Canadian Occupational Safety

6 www.cos-mag.com Canadian Occupational Safety WORKPLACE NEWS Federal harassment, violence regulations clarify obligations By Sarah Dobson F ederally regulated employers facing changes under Bill C-65 around workplace harassment and violence — set to come into force in 2020 — now have more details after the govern- ment's release of proposed regulations. With these regulations, there is a shift toward a much more proac- tive system with more obligations on employers, said Malini Vijaykumar, a labour and employment lawyer at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Ottawa. "In fact, these regulations require employers not just to kind of sit back and wait for complaints — they actually require employers to do, for example, proactive training, proactive workplace violence risk assessments. So, there are more obligations than employers might think." Overall, the proposed regulations align with the other jurisdictions, but the primary area where there is a dif- ference is in the definition of harassment and violence on a full continuum of inappropriate behaviours, from teasing and bullying to physical violence, said Christopher Simard, spokesman for Employment and Social Devel- opment Canada. Additionally, Bill C-65 allows former employees to bring forward a complaint for up to three months after they cease to be employed. As part of the new rules, employers are required to jointly develop a prevention policy that outlines informa- tion on how they will address harassment and violence. The policy must also outline how an employer is to be informed of external dangers — such as family violence and stalking — that could result in workplace harassment and violence, and the measures they may implement to minimize those dangers. As part of the resolution process, employers would be required to respond to every notification of an occurrence of harassment and violence within five days. "Employers now have five days to confirm that they have this notification, let the parties know or the applicable party know how the policy can be accessed, explain the resolution process and let them know that they can get representation during the resolution process," said Vijaykumar. There are some very tight timelines, so it's going to be "a little bit onerous for federally regulated employers to manage," said Shane Todd, a partner at Fasken in Toronto. "I'm hoping they do what the Ontario government did, which was a lot of education in advance, even after they go live. And there was more education rather than hard enforce- ment right out of the gate, because I think that [employers will] need some time to get up to speed on things." Training around harassment and violence would have to be delivered at least every three years and provide instruction on the prevention policy, including crisis pre- vention, personal safety and de-escalation techniques. The training is going to be specific to the culture and nature of the workplace, said Vijaykumar. "There is some flexibility worked in to account for the particular needs of that particular workplace and what might work for the employer and employees there." Unless there's any major pushback, this is likely to be what the regime will look like going forward, said Todd, given the fact that extensive stakeholder consultations have already been done. "And a lot of it isn't going to be controversial. These are things that employers are familiar with: develop a policy, do an assessment, create some procedures, provide training," he said. "Those things aren't going to require much work for most employers — they probably will have that already." Ontario's work at height training impacts lost-time incidents A s of Oct. 1, 2017, all construction workers in Ontario who work at heights were required to have completed new Ministry of Labour training — and it seems they did. According to research from the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) in Toronto, 420,000 Ontario workers had taken the training by the time the regulation came into full force, representing 90-per-cent compliance. The researchers found that this training paid off, noting a "statistically significant but modest impact" on lost-time claims for falls from height in the construction sector. When comparing the lost-time claim rates from 2012 to 2014 (before the training was mandated) with those from 2017 (two years after the training was introduced), IWH found a 19.6-per-cent decline. The effect of the training was greatest in small construction firms with less than five employees as well as in Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) rate groups with a higher incidence of lost-time claims (which included high roofing, masonry and homebuilding). "We're seeing the largest effect in the groups that most need an improvement, which is a good thing," said Lynda Robson, IWH scientist and one of the researchers on this project. The quality of the Work at Heights training seemed to be an improvement from previous fall protection training offered before the regulatory change. According to a survey of training providers by IWH, 71 per cent said the new training offered more practical hands-on skill acquisition than the previous offering. More than one-half (52 per cent) said the Work at Heights training provided "much better" overall preparation to students than the previous fall protection training, with 24 per cent saying it was "somewhat better" and 19 per cent saying it was "about the same." All providers for the new Work at Heights training needed to be vetted by the Ministry of Labour Safety, well-being important to 9 in 10 Canadian job seekers N inety-four per cent of working Canadians say that workplace health, safety and mental well- being is important when choosing a job, according to an Angus Reid poll commissioned by the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC. Yet British Columbia employers lost 2.75 million work days to workplace injury or occupational disease in 2017, according to WorkSafeBC statistics. Recently, executives and board members from the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC met with Minister of Labour Harry Bains to raise awareness about workplace health and safety and its impact on recruitment and retention. "Challenged to recruit and retain staff in the face of the lowest unemployment in Canada, more B.C. employers are recognizing they need a robust health and safety system to attract and retain qualified workers," said Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC CEO Lisa McGuire. "We know that a safe and healthy workplace is what jobseekers are looking for." According to the Angus Reid survey, slightly more women than men (97 per cent compared to 91 per cent) said that workplace health and safety was very important or somewhat important. Among young people, 96 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 responding said it was very important or somewhat important compared to 93 per cent of those over 35. Meanwhile, just 77 per cent of Canadians currently working said that decisions made in their work- place consider employee health, safety and well-being all or some of the time, according to the poll. Truck driver training for farmers introduced N ew training requirements for those wishing to drive a semi in agriculture operations in Saskatchewan will be phased in starting next year. The changes follow the implementation of 121.5 mandatory training hours for Class 1 commercial semi drivers that came into effect in March. "We wanted to take some more time to consult with the farm sector on the impacts mandatory training would have on their industry, recognizing that vehicles used in farming operations are, in most cases, not on the roads as much as commercial semis; they also tend to travel shorter distances and through areas with lower traffic volumes," Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) Joe Hargrave said. Effective March 1, 2020, anyone wishing to obtain an "F" endorsement on their existing driver's licence will be required to take 40 hours of commercial driver training. Effective March 1, 2021, the "F" endorsement will be eliminated and anyone wanting to operate a semi will require a Class 1 driver's licence, which will include taking the full 121.5-hour mandatory training program. By 2021, mandatory training programs across the prairies will be completely aligned. "The majority of people we consulted in the agriculture sector agreed training was necessary to improve safety for everyone travelling on our roads," said Hargrave.

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