According to the latest statistics from the CNESST dated from 2018,  228 employees lost their lives during a work related accident or illness. There were 91,711 employees who were injured in the workplace which can be equivalent to 251 accidents per day or 1 accident every six minutes!

What is the CNESST’s role in Québec?

9.2  COVID-19 and its implications on Occupational Health and Safety

In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic it became clear that there was a lack of awareness of Personal Protective Equipment that needs to be used in the workplace. One area that was strongly hit was the CHSLD, the Quebec nursing homes.

9.3 Human Resource and Occupational Health and Safety

Respecting the governing laws and how incidents and accidents will be reported should be facilitated by the HR professional. Although HR employees may not know the chemical makeup of the materials used or the exact details of every job function, they are responsible for facilitating the process to ensure that reporting is done timely and accurately.

In order for a company to ensure a safe working environment, every single person in the organization has a part to play. The company is tasked with ensuring that the environment is safe, but employees are responsible to know their right and to adhere to the guidelines. Let’s explore the specific rights and responsibilities of each.

What are the employer’s duties?

The employer is responsible to:

• Provide a hazard-free workplace
• Comply with regulation
• Take every reasonable precaution to ensure employee Health and Safety (H&S)

… including these specific duties:

• Inform employees about H & S requirements
• Investigate accidents and keep records
• Compile annual summary of work injuries & illnesses
• Report accidents that cause injuries and diseases
• Ensure supervisors are familiar with the work and hazard
• Provide H & S training

It is the supervisor of the given department who:

• Advises employees of potential hazard
• Ensures workers wear safety equipment, devices, or clothing
• Provides written instructions about H & S
• Takes every reasonable precaution to guarantee H & S of workers

Some companies may also have a Joint Health and Safety committee who is responsible for:

• Advising employers
• Creating a non-adversarial climate
• Investigating accidents
• Training others in H & S obligations

What are the employee’s duties?

• Comply with acts and regulations
• Report hazardous conditions or defective equipment
• Follow H & S rules and regulations
• Request and receive info about health & safety conditions
• Refuse unsafe work (with exceptions)

Record keeping and tracking incidents

 The purpose of the record keeping does not imply that the employee or the company is at fault for an illness or injury. In addition, just because a record is kept doesn’t mean the employee will be eligible for worker’s compensation. The record-keeping aspect normally refers to the keeping of incidence rates, or the number of illnesses or injuries per one hundred full-time employees per year, as calculated by the following formula:

incidence rate=number of injuries and illness × 200,000 / total hours worked by all employees in the period

Two hundred thousand is the standard figure used, as it represents one hundred full-time employees who work forty hours per week for fifty weeks per year. An HR professional can then use this data and compare it to other companies in the same industry to see how its business is meeting safety standards compared with other businesses. This calculation provides comparable information, no matter the size of the company. If the incidence rate is higher than the average, the HR professional might consider developing training surrounding safety in the workplace.

9.4 Liabilities

Can a company ever be legally responsible for H&S violations?

Yes it can, due to the Westray Law or the Bill C-45.

 Westray Law or former Bill C-45

The Westray Law, former Bill C-45, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal liability of organizations), came into force on March 31, 2004. It modernized the criminal law’s approach for establishing the criminal liability of corporations for workplace deaths and injuries. Specifically, it:

• established rules for attributing criminal liability to organizations, including corporations, for the acts of their representatives
• established a legal duty for all persons directing the work of others to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of workers and the public
• set out factors that a court must consider when sentencing an organization
• provided conditions of probation that a court may impose on an organization

An organization can be held criminally liable if:

1. a representative or representatives of the organization acting within the scope of their authority were a party to the offence; and,
2. a senior officer responsible for the aspect of the organization’s activities relevant to the offence, departed markedly from the standard of care that could reasonably be expected to prevent the representative from being a party to the offence.
3. a senior officer acting within the scope of authority was a party to the offence; or,
4. the senior officer had the mens rea for the offence, was acting within the scope of authority and directed the work of other representatives to perform the act element of the offence; or,
5. the senior officer did not take reasonable measures to stop the commission of the offence by a representative.

Section 217.1 of the Criminal Code creates an occupational health and safety duty for all organizations and individuals who direct the work of others in Canada. It requires all organizations and individuals who undertake or have the authority to direct how others work or perform a task, to take all reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to the person performing the work or task, and to any other person.

Some real life examples of Westray Law

On March 17, 2008 a paving company (Transpave) was charged and convicted of criminal negligence and fined $100,000 in the death of an employee, plus a $10,000 victim surcharge.

On May 17, 2007, Mark Hritchuk, a Service Manager at a LaSalle, Quebec auto dealership was charged with criminal negligence after one of his employees caught on fire while using a makeshift fuel pump that had gone unrepaired and broken for several years. Mr. Daoust, a 22 year employee with the company, was engulfed in flames after a spark ignited fuel which had spilled on him, while he attempted to fill the gas tank of a vehicle whose fuel gage had broken and needed repairing. The employee survived but received third degree burns to 35% of his body. The case was brought before a court of inquiry on March 10, 2009. The case went to court in March 2012. Mr Hritchuk pleaded guilty of unlawfully causing bodily harm.

https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/legisl/billc45.html

9.5  Main purpose of worker compensation

It is important to note that the main intent of the worker’s compensation is to ensure that the employee return to his/her original job.

However if the employee cannot return to his job due to permanent injuries there are four options available.