A workplace health and safety program includes various important elements. Before you start your assessment, review the common elements of a typical program by clicking on the tab below.
All programs are different but the key common elements of a robust health and safety program are as follows:
Now see how your current program compares!
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The health and safety policy should be documented, current and signed and dated by the most senior person in the organization (owner, CEO or most senior management in BC). It should also outline the responsibilities of the employer, managers, supervisors and workers.
Make sure that roles have been assigned to all levels within the organization and that everyone is clear about their individual responsibilities with regard to health and safety. Regardless of whether you are a small employer (employing fewer than 20 workers) or a large employer (employing 20 or more workers), you must assign health and safety roles.
Effective workplace inspections allow you to look at tasks and the work environment more closely, identify hazards and take appropriate action to control them. Make sure that you have written instructions about:
• what is to be inspected. • who should perform workplace inspections. • how often inspections are to be conducted. • the intent of the inspections.
Employers need to conduct a systematic risk assessment to help identify different safety hazards in the workplace. To do a risk assessment in your workplace you should understand what might cause harm to people (hazards) and then decide if you are doing enough to prevent that harm. From there, you should identify and implement appropriate steps that will allow you to eliminate or reduce the risk. Then, record your risk assessment and be sure to review and update it regularly. Remember: a hazard is something with the potential to cause harm, such as using chemicals, working at height or being exposed to violence in the workplace. Risk is the chance that somebody could be harmed by the hazard, if it isn’t controlled adequately.
Written procedures should describe how to safely carry out high-risk or complex tasks, such as using knives, clearing snow from walkways or making beds. The procedures should be displayed in all relevant work areas and they can be used to train staff and as a helpful reminder of how to work safely.
Workers need to receive an orientation when they start a new job, move to a new department or location, face new hazards, like working with new equipment, and when they are given new tasks to perform. A young worker is anyone under the age of 25. When conducting an orientation with your new and young workers, you should explain their rights and responsibilities, remind them that they should only perform work if they have been trained to do so safely and encourage them to ask questions. You are required to cover specific topics when training new and young workers. This is the perfect opportunity to promote and reinforce your organization’s commitment to health and safety from day one.
Organizations that employ between 9–19 staff are required to have a worker health and safety representative. If you employ 20 or more staff, you need to establish a joint health and safety committee. Your committee must have at least four members, and at least half of the members must be worker representatives. (If you employ fewer than 9 staff, you aren’t required to appoint a worker rep or a committee.)
Regular meetings are instrumental in ensuring that safety issues are addressed quickly and to encourage the development of a strong workplace safety culture. Your worker representative or joint health and safety committee should meet with management regularly to discuss unsafe conditions and practices and to find ways to resolve them.
Employers are responsible for first aid in the workplace. To determine the first aid requirements for your workplace, first you'll need to do an assessment, considering things like your travel time to the nearest hospital and the nature of work being performed. Then, you can review the findings and take the necessary steps to put appropriate first aid procedures in place.
Employers are required to notify WorkSafeBC immediately when certain workplace incidents occur, such as a serious injury (something that is life threatening or that may cause a permanent injury) or a fatality. Furthermore, employers are responsible for reporting all injuries related to claims, using an Employer’s Report of Injury or Occupational Disease (Form 7). For instance, if a person working for you suffers a work-related injury or disease and gets medical treatment from a doctor or other qualified practitioner, you must report the incident to WorkSafeBC.
Certain workplace incidents and near misses, as well as all serious injuries and fatalities, are required to be investigated and an Employer Incident Investigation Report must be submitted to WorkSafeBC. Depending on the complexity of the incident, up to four separate reports may be required at different points in the investigation process: a preliminary investigation, interim corrective actions, a full investigation and final corrective actions. Those involved in the investigation must be knowledgeable about the type of work taking place where the incident occurred. An employer representative and a worker representative should be involved in the investigation, if they are available. Thorough investigations help to determine why an incident occurred and what corrective action can be taken in order to prevent a recurrence in the future.
An important part of a health and safety program is to keep up-to-date records, which support what you are doing. Records help to demonstrate due diligence and provide important information regarding the effectiveness of your health and safety program and, as your program develops, the documentation will grow. Examples of records that you should keep include, but are not limited to, orientation and training, workplace inspections, health and safety meetings, first aid and incident investigation reports.
You should review your health and safety program at least annually and discuss with your employees how you can improve it. The review might consider recent workplace incidents and investigation learnings, feedback obtained from employees and the impact of new equipment or processes on your existing health and safety arrangements. You should check and update your health and safety policy, as part of your annual review, and be aware of any new regulatory requirements that you may need to factor into your business. Be sure to document review dates, as this demonstrates that your program is current and in use.
