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Assisting Canadian Contractors with achieving and maintaining

Compliance with ISNetworld® Requirements since 2006

Safety Compliance Factors in Times of Economic Uncertainty

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Safety compliance with COR/SECOR, training and the safety registries remains an important piece of your business model in times of economic uncertainty.

With the recent NDP win in the province of Alberta, the entire nation watched as a shift in political power moved to the left in Alberta for the first time in over 40 years. The effects, positive or negative, for this political shift have yet to be seen and the North American economic engine is watching very closely. There is no question that we have entered uncertain waters for the time-being.

Intelligent companies take this opportunity to beef-up the essential components of their organization in order to ready themselves for the road ahead. In other words and to quote some famous sayings, “The Early Bird Gets NDP Albertathe Worm”, “Opportunity doesn’t make appointments, you have to be ready when it arrives”, and so forth. For contractors in the energy, transportation, forestry, mining, manufacturing, and construction sectors, it is apparent that jobs with upstream companies may not be plentiful, but whether Alberta economy indicators improve, maintain themselves, or fall, it is the companies that are prepared for success that will win the work.

Therefore, work does need to be done, and the safety compliance requirements to secure new work contracts have not changed. What are you doing in 2015 to ensure that your organization passes safety compliance with flying colours and secures work in the days, weeks and months ahead?

Here’s what any smart organization is doing now to address safety compliance in 2015:

  1. COR/SECOR Manuals
    Your Safety Manual is oblivious to economic conditions. The fact of the matter is that you either have an industry-appropriate safety manual that is up-to-standard, or you do not. Those that do are positioned well to win the contracts up for grabs in the marketplace.

  2. Internal Assessment & Review
    Safety inspections are a common occurrence on the job site. Conducting on-site safety assessments and reviews with your workers is key to ensuring a safe workplace, ensuring that your site remains operational if a safety inspector makes an unforeseen visit.

  3. Safety Training
    Training new workers and refreshing experienced ones is a key safety strategy for any successful business. Loss work time due to a safety issue becomes a larger problem in a downturn economy.

  4. Registry Compliance
    New governments love to introduce their own Occupational Health & Safety regulations, or revise existing ones. Smart companies are ensuring that their registry compliance is updated and scoring well, so that when that next contract is on the line, they are prepared to win.

Construction Back Pain Workplace SafetyA sound safety strategy remains one of the most important components to your business strategy. This fact remains so in the uncertain times we are facing. Workforce Compliance Safety is a Canadian leader in safety compliance, with a proven record helping contractors achieve and maintain compliance. We are here so you can take the next step forward.

Occupational Health & Safety Peace Officers: Their Role & Authority

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With on-going needs to ensure a safe workplace, the Alberta government has recently introduced a new role to enforce safety compliance at the work site. They are called occupational health and safety (OHS) peace officers, trained individuals able to issue tickets and penalties to any worksite employer or worker for workplace safety violations. The introduction of the OHS officer is a result of increases in provincial injury rates and high fatality rates in the Alberta workforce over recent years.

Occupational health and safety officer10 OHS officers are on the job in Alberta at this time with a total of 143 officers to gain ticketing certification. Altogether, OHS peace officers can issue tickets for 67 different provisions, from WHMIS violations, personal protective equipment violations, fall protection, confined spaces, log book inadequacies at oil & gas well sites, and many more. Upon doing so workers receiving the tickets will be held accountable under Alberta law for the specific violation against OHS legislation for which they’ve been charged. Those ticketed charges can vary in cost, between $100 to $500 per ticket for workers/employers, and up to $10,000 for employer administrative fines. It is important to note that a ticket can only be issued to an individual worker once it is proven that the employer is already in compliance with the safety issue at hand.

Alberta OHS Peace Officers may:

  • Issue Tickets for OHS Violations
  • Issue Stop Work Orders
  • Issue Compliance Orders
  • Issue Stop Use Orders
  • Ask for Management Meetings

Workers or employers who refuse to pay the ticketed fine may be issued a warrent for their arrest. Taking it one step further, any ticketed violations against a worker or employer are sent to a police database, meaning that any unpaid OHS tickets will come up on police computers in the event of being issued a speeding ticket, or during some other police officer interaction.

Here is a web link to the 67 OHS Ticketable Provisions for your reference.

Here is a web link on details on Administrative Penalties for your reference.

Workplace Safety And Personal Protective Equipment

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Regardless of the industry you work in, you and your co-workers spend large amounts of time in the office and on the job-site. Ensuring that your workplace is a safe and healthy environment is important to your well-being. That assurance begins with your personal protective equipment (PPE). Many accidents can be avoided by simply wearing the proper PPE as this infographic clearly shows. View the statistics below, forward it to your co-workers and colleagues, and don your personal protection equipment every work-day.

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