Occupational Health and Safety Training – Level 1

Occupational Health and Safety Training – Level 1 Legislation

Action Objective To provide participants with basic knowledge on applicable occupational health and safety legislation, and the obligations of the company and its employees

Learning Objectives • Describe the basic structure of health and safety law. • Identify the basic rights given to individuals by the NWT Mine Health and Safety Act. • Identify and discuss the duties and responsibilities of the owner and manager under the NWT Mine Health and Safety Act. • Identify and discuss the duties and responsibilities of supervisors and workers under the NWT Mine Health and Safety Act • Explain and discuss the unsafe work refusal process. • Discuss the structure of the NWT Mine Health and Safety Regulations

Structure of Health and Safety Law THE ACT: The Basic Legal Authority • Adopted and amended by the Legislative Assembly in public • State general duties, requirements and priniciples REGULATIONS: Detailed Legal Rules • Provide specific rules for many circumstances • Cannot exceed the general authority of the Act

Duties of Owner • Take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect the health and safety of employees and other persons at the mine • Implement and maintain work practices that are safe and that do not present undue risk to health • Provide and maintain healthy and safe worksites

Duties of Owner (cont’d) • Ensure that provision is made for such supervision, instruction and training as is necessary to protect the occupational health and safety of the employees • Ensure that the mine is constructed, developed, reconstructed, altered or added to in accordance with this Act and the regulations

Duties of Owner (cont’d) • Ensure that machinery, equipment, material and protective devices that are required by the regulations, to be used at the mine or available for the use of employees at the mine, are available for such use • Ensure that personal protective equipment required by the regulations to be provided to employees is so provided • Ensure that the mine is operated in accordance with the Act and the regulations

Duties of Owner (cont’d) • Appoint, in writing, a person having the prescribed qualifications as manager for the mine • Ensure that there is a person having the prescribed qualifications acting as a manager at all times

Duties of Manager • Take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect the health and safety of employees and other persons at the mine • Comply with the Act and the regulations and any orders or directives issued under the Act or the regulations • Ensure that the requirements of the Act and the regulations are met in the operation of the mine

Duties of Manager (cont’d) • Ensure that any orders and directives issued under the Act or the regulations are complied with in the operation of the mine • Ensure that machinery, equipment, materials and protective devices required to be used at or available at the mine are maintained in good condition • Ensure that the personal protective equipment required to be provided to employees by the regulations are maintained in good condition

Duties of Manager (cont’d) • Ensure that an employee receives the information, instruction and supervision necessary to protect his or her health and safety • Establish and maintain an occupational health and safety program as required under the regulations • Establish and maintain a medical surveillance program for employees as required under the regulations

Duties of Manager (cont’d) • Establish and maintain a mine rescue program as required under the regulations • Ensure that any order, directive, notice or other document that is required to be posted at a mine under this Act or the regulations is maintained in a legible condition • Shall co-operate fully with the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Committee by: • providing the Committee with every reasonable facility for carry out it functions • allowing the Committee access to all reports, plans and records pertinent to the work of the Committee including procedures, maintenance records and log books • correcting the health and safety hazards noted in the Committee inspection report, within 30 days after the day on which the inspection was carried out or by such later date as may be agreed to by the Committee

Duties of Manager (cont’d) • Shall post the Committee inspection report in at least one conspicuous location at the mine • Replying, within 15 days and in writing, to the Committee, in respect to a Committee report on an unresolved health and safety issue • Provide, at least three times a year, training to members of the OHS Committee that is relevant to the work of the Committee • Submit to the Chief Inspector an annual record of the training provided to members of the OHS Committee

Duties of Manager (cont’d) • Shall ensure that the posters provided by the Chief Inspector containing selected sections of the Mine Health and Safety Act and its Regulations are displayed at conspicuous locations • Shall ensure that every employee is given a copy of the Mine Health and Safety Act and its Regulations at no cost to the employee • Shall ensure that a copy of the Mine Health and Safety Act and its Regulations is maintained in every safety office and other suitable locations where they are available to employees

Duties of Supervisors • Take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect the health and safety of employees under his or her direction and control and other employees and persons at the mine • Shall comply with the Act and the Regulations and any orders or directives issued under the Act and the Regulations • Ensure that the requirements of the Act and the Regulations are met in respect to those aspects of the operation of the mine that are the responsibility of the supervisor • Ensure that any orders and directives issued under the Act or the Regulations are complied with in respect to those aspects of the operation of the mine that are the responsibility of the supervisor

Duties of Supervisors (cont’d) Shall, within his or her area of responsibility and authority: • carry out the duties set out in the Act and the Regulations • give precedence to the health and safety of persons in his or her charge over any other duties, and at the end of his or her shift, communicate with the next shift supervisor all necessary information relating to health and safety concerns • ensure that all persons in his or her charge are adequately trained and given clear instructions regarding the work they are to perform

Duties of Supervisors (cont’d) Shall, within his or her area of responsibility and authority: • ensure compliance with the relevant provisions of the Act and the Regulations • be knowledgeable about the essential safeguards against hazards and about safe working procedures at the worksites for which he or she is responsible so that he or she can routinely assess the safety of the environment and operations affecting persons in those worksites

Duties of Supervisors (cont’d) Shall, within his or her area of responsibility and authority: • by thorough supervision, protect the health and safety of all persons in the area for which he or she is responsible • make himself or herself familiar with all parts of the area for which he or she is responsible including those parts where persons do not normally work and with safe escape routes, refuge stations, and other mustering points • ensure that there is sufficient safety equipment of appropriate standards for the work being performed

Duties of Supervisors (cont’d) Shall, within his or her area of responsibility and authority: • expeditiously investigate and address health and safety matters drawn to his or her attention • record before the end of every shift in a log-book kept for that purpose, all matters affecting health and safety, making special notes of any unusual or hazardous conditions or deficiencies found during the shift and of any remedial actions taken • read and countersign all reports of the previous shift and discuss any health and safety matters of concern and any unusual or hazardous conditions or deficiencies with persons under his or her control before deploying them to their worksites

Duties of Employees • Before commencing work at a worksite, thoroughly check the worksite for hazardous or dangerous conditions and not start work unless the worksite is safe • Before using any equipment, check that it is safe to use • To the best of his or her ability, leave the worksite at the end of his or her shift in a condition that allows work to be resumed safely and without risks to health or safety or, if unable to do so, fence, rope off, or post signs at the worksite and report the circumstances to the supervisor responsible

Duties of Employees (cont’d) • Not pass beyond enclosures or barriers or danger signs or open any locked door without authority • Not remove or make ineffective, except for the purpose of maintenance or replacement, any protective devices

Duties of Workers • Take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect the health and safety of employees and other persons at the mine • Comply with this Act and the Regulations and any orders and directives issued under this Act and the Regulations

Duties of Workers (cont’d) • Take reasonable measures and precautions to protect his or her health and safety and the health and safety of other persons at the mine • Co-operate with any other person exercising a power under the Act or performing a duty imposed by the Act and the Regulations • Comply with the Act and the Regulations and any orders and directives issued under the Act and the Regulations

Duties of Workers (cont’d) • Co-operate with the managers and supervisors in the discharge of their responsibilities • Use the safeguards, safety appliances and personal protective equipment or devices provided pursuant to the Regulations • Conduct himself or herself at work in a safe and responsible manner

Duties of Workers (cont’d) • Comply with instructions given for his or her own health and safety and those given for the health and safety of others • Report any accident, dangerous occurrence or reportable incident, whether or not injury occurs, which arises in the course of or in connection with work • Report any misuse of explosives

Right to Refuse WorkS. 18 of the Act • An employee may refuse to perform any work or to operate any machine, equipment or tool if he or she has reasonable cause to believe that to do so could endanger the health and safety of any person • An employee may refuse to work at any worksite if he or she has reasonable cause to believe that the condition of the worksite could endanger the health and safety of any person

Right to Refuse Work (cont’d)S. 18 of the Act • The employee shall report the reasons for his or her refusal to work to his or her supervisor without delay • The owner and manager and each supervisor and worker affected by a refusal to work shall resolve the refusal in accordance with the practices and procedures set out in the Regulations

Right to Refuse WorkPart IV of the Regulations Unsafe Work 4.01 An employee may refuse to carry out any work or operate any equipment, tool or appliance if he or she has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would endanger the health and safety of any person 4.02 A supervisor shall not knowingly perform or permit a worker to perform work which could endanger the health and safety of any employee 4.03 An employee who refuses to carry out work, or to operate any equipment, tool, or appliance in compliance with these provisions shall immediately report the circumstances to his or her supervisor.

Right to Refuse Work (cont’d)Part IV of the Regulations Investigations 4.04 The supervisor receiving a report under section 4.03 shall immediately investigate the matter and ensure that any dangerous condition is remedied without delay, or if, in his or her opinion, the work refusal is not valid, the supervisor shall so inform the employee who made the report 4.05 If the investigation required by section 4.04 does not resolve the matter to the satisfaction of the employee who made the report under section 4.03, a further investigation shall be made by the supervisor or other management representative in the presence of the employee who made the report, together with an employee who • has knowledge of the work in question; and • is a worker selected by the employee refusing to carry out the work 4.06 Where a worker member of the Committee or the other worker referred to in paragraph 4.05b) is not available to carry out the investigation referred to in section 4.05, the employee who made the report under section 4.03 may request the union local, if any, to designate a worker to make the investigation with the supervisor

Right to Refuse Work (cont’d)Part IV of the Regulations Use of Alternate Worker 4.07 Where an employee refuses to carry out the work after the supervisor and a person referred to in section 4.05 or 4.06 have investigated the work refusal and are both of the opinion that no employee is endangered, • if the refusal is considered relatively unique to that particular employee, and • if there is no justification for an alternate employee to refuse to carry out the work in question, then the supervisor, after informing the alternate employee of the reason for the refusal, may require him or her to perform the work 4.08 Where it is determined by an investigation that an employee may be endangered, no employee shall perform the work until the situation has been remedied to the satisfaction of the employee doing the work

Right to Refuse Work (cont’d)Part IV of the Regulations Committee Investigates 4.09 Where the procedures set out in sections 4.03 to 4.07 fail to resolve the work refusal, the Committee shall conduct an investigation in the presence of the employee and either • develop a plan that is acceptable to an employee who will do the work and that will allow the work to proceed safely; or • permit the employee to continue to refuse to work 4.10 The Committee shall submit to the manager a report on the investigation under section 4.09 that describes the situation and recommends the remedial action that the Committee has determined is required 4.11 Where the procedures set out in sections 4.09 and 4.10 fail to resolve the work refusal, the employee who made the report, the worker co-chairperson or the manager may appeal to the chief inspector for the designation of an inspector to resolve the refusal

Right to Refuse Work (cont’d)Part IV of the Regulations Inspector to Investigate 4.12 The chief inspector shall designate an inspector who shall investigate the work refusal in the presence of the employee who so refused or the employee’s designate and the manager or the manager’s designate 4.13 The inspector shall give his or her decision without delay upon concluding his or her investigation to the manager, the Committee and the union local, if any

Occupational Health and Safety Training – Level 1