Introduction to Workplace Health and Safety

This introduction is intended to give you an overview of the eight key aspects of workplace health and safety in workplaces, including:

• The Internal Responsibility System, 
• Worker and employer rights & responsibilities, 
• Workplace health and safety policy and programs, 
• Health & safety committees and representatives, 
• Hazard identification and control, 
• Investigating incidents, and 
• Safety training

The Internal Responsibility System:

Occupational health and safety in workplaces is operationalized through the practice of the internal responsibility system, which underpins most federal and provincial safety law. The following is an excerpt from the brochure “Your Rights and Responsibilities, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act” a publication of the OHS Division of the NS Department of Labour and Workforce Development.

What is the Internal Responsibility System?

The Internal Responsibility System (IRS) is the foundation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Under the IRS, since all “workplace parties” influence what a workplace is like, they must all share responsibility for making the workplace safer and healthier. The Act sets out the responsibilities and duties of all parties. ‘Workplace parties’ means anyone connected with a particular workplace. This can include employers, contractors, constructors, employees and the self-employed, as well as owners and suppliers.

Worker and Employer Rights and Responsibilities:

The Internal Responsibility System shows us that employers and employees personally share in the responsibility for healthy and safe workplaces. The IRS makes clear that the sharing of responsibility for safety is based on the level of authority and ability that the persons in these two workplace groups have. Employers and employees share responsibility for workplace safety, but it looks different for the two groups! These are some of the key safety responsibilities that employers and employees have to themselves, and to each other.

Employers’ Responsibilities:

• Ensure equipment, materials and the work environment is safe; 
• Establish safe work policies and procedures and ensure they are followed; 
• Provide an orientation to the company’s safety policy and provide safety training on hazard information, equipment use and operational procedures; 
• Consult with employees on workplace health and safety issues; 
• Establish a health and safety committee (where 20 or more employees,) or a safety representative (where 5-20 employees;) and 
• Make everyone accountable for their safety performance.

An employer can expect his or her managers to also be accountable for a certain level of these responsibilities, but he or she cannot ‘give away’ their employer responsibilities to anyone else.

Workers’ Responsibilities:

• Follow the company’s safety rules, policies, and safe-work procedures; 
• Take every precaution to protect personal safety and that of others; 
• Wear personal protective equipment as required by the employer or by the law; 
• Use machinery, equipment, and materials only as authorized by the employer; and 
• Report all hazardous incidents and situations, and near misses

Most importantly for workers, they must know and be prepared to exercise their three key safety rights. All employees, whether on the shop-floor or in the office, have these three rights.

• The Right To Know – Employees are entitled to know about workplace issues and hazards that can or may affect their health and safety, or that of someone else.
• The Right To Refuse – Employees have the right to refuse work they feel is unsafe or unhealthy to them or someone else.
• The Right To Participate – Employees have the right to participate in their own health and safety. This may be by taking part in safety committees or as a safety representative, by reporting unsafe conditions and hazards, and/or by voicing their concerns and opinions about the health and safety of their workplace.

Workplace Health and Safety Policy and Programs:

Workplace policies are the written rules that the employer has put in place. When it comes to workplace safety, a written policy shows the employer’s commitment to a safe workplace. It lets workers know that safety is a priority throughout the organization and that unsafe practices are not acceptable. All workplaces have a legislated responsibility to ensure a healthy and safe work environment for their workers, and this includes having a safety policy in place.

Health and Safety Committees and Representatives:

Changing how we view safety at workplace happens when employers and employees talk and work together on improvements. Coming together in a Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC - often pronounced as ‘josh’,) is one way to do this.

Exercising your Right to Participate can include taking part in JOHSC activities such as:

• Helping develop and implement health and safety programs; 
• Helping establish and promote safety awareness; 
• Reviewing employee complaints or suggestions concerning safety or health; 
• Participating in hazard inspection, assessment and control; 
• Making recommendations to management to improve safety; 
• Participating in injury and incident investigations; 
• Monitoring whether safety programs are effective; 
• Keeping minutes of all meetings, highlighting recommendations

Hazard Identification and Control:
There are hazards in every type of job and every type of workplace. As part of a safety program, a workplace’s process for hazard identification and control must be continuously reviewed. This includes understanding basic classes:

• biological (ie. material that is human, animal, plants or fungi), 
• chemical (ie. natural or manufactured: solids, liquids, etc.),
• ergonomic (ie. how an area is designed for safe work), 
• physical (ie. how the body is impacted by what it’s in contact with), and 
• psycho-Social (ie. how people interact with each other). 

…and basic contributing factors: 

• people (ie. the things they do or don’t do), 
• equipment (ie. unsafe or improper for a task), 
• materials (ie. improper handling or type of material), 
• environment (ie. condition of work areas)

Safety Training and Leadership:
Educators in schools, the community and workplaces can play a critical role in the prevention of workplace injury. Changing attitudes about workplace safety starts in all of these learning settings. Getting students to explore what types of training could be offered to meet the different needs and hazards of different workplaces, is a great way to start thinking about injury prevention. Another way to generate conversation is to discuss what students are currently An Overview receiving in the way of workplace training, in comparison to what they should be receiving – according to safety law and best practice.