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CHANGES TO THE ALBERTA OHS ACT
AND YOUR SAFETY PROGRAM
The opinions in the following presentation are
those of the presenters and do not represent
the official government legislation and are open
to interpretation and are subject to change.
Presenter Information
Introducing
Nicolai Massyn & Riley Fairbanks
About Ariscu
OHS Act Changes
Key Change Areas
Information Management
Agenda
A Breakdown of Ariscu
An Introduction to Key Change Areas
Worksite Parties | Harassment & Violence | JWHSC |
Safety Program | Incident & Near Miss | Penalties |
Information Management
An In-depth Look
Ariscu SolutionsBest Practices | Examples
QuestionsQuestion Period
Introduction
• Ariscu is a joint venture with
ComplyWorks and in 2018
began to expand field level
EHS management service
offerings into the market
• Global EHS-Q management
system
• 100’s of clients in 19+
CountriesGlobal reach with offices or representation in:
Calgary | Toronto | Vancouver | South Africa
1-5 How compliant
do you think you
are to the Alberta
OHS Act?
Poll Question 1
• The Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act came into
force on June 1 2018
• Internal responsibility:
• All parties are responsible for OHS based on their level of authority and control
• Internal monitoring is done by Joint Worksite Health and Safety Committees
(JWHSC’s) and HS representatives
• External monitoring conducted by the government
• 3 key worker rights:
1. To know
2. To participate
3. To refuse dangerous work
Intro to the Alberta OHS Act Changes
About Ariscu
OHS Act Changes
Key Change Areas
Information Management
Agenda
A Breakdown of Ariscu
An Introduction to Key Change Areas
Worksite Parties | Harassment & Violence | JWHSC |
Safety Program | Incident & Near Miss | Penalties |
Information Management
An In-depth Look
Ariscu SolutionsBest Practices | Examples
QuestionsQuestion Period
New Obligations:
• Workers and other parties - Risk assessment,
hazards and controls are expanded to other parties as well
• Protect workers from harassment/violence -
Policies, training, reporting are all required
• Ensure competent supervision – Min. requirements
set for supervisors. Provide Prime with supervisors’
names
Existing obligations:
• Ensure workers are aware of OHS rights and duties
• Ensure workers are trained
• Co-operate with JWHSC’s/HS representatives
Worksite Parties - Employer
• Must be competent - Supervisor has minimum requirements for a
particular worksite and job
• Take all precautions to protect workers’ health and safety - Be able to
prove it, have a paper trail
• Ensure workers comply with legislation, hazard & controls and use PPE -
Access to job and site hazards and controls, do inspections/checklists,
knowledge of worker training and if they have read policies and
procedures
• Ensure workers are not subjected to or participating in
harassment/violence - Policies, training, reporting being complied with
• Advise workers on known and foreseeable hazards - Field level hazard
assessments/tailgate meetings
• Report OHS concerns, incidents to employers - Procedure for reporting
and tools to do so
Worksite Parties - Supervisor
New Obligations:
• Protect own HS and other parties at or in the
vicinity of the worksite - Risk assessment, hazards
and controls expanded to include others, hazard
assessments
• Do not cause or participate in
harassment/violence - Policies, training, reporting
Existing obligations:
• Use safety devices and wear PPE
• Co-operate with supervisor, an employer or any
person to protect HS
• Report OHS concerns
• Comply with legislation
Worksite Parties - Workers
New Obligations:• A Prime Contractor is required for all oil & gas and construction sites or when
designated by a director (with 2 or more employers or self-employed persons).
Any site with 2 or more employers must have one designated Prime
• Ensure own activities do not create HS risk to others - Hazard management same
as employer
• Consult and co-operate with JWHSC or HS representative - Document and
information sharing
• Coordinate the HS programs of employers and self-employed on site - complex
HS information sharing, hazard sharing, workflow impacts
Existing obligations:• Establish a system to ensure compliance with legislation - New legal obligations
require an extensive system for information collection, coordination and sharing
• Comply with legislation - New legal requirements need to be measured using
legal audit or gap analyses
Worksite Parties - Prime Contractors
• Harassment and violence prevention plan
is required and must be developed by the
employer
• Must be developed and reviewed with
JWHSC/HS representative
• Include sections on: policy, procedure,
training, responding, reporting,
investigating, documenting, referring
workers to treatment
Harassment and Violence
• When? – On site for >90 days and >20 workers per site = JWHSC in place, or
5-19 workers = HS representative in place
• HSC administration (formation and meetings) and tasks mandated - Plan
tasks, keep records, create a process for complaints handling, site
inspections
• Members must be nominated not appointed
• Mandatory training for members
• Record keeping and Information management for due diligence very
important. All HS information received and processed must be recorded
• Working with other worksite parties on developing and sharing - HS policies,
procedures and information, document management, complaints, incidents
and inspections management and record keeping across multiple sites,
minutes shared
New JWHSC (Joint Worksite Health and Safety Committee)
What do you base your
safety program on?a) In-house Policies
b) SECOR/COR
c) AB OHS Code
d) ISO Certification
Poll Question 2
• All companies must have a safety program if they employ > 20
workers
• Prescribed content (minimum 10 elements):• OHS policy
• Hazard assessment
• Emergency response
• Responsibilities of worksite parties defined
• Schedule and procedure or Inspections
• Procedure for OHS on site when other employers or self-employed persons are on site
• Orientation and training
• Incident investigation
• Procedure for worker participation
• Review and revise the program every 3 years
Safety Program
• Reportable incidents have been clearly defined:
• Death
• Injury leading to hospital admission
• Incidents listed in section 40 of Alberta OHS act,
including a list for mines
• Incident management tools need to be aligned
with the Act to ensure the reportable incidents are
reported
• Near misses or Potential Serious Incidents (PSIs)
• Companies now have to report on near misses that
could have, in different circumstances, caused
serious damage. (PSIs)
• Incident management tools need to be aligned
with the Act to ensure the reportable incidents are
reported
Incident and Near Miss (PSIs) Reporting
Penalties
More aggressive penalties
Increase in # and $ of convictions
1 = $500k/$30k per day/6 months
2 = $1 mil/$60k per day/12 months
OHS tickets have been updated
and can be issued on-the-spot
Range from $100 -$500 and can be issued to workers
or companies
Total $ in tickets issued in 2018
increased 125% from 2017
Expected increase in tickets issued
beginning in June 2019
Poll Question 3
How do you currently
manage health & safety information?
a) Unsure/we don’t
b) Paper/excel based internal
system
c) Some external systems
d) Comprehensive health & safety
management system
Static + Dynamic Data Requirements
Information Management
Policies Training Inspections
Reporting Hazard ID
The largest increase in administrative burden under
the new act comes from inspections, hazard
identification and reporting
As you work on multiple sites the legal obligations for
information management increase greatly
About Ariscu
OHS Act Changes
Key Change Areas
Information Management
Agenda
A Breakdown of Ariscu
An Introduction to Key Change Areas
Worksite Parties | Harassment & Violence | JWHSC |
Safety Program | Incident & Near Miss | Penalties |
Information Management
An In-depth Look
Ariscu SolutionsBest Practices | Examples
QuestionsQuestion Period
OHS
Supervisor
Employer
Workers
JWHSC / or HS
Representative
Information on Site
-All workers Training Records, Policies and
Procedures, etc.
Supervisor must
ensure workers
understand risks,
and enforce the
safety program
Must share
hazards, rights/
duties, policies/
proc. w/ workers
Supervisors must
share incidents/
concerns w/
employer
JWHSC has to share
information w/
workers and w/
management of the
company
Workers need to
report incidents to
supervisor; submit
complaints to
JWHSC; employers
share with JWHSC
Employer to report
back to OHS on
serious incidents
and PSI’s
Information Management - Company’s Own Worksite
OHS
JWHSC
Owner shares hazards with all companies on site. If no party is appointed prime, then site owner is prime by default
Companies must share H+S w/ Prime and JWHSC. Also share the names of the supervisors
JWHSC shares information (including meeting minutes)/feedback w/ Prime, employers and workers
Primes share information w/ companies and the JWHSC
Owner
Prime
Employers
Prime coordinates the SP of companies. Establishes a system to ensure OHS act compliance coordinate, organize and oversee all work
All companies report to OHS for incidents and PSIs
Information Management - Shared Worksite
Company A
Company A needs to keep all relevant info
and push down safety program
requirements to all their worksites and
ensure their compliance on any other sites
they work on.
Information Management - Multiple Sites
Own Site
JWHSC
Company
A
Workers
Client Site 1
JWHSC
Prime
Company
A
Workers
Client Site 2
JWHSC
Prime
Company
A
Workers
Company A uses the data to improve decision
making and site specific data must be
available and collected from each site.
1-5 How compliant
do you think you
are to the Alberta
OHS Act?
Poll Question 4
About Ariscu
OHS Act Changes
Key Change Areas
Information Management
Agenda
A Breakdown of Ariscu
An Introduction to Key Change Areas
Worksite Parties | Harassment & Violence | JWHSC |
Safety Program | Incident & Near Miss | Penalties |
Information Management
An In-depth Look
Ariscu SolutionsBest Practices | Examples
QuestionsQuestion Period
Task Centric
Management
Approach
Hands-on
Involvement of
Workers in the Field
Inspect, Audit, ReportActively Improve
PlanDo
CheckAct
Best Practices in Health and Safety Management
Alberta OHS Act Gap Analysis
• Know what the act expects
of you
• Evaluate how well you comply
• Help you become compliant
Our EHS Management Solution
• Mobile/offline
• Linked to ComplyWorks
• Full health, safety & environment
management system capability
Ariscu Solutions
QUESTIONS?Contact us for more information on
our solutions and services
• Link to AB OHS Act
• Alberta OHS Code
• https://www.alberta.ca/workplace-harassment-violence.aspx
• www.alberta.ca/work-site-health-safety-committees.aspx
• Free training for certain HSC members www.ccohs.ca/distributors/alberta/
• Incident and PSI reporting:
• Phone: 780-415-8690 (Edmonton)
Toll free: 1-866-415-8690
TTY: 780-427-9999 (Edmonton)
TTY: 1-800-232-7215
• PSI reporting: https://psi.labour.alberta.ca
• Farm and Ranch
• Gas Station worker safety
Resources
• We have a quite a few service techs in the field, they work on multiple worksites they attend in a day. With the changes how would we properly supervise these employees? they work alone. As per working alone legislation you are required to maintain regular contact with workers. Link to gov worksheet https://ohs-pubstore.labour.alberta.ca/wa002
• How do the on-site documentation requirements and information management systems consider environmental surveys conducted in the natural environment accessed by walking and accessible by the public? Sites should be restricted to the general public. Management systems can store the results of these surveys and help to track needed corrections.
• Do you have an information package on your EHS Management Solution system that you can provide? Yes
• Can Harassment and Violence prevention be one policy or do they have to be separate? Government Ask an Expert response to this question. Prevention plans -Every employer must develop and implement workplace harassment and violence prevention plans. The plans must: Include a prevention policy and prevention procedures and be in writing and readily available for reference by workers at the work site, either in paper or electronic formats. Policies and procedures - Policies set overall expectations that harassment and violence are not tolerated in the work environment. Procedures outline the methods or processes required to make the policy work on a day-to-day basis and establish a way of doing things that the employer and workers are to follow. As long as all the legislative requirements are met, employers have flexibility in how they organize the information.
Questions and Answers
• When do you have to hire a Health & Safety Representative? You do not have to hire a HSE representative. You would appoint from your current employees and ensure they are given training. On work sites where there are from 5 and 19 worker employed for more than 90 days, the employer shall ensure that there is a designated HS representative.
• Further to the first question, do you have to hire a full time safety person for a site with under 20 workers, or is a regular worker with additional Health and Safety Representative responsibilities sufficient? What about larger sites? 16 hours of annual training wont get them to safety professional status. You do not have to hire an HS representative but appoint and train from your current workers. Some of the certifying partners require a company to have a full time HSE person to obtain COR status. Based on the nature of the work you do it is recommended you have a safety person.
• If you bring in a contractor such as an electrician or similar to your location, do you have to do a Work Permit for them
for your location? No, you are not legally required to complete a work permit but you are required to ensure they are aware of the hazards of the site and the work being performed which can easily be accomplished by completing a work permit.
• Can the Health and Safety Coordinator act as a Health and Safety Representative? Yes
Questions and Answers
• Do the H&S reps have to be nominated? Can they volunteer to be part of the JWHSC? Representatives are appointed but the members of the JWHSC must be nominated. If you would like your HSE representative to be in the JWHSC meetings they can attend as a guest, but they have no voting power in the meetings and are only to attend as a bystander with no voting power.
• What about contractors who do not have a HSE program or a lesser program, do they follow the Prime’s Policies/Procedures? If you allow a contractor to work under your program they must be trained on the policies, programs and procedures and acknowledge that they have been trained and will be working under the requirements of your program. It is recommended that contractors have programs of their own which meet legislated requirements.
Questions and Answers