HEALTH AND SAFETY The Employer and the Union agree that a safe and healthy work environment is necessary to ensure the well-being of the employees.
(24.01) The Employer and the Union shall establish a joint committee to investigate all aspects of health and safety in connection with the operation of the newspaper. The committee shall be composed of an equal number of Employer and Union representatives. The committee shall have the power to investigate all suspected health and safety hazards and recommend corrective measures where required. The Employer will respond in writing to each recommendation of the Committee within a reasonable time. Union representatives to the committee shall be afforded such time off as is necessary to transact activities within the scope of the committee and they shall suffer no loss of wages.
(24.02) The Health and Safety Committee is presently operating under guidelines below. The guidelines may be changed by the Health and Safety Committee, and are subject to the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act as amended.
1. The Joint Health and Safety Committee shall consist of not more than five members selected by the employer and five members selected by the union. Alternates may be allowed with the approval of the co-chairs. Names and work locations of all joint committee members, and alternates, shall be posted conspicuously in the workplace.
2. The regularly scheduled meeting of the committee shall be on the first Tuesday of each month. The date of the regularly scheduled meeting can be moved by less than 15 days as of right by either of the co-chairs. Any change in the date of the meeting of more than 14 days from the regularly scheduled meeting date must be agreed to by both co-chairs.
3. There shall be two co-chairs, one from the employer and one from the workers; and each shall assume the chair duties at alternate meetings of the committee. A co-chair may designate an alternate, who may or may not be a permanent member of the committee. The alternate may take on any of the responsibilities of the co-chair.
4. A co-chair may, with the consent and approval of his or her counterpart, invite any additional person(s) to attend the meeting to provide additional information and comment, but they shall not participate in the regular business of the meeting.
5. The members of the committee who represent workers shall designate one of the members representing workers to inspect the physical condition of the workplace, accompanied by a management member of the committee, not more often than once a month. Appropriate supervisors should be encouraged to accompany the inspections whenever possible. Where an emergency prevents an employer member from attending a scheduled inspection, the employer will designate another representative to accompany the worker member.
6. All health and safety concerns raised during the physical inspection will be recorded on an appropriate workplace inspection form and signed by both members of the inspection team.
7. The workplace inspection form will be forwarded to the committee and appropriate department manager and the manager of Human Resources within three days of the workplace inspection.
8. The employer will supply a secretary for the meetings of the committee to take minutes and be responsible for having the minutes typed, circulated and filed, where possible, within one calendar week of the meetings, or as the committee may from time to time require. Minutes of the meetings will be reviewed and edited where necessary by the co-chairs, then signed and circulated to all committee members and a copy forwarded to appropriate management committee members. Agenda items will be identified by a reference number and be readily available in a proper filing system. Names of committee members will not be used in the minutes except to record attendance.
9. The committee shall have a quorum of four members present in order to conduct business, of whom two shall be members of management. One chair must be present in order to conduct business. If a co-chair is absent, the other co-chair will chair the meeting. The number of employer members shall not be greater than the number of worker members.
10. All items that are resolved or not will be reported in the minutes. Unresolved items will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.
11. All employees will discuss their health and safety problems with their immediate supervisor, where practicable, before bringing them to the attention of the committee.
(24.03) An employee requiring leave to participate in a recognized programme for the treatment of drug or alcohol abuse shall be granted such leave as is necessary under the provisions of Article 13, subject to reasonable limits on the length and repetition of any such leave. Proof of participation in such recognized programme shall be submitted to the Employer.
(24.04) The parties are committed to undertaking initiatives with the goal of eliminating the incidence of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) in the workplace. To this end, a sub-committee of the joint health and safety committee is being established to investigate measures that can be taken to achieve viable solutions to this issue. The sub-committee will submit its recommendations to the Employer and those recommendations will be implemented insofar as they are reasonable and practicable.
(24.05) The Company has agreed to provide a fund of up to $10,000 which the Union and the Company will jointly administer in order to defray the cost of RSI treatment for employees who have exceeded the monetary limits provided under the Employer’s Extended Health Care benefit. These annual limits shall be non-cumulative. Requests for treatment expenditures beyond the limit of the annual funds listed above shall be considered at the discretion of the Company which shall be exercised reasonably.
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.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 34.01 The parties recognize the need for a safe and healthy workplace. The Employer shall be responsible for providing safe and healthy working conditions. The Employer and Employees will take all reasonable steps to eliminate, reduce or minimize all workplace safety hazards. Occupational health and safety education, training and instruction provided by the Employer, shall be paid at the Basic Rate of Pay, to fulfill the requirements for training, instruction or education set out in the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Regulation or Code.
(a) There shall be an Occupational Health and Safety Committee (Committee), which shall be composed of representatives of the Employer and representatives of the Local and may include others representing recognized functional bargaining units. This Committee shall meet once a month, and in addition shall meet within 10 days of receiving a written complaint regarding occupational health or safety. An Employee shall be paid the Employee’s Basic Rate of Pay for attendance at Committee meetings. A request to establish separate committees for each site or grouping of sites shall not be unreasonably denied. The Employer shall provide training at no cost to all Employees on the Committee to assist them in performing their duties on the Committee. Training shall be paid at the Employee’s Basic Rate of Pay.
(b) Minutes of each meeting shall be taken and shall be approved by the Employer, the Local, and other bargaining groups, referred to in (a), prior to circulation.
(c) The purpose of the Committee is to consider such matters as occupational health and safety and the Local may make recommendations to the Employer in that regard.
(d) If an issue arises regarding occupational health or safety, the Employee or the Local shall first seek to resolve the issue through discussion with the applicable immediate supervisor in an excluded management position. If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily, it may then be forwarded in writing to the Committee.
(e) The Committee shall also consider measures necessary to ensure the security of each Employee on the Employer’s premises and the Local may make recommendations to the Employer in that regard.
(f) (i) Should an issue not be resolved by the Committee, the issue shall be referred to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). A resolution meeting between the Local and the CEO, or designate(s), shall take place within 21 calendar days of the issue being referred to the CEO. The CEO or designate(s) shall reply in writing to the Local within seven (7) calendar days of the resolution meeting.
ARTICLE HEALTH AND SAFETY The Employer and the Union agree that they mutually desire to maintain standards of safety and health in the Home, in order to prevent injury and illness and abide by the Occupational Health and Safety Act as amended from time to time. The Employer shall prepare a comprehensive policy on resident handling and safe work practices within six (6) months of the date of Such policies will be reviewed by the Joint Health and Safety Committee. A joint management and employees Health and Safety Committee shall be constituted with representation of at least half by employees from the various bargaining units and of employees who are not represented by unions and who do not exercise managerial functions, which shall identify potential dangers, recommend means of improving the health and safety programs and obtaining information from the Employer or other persons respecting the identification of hazards and standards elsewhere. The committee shall normally meet at least once a month. Scheduled time spent in such meetings is to be considered time worked for which shall be paid by the Employer at his or her regular or overtime rate. Minutes shall be taken of all meetings and copies shall be sent to the Committee members. Minutes of the meetings shall be posted on the workplace health safety bulletin board. The Employer shall provide the time from work with pay and all related tuition costs and expenses necessary to certify the worker representative. Where an inspector makes an inspection of a workplace under the powers conferred upon him or her under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the employer shall afford a certified committee member representing workers the opportunity to accompany the inspector during his or her physical inspection of a workplace, or any part or parts thereof. Where a worker certified member is not on-site and available, the Employer shall afford a worker health and safety representative if any, or a worker selected by a Union, because of knowledge, experience and training, to represent it, the opportunity to accompany the inspector during his or her physical inspection of a workplace, or any part or parts thereof. Two (2) representatives of the Joint Health and Safety Committee, one from management and one from the employees, shall make monthly inspections of the work place and shall report to the health and safety committee the results of their inspection. The members of the Committee who represent the workers shall designate a certified member or person who is properly trained to inspect the workplace. The employer shall provide the member with such information and assistance as the member may require for the purpose of carrying out an inspection of the workplace. In the event of accident or injury, such representatives shall be notified immediately and shall investigate and report as soon as possible to the committee and to the Employer on the nature and causes of the accident or injury. Furthermore, such representatives must be notified of the inspection of a government inspector and shall have the right to accompany him on his inspections. Scheduled time spent in all such activities shall be considered as time worked. The Joint Health and Safety Committee and the representatives thereof shall have access to Report Form required in and of the Act and the annual summary of data from the relating to the number of work accident fatalities, the number of lost workday cases, the number of lost workdays, the number of non-fatal cases that required medical aid without lost workdays, the incidence of occupation injuries, and such other data as the may decide to disclose. It is understood and agreed that no information will be provided to the Committee which is confidential. This information shall be a standing item recorded in the minutes of each meeting. The Union will use its best efforts to obtain the full co-operation of its membership in the compliance of all safety rules and practices. The Employer will use its best efforts to make all affected direct care employees aware of residents who have serious infectious diseases. The nature of the disease need not be disclosed. Employees will be made aware of special procedures required of them to deal with these circumstances. The parties agree that all employees are aware of the requirement to practice universal precautions in all circumstances.
Occupational Health and Safety Act The Employer, the Union, and the Employees recognize they are bound by the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, S.N.S. 1996, c.7, and appropriate federal acts and regulations. Any breach of these obligations may be grieved pursuant to this Agreement.
