6.00 Hazardous Conditions
6.10 Reporting of Hazardous Conditions
Safety is the responsibility of everyone at Sir Sandford Fleming College.
If an unsafe/hazardous condition is noticed, it must be reported immediately to prevent an accident or property damage.
Any individual aware of an unsafe/hazardous condition shall:
- ensure others are aware of the condition while waiting for the appropriate help;
- notify Campus Facilities office immediately so that the appropriate help can be obtained.
- Notification should be by immediate phone call or visit if the siutation deems this prudent, or, in less hazardous circumstances, an email or voice mail can be sent to the Facilities office.
- ensure that appropriate help is sent to investigate/rectify a hazardous condition;
- notify the Director, College Facilities or Manager of Facilities, Frost Campus. or the Campus Leader or Principal of the condition immediately;
- track through email the reports of hazards and the followup action to remedy.
The JOHSC shall:
- Review reports of such hazards and the rectification.
A workplace inspection is a planned walk-through of a workplace or selected areas or locations of a workplace. Inspections are needed to critically examine all factors (equipment, processes, materials, buildings and procedures) that have potential to cause injury or illness and to identify where action is necessary to control hazards. A schedule of planned inspections is an essential element of the College health and safety program.
Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act places responsibility on a worker health and safety representative to conduct an inspection of physical conditions. However, the employer still has the prime responsibility for providing a safe and healthy workplace. (OH&S Act. sec 9 (23))
The worker health and safety representative shall inspect the workplace at least once a month. If this is not practical, he/she shall inspect the physical condition of the workplace at least once a year, inspecting at least a part of the building every month.
The inspection shall be conducted according to a schedule set by the campus JOHSC. (OH&S Act. sec 9 (28))
The Occupational Health and Safety Act gives a worker the right to refuse work that he or she believes to be unsafe.
The Worker must have reason to believe that one or more of the following are true:
- any machine, equipment or tool that the worker is using, or is told to use, is likely to endanger himself or herself or another worker;
- the physical condition of the workplace or work station is likely to endanger the worker;
- any machine, equipment or tool that the worker is using, or the physical condition of the workplace, is in violation of the Act or regulations and is likely to endanger himself or herself or another worker.
The Worker:
- must immediately tell the supervisor or employer that the work is being refused and explain why
- must remain in a safe place near the work station until the investigation of the refusal is completed.
The Supervisor or Employer must:
- investigate the situation immediately in the presence of the worker and a joint committee member who represents the workers (preferably the certified member.)
The supervisor or employer will resolve the unsatisfactory situation.
If the situation is resolved, the worker will return to work.
The worker can continue to refuse the work if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that the work continues to be unsafe. At this point, the “second stage” of a work refusal begins.
Certified members of the JHSC – one from each of management and worker representatives, shall investigate and may , if in agreement, order a work stoppage. Where there is not agreement to stop the work, a Ministry of Labour inspector must be called to investigate the issue. In the meantime the worker may refuse the continuation of the work..
At this time, the Worker shall:
- remain in a safe place near the work station, unless the employer assigns some other reasonable work during normal working hours.
The Inspector shall:
- decide whether the work is likely to endanger the worker or another person;
- give a written decision to the worker, employer and committee member.
If the inspector finds the work is not likely to endanger anyone, the refusing worker is expected to return to work.
While waiting for the inspector’s decision the employer:
- can ask another worker to do the work that was refused;
- must inform the second worker that the work was refused and why. (This is to be done in the presence of a worker safety committee member.)
- the second employee has the same right to refuse as the first worker>/li>