Episode 178: Unpacking the Basics of Workplace Health and Safety Programs

Introduction

This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.

Rachelle

Hello everyone and welcome to CCOHS Conversations. During today's podcast, we're joined by Ryan Marrs, Occupational Health and Safety Specialist with our organization, to discuss the elements of occupational health and safety programs. Welcome Rianne.

Rianne

Hi Rachelle. Thank you for having me.

Rachelle

It's great to have you here. So, let's get started.

What is an occupational health and safety program?

Rianne

A health and safety program is ultimately an organization's commitment to prevent incidents, injuries, and disease within a workplace by establishing best practices and guiding principles. So, basically, the program outlines what the organization is going to do to meet their commitment to health and safety and how they're going to do it.

Rachelle

So, you mention the word commitment does every workplace need to make a commitment to health and safety and do so by creating an official health and safety program?

Rianne

Some form of a program is required under occupational health and safety legislation in most Canadian jurisdictions. So, at a minimum, a health and safety program must include the elements required by the legislation and then other elements can be added and customized to match the specific needs of the organization.

Rachelle

So, what are some of the basic program elements?

Rianne

To start, the program will set expectations for hazard identification, assessment, and controls. This will assist with workplace inspections and lead to creating safe work procedures that will help with training and job instruction. The program will also lay out everything from roles and responsibilities, worker orientation, health and safety committees, first aid, emergency response and investigations.

It's also important to consider that a comprehensive program will promote worker well-being and includes psychological health, as well as harassment and violence prevention.

Rachelle

Now that we know some of the basic elements, can you help us understand who's responsible for them?

Rianne

Everyone. So, everyone has a direct responsibility for health and safety as an essential part of their job, and that's the whole philosophy of the internal responsibility system. But to break it down a bit, employers or management have the most responsibility under the health and safety legislation. They're the ones responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace and ensuring employees are trained and provided with instruction and supervision to do their job safely.

Rachelle

So, what does that include?

Rianne

Well, that can include making sure that all personal protective equipment and any other safety equipment required are available and in good condition. They also need to provide first aid facilities and maintain the occupational health and safety program. So that means reviewing the program at a set interval and making any changes as needed with updated information or changes in legislation.

Rachelle

And what about workers, what are they responsible for?

Rianne

Well, understanding that they too have an obligation to health and safety is really important. They have a responsibility to follow the regulations and the safe work procedures established by the company and use equipment and PPE properly and as required.

Rachelle

When you say equipment, what exactly do you mean?

Rianne

Well, by equipment we aren't just talking about big machinery. It's really about using the right tool for the job. So, if you need to move something heavy or awkward, it's about taking the time and using the dolly or cart that's available, and not just carrying it. Or using a step ladder instead of a chair. This could also be as simple as using a separate keyboard and mouse when you're working from your laptop.

Another important role employees play is reporting any injury or illness or unsafe conditions or acts to their supervisor or manager. All these roles and responsibilities should be covered in the health and safety program and can be reviewed as part of a worker health and safety orientation.

Rachelle

It sounds like worker orientation is important to ensure that workers know the role when it comes to health and safety. But what should that look like?

Rianne

Your health and safety orientation really sets the tone for the organization? It's the first impression new employees get when they start at a company or a transfer to a new position. The first few days of a new job can be really disorienting. So, by having an organized and inviting orientation, it can help reduce some of the stress of the first few days and it gives employees a chance to familiarize themselves with the expectation set up by the company right away. By putting health and safety first, an organization is telling their new hires that this is our number one priority.

Rachelle

What are some of the elements that should be covered in an orientation?

Rianne

The orientation should cover emergency preparedness like first aid, reporting and security, and employees should be made aware of any specific hazards in the workplace and their controls. Important HR information should also be covered, like any benefits or supports and services offered.

Rachelle

So, it sounds like a really good opportunity for employees. What else can orientation offer them?

Rachelle

This is an opportunity for new employees to ask questions. And question should be encouraged even after the orientation process. If they have any doubts about procedures or their ability to do a task safely. It's also a really good practice to follow up a few weeks after the orientation to make sure that employees are settled in and to see if there's any other questions.

Rachelle

Are there any areas of health and safety programs that you think require more Focus or attention in general?

Rianne

I believe that it all comes back to training. Employers and employees must be trained to identify hazards and implement controls. They must be trained on safe work practices and procedures and must understand the importance of reporting. So, this training doesn't need to be a formal in-class training and often the informal training or conversations between management, supervisors and co-workers in the workplace leads to better program buy-in. So, through this job coaching, you can get the reasons why behind the policies procedures and rules and it gets the employees involved in the process where they can share their experiences and other best practices.

When employees understand and see management's commitment to their health and safety, they understand the importance of it and how health and safety in the workplace becomes a shared value among employees and a fundamental part of the culture.

Rachelle

I love this idea of a shared value. How can you tell if your program is effective in working? And if in fact, the value of health and safety is shared across the entire organization?

Rianne

Talk to your employees, they know what's happening and it's important to encourage questions and reporting. Supervisors have such an important role in promoting the health and safety program through workplace, inspections and job observations and coaching. These are part of your program and a great opportunity to spread health and safety awareness before there's an incident.

So often companies rely on recordable injury, frequency, and severity rates, as a benchmark for how good their health and safety program is but injury frequency isn't the only thing they should be looking at. Employers should be looking at the bigger picture with the close calls and near misses.

Rachelle

Whoo, what's a near miss?

Rianne

A near miss is the, “that was close moment”, where maybe no one was hurt or, no equipment was damaged. But you step back and think that could have been really bad. These incidents should be seen as opportunities to identify any gaps or weaknesses in procedures or processes and to follow up with any corrective actions to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Rachelle

Thanks Ryan. So, what about audits, can they be useful?

Rianne

Yeah, audits can be used periodically to see if the program is effective for sure. These are conducted with a representative team in the usually go through a checklist of elements that has questions associated with each element. So, throughout the audit, the team should be looking at records conducting interviews and observing the workplace as a whole and as, with any review, any gaps and weaknesses must be acknowledged and addressed with action items with target dates.

Rachelle

Thanks Ryan. That's all really helpful. So, before we wrap up any quick words of advice to motivate a workplace to reassess revamp or start their occupational health and safety program.

Rianne

Yes, it all comes back to fostering that safe space where employees feel they can speak up and are valued. Changing a workplace culture isn't going to happen overnight, but by committing to health and safety and having those on the job coaching moments, you can keep moving in the right direction.

Rachelle

Thanks Ryan, all the information that you shared, it was so useful today and very beneficial for me and hopefully our audience as well. To learn more about occupational health and safety programs, you can visit CCOHS.ca.

Thanks for listening.