AND SAFETY The Company and Union will work jointly to improve health and safety for all employees. Production and safety share an equal priority, and established safety standards will not be compromised to improve productivity or reduce costs. The Dome Mine will reduce accident frequencies from year to year and become an industry leader in Health and Safety. The Company the Union as a valuable resource in attaining these objectives. Every employee has the responsibility to ensure he/she works safely, maintains a safe work environment and participates in all health and safety programs to the fullest possible extent. All employees must report unsafe conditions to their supervisors without delay. In the event of “right to refuse unsafe work” legislation being modified or revoked, the Company, for the life of this Agreement will employees right to refuse to perform work involving unsafe conditions or danger to persons or property. It is agreed that a Joint Health and Safety Committee will be maintained consisting of equal numbers of Company and Bargaining Unit Representatives from the Underground, Plant, Pit, Mill and Human Resources departments, together with a Company Safety and a Worker Health and Safety Representative. The committee will meet at least quarterly and not more frequently than monthly. The mandate of the committee will be to recommend standards/targets and monitor health and safety performance. The committee will also monitor rehabilitation and modified work, and make recommendations concerning these programs. The company member for each department will ensure that an annual health and safety action plan is in place, and will be accountable to the committee for its implementation and success. Each Union committee member shall jointly inspect their department on a monthly basis and jointly investigate critical injuries, fatalities and any other incident he/she feels significant, having full access to all pertinent information. The committee will make recommendations to management concerning new initiatives, and changes in policies, practices, procedures, or equipment. It is agreed to maintain the position of Worker Health and Safety Representative. This employee, paid according to Schedule I of this Agreement, is selected by, and accountable to, the Joint Health and Safety Committee. The Committee co-chairs are responsible for maintaining an updated job description for the Worker Health and Safety Representative. His/her duties will include: workplace inspections and follow up in all departments participation in accident incident complaint investigation intervention to stop work in potentially hazardous situations safety auditing education, training and promotion of health and safety any special assignments The Worker Health and Safety Representative will not undertake any assignments unrelated to Health and Safety, unless otherwise directed by the Joint Health and Safety Committee. Before getting involved in any case the Worker Health and Safety Representative will ensure that all employees have used the correct lines of communication, followed all necessary procedures and attempted to resolve problems to the full extent of their responsibility. When necessary the Worker Health and Safety Representative will maintain the confidentiality of information received from workers or the Company. Although the Worker Health and Safety Representative will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the Company Safety he/she will be given long term objectives by the Joint Health and Safety Committee. The Worker Health and Safety Representative will present a written report of all activities and work undertaken at meetings of the Joint Health and Safety Committee. The Worker Health and Safety Representative will hold as long as he/she has the confidence of both the Union and Company members of the Joint Health and Safety Committee. Upon termination of the appointment, the Worker Health and Safety Representative will return to his/her former job classification with no loss of seniority.
