Legal Requirements for Schools to Perform Risk Assessments
National legislation
WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) 2015, incorporates the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) for workplace chemicals, and updates legislation in other areas.
"Employers will continue to:
- educate and train workers on the hazards and safe use of hazardous products in the workplace;
- ensure that hazardous products are properly labelled;
- prepare workplace labels and SDSs (as necessary); and,
- ensure appropriate control measures are in place to protect the health and safety of workers"
Alberta
The Occupational Health and Safety Act, updated and in effect from 1 June 2018, has as one purpose "to ensure that all workers have . . . the right to be informed of work site hazards and the means to eliminate or control those hazards" [2(d)(i)] and "Every employer shall ensure that workers are adequately trained in all matters necessary to protect their health and safety, including before the worker . . . begins performing a work activity (or) performs a new work activity" [3(2)(b)]
According to the Occupational Health and Safety Code, "An employer must assess a worksite and identify existing or potential hazards before work begins . . . must prepare a report on the results of a hazard assessment and the methods used to control or eliminate the hazards identified . . . must ensure that the date . . is recorded . . . must ensure that the hazard assessment is repeated . . at reasonably practicable intervals . . ." [Part 2, 7(1)-(4)].
British Columbia
The Workers Compensation Act (1996) requires that "an employer must . . . remedy any workplace conditions that are hazardous to the health or safety of the employer's workers, ensure that the employer's workers are made aware of all known or reasonably foreseeable health or safety hazards to which they are likely to be exposed by their work . . . " [115(2)]. The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 1997, under the Act, requires employers to have an Occupational Health and Safety Program which "must be designed to prevent injuries and occupational diseases", including "provision for the regular inspection of premises, equipment, work methods and work practices, at appropriate intervals, to ensure that prompt action is undertaken to correct any hazardous conditions found . . . maintenance of records and statistics . . . provision by the employer for the instruction and supervision of workers in the safe performance of their work" [3.1, 3.3]. WorkSafeBC endorses Canadian Standards Association "CSA Z1000-06 Occupational Health and Safety Management", which includes in its "Plan" the elements of Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment.
Manitoba
The Workplace Safety and Health Act 2014 requires that ". . . every employer shall provide and maintain a workplace, necessary equipment, systems and tools that are safe and without risks to health, so far as is reasonably practicable" [4(2)] and the Workplace Safety and Health Regulation 2014 specifies that "Where there is a risk to the safety or health of a worker, the employer must, if reasonably practicable, eliminate it . . . " [2.1(1)]. SafeWork Manitoba offers a video "Spot the hazard, Assess the risk, Find a safer way – Everyday".
New Brunswick
The Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 requires that "Every employer shall take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of his employees . . . ensure that the necessary systems of work, tools, equipment, machines, devices and materials are maintained in good condition and are of minimum risk to health and safety . . . ensure that the place of employment is inspected at least once a month to identify any risks to the health and safety of his employees; acquaint an employee with any hazard in connection with the use, handling, storage, disposal and transport of any tool, equipment, machine, device or biological, chemical or physical agent; provide such information, instruction, training and supervision as are necessary to ensure an employee’s health and safety . . ." [9(1)-(2)].
Newfoundland and Labrador
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (2012) require "a system for the recognition, evaluation and control of hazards that includes: (i) evaluation and monitoring of the workplace to identify potential hazards and the associated risks, (ii) procedures and schedules for regular inspections by management and committee members, (iii) procedures for the identification, reporting and control or correction of hazards, (iv) procedures for the prompt investigation of hazardous occurrences to determine the cause of the occurrence and the actions necessary to prevent a recurrence, (v) identification of the circumstances where the employer is required to report hazards to the committee and the procedures for doing so, and (vi) measures for the accountability of persons responsible for the reporting and correction of hazards" [12(1)(g)].
Nova Scotia
The Occupational Health and Safety Act 1996 requires "a hazard identification system that includes evaluation of the workplace to identify potential hazards . . . procedures for ensuring the reporting of hazards and the accountability of persons responsible for the correction of hazards . . . a system for workplace occupational health and safety monitoring, prompt follow-up and control of identified hazards . . . maintenance of records and statistics, . . ." [28(2) (e)-(h)].
Ontario
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (1990) imposes duties on employers to "acquaint a worker or a person in authority over a worker with any hazard in the work and in the handling, storage, use, disposal and transport of any article, device, equipment or a biological, chemical or physical agent . . . prepare and review at least annually a written occupational health and safety policy and develop and maintain a program to implement that policy" [25(2)(d),(j)]. The Ontario Ministry of Labour, Safe at Work, advises "How should workplace health and safety hazards be dealt with? There is a three-step process for dealing with workplace hazards. First they must be recognised; then they must be assessed; and finally, if necessary, they must be controlled. Recognition involves both identifying a hazard and determining if there is a possibility of workers being affected by it. If there is such a possibility, it must be assessed and if it is found to be significant, the hazard must be controlled" [http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/faqs/hazards.php, 25 Aug 2014].
Prince Edward Island
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (2013) requires "a hazard identification system that includes (i) evaluation of the workplace to identify potential hazards, (ii) procedures and schedules for regular inspections, (iii) procedures for ensuring the reporting of hazards and the accountability of persons responsible for the correction of hazards . . . (f) a system for workplace occupational health and safety monitoring, prompt follow-up and control of identified hazards . . . (h) the maintenance of records and statistics" [23(3) (e)-(h)].
Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan Employment Act (2014) requires that "Every employer shall ensure, insofar as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all of the employer’s workers . . . consult and . . . (resolve) concerns on matters of health, safety and welfare at work . . . ensure that workers are trained in all matters that are necessary to protect their health, safety and welfare [Part 3, 3.8]. Worksafe Saskatewan states that "Every workplace should have a system in place to identify, assess and control the hazards" and that "Under occupational health and safety legislation you have 3 rights: The right to know the hazards at work and how to control them The right to find and control workplace hazards The right to refuse work, which you believe is unusually dangerous" [http://www.worksafesask.ca/prevention/hazard-control/identify-workplace-hazards/, http://www.worksafesask.ca/industries/occupational-health-safety/worker-rights-responsibilities/, 25 Aug 2014].