Unit 8: Health, Wellness, and Safe Workplaces

Module 1: Legal Aspects

Health and Safety Legislation:

• To prevent accidents, incidents, and illness

• Due diligence

  • Requires employers to take every reasonable precaution to prevent workplace accidents, incidents, or illness 

  • Must provide a hazard-free workplace 

• Bill C-45 allows for personal fines and imprisonment 

• Management responsibilities:

  • Ensure compliance with the law

  • Create and communicate safety policies

  • Maintain equipment, materials, and protective devices

  • Ensure a hazard-free environment 

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• Employee responsibility:

  • Working safely

  • Wear protective equipment

  • Comply with safety policies

  • Report defective equipment 

  • Report hazards and unsafe work practices 

• Supervisors responsibilties 

  • Advise employees of potential hazards

  • Ensure workers use safety equipment

  • Ensure workers use safety clothing

  • Comply with due diligence 

• Employees rights:

  • Right to know

  • Right to participate

  • Right to refuse

  • Right to stop 

Module 2: Hazard Recognition and Control

Causes of Hazards:

• Human factors

  • Includes human error, laziness, carelessness

• Environmental factors 

  • Condition of the work environment like loud noise

  • Things about the work environment that cannot be changed

• Situational factors

  • Include operations, equipment, or materials that contribute to accidents

  • Such as tripping over a wire

• Methods to identify hazards

  • Walk through surveys

  • Safety sampling

    • Documentation about potential hazards after watching people in the workplace 

  • Task and job inventories

  • Safety records

  • Safety audits

  • Employee complaints

  • Incident investigations 

• Most common form of hazard analysis: is analytical tree

  • Positive tree: shows the proper way of doing a job

  • Fault tree: shows what can go wrong 

• Risk assessment considers

  • Frequency: how often someone is exposed to the hazard

  • Severity: the consequence of the hazard

  • Probability: the likelihood of an accident occurring 

• Methods to Control Hazards:

  • Elimination

    • The best control is to eliminate the hazard 

  • Engineering

    • The use of things like sheilds, metal guard, barriers, etc

  • Administrative

    • Ensuring proper processes, instructions, training, rotating shifts, etc

  • PPE

    • Wearing masks, gloves, hard hats, etc

Module 3: Creating a Safe Work Environment 

Safety Performance = Ability + Motivation + Opportunity 

Supervisors Role:

• Orientation is the first and most critical time 

• Emphasizing the cost of accidents

• Educating employees on the hazard controls for their jobs 

• Provide on-going training 

Module 4: Creating a Healthy Work Environment 

Module 5: Supporting Psychological Wellbeing

Workplace Violence:

• Type 1

  • Random

  • Usually associated with a criminal act

• Type 2

  • Committed by clients/customers 

• Type 3

  • Committed by co-workers 

• Type 4

  • Committed by a family member 

Controlling:

• Controlling type 1

  • Protective screens 

  • Barriers 

• Controlling type 3

  • Comprehensive workplace violence program 

• Controlling type 4

  • Employee and family assistance programs

  • Temp accommodation as required 

• Controlling type 2

  • Surveillance cameras

  • Effective lighting 

  • Presence of security 

  • Card-controlled entrances 

Stressors:

• Acute

  • short-term

• Chronic

  • long-term

• Daily

  • Regular 

• Catastrophic 

  • Significant event 

• The external event that causes internal stress 

• Coping behaviours to external factors 

• Eustress: positive stress that is usually accompanied with excitement and higher productivity 

• Causes: 

  • Role conflict

  • Lack of job security

  • Unclear job responsibilities 

  • No positive feedback 

• Controls:

  • Proper hiring

  • Wellness programs

  • Employee assistance programs 

  • Training

  • Counselling