Workplace Safety The parties to this Agreement commit themselves to achieving the highest possible standards of occupational health and safety including adherence to the consultative and issue resolution processes included herein. Participation in and support for building and construction industry initiatives to improve construction industry standards in occupational health and safety will form an important part of this commitment. Observance of relevant Acts, Regulations, and Codes of Practice are the minimum level acceptable to enable employers and employees to meet their responsibilities and to work safely and follow health and safety rules in their workplace. On all sites there will be developed a site safety plan and job specific ‘job safety analysis’ to identify and manage the risks associated with work on each particular site. Such safety plan will include suitable procedures for personnel/material access, and site evacuation procedures. The Incolink Safety Handbook ‘SAFE’ (as amended) is endorsed by this Agreement as a proper guide and reference source for safety management and control of risks.
1) The parties agree that the WorkSafe Australia Guidance Notes on Material Safety Data Sheets shall be observed at all times.
2) Hearing tests: Audiometric tests should be conducted within two months of a person commencing employment, and thereafter at intervals of two years.
Workplace Violence (a) It is recognized that at certain worksites or in certain work situations employees may be at risk of physical violence or verbal abuse from clients, persons in care or custody, or the public.
(b) Where such potential exists:
(1) employees at those worksites or in those work situations shall receive training in the recognition and management of such incidents;
(2) physical and procedural measures for the protection of employees, applicable to those worksites or work situations, shall be implemented.
(c) The Permanent Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall be consulted regarding the curriculum of training and the applicable physical and procedural measures referred to in (b) above.
(d) The Permanent Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall jointly develop a new or approve an existing training package on risk assessment.
(e) Employees shall be informed concerning the potential for physical violence or verbal abuse from clients, a student, instructors or other members of the public, subject to statutory limitation.
(f) Immediate critical incident stress debriefing and post traumatic counselling shall be made available for employees who have suffered as a result of violence. Leave required to attend such debriefing or counselling sessions will be without loss of pay.
WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR
3.1 The Employer and the Union agree that all employees should work in an environment that fosters mutual respect and professionalism. The parties agree that inappropriate behavior in the workplace does not promote a college’s/district’s business, employee well-being, or productivity. All employees are responsible for contributing to such an environment and are expected to treat others with courtesy and respect.
3.2 Inappropriate workplace behavior by employees, supervisors and/or managers will not be tolerated. If an employee and/or the employee’s union representative believes the employee has been subjected to inappropriate workplace behavior, the employee and/or the employee’s representative is encouraged to report this behavior to the employee’s supervisor, a manager in the employee’s chain of command and/or the Human Resources Office. An employee or the employee’s representative should identify complaints as inappropriate workplace behavior. The Employer will investigate the reported behavior and take appropriate action as necessary. The employee and/or union representative will be notified upon conclusion of the investigation. Upon request, the Employer will provide the employee and the union representative with a copy of the investigation report.
3.3 Retaliation against employees who make a workplace behavior complaint will not be tolerated.
3.4 Supervisors, managers and Human Resource Office staff will be trained on Article 3, Workplace Behavior. The Employer and the Union agree to prepare and make available online a 15-minute joint training online presentation on workplace behavior for all employees covered by this CBA and their supervisors, managers and Human Resources staff.
3.5 Grievances related to this Article may be processed through Step 3 of the Grievance Procedure.
Workplace Harassment The Hospital and the Union are committed to ensuring a work environment that is free from harassment. Harassment is defined as a “course of vexatious comment or conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome”, that denies individual dignity and respect on the basis of the grounds such as gender, disability, race, colour, sexual orientation or other prohibited grounds, as stated in the Ontario Human Rights Code. All employees are expected to treat others with courtesy and consideration and to discourage harassment. ref. Ontario Human Rights Code, Sec. 10(1). Harassment may take many forms including verbal, physical or visual. It may involve a threat, an implied threat or be perceived as a condition of employment. The Parties agree that harassment is in no way to be construed as properly discharged supervisory responsibilities, including the delegation of work assignments and/or the assessment of discipline. If an employee believes that she/he has been harassed and/or discriminated against on the basis of any prohibited ground of discrimination, there are specific actions that may be undertaken. The employee should request the harasser to stop the unwanted behaviour by informing the harassing individual(s) that the behaviour is unwanted and unwelcome. Should the employee not feel comfortable addressing the harasser directly, she/he may request the assistance of the manager or a Union representative. If the unwelcome behaviour was to continue, the employee will consult the Hospital policy on harassment and will be free to pursue all avenues including the complaint investigation and resolution. The Parties agree that an employee may have a representative of the Union with her/him throughout the process, if requested.
Workplace The Employee shall be required to perform work at or any other site of work for the Employer.
Workplace Safety Insurance 20.1 Each member covered by this Agreement who is absent on account of injuries received while on duty and who is receiving a pension, salary or wage award from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board shall be entitled to be paid the difference between the pension wage and salary award from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and his or her current net salary as long as such member remains in the employ of the Niagara Police Board. This shall be applied such that the combination of any WSIB salary or wage award plus the employer top-up shall, in total, equal the net pay of the member's current salary. The non- economic loss portion of any WSIB pension payments shall not be considered as being a salary or wage award, and hence shall not form part of these calculations. Any member who does not comply with the provisions of the Workplace Safety & Insurance Act or Regulations thereto and subsequently receives a salary or wage award or an amount less than the prevailing maximum payable, due to such non-compliance, shall not receive from the Niagara Police Board the difference between the wage or salary award paid by the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board and his or her current net salary. For the purpose of this Clause, net pay shall be the pay for the rank of the member as shown in Appendix "A" less those deductions required under Government Statutes, pension plans and as provided for in this Agreement.
20.2 Subject to the terms of this Article, each member covered by this Agreement who is injured as a result of carrying out his/her duties shall not be deprived of his/her vacations or statutory holidays as a result thereof, and shall accumulate such vacation credits and statutory holidays as he/she might otherwise receive.
20.2.1 Each member shall be entitled to accumulate the float time that he/she might otherwise receive for a period of three (3) months following the injury.
20.2.2 In respect of members who have been off work and receiving WSIB benefits for less than two
Safe Workplace A) The Employer and employees recognize the need for a safe and healthful workplace and agree to take appropriate measures in order that risks of accidents and/or occupational disease are reduced and/or eliminated. Employers will take all reasonable steps to eliminate, reduce and/or minimize threats to the safety of employees.
B) An employee performing visitation to clients in the community shall have the right to request backup to attend where there is reasonable cause to expect a violent situation and will have access to appropriate communication equipment.
C) When the Employer is aware that a patient/resident/client has a history of violent behaviour, the Employer shall make such information available to the employee. Upon admission or transfer the Employer will make every reasonable effort to identify the potential for aggressive behaviour. In- services and/or instruction in caring for the violent patient will be provided by the Employer.
D) The Employer will provide orientation and/or in-service which is necessary for the safe performance of work including universal precautions, the safe use of equipment, safe techniques for lifting and supporting patients/residents/clients and the safe handling of materials and products. The Employer will also make readily available information, manuals and procedures for these purposes. The Employer will provide appropriate safety clothing and equipment.
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY The parties to this Agreement are committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace and work practices. The parties recognise that illness or injury at the workplace is costly to the employer and the employees and also disruptive to the respective parties. To facilitate healthy and safe work practices, the parties to the Agreement are committed to discussing health and safety issues as they apply to the operations of the employer as part of the consultative measures under this Agreement. The employer and employees under this agreement may refer to their respective industrial representatives for appropriate advice or expertise in enhancing performance with due regard to health and safety initiatives. The parties also recognise the importance of conducting regular audits of the employer's operations, policies and procedures including the employees' skills, knowledge, qualifications and application of healthy and safe work practices.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND INSURANCE 41.1 Where an employee is absent by reason of an injury or an occupational disease for which a claim is made under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, his or her salary shall continue to be paid for a period not exceeding thirty (30) days. If an award is not made, any payments made under the foregoing provisions in excess of that to which he or she is entitled under Articles 44.1 and 44.6 (Short Term Sickness Plan) shall be an amount owing by the employee to the Employer.
41.2 Where an employee is absent by reason of an injury or an occupational disease for which an award is made under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, his or her salary shall continue to be paid for a period not exceeding three (3) consecutive months or a total of sixty-five (65) working days where such absences are intermittent, following the date of the first absence because of the injury or occupational disease, and any absence in respect of the injury or occupational disease shall not be charged against his or her credits.
41.3 Where an award is made under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to an employee that is less than the regular salary of the employee and the award applies for longer than the period set out in Article 41.2 and the employee has accumulated credits, his or her regular salary may be paid and the difference between the regular salary paid after the period set out in Article 41.2 and the compensation awarded shall be converted to its equivalent time and deducted from his or her accumulated credits.
41.4 Where an employee receives an award under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, and the award applies for longer than the period set out in Article 41.2 (i.e. three (3) months), the Employer will continue subsidies for Basic Life, Long Term Income Protection, Supplementary Health and Hospital and the Dental Plans for the period during which the employee is receiving the award. The Employer shall continue to make the Employer’s pension contributions unless the employee gives the Employer a written notice that the employee does not intend to pay the employee’s pension contributions.
41.5 Where an employee is absent by reason of an injury or an occupational disease for which an award is made under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, the employee shall not be entitled to a leave of absence with pay under Article 44 (Short Term Sickness Plan) as an option following the expiry of the application of Article 41.2.
Environment Each of the Obligors:
(a) is in compliance with all applicable federal, state, local, foreign and international laws, regulations, conventions and agreements relating to pollution prevention or protection of human health or the environment (including, without limitation, ambient air, surface water, ground water, navigable waters, water of the contiguous zone, ocean waters and international waters), including without limitation, laws, regulations, conventions and agreements relating to:
(i) emissions, discharges, releases or threatened releases of chemicals, pollutants, contaminants, wastes, toxic substances, hazardous materials, oil, hazard substances, petroleum and petroleum products and by-products (“Materials of Environmental Concern”); or
(ii) the manufacture, processing, distribution, use, treatment, storage, disposal, transport or handling of Materials of Environmental Concern (such laws, regulations, conventions and agreements the “Environmental Laws”);
(b) has all permits, licences, approvals, rulings, variances, exemptions, clearances, consents or other authorisations required under applicable Environmental Laws (“Environmental Approvals”) and are in compliance with all Environmental Approvals required to operate its business as presently conducted or as reasonably anticipated to be conducted;
(c) has not received any notice, claim, action, cause of action, investigation or demand by any other person, alleging potential liability for, or a requirement to incur, investigatory costs, clean-up costs, response and/or remedial costs (whether incurred by a governmental entity or otherwise), natural resources damages, property damages, personal injuries, attorney’s fees and expenses or fines or penalties, in each case arising out of, based on or resulting from:
(i) the presence or release or threat of release into the environment of any Material of Environmental Concern at any location, whether or not owned by such person; or
(ii) circumstances forming the basis of any violation, or alleged violation, of any Environmental Law or Environmental Approval (“Environmental Claim”); and there are no circumstances that may prevent or interfere with such full compliance in the future. There is no Environmental Claim pending or threatened against any of the Obligors. There are no past or present actions, activities, circumstances, conditions, events or incidents, including, without limitation, the release, emission, discharge or disposal of any Material of Environmental Concern, that could form the basis of any Environmental Claim against any of the Obligors.
