&S
• E.g., Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and
Safety (CCOHS) was established by federal government
to provide health and safety information to any worker
who requests it

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 The Stakeholders
• Employers
– Prepare written OH&S policy and display
prominently in workplace
– Provide and maintain equipment, materials, and
protective devices
– Ensure manner in which the work is performed is
safe, and environment is free from hazards and
serious risks

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 The Stakeholders
• Employees
– Perform duties and tasks in safe and responsible
manner
– Wear protective equipment in compliance with
company and legislative regulations
– Report defective equipment and other workplace
hazards to safety professional, joint health and
safety committee, or manager

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 The Stakeholders
• Organized Labour (or Unions)
– Take part in the joint occupational health and
safety committee
– Bring emerging problems and issues in health and
safety to attention of government and employers
– Pressure other stakeholders to take corrective
action
– Use collective bargaining process to incorporate
health and safety provisions in many contracts

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 Barriers to Health & Safety
• Employers who value production over safety
• Employers who focus on safety only when
they feel they must
– E.g., cleaning up the worksite only when there is
safety inspection
• Employers may be uninformed or lack
confidence about safety concerns

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 The Role of Human Resources
• Traditional views of safety emphasized the
three Es:
– Engineering
– Education
– Enforcement

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 The Role of Human Resources
• Safety is often managed under the human
resources function in organizations for several
reasons:
– Safety is integrated into other human resource
functions
• E.g., training , job design, scheduling
– Safety requires legislative compliance
– Safety decreases costs

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 Chapter 2

Legislative Framework

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 OH&S and the Law
• Act
– Federal, provincial, or territorial law that
constitutes basic regulatory mechanism for
occupational health and safety
• Regulations
– Explain how general intent of the act will be
applied in specific circumstances

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 OH&S and the Law
• Guidelines and Policies
– More specific rules that are not legally
enforceable unless referred to in a regulation or
act
• Standards and Codes
– Provide practical guidance on the implementation
of OH&S practices; often established by agencies
such as the CSA or ILO
• Ex. a code or standard may outline recognized best
practices to manage a specific hazard

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 The Scope of OH&S Legislation
• All Canadian OH&S legislation includes the
following elements:
– An act
– Powers of enforcement
– The right of workers to refuse and do unsafe work
– Protection of workers from reprisals
– Duties and responsibilities assigned to employers
and others

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Occupational
Health and
Safety
Legislation in
Canada

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 Occupational Health and Safety
Acts
• Set the minimum requirements of OH&S within each
jurisdiction
• Set boundaries for application of each act, noting any
exclusions
• Outline mandatory components of OH&S
programming within its jurisdiction
• Articulate duties for major stakeholders

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 Stakeholder Duties and
Responsibilities: Employers
• General Duty
– Primary duty directly articulated in the OH&S Act
– OH&S acts across Canada have the general duty
provision requiring employers to take every
reasonable precaution to ensure employee safety
• Prescribed Duty:
– A particular duty to be undertaken because of
health and safety regulation

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 Stakeholder Duties and
Responsibilities: Employers
• General employer duties:
– Take every reasonable precaution to ensure employee
safety
– Appoint a competent supervisor
– Provide information in a medical emergency
– Inform supervisors and workers of possible hazards
– Post the OH&S act in the workplace
– Prepare and maintain health and safety policy and
review annually (see OH&S Today 2.2)
– Prepare policies regarding workplace violence and
workplace harassment

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 Stakeholder Duties and
Responsibilities: Supervisors
• Supervisor
– Anyone who has charge of a workplace and authority over
a worker
• An OH&S Act may include a general duty provision for
supervisors to ensure the health and safety of workers
under their supervision
• Prescribed duties include:
– Ensuring workers comply with OH&S regulations, ensuring
workers use or wear safety equipment, devices, or
clothing, and advising workers of possible hazards

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 Stakeholder Duties and
Responsibilities: Workers
• Workers’ duties include:
– Take reasonable precautions to ensure their own
and others’ safety
– Comply with OH&S Act, regulations, and policies
– Properly use safety equipment provided
– Report hazards, such as defective equipment, to a
supervisor
– Report any contraventions of the act or
regulations

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 Joint Health and Safety Committees

• OH&S acts regulate the formation,

composition, training, and certification
requirements for the JHSC
• Duties of the JHSC:
– Hazard recognition, risk assessments, record
keeping, and responding to employee concerns

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 Joint Health and Safety Committees

• Required by law in most jurisdictions

– Where not required, there are special provisions
for committees to be created
• Help enact the internal responsibility system
• Provide non-adversarial atmosphere in which
labour and management can work to create a
healthier workplace

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Joint Health and Safety Committees
JHSC Requirements Across
Canadian Jurisdictions
REGULATORY REQUIREMENT JURISDICTIONS INCLUDED

20 or more employees Federal, British Columbia,*

Alberta, Manitoba,* Ontario,*
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, Yukon,
Northwest Territories/Nunavut*
10 or more employees Newfoundland, Saskatchewan
Workers can request a JHSC Quebec
with written notice (more
than 20 employees)
*Special provision to request JHSC for employers with a smaller number of
employees
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 Work Refusals
• Every jurisdiction provides workers
the right to refuse unsafe work
without fear of reprisal
• Can refuse work tasks if they have
reasonable cause to believe the
action would bring harm to
themselves or to others
• Workers should follow established
procedures to report a work refusal

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 Work Refusals
• Limits
– Essentially, a worker does not have right to refuse
unsafe work if:
• That work is a normal condition of employment
• The refusal places another person’s life in jeopardy
– Some jurisdictions specify certain professions in
its legislation on limited rights to refuse
• For example, Ontario legislation specifically identifies
professions including police officers, firefighters, and
health care workers

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 Stop-Work Provisions
• Some jurisdictions have provisions to stop work
in dangerous circumstances.
• Ontario legislation describes dangerous
circumstances as follows:
– A provision of the act or the regulation is being
contravened
– The contravention presents a danger or hazard to a
worker
– The danger or hazard is such that any delay in
controlling it may seriously endanger a worker

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 Workplace Hazardous Materials
Information System (WHMIS)
• WHMIS legislation (1988) promoted workers’
right to know about chemical hazards in the
workplace using:
– Labels to alert the worker that a container
contains a potentially hazardous product
– Material safety data sheets outlining a product’s
potentially hazardous ingredient(s) and safe
handling procedures
– Employee training

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 Workplace Hazardous Materials
Information System (WHMIS)
• Substantial changes to the WHMIS legislation
– Introduction of new classes of chemicals and new
requirements for labels and Safety Data Sheets
• WHMIS 2015 incorporates elements of the
Globally Harmonized System of Classification
and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)

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 Workplace Hazardous Materials
Information System (WHMIS)
Globally Harmonized System of Classification
and Labelling of Chemicals [GHS]
• An international standard for the classification
and labelling of chemicals being adopted by
countries around the world
– GHS system elements reflected in WHMIS 2015
ease global trade and business interactions

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 Corporate Liability for OH&S
under the Criminal Code
Bill C-45
• Also referred to as the Westray legislation
• Passed in 2003 - Became law in 2004
• Added sections to the Criminal Code of Canada
that make company executives more accountable
when workers are killed or injured on the job as a
result of management negligence

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 Corporate Liability for OH&S
under the Criminal Code
• Under this new legislation, Companies are now
responsible for:
– The actions of those who oversee day-to-day
operations (e.g., supervisors and mid-level managers)
– Managers (executive or operational) who intentionally
commit, or have employees commit, crimes to benefit
the organization
– Managers who do not take action when they become
aware of offences being committed
– The actions of managers who demonstrate a criminal
lack of care (i.e., criminal negligence)

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 Corporate Liability for OH&S
under the Criminal Code
• Passing of Bill C-45 into law meant the following
additions to the Criminal Code:
– Section 217.1:
• Those in authority for workers have a responsibility to take
reasonable steps to protect those workers from harm
– Sections 22.1 and 22.2:
• Corporations can be criminally liable for negligence and
other offences
• There have been several convictions under this law (large
fines and prison sentences)

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 Other Relevant Legislation
• Environmental Legislation
• Transportation Legislation (Transportation of
Dangerous Goods)
– Environmental, OH&S, and transportation of
dangerous goods laws are intertwined
– Practitioners of OH&S need to be familiar with
other legislation that has implications of health
and safety

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See you next week!

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