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.
