COMMERCE 2BC3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, Westray Mine, Canada Labour Code
11 Dec 2016
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Department
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Professor
Commerce 2BC3
Lecture 10: Health and Safety and Chapter 12: Safe, Secure, and Productive
Workplaces
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
- Concerned with identification, evaluation and control of hazards in the work
environment
o Chemical
o Biological
o Physical (ergonomic)
o Psychosocial risks (work related stress, good orientation can reduce
stress)
- Goal: to prevent and reduce work-related injuries, illness, and fatalities
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation: the law that authorizes government
to establish and enforce occupational health and safety standards, administrative
requirements, and enforcement mechanisms in respect of the workplace
Approximately 900 workers die in work related accidents every year
Workplace Fatalities in Canada
- Construction (23% of fatalities)
- Manufacturing (21% of fatalities)
- Transportation (11%)
- Every year about 1000 people die at work (most of which come from
construction)
H&S Then..
- until early 20th century, employers took little responsibility for worker safety
- Assumption of risk was prevailing doctrine
o When worker accepts job, worker accepts risks associated with job
o Accidents=Fault of the worker
H&S Now
- Internal responsibility system (IRS): a system within an orgnaizaion
where every person has direct responsibility for health and safety as a
essential part of his or her jobs
o All stakeholders are responsible for H&S
- Keys to Effective IRS include:
o Safety First and Safety Always
o Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility
o Safe work is efficient work
- Due diligence
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o Provision of Ontario’s H&S legislation that an employer is required to
take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the
protection of the worker
Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS): a Canada wide
system designed to give employees and workers information about hazardous
materials in the workplace
Unsafe Act: a worker’s violation of, or disregard for, a safety rule or procedure
Unsafe Conditions: physical hazards or inadequate safety programs, policy, or
training that pose a risk to the health and safety of workers
History of H&S Legislation
Depression in 1870s
- Terrible working conditions- long hours, injuries, etc.
- Including children (children paid just 10 cents a day, women received 1/3rd
of men’s wage)
Stimulated legal changes
- 1886: Ontario established 1st workers compensation legislation
- 1889: Royal commission on the relations of capital and labour in Canada
o Included several recommendations regarding H&S
▪ Establishment of safety standards and inspections
▪ Compensation for victims of industrial accidents
▪ Establishment of labour bureau to oversee these
recommendations
Comprehensive H&S legislation emerged in 1970s
- Influences by 1976 report of Royal Commission on the Health and Safety of
Workers in Mines
- Commission also articulated 3 principal rights of workers
o Remain the foundation of current H&S legislation
Right to refuse dangerous work without penalty
• Exceptions:
o If the risk is normal condition of the work
o If refusal puts others at work
Right to participate in identify and correction problems
Rights to know about how hazards in the workplace
• eg. WHMIS
H&S Legislation
Federal Legislation
- Canada Labour Code (CLC)
- Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS)
Provincial Legislation
- Eg. Occupational Health and Safety Act (enforced by MOL)
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- Various Industry-specific acts
Goals of Legislation
- Ensure safe and healthy working condition and provide penalties for
violators
- Shared responsibility for employers and employees
Westray Mine Disaster, May 1992
- Explosion in col mine, 26 miners killed
- Investigation revealed disregard of safety by management
o Methane gas not managed appropriately due to cost and time
pressures
- Led to Bill C-45 – Westray Bill (2004)
- First legislation to explicit mention that managers can be held accountable if
they ignore the safety of their employees
Why should Organizations Care about Safety?
- Legal obligations
- Moral responsibly
- Business
Work-Related Stress
- Many different uses of the term Stress
- Something we are exposed to ; something we feel?
- Stress – Key characteristics…
o Unpleasant feeling (empotional, physical)
o When our resources are overtaxed (too much shit to do)
o By an environmental event/ situation (stressor/ demand)
Workplace Stressors
o Is all work related stress bad or is there such a thing as good stress?
- Hindrance Stressors
o Undesirable constraints that hinder one’s ability to work/achieve
goals
o Including
▪ Organizational politics, job insecurity
▪ Role stressor (conflict, ambiguity, work/nonwork)
▪ Aggression, bullying
o Challenge Stessors
▪ Job Demands as challenges to be overcome
▪ Eg. Time pressure, level of responsibility
o May have positive outcomes
▪ Eg. Achievement, satisfaction, performance
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