These statistics provide evidence of something that makes logical sense: Workers are at their most vulnerable when they’re new. And if new workers are under 25, they’re at even greater risk. It’s not hard to understand why, explains Toronto OHS consultant Yvonne O’Reilly. New and young workers aren’t used to the workplace and its safety rules. And they’re also likely to be performing tasks, using tools and operating equipment with which they’re unfamiliar.

The implication: Making sure that each of your new workers receives a thorough safety orientation can go a long way towards preventing injuries. And providing a safety orientation for new workers isn’t just a sound injury prevention strategy; it’s also a legal requirement. We’ll outline what provincial and territorial OHS laws say about safety orientations. We’ll also tell you how to ensure that your safety orientation complies with these requirements. (LAWSCAPE)

WHAT THE LAW SAYS
All provincial and territorial OHS laws require employers to train their workers so that they can work safely. But they don’t always specify what, if any, special safety orientation workers should receive when they’re first hired. Among Canadian OHS laws, there are two approaches to safety orientations:

The 4 Specific Duty Jurisdictions
This summer, BC became the fourth province to specifically require employers to provide safety training to workers before they start work. The other three provinces that mandate safety orientations for new workers are MB, NL and SK:

• In NL, if an employer is required to have an OHS program, that program must include “a plan for orienting and training workers” [OHS Regs., Sec. 4(1)(d)];
• In MB, every employer must provide safety information, instruction and training to a worker before the worker starts work, starts a new position in the workplace or is moved to another part of the workplace that has different facilities, procedures or hazards [Workplace Safety and Health Act, Sec. 4(4)]; and
• In SK, employers must ensure that a worker gets safety training when the worker starts work or is moved from one job or part of the workplace to another that has different hazards, facilities or procedures [OHS Regs., Sec. 19(1)]. The SK regulations also spell out what topics that safety orientation must cover [Sec. 19(2)].

BC’s safety orientation requirements go the furthest. Employers in BC must provide safety orientations to not only new workers but also “young workers”—that is, any worker under age 25. A “new worker” is defined as any worker who is:

• New to the workplace;
• Returning to the workplace where the hazards have changed during the worker’s absence;
• Affected by a change in the hazards of a workplace; or
• Relocated to a new workplace if the hazards in that workplace are different from the hazards in the worker’s previous workplace.

The BC regulations require employers to:

• Provide health and safety orientation and training that’s specific to the workplace before the young or new worker starts work;
• Provide additional orientation and training if warranted, say, because a new worker can’t perform his job safely or requests additional help; and
• Document the orientation and training provided.

The 10 Implied Duty Jurisdictions
The remaining 10 provinces and territories—Fed, AB, NB, NS, NT, NU, ON, PEI, QC and YK—don’t specifically require employers to provide a safety orientation to workers before they start working or get reassigned. What all of these jurisdictions do say is that employers must ensure that their workers get adequate training to ensure their health and safety at work. The obligation to provide safety orientation for new workers is an implied part of this requirement.

How do we know that? Some jurisdictions have specifically come out and said as much. For example, the Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued a fact sheet for employers on young and new workers that cites the OHS Act’s general requirement that employers provide proper information, instruction and supervision to protect workers’ health and safety. The fact sheet goes on to state that “providing the best possible supervision and introduction to safety in the workplace is critical for anyone new on the job.”

Employers in these jurisdictions also have a clear duty to provide workers with training and information about hazards before they’re exposed to those hazards, adds O’Reilly. And the best way to satisfy that obligation is by giving a safety orientation when a worker starts work, she says.

HOW TO COMPLY
If your company is in BC, MB, NL or SK, your legal obligation is to do whatever the OHS laws tell you to do in regard to safety orientations. But only BC and SK provide detailed safety orientation requirements; the MB and NL laws simply say that you must provide safety training before new workers start work without specifying how. And if your company is in one of the 10 indirect duty jurisdictions where there are no regulations on the subject, it’s even less clear what measures you must take to provide a proper safety orientation to new workers.

So how do you know what to do to satisfy your legal obligations if you’re not from BC or SK? The best way to answer that question is by referring to the regulations of those two provinces. Unless and until your province establishes standards of its own, the BC and SK requirements represent the clearest indication of what the regulatory community considers acceptable in terms of providing safety orientations to new workers and so could be considered “best practices” for companies outside those jurisdictions, says O’Reilly. And, while in the real world you can and should do more than what the law requires to protect your workers, to ensure compliance, you should treat the BC and SK rules as a minimum standard for new worker safety orientation.

The Elements of a Safety Orientation
The BC and SK regulations touch on some of the issues you need to consider when deciding how to provide a safety orientation for new workers, including:

Who should provide the training. You can rely on any competent person, such as the HR director, a JHSC member, a supervisor, a union representative or an outside safety trainer, to give a general safety orientation, says O’Reilly. After all, a general safety orientation simply involves providing basic information about safety issues common to all workers, such as fundamental safety rules, the location of first aid kits and emergency procedures. New workers should also get an orientation on the specific hazards of the jobs they’ll be doing. The job-specific elements of the orientation should be given by a competent person who’s familiar with those hazards and the related safety rules, such as a supervisor or lead hand, says O’Reilly.

Who should attend the orientation. O’Reilly says that all new workers should be required to attend the safety orientation—even those who are very experienced. A new worker who’s highly qualified to do the job he was hired for is still likely to be unfamiliar with your workplace, its hazards and its safety rules, she explains. Assuming that a new worker doesn’t need a safety orientation because of his prior experience with another employer can be a costly mistake.

Example: A subcontractor for a Nova Scotia developer hired a worker who said that he had four years of carpentry experience. So the subcontractor assumed the worker knew how to do the job safely and didn’t provide him with a safety orientation. But the carpenter had lied. Instead of four years, he had only two months of experience. Sure enough, while carrying floor joists to another carpenter, the worker slipped and fell off the joist on which he was standing. He broke his neck in two places.

The developer and subcontractor were convicted of several OHS violations. The court noted that workers were given no formal safety training; instead, the subcontractor relied on “the experience of the workforce” as “its greatest safeguard.” And there was no evidence that this worker was qualified to do the work he was assigned safely [R. v. Barrington Lane Developments Ltd.].

Companies in BC, MB and SK must also give a safety orientation to any current worker who may be exposed to new hazards because of a change in work circumstances, such as a promotion to a new position involving different hazards. O’Reilly suggests that all companies, regardless of location, give safety orientations to any worker who:

• Is returning to the workplace after a lengthy absence, such as a maternity or long-term disability leave; or
• Has been reassigned to a new job or area of the workplace if the hazards associated with that job or in that area are different from the hazards in the worker’s previous job or area.

Insider Says: O’Reilly also suggests that companies give all visitors and contractors some sort of safety orientation when they come to the workplace. The extent of the orientation that these people need will depend on the nature of their visit, what areas of the workplace they’ll have access to, the hazard level in the workplace and the length of their visit.

When to give the orientation. New workers should get at least an overview of key safety issues and information on their first day and a general safety orientation within their first day or two on the job, says O’Reilly. And as workers are trained on how to perform their new jobs, they should get safety training when they first encounter each new hazard, she adds.

What to cover in the orientation. The BC and SK regulations spell out the topics that a company must include in workers’ orientation and training. Here’s a list of topics the orientation should cover based on these requirements and O’Reilly’s suggestions:

• The company’s OHS program and policy and the consequences for violating that policy;
• Workers’ rights and responsibilities under the law, such as the right to refuse unsafe work and the duty to comply with the safety rules;
• Employers’ rights and responsibilities under the law, such as the duty to provide a safe workplace;
• Workplace health and safety rules;
• Communication of safety information, such as the location of safety bulletin boards;
• Procedures for reporting safety incidents;
• Hazards specific to the workplace, such as confined space hazards and the dangers of working alone;
• General hazards, including workplace violence;
• PPE;
• Location of prohibited or restricted areas;
• Location of first aid facilities and how to summon first aid and report injuries and illnesses;
• Emergency procedures;
• Instruction and demonstration of workers’ specific tasks or processes;
• WHMIS information requirements;
• Supervisor’s name and contact information; and
• The JHSC (or health and safety representative), including who the members are and how to contact them.

How to conduct the orientation. If several new workers start at the same time, it’s appropriate to give a general safety orientation to those workers as a group, says O’Reilly. Then the workers can get individual orientations on their specific jobs.

Certain safety information should be put in writing and distributed to new workers, such as the company’s OHS policy and safety rules. But don’t just hand out some written materials, tell new workers to read them and call it a day. You must also go over the safety information with them and ensure that they understand it, says O’Reilly. If you don’t, your company may be liable for not properly training the workers.

Example: Two workers were off-loading natural gas condensate into a free-standing storage tank at a well in Alberta. Their truck was parked too close to the tank and its running engine sucked in condensate vapours, causing an explosion. Both workers were badly burned. The oilfield company was convicted of failing to properly train its workers. During the trial, the injured workers testified that when they were hired, they were given safety and hazard manuals to read over by themselves. They were also told to check their names off the new employee checklist after they’d read the manuals. But that practice wasn’t enough to satisfy the company’s training obligations under the OHS law, the court said. No one ever went over the manuals with the workers or confirmed that they actually understood any of what they were supposed to have read [R. v. Dial Oilfield Services].

Insider Says: Only BC specifically requires employers to document that they’ve provided safety orientations. But all companies should do so anyway, advises O’Reilly. If you don’t document your safety orientations your company won’t be able to prove that it provided them, she explains. And a lack of proof could undermine the company’s due diligence defence if, say, a new worker is injured and the company is charged with failing to properly train him.

Conclusion
As safety coordinator, it’s up to you to ensure that your company provides adequate training to all workers. And, if workers are especially vulnerable, they may require special attention. Few workers are more vulnerable than those who are new to your workplace. It’s therefore incumbent on you to provide a safety orientation to these workers the moment they first set foot in the workplace—if not sooner. The safety orientation is your opportunity to induct the new worker into the workplace and its safety culture, says O’Reilly. And the orientation will set the tone for how the worker sees the company’s commitment to safety, she notes. If new workers see that the company is being proactive and taking their safety seriously from day one, they’ll be more likely to take safety seriously themselves.

INSIDER SOURCE
Yvonne O’Reilly, CRSP: O’Reilly Health and Safety Consulting; (416) 294-4141; www.ohsconsulting.ca; info@ohsconsulting.ca.

SHOW YOUR LAWYER
R v. Barrington Lane Developments Ltd., [1994] N.S. J. No. 667, March 1, 1994
R. v. Dial Oilfield Services, [2007] ABPC 16, Jan. 19, 2007