Take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances for the protection of workers. An employer must: Establish and maintain a health and safety committee, or cause workers to select at least one health and safety representative.
Take every reasonable precaution to ensure the workplace is safe. Train employees about any potential hazards and in how to safely use, handle, store and dispose of hazardous substances and how to handle emergencies.
Make sure workers know how to use and handle the equipment safely and properly. Make sure workers use any necessary personal protective equipment. Appoint a competent supervisor who sets the standards for performance, and who ensures safe working conditions are always observed.
Generally, legislation in different jurisdictions across Canada state that health and safety committees must: Be composed of one-half management and at least one-half labour representatives Meet regularly — some jurisdictions require committee meetings at least once every three months while others require monthly meetings Be co-chaired by one management chairperson and worker chairperson Make sure employee representatives are elected or selected by the workers or their union.
The role of health and safety committees can include to: Act as an advisory body. Identify hazards and obtain information about them. Recommend corrective actions.
Assist in resolving work refusal cases. Participate in incident investigations and workplace inspections. The government, employers, and employee unions worked together to create the OHS Act, which was created to promote health and safety. These regulations were created in to help support the goals of the initial OHS Safety law.
Employees who work in offices, schools, hospitals, factories, farms, boats, vehicles, and construction sites are covered through the OHS Act and regulations. However, the petroleum and mining industries, along with Commonwealth government jobs, are covered through separate workplace health and safety laws.
The primary goal of the health and safety act is to help reduce the occurrence of workplace injuries and improve the safety of workers in various industries. After the act was developed, Australia has seen a reduction in occupational accidents. However, there is still room for improvement, especially when discussing on-road accidents involving light vehicles. In , a new set of laws were developed to provide a more comprehensive approach to workplace safety.
With these new laws, the government hopes to create greater clarity surrounding workplace health and safety regulations. The process of developing the new regulations was detailed and included a national review with over recommendations.
The WHS was not legally binding until the laws are separately implemented by the Commonwealth, states, and territories of Australia this has been done now in NSW.. Most states and territories have already adopted these new laws with the exception of Victoria and Western Australia. Victoria was one of the first states to adopt a health and safety act after the creation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act These regulations support the act through licensing and other requirements for improved occupational safety.
With the approved code of practice, Safe Work Australia has also created practical guides for maintaining the health and safety standards outlined in the WHS Act and regulations. There is special "right-to-know" legislation that applies to hazardous products. It actually comprises a series of complimentary federal, provincial and territorial laws and regulations collectively called WHMIS - the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System.
It is a comprehensive plan for providing information on hazardous products intended for use in workplaces. The Canada Labour Code also applies to employees of companies or sectors that operate across provincial or international borders. These businesses include:. In each province or territory, there is an act typically called the Occupational Health and Safety Act or something similar which applies to most workplaces in that region.
Regulations are laws made by government to support Acts — in other words, to set out more detailed requirements which will help to an Act to achieve its objectives.
Hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control is made compulsory for employers in all workplaces by the Regulations. The Regulations also address things like the issuing of licences for erecting scaffolds, operating cranes and forklifts and other potentially dangerous work.
Key point: Regulations are laws to protect people from occupational injury and disease. Every workplace in Victoria must obey all the laws relevant to their work. These laws give every person in every workplace a right to be involved in health and safety through a process of consultation and co-operation.
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