Alberta releases further amendments to its occupational health and safety legislation in relation to Bill 30

As we previously reported, the majority of the amendments to Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act set out in Bill 30 will be coming into force on June 1, 2018. Earlier this month, additional amendments were released to Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and Occupational Health and Safety Code 2009. These amendments will also be in force June 1, 2018.

The changes introduced by these most recent amendments include:

• additional requirements for joint work site health and safety committees (JWSHSC) including:
  • details on what is required in their terms of reference;
  • additional duties for the JWSHSC and for employers, contractors and prime contractors working with the JWSHSC;
  • requiring that employers/prime contractors must use an organization designated by the Minister to provide the required training to JWSHSC co-chairs and health and safety representatives (as of the date of this post, the list of approved providers had not yet been released);
• additional requirements for employers relating to violence and harassment, including:
  • developing and implementing, in consultation with the JWSHSC/health and safety representative/affected workers, a violence prevention plan that includes a violence prevention policy and violence prevention procedures, and listing some minimum requirements for the violence prevention policy and procedures;
  • taking reasonable precautions where an employer is aware that a worker is or is likely to be exposed to domestic violence at a work site;
  • developing and implementing, in consultation with the JWSHSC/health and safety representative/affected workers, a harassment prevention plan that includes a harassment prevention policy and harassment prevention procedures, and listing some minimum requirements for the harassment prevention policy and procedures;
  • conducting a review of these plans every 3 years, when an incident occurs, or when the JWSHSC/health and safety representative recommends a review;
  • ensuring that workers are properly trained in relation to violence and harassment;
  • ensuring that workers who report an injury or adverse symptom resulting from an incident of harassment or violence are advised to consult a health professional of the worker’s choice and requiring that employees be paid while attending treatment sessions that occur during regular work hours;
• additional provisions relating to workplace violence for employers in the retail fuel and convenience sectors; and
• amendments to the WHMIS provisions.

The amendments can be found here.