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Guidelines Workers Compensation Act

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Guidelines Workers Compensation Act Part 3 Division 4

G-D4-126-1 Variations in joint committee requirements

Issued January 20, 2012

Regulatory excerpt
The Workers Compensation Act ("Act") states:

When a joint committee is required
125

An employer must establish and maintain a joint health and safety committee

(a) in each workplace where 20 or more workers of the employer are regularly employed, and

(b) in any other workplace for which a joint committee is required by order.

Variations in committee requirements
126

(1) Despite section 125, the Board may, by order, require or permit an employer to establish and maintain

(a) more than one joint committee for a single workplace of the employer,

(b) one joint committee for more than one workplace or parts of more than one workplace of the employer, or

(c) one joint committee for the workplace or parts of the workplaces of a number of employers, if the workplaces are the same, overlapping or adjoining.

(2) An order under subsection (1) may

(a) specify the workplace, workplaces or parts for which a joint committee is required or permitted, and

(b) provide for variations regarding the practice and procedure of a joint committee from the provisions otherwise applicable under this Part or the regulations.

Duties and functions of joint committee
130

A joint committee has the following duties and functions in relation to its workplace:

(a) to identify situations that may be unhealthy or unsafe for workers and advise on effective systems for responding to those situations;

(b) to consider and expeditiously deal with complaints relating to the health and safety of workers;

(c) to consult with workers and the employer on issues related to occupational health and safety and occupational environment;

(d) to make recommendations to the employer and the workers for the improvement of the occupational health and safety and occupational environment of workers;

(e) to make recommendations to the employer on educational programs promoting the health and safety of workers and compliance with this Part and the regulations and to monitor their effectiveness;

(f) to advise the employer on programs and policies required under the regulations for the workplace and to monitor their effectiveness;

(g) to advise the employer on proposed changes to the workplace or the work processes that may affect the health or safety of workers;

(h) to ensure that accident investigations and regular inspections are carried out as required by this Part and the regulations;

(i) to participate in inspections, investigations and inquiries as provided in this Part and the regulations;

(j) to carry out any other duties and functions prescribed by regulation.

Joint committee procedure
131
(1) Subject to this Part and the regulations, a joint committee must establish its own rules of procedure, including rules respecting how it is to perform its duties and functions.

(2) A joint committee must meet regularly at least once each month, unless another schedule is permitted or required by regulation or order.

Purpose of guideline
The joint health and safety committee ("joint committee") plays an important role in an employer’s internal responsibility system, providing workers and the employer a forum to address health and safety issues in a consultative manner.

The purpose of this guideline is to set out the employer’s responsibility in ensuring the joint committee is properly established and maintained.

This guideline is also intended to provide guidance on the factors that a WorkSafeBC prevention officer may consider in determining whether to issue an order to vary the joint committee structure under section 126.

Employer obligation
Under section 125, the employer has an obligation to "establish and maintain" a joint committee where required. The establishment and maintenance of the joint committee means that the employer must ensure the following:

The committee is meeting its obligations under section 130 in actively identifying and addressing potential health and safety concerns
The committee established rules and procedures for its operation under section 131(1)
The committee meets a minimum of once a month as required by section 131(2)

The employer should work with the joint committee in ensuring that obligations under these sections, as well as its other general duties as required by the Act or the OHS Regulation, are met.

The employer is expected to take an active role in ensuring the joint committee functions as required. If a situation is identified where the committee is not meeting its obligations, the employer may be deemed to not be adequately maintaining the joint health and safety committee.

Varying the joint committee structure
Section 125 requires a joint committee be established and maintained at each workplace where there are 20 or more workers of the employer. An employer, or members of a joint committee at a particular workplace may wish to vary this requirement to provide a structure that is more appropriate for the type of workplace or workplaces operated by the employer. The situations where this may arise include the following:

The employer may have a number of similar workplaces and it may be more practical or effective to have a single joint committee encompassing all of these workplaces, rather than a number of distinct committees operating separately
The employer may wish to have distinct committees for each workplace, but operated under the umbrella of a corporate safety committee
The employer may have a number of similar workplaces; some of which may not have the 20 workers needed to require a joint committee, and worker representatives may desire a structure that includes these workplaces
The workplace might not have 20 or more workers "regularly" employed, though there may be a large number of workers with irregular employment and health and safety issues that are best addressed through a committee structure
The employer has different workforces with different health and safety issues across a number of workplaces

Process
Varying the joint committee requirements in section 125 may only be done by a Board (i.e., WorkSafeBC) order. Typically this will be triggered by a request from a workplace party (e.g., the employer, members of the committee, the union).

The request should be supported by as much relevant information as possible. This could include the following:

Terms of reference for the proposed committee
Reasoning as to why the proponent believes that a new structure will work better towards addressing hazards and reducing injuries
Proposed number of representatives
Meeting minutes if the structure has been in operation without approval
Injury statistics
Hazard rating for each of the workplaces involved and types of hazards present at the workplace

In considering the request, the prevention officer’s goal is to evaluate whether the proposed structure will be practical and equal or more effective than the structure set out in section 125. Factors that the prevention officer should consider include the following:

Nature of the employer’s overall safety program or safety history
Nature of the work undertaken at the different workplaces and whether the health and safety issues vary widely or share broad similarities
Nature or makeup of the workforce, and whether there should be representation from specific workplaces
Nature of the relationship between workers and the employer at the different workplaces
Practicality of communication between workers and their committee representatives

The prevention officer should ensure that there is a union or workers’ representative agreement to the proposed structure and that workers’ interests are best represented in the proposed structure.

The prevention officer may also wish to provide a time limit to the order, such as a year or two years, to allow for the new structure to be reviewed and renewed by the prevention officer based on the findings of the review. This review could involve the employer conducting worker surveys, reviews of injury trends, and a review of the meeting minutes to ensure the new structure is effective.

G-D4-135-1 Joint committee course approval

Issued February 27, 2001; Revised March 25, 2005; Editorial Revision October 23, 2012

Section 135(1) of the Workers Compensation Act ("Act") states:

Each member of a joint committee is entitled to an annual educational leave totalling 8 hours, or a longer period if prescribed by regulation, for the purposes of attending occupational health and safety training courses conducted by or with the approval of the Board.

A person who is new to the role of joint committee member, or to the role of worker health and safety representative, is likely to best meet their occupational health and safety training needs through introductory level courses such as the WorkSafeBC Joint Committee course developed by WorkSafeBC. A joint committee member or a worker health and safety representative who already has had education, training and experience in health and safety programs and committee activity may or may not be able to meet their current training needs through WorkSafeBC offerings. In some instances, workplaces have training needs which are unique to their processes or situations. In these cases, joint committee education/training needs may best be addressed through courses developed and delivered by public or private sector providers.

The following sets out what is a course "conducted by or with the approval of WorkSafeBC" under section 135 of the Act:

WCB WorkSafeBC courses - For information on WorkSafeBC courses call (604) 276-3090 or toll-free (from within BC) at 1-888-621-7233, extension 3334.

Other courses - Other occupational health and safety courses are acceptable if the employer follows a reasonable process of assessing the training needs of committee members and selecting appropriate training programs outside of the WorkSafeBC courses. Appropriate occupational health and safety training programs for committee members are related to the duties and the responsibilities of the committee. A reasonable process would include the steps set out in Policy Item D4-135-1 of the Prevention Manual. The selected training programs do not need to be referred to WorkSafeBC for pre-approval; however, WorkSafeBC reserves the right to deal with any disputes over the appropriateness of training and otherwise to monitor or inquire into the contents and conduct of training.

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Disclaimer: The Worker and Employer Services Division issues Guidelines to help with the application and interpretation of sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and with divisions of the Workers Compensation Act that relate to health and safety. Guidelines are not intended to provide exclusive interpretations but to assist with compliance. The Workers' Compensation Board of B.C. ("WorkSafeBC") does not warrant the accuracy or the completeness of the online version of the Guidelines and neither WorkSafeBC nor its board of directors, employees or agents shall be liable to any persons for any loss or damage of any nature, whether arising out of negligence or otherwise, which may be occasioned as a result of the use of the online version of the Guidelines.