Occupational Health & Safety
Thursday, October 18, 2012 | Printer Friendly
When program required (1) An occupational health and safety program as outlined in section 3.3 must be initiated and maintained (a) by each employer that has (i) a workforce of 20 or more workers, and (ii) at least one workplace that is determined to be not low risk under section 3.16
(2), or (b) by each employer that has a workforce of 50 or more workers.
(1.1) If subsection (1) (a) or (b) applies to the employer, the occupational health and safety program applies to the whole of the employer's operations.
(2) Despite subsection (1) an occupational health and safety program may be required in any workplace when, in the opinion of an officer, such a program is necessary.
3.2 Small operations In any operation where the workforce is less than that referred to in section 3.1(1) the employer must (a) initiate and maintain a less formal program based on regular monthly meetings with workers for discussion of health and safety matters, (b) ensure that meetings are directed to matters concerning the correction of unsafe conditions and practices and the maintenance of cooperative interest in the health and safety of the workforce, and (c) maintain a record of the meetings and the matters discussed.
3.3 Contents of program The occupational health and safety program must be designed to prevent injuries and occupational diseases, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the program must include (a) a statement of the employer's aims and the responsibilities of the employer, supervisors and workers, (b) provision for the regular inspection of premises, equipment, work methods and work practices, at appropriate interbals, to ensure that prompt action is undertaken to correct any hazardous conditions found, (c) appropriate written instructions, available for reference by all workers, to supplement this Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, (d) provision for holding periodic management meetings for the purpose of reviewing health and safety activities and incident trends, and for the determination of necessary courses of action, (e) provision for the prompt investigation of incidents to determine the action necessary to prevent their recurrence, (f) the maintenance of records and statistics, including reports of inspections and incident investigations, with provision for making this information available to the joint committee or worker health and safety representative, as applicable and, upon request, to an officer, the union representing the workers at the workplace or, if there is no union, the workers at the workplace, and (g) provision by the employer for the instruction and supervision of workers in the safe performance of their work.
3.4 Incident investigation reports An employer must ensure that an incident investigation report required by Division 10 of Part 3 of the Workers Compensation Act contains (a) the place, date and time of the incident, (b) the names and job titles of persons injured in the incident, (c) the names of witnesses, (d) a brief description of the incident, (e) a statement of the sequence of events which preceded the incident, (f) identification of any unsafe conditions, acts or procedures which contributed in any manner to the incident, (g) recommended corrective actions to prevent similar incidents, and (h) the names of the persons who investigated the incident.
|