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Workplace Safety - An Overview

Ensuring Respect for Workplace Safety

We all spend a considerable portion of our day in the workplace. Ensuring that workplaces are safe is important to the well-being of everyone and to the performance of the country’s economy.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s Labour Program is committed to workplace safety in the federal public service and in the private sector under federal jurisdiction. This includes some of Canada’s major infrastructure sectors like interprovincial and international transportation (air, rail, ports and trucking), communications, banking and Crown corporations. It covers approximately 12,000 employers, 128,000 workplaces and 1 million workers.

With a coast-to-coast network of regional offices and highly trained health and safety officers, the Labour Program works directly with employers and workers by verifying that the Non-Smokers’ Health Act and laws and regulations on occupational health and safety are respected.

Occupational Health and Safety

Canadians have the right to work in a safe and healthy environment. The Government of Canada protects this right through legislation, programs and services designed to prevent accidents and injuries on the job. The Labour Program works proactively with employers to reduce occupational injuries and illnesses in federally regulated workplaces by providing information on improving health and safety in their organizations, such as:

  • the role of policy, workplace health and safety committees and health and safety representatives;
  • workplace inspections and safety audits;
  • the right to refuse dangerous work;
  • worker complaints procedures; and
  • accident investigations procedures.

A Few Highlights

In recent years, the Labour Program has focused on a number of special activities. An example is new regulatory requirements for employers to develop and implement a hazard prevention program in consultation with their policy and workplace committee or health and safety representative, including the identification and assessment of ergonomics-related hazards.

Workplace Violence

Discrimination, harassment or physical violence: workplace violence in its many forms affects the lives of many Canadians. Curbing violence in the workplace is everyone’s responsibility – employers, unions and government. In 2008, the Government of Canada introduced new regulations under the Canada Labour Code to prevent violence in the workplace. The Violence Prevention in the Workplace Regulations define workplace violence and require the development of a policy to prevent it.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

The Labour Program is committed to eliminating sexual harassment from our workplaces. The Canada Labour Code confirms a worker’s right to a workplace free of sexual harassment and requires that employers make every reasonable effort to ensure that no worker is subjected to sexual harassment.

Services Specific to the Federal Government Fire Protection

The risk of fire is one of the greatest threats to health and safety, property and the delivery of essential services. Within the Labour Program, the Fire Protection Program promotes a proactive approach to fire safety and prevention and also provides a range of services to clients occupying federal government buildings. These services are aimed at minimizing risks to life and property and preserving essential government services.

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation programs provide assistance to federal government employees in dealing with the hardships associated with work-related injuries and occupational illnesses. They provide financial and rehabilitation benefits and facilitate return to work efforts.

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Date Modified:
2011-09-19