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 Awareness and Training Regulation
Government Offices
Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development
Develops, communicates and enforces occupational health and safety requirements and employment standards. Develops, coordinates and implements strategies to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses and can set standards for health and safety training. 1-877-202-0008 (in Ontario only)
https://www.ontario.ca/page/workplace-health-and-safety
Workers Health & Safety Centre
An occupational health and safety training centre for workers, representatives, supervisors and employers. Call toll-free: 1-888-869-7950
Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
Administers Ontario’s no-fault workplace insurance for employers and their workers. Call toll-free: 1-800-387-0750
Ontario Labour Relations Board
Any concern you may have regarding your employer taking action against you for raising health and safety concerns.
Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers
Six medical clinics located across Ontario that provide occupational health services and information. Call toll-free: 1-877-817-0336
Health and safety associations
Four health and safety associations that provide sector specific consulting, training, products and services.
- Infrastructure Health and Safety Association – serves electrical, construction and transportation sectors.
Call toll-free: 1-800-263-5024 - Public Services Health and Safety Association – serves health, education and municipal sectors.
Call toll-free: 1-877-250-7444 - Workplace Safety North – serves mining, pulp and paper and forestry sectors.
Call toll-free: 1-888-730-7821 - Workplace Safety and Prevention Services – serves industrial, farming and service sectors.
Call toll-free: 1-877-494-9777
Rights
Of the Worker:
- Workers have the right to know about workplace hazards and what to do about them.
- Workers have the right to participate in solving workplace health and safety problems.
- Workers have the right to refuse work that they believe is unsafe.
Duties
Of the Worker:
- Workers have a duty to follow the law and workplace safety policies and procedures
- Workers must use and wear the protective equipment required by the employer
- Workers must act in a way that won’t hurt themselves or anyone else
- If workers see anything that’s unsafe or that goes against the Ontario law, they must tell the supervisor or the employer about it, so that the supervisor can take the necessary steps with the employer to solve the problem.
- Workers must report to the supervisor or employer the absence of, or any defect in, any equipment or protective device of which they become aware.
Of the Supervisor:
- Supervisors have a duty to tell workers about hazards and dangers and respond to their concerns.
- Supervisors must show workers how to work safely and make sure they follow the law, and specific workplace health and safety policies and procedures that the employer may require.
- Supervisors must ensure that workers wear and use the right protective equipment.
- Supervisors must do everything reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers from being hurt or getting a work-related illness.
- Supervisors must be familiar with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the regulations relevant to their workplace.
- Supervisors must be qualified to plan the work so that it can be done safely.
- Supervisors must ensure that workers know and fulfill their health and safety duties.
Of the Employer:
- Employers have a duty to prepare a written occupational health and safety policy for the workplace and to develop and maintain a program to implement that policy.
- Employers must appoint a “competent person” as a supervisor as defined under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- Employers must create and review annually a health and safety policy.
- Employers must develop a program to implement the health and safety policy.
- Employers must post the policy in the workplace.
- Employers must ensure workers and supervisors know about hazards in the work they do and provide them with information, instruction, and supervision to protect their health and safety.
- Employers have a duty to make sure workers use and wear protective equipment, material, and devices where required by the regulations.
- Employers have a duty to do everything reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers from being hurt or getting a work-related illness.
Joint Health and Safety Committees
- In most workplaces with 20 or more workers, a joint health and safety committee must be created. The committee must have at least two people, one of them chosen by the workers.
- Workplaces with 50 or more workers must have a joint health and safety committee of at least four members, two of them chosen by workers.
- A member of the joint health and safety committee who represents workers must regularly inspect the workplace. Information from these inspections is reported to the committee. The committee then makes recommendations to the employer for improving health and safety. The employer must respond to these recommendations within 21 days.
- In smaller workplaces with 6 to 19 workers, the health and safety representative has a similar role in helping improve health and safety conditions. Their duties and powers, like those of a joint health and safety committee, include inspecting the workplace regularly and making recommendations to the employer about ways to fix hazards and solve other health and safety problems.
Right to Refuse Procedures
A worker must not carry out any work process or operate any tool, appliance or equipment if that person has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person.
The worker must immediately report the circumstances of the unsafe condition to the worker’s supervisor or employer.
The supervisor or employer receiving a report must immediately investigate the matter and ensure that any unsafe condition is remedied without delay, or if, in the supervisor’s or employer’s opinion, the report is not valid, must inform the person who made the report.