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Occupational health and safety policy

Policy, Procedure, & Program Development

Occupational Health and Safety Legislation across Canada requires employers to establish occupational health and safety policies and programs in accordance with the regulations.  Work that creates a moderate or high risk of injury within an a workforce of 20 or more, a formal safety management program is required.  Smaller organizations require a less formal program. 

Regulations can often be difficult to understand and make practical.  Due diligence documentation is required to demonstrate the employer's policies and programs are functioning.  Common policies and procedures required include:

  • First Aid

  • Working Alone

  • Violence Prevention

  • Workplace Inspection

  • Unsafe Work Refusal

  • Accident Reporting and Investigation

  • Personal Protective Equipment

  • Emergency Procedures

How HSC can help...

Put HSC's twenty years of policy, procedure and program development to work for your organization's safety management.  By engaging leadership and staff at the beginning of development, I combine the requirements of the Regulations with the needs of operations.  It's important to avoid putting expectations in writing that are not practically achievable, as WorkSafeBC will hold you to your policy, even if it above what is required by law. 

Policies, procedures, guidelines, and supporting documentation differ:

  • A policy sets out what an organizations strives to do and makes explicit its values.  For example, "At XYZ, we conduct daily vehicle inspections prior to use. 

  • A procedure (sometimes called a Safe Operating Procedure or SOP) sets out, step-by-step, how the vehicle inspection will be done and what documentation is to be completed.  A procedure is like a recipe, all the steps must produce, for example, a cake, when followed.  Guidelines may be required to support a procedure.  A guideline can be used as a education or training tool supporting the procedure.  As in the cake example, a new person may not understand what is meant by the instruction, "cream the butter and sugar together" in the procedure.  The guideline document would explain but once learned, may not be necessary to refer to each time the procedure document is followed. 

  • Supporting documentation, as in the vehicle inspection example, would include the inspection checklist that is to be completed and submitted.  These documents, when combined, create your safety management program.  And when you've accumulated completed safety inspections, these add to you due diligence documentation should WorkSafeBC scrutinize the management of safety.

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HSC can help your organization create all elements outlined above. 

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