OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY

• Module 1 - Introduction to Health & Safety

• HR-511
• Robbin Lavoie, CRSP

Management of Occupational Health & Safety Eighth Edition - Kelloway/Francis/Gatien

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Introduction
What’s on your Bucket List

• Talking to the person next to you spend 15 minutes getting to know the person
• At end of 15 minutes have 5 things the person would like to achieve in life
• We will take them up
Class Guidelines
• Attendance is critical
• Base material is in the text book
• Management of Occupational Health & Safety Eighth Edition – Kelloway/Francis/Gatien
• Three tests
• Test 1 - 33%
• Test 2 - 34%
• Test 3 - 33%
Ground Rules
• Remember Your….
• Best Group Discussion Ever. Why?
• Worst Group Discussion Ever. Why?
• What Can We Do to Make This Training:
• Positive?
• Satisfying?
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What is safety?
Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or
other danger.

Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an
acceptable level of risk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WavEcAsI2AY
Module 1- Introduction to Health & Safety
Learning Outcomes
• How Health & Safety Impacts all of us
• Definitions
• Costs associated with workplace injuries and illnesses
• Link between HR and OHS
• Roles of Stakeholders

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How Health & Safety Impacts all of us
• What is Occupational Health and Safety ?
• Group Discussion
• Eric Donovan case - page 2
• Lac Megantic Rail Disaster - page 3
• As a group,
1. Discuss the case
2. The summary of events
3. What were the causes
• One person from each group to present to the class

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Definitions
• Occupational Health & Safety - The identification, evaluation and control of workplace
hazards associated withe work environment.

• Hazard – any source of potential adverse health effect on or damage or harm to something
or someone under certain conditions

• Occupational Injury - Any cut, fracture, sprain or amputation resulting from a workplace
accident

• Occupational Illness - Any abnormal condition or disorder cause by exposure to

environmental factors associated with employment

• Lost Time Injury - A workplace injury that results in the employee missing time from work
• Brown lung - a disease of the lungs cause by excessive inhalation of dust in the
pneumoconiosis family and often afflicts textile workers

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Health and Safety Statistics

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Definitions
• Assumption of risk - the belief that a worker accepted the risks of
employment when he or she accepted the job
• Accident Proneness - The notion that some individuals are inherently more
likely than others to be involved in accidents as a result of individual
characteristics
• Due Diligence - An expected standard of conduct that requires employers to
take every reasonable precaution to ensure the safety

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Canada Legislation and OHS Programs
• The Royal Commission on the Relations of Capital and Labour in Canada
(1889)
• Canada Labour Code
• Royal Commission on Health and Safety of Miners (Ham Commission)
1974
• Three Rights of Workers
• Right to Know, Right to Participate and Right to Refuse Unsafe Work
• WHMIS (1988)
• Ontario Ministry of Labour 2010 Expert Advisory Panel
• Psychological Safety (CSA Z1003-13)
Westray Mine Disaster
Imperatives for Health and Safety
• Economic considerations
• Legal considerations – DUE DILIGENCE
• Moral considerations
Costs Associated with Workplace Injuries
and Illnesses
• Group Exercise - Table 1.4
• A construction worker falls three meters off an unguarded scaffold and
breaks his ankle.

• Please make a list of direct costs and indirect costs

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The Impact…

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Afect to Workers and Employer

Worker Employer

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Costs Associated with Workplace Injuries and Illnesses

Direct Costs Indirect Costs

Time investigating the incident WSIB premiums
Cost of replacement Potential fines
Damaged equipment Loss of Productivity
Training Costs
Lowered morale of other
employees/loss of productivity
• Indirect costs of a workplace injury or illness can add up to 10 times more than direct costs
• https://www.worksafebc.com/en/resources/health-safety/interactive-tools/workplace-incident-cost-calculator?lan
g=en

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Link between HR and OHS

• Safety is integrated into other HR functions

• Training
• Compensation
• Leadership
• Culture
• Safety Requires Legislative Compliance
• Administering compliance - Labour Law, Disability Management
• Safety Decreases Costs
• Duty of HR to minimize costs - Benefit premiums, WSIB, Absenteeism, etc
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Roles of Stakeholders

• Government
• Implementation of Workers Compensation
• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)
• Employers
• Established requirements (i.e. H&S Policy)
• Training
• Employees
• Required duties (I.e. duty to report)
• Organized Labour
• Has a role - pipelines for communication
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Homework
• Read rest of Chapter 1 (pages 14-22)
• Complete Exercises 2, 5 and 6 (page 23)
• Complete Case Study 1 (page 24)