Canada Supervisor Health and Safety
Overview
Please review the information below and then return to the Supervisor Health and Safety Awareness course.
Applicable Laws
Occupational Health and Safety Act
Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
Occupational Health and Safety Code
Government Office
Occupational Health and Safety
Alberta Labour
General Inquiries: (780) 415-8690
Workplace Health and Safety Call Centre: 1-866-415-8690
https://www.alberta.ca/occupational-health-safety.aspx
Rights
Of the Worker:
- The right to be informed of work site hazards and the means to eliminate or control those hazards
- The right to meaningful participation in health and safety activities pertaining to their work and work site, including the ability to express health and safety concerns
- The right to refuse dangerous work
- The ability to work without being subject to disciplinary action for exercising a right or fulfilling a duty
Duties
Of the Worker:
- Take reasonable care to protect the health and safety of the worker and of other persons at or in the vicinity of the work site while the worker is working
- Cooperate with the worker’s supervisor or employer or any other person for the purposes of protecting the health and safety of the worker and other workers
- Use all devices and wear all personal protective equipment designated and provided for the worker’s protection by the worker’s employer or required to be used or worn by law
- Refrain from causing or participating in harassment or violence
- Report to the employer or supervisor a concern about an unsafe or harmful work site act or condition
- Participate in any training provided by the employer
- Cooperate with any person exercising a duty imposed by Alberta law
Of the Supervisor:
- Take all precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of every worker under the supervisor’s supervision
- Ensure that a worker under the supervisor’s supervision works in the manner and in accordance with the requirements of Alberta law
- Ensure that none of the workers under the supervisor’s supervision are subjected to or participate in harassment or violence at the work site
- Advise every worker under the supervisor’s supervision of all known or reasonably foreseeable hazards to health and safety in the area where the worker is performing work
- Report to the employer a concern about an unsafe or harmful work site act or condition
- Cooperate with any person exercising a duty imposed by Alberta law
Of the Joint Health and Safety Committee:
- The receipt, consideration and disposition of concerns respecting the health and safety of workers
- Participation in the employer’s hazard assessment
- The making of recommendations to the employer respecting the health and safety of workers
- Review of the employer’s work site inspection documentation
Joint Committees
Employers with 20 or more regularly employed workers must establish a joint health and safety committee
- The joint health and safety committee must consist of workers who represent the workers and are not associated with the management of the work and representatives of the employer
- The number of employer representatives are not to exceed the number of worker representatives on the committee
Employers with 5 to 19 workers can designate a worker as the health and safety representative, or establish a joint health and safety committee
- The representative must not be associated with the management of the employer
- The representative has the same duties as joint health and safety committees
Right to Refuse Procedures
A worker may refuse to work or to do particular work at a work site if the worker believes on reasonable grounds that there is an undue hazard at the work site. An undue hazard poses a serious and immediate threat to health and safety.
The worker must promptly report the refusal and the reasons for it to the worker’s employer or supervisor
The employer must remedy the hazard, or conduct and inspection and prepare a written report