Health and Safety Representatives The Employer and its Employees will comply with Part 7 of the OHS Act – Representation of Employees in relation to the establishment of designated work groups and the election of Health and Safety Representatives.
Health and Safety Representative Meetings A Health and Safety Representative will be allowed reasonable paid time during working hours to attend to on the job occupational health and safety matters affecting Employees he/she represents providing that the Representative informs their manager and agreement is reached. At all other times the Representative will perform productive work within his/her range of qualifications and competencies.
Joint Health and Safety Committee (a) The Employer and the Union agree that they mutually desire to maintain standards of occupational health and safety in the organization, in order to prevent accidents, injury and illness. The parties agree to promote health and safety throughout the organization. The employer shall provide orientation and training in health and safety to new and current employees on an ongoing basis, and employees shall attend required health and safety training sessions.
(b) Recognizing its responsibilities under the applicable legislation, the Employer agrees to accept as a member of its Joint Health and Safety Committee, at least one representative from the bargaining unit. The number of committee members will be no less than that determined by legislation and the bargaining unit will be entitled to the same membership as any other employee group on the committees. The Union shall notify the employer of their representatives.
(c) Such Committee shall identify potential dangers and hazards, institute means of improving health and safety programs, and recommend actions to be taken to improve conditions related to occupational health and safety.
(d) The Employer agrees to cooperate reasonably in providing necessary information to enable the Committee to fulfill its functions. The Committee shall respect the confidentiality of the information.
(e) The Union agrees to endeavour to obtain the full cooperation of its membership in the observation of all safety rules and practices.
(f) Meetings shall be held every third month or more frequently at the call of either co-chair, if required. The Committee shall keep Minutes of all meetings and make the Minutes available for review.
(g) All time spent by a member of the Joint Health and Safety Committee attending meetings of the Committee and carrying out the members duties, shall be deemed to be time worked for which the member shall be paid by the Employer at the member's applicable rate of pay, and the member shall be entitled to such time from the member's work as necessary for those duties.
(h) The employer shall take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker. [Occupational Health and Safety Act, s. 25
Health and Safety Committee Where required a committee will be formed and will meet where required by the Employer’s safety policies and by statute.
Occupational Health and Safety Committee
(a) The parties agree that a joint occupational health and safety committee will be established. The Committee shall govern itself in accordance with the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations made pursuant to the Workers Compensation Act. The Committee shall be between the Employer and the Union, with equal representation, and with each party appointing its own representatives. The Union agrees to actively pursue with the other Health Care unions, where more than one union is certified with the Employer, a joint union/employer committee for the purposes of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.
(b) Employees who are members of the Committee shall be granted leave without loss of pay or receive straight-time regular wages while attending meetings of the Joint Committee. Employees who are members of the Committee shall be granted leave without loss of pay or receive straight-time regular wages to participate in joint workplace inspections and joint accident investigations at the request of the Committee pursuant to the WCB Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. Committee meetings, workplace inspections and accident investigations shall be scheduled during normal working hours whenever practicable.
(c) The Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall have as part of its mandate the jurisdiction to receive complaints or concerns regarding workload problems which are safety-related, the right to investigate such complaints, the right to define the problem and the right to make recommendations for a solution. Where the Committee determines that a safety-related workload problem exists, it shall inform the Employer. Within 21 days thereafter, the Employer shall advise the Committee what steps it has taken or proposes to take to rectify the safety-related workload problem identified by the Committee. If the Union is not satisfied with the Employer's response, it may refer the matter to the Industry Trouble shooter for a written recommendation.
(d) No employee shall be disciplined for refusal to work when excused by the provisions of the
Accident Prevention Health and Safety Committee (a) The Employer and the Union agree that they mutually desire to maintain standards of safety and health in the workplace in order to prevent accidents, injury and illness.
(b) Recognizing its responsibilities under the applicable legislation, the Employer agrees to accept as a member of its Accident Prevention – Health & Safety Committee at least three (3) representatives, one from each base, selected or appointed by the Union from amongst bargaining unit employees. At any time where a vote is required, an equal number of representatives from each side shall be entitled to vote.
(c) Such Committee shall identify potential dangers and hazards, institute means of improving health and safety programs and recommend actions to be taken to improve conditions related to safety and health.
(d) The Employee agrees to co-operate reasonably in providing necessary information to enable the Committee to fulfill its functions.
(e) Meetings shall be held quarterly or more frequently at the call of the Chair if required. The Committee shall maintain minutes of all meetings and make the same available for review.
(f) Any representative appointed or select in accordance with (b) hereof shall serve a term of one (1) calendar year from the date of appointment which may be renewed for further periods of one (1) year. The Union will encourage its representative(s) to serve at least one (1) year. Time off for such representative(s) to attend meetings of the Accident Prevention – Health & Safety Committee in accordance with the foregoing shall be granted and time so spent attending such meetings shall be deemed to be work time for which the representative(s) shall be paid by the Employer at his regular or premium rate as may be applicable.
(g) The Union agrees to endeavour to obtain the full co-operation of its membership in the observation of all safety rules and practices.
(h) Pregnant employees may request to be transferred from their current duties if, in the professional opinion of the employee’s physician, the pregnancy may be at risk. If such a transfer is not feasible, the pregnant employee, if she so requests, will be granted an unpaid leave of absence before commencement of the maternity leave referred to in Article 16.04
Function of Joint Health and Safety Committee All incidents involving aggression or violence shall be brought to the attention of the Joint Health and Safety Committee. The Employer agrees that the Joint Health and Safety Committee shall concern itself with all matters relating to violence to staff.
Work Health and Safety (a) The employer and employee acknowledge their responsibilities under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012.
(b) Where there is a Work Health and Safety Representative they must be elected and will carry out the tasks associated with the role of Work Health and Safety Representative set out within the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
D5 Health and Safety The Contractor shall promptly notify the Authority of any health and safety hazards which may arise in connection with the performance of its obligations under the Contract. The Authority shall promptly notify the Contractor of any health and safety hazards which may exist or arise at the Authority’s Premises and which may affect the Contractor in the performance of its obligations under the Contract.
Health and Safety Committees In order to provide a safe and healthful workplace, local unit level LMCs shall establish Health and Safety Committees. Each committee will be composed of an equal number of representatives appointed by the Union and the Employer and will be co-chaired by a Union and Employer representative. A Union representative must be a member of the unit but either party may be accompanied by staff and/or other subject matter experts who may participate, but not vote, at meetings. Each party shall prepare and submit an agenda to the other party one week prior to any scheduled meeting. If neither party submits an agenda, the meeting shall be canceled. Each committee’s general responsibility will be to provide a safe and healthful workplace by recognizing hazards and recommending the abatement of hazards and educational programs. Each committee will:
1. Meet on an established schedule;
2. arrange periodic inspections to detect, evaluate and offer recommendations for control of potential health and safety hazards;
3. appoint members of the committee to participate in inspections, investigations, or other established health and safety functions to the extent necessary;
4. receive and review a quarterly summary of job-related health and safety reports including accident reports and make appropriate recommendations;
5. investigate all types of employee job-related accidents and all types of occupational illnesses and make recommendations;
6. promote health and safety education;
7. study the use of VDTs and make appropriate recommendations to ensure the health and safety of employees regarding such use;
8. maintain and review minutes of all committee meetings; and
9. review the availability and adequacy of first aid supplies and equipment and address any inadequacies. In cases where summary reports are provided, a committee member may request and receive an individual case file or report. In no case will an employee’s records be provided when the law forbids disclosure. In addition, employees’ names will normally be deleted but may be provided to all committee members in instances where committee members need to know the name(s) of employee(s) to effectively represent the bargaining unit(s) and disclosure of name(s) is not prohibited by law. The Employer may require committee members and union representatives to sign confidentiality statements. Members of each Health and Safety Committee will be paid by the Employer while performing committee duties, including travel time, and will also be paid for any time spent in committee approved training related to health and safety. The Committee will develop an annual training program for its members. Each Health and Safety Committee will establish rules consistent with the above principles. A mechanism to coordinate the efforts of individual Health and Safety Committees will be established at each agency.
