Changes Made in Two Areas of Federal H&S Regulations

Prevention of workplace violence and ergonomics issues both addressed in new regulations.

Several additions were made to Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations in December. The purpose of these regulations is to prevent accidents and injury in workplaces under federal jurisdiction.

One of the new additions is to the Violence Prevention in the Work Place section of the regulations. The new regulations were developed by a tripartite working group comprised of employer, employee and government representatives. What they came up with includes requiring standards to be set regarding the responsibilities of each party in the workplace in the prevention of work place violence.

The new regulations also define work place violence and include requirements to develop a workplace violence prevention policy and to conduct hazard identification and assessment, hazard control and training of employees. The regulations also introduce guidelines for responding to, recording and investigating acts of workplace related violence.

The protection of workers from violence at work is an important issue across Canada. Workplace violence results in economic and societal costs for everyone. A number of jurisdictions have recently made either regulatory or operational changes or are considering specific work place violence sections in their respective occupational health and safety, or employment standards legislation.

The other amendments made to the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations in December added provisions for ergonomics-related hazards to the regulations. The amendments to the Hazard Prevention Program include requirements for the employer to incorporate ergonomics-related hazards in the program. This means conducting hazard identification and assessment, developing preventive measures and employee education on ergonomics.

Musculoskeletal injuries account for a significant proportion of all workplace injuries. Based on the data from national musculoskeletal incidence reporting from all jurisdictions in Canada, it is estimated that musculoskeletal injuries constitute approximately 30 per cent of all work-related injuries in federally-regulated workplaces.