Assignment 1: The Three Rights

Numerous standards and requirements are imposed on employers to

maintain workplace safety. (Kelloway, Francis, & Gatien, 2014, p. 17) Many of
these standards and requirements, as well as much of the health and safety
legislature in Canada stem from the three principal rights under the
Occupational Health and Safety Act (Ministry of Labour, 2016):
1. The right to participate to be part of the process identifying and
resolving health and safety concerns.
2. The right to know about any hazards to which workers may be
exposed in the workplace
3. The right to refuse dangerous work, or work that workers perceive to
be reasonably dangerous, without penalty

These rights ensure that workers have the knowledge they need to be sage
on the job and the freedom to participate in health and safety activities in
their workplace. I will discuss each of the three rights in detail, providing a
description of each right, how these rights have impacted current
occupational health and safety programs as well as provide a real world
example of how the right has been used or neglected, along with the results.

The Right to Participate

This gives workers the right to participate in health and safety decisions in
their workplace, and the right to participate in identifying and resolving
health and safety issues or concerns. This right is expressed mainly in the
requirements for Joint Health and Safety Committees and representatives
(Ministry of Labour, 2016), although is not limited by participation in the
committee itself or holding a representative title. Essentially, workers have a
fundamental right to participate in the workplace health and safety activities
through a Joint Health and Safety Committee or as a worker health and
safety representative, or simply by providing suggestions through their
supervisor or worker representative on the committee. Further, it means that
workers have the right to become active within their companys safety
committee or procedure. Workers have the right to identify, report, and
control workplace hazards. (Information and Communication Technology
Council)

This right has had substantial impact on current occupational health and
safety Health and Safety Committee programs. In most Canadian
jurisdictions, a health and safety committee is required by law for workplaces
with 20 or more workers, for construction projects expected to last three
months of longer with 20 or more workers, or where a designated substance
regulation applies. The committee must be made up of management and
workers, with at least one certified worker and one certified management
person. The JHSC has various roles including: to act as an advisory body, to
identify hazards and obtain information about them, to recommend
corrective actions, to assist in resolving work refusal cases, to participate in
accident investigation and workplace inspections and to make
recommendations to management regarding actions required to resolve
health and safety concerns. (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and
Safety, 2017) The management and workers must meet collectively to
identify and recommend solutions to health and safety problems. (Windsor
Worker's Education Centre, 2015) The committee ensures that health and
safety concerns are brought into the open and are dealt with until resolved.

Workplaces with more than five but less than 20 workers are not generally
required to have a Joint Health & Safety Committee but instead must have a
designated person from among themselves to act as a health and safety
representative. The chosen representative deals with health and safety
problems in the workplace much the same as health and safety committees
do. (Ministry of Labour, 2016)

This right has been put to use by many unionized workplaces. Organized
labour and professional associations have used the collective bargaining
process to incorporate Health and Safety provisions into many contracts by
formalizing voluntary measures and extending legislative programs.
(Kelloway, Francis, & Gatien, 2014, p. 15) For example, some contracts state
that a union must have a full time Safety Representative in all plants. A
concrete example of the success of this application is the Oshawa Group.
When the Oshawa Group employed Health and Safety professionals, they
reduced their accident rate by 30% over five years. (Kelloway, Francis, &
Gatien, 2014, p. 15)

The Right to Know

This is the workers right to know, or to be informed about, actual and
potential hazards in their job and workplace. (Canadian Centre for
Occupational Health and Safety, 2017) This right creates a provision that the
employer or supervisor must tell the workers about anything in their job that
can be hazardous or dangerous. The employer must also make sure that the
workers are provided with the information they need to perform their job
safely, and operate in the workplace safely. (Windsor Worker's Education
Centre, 2015) This right puts responsibility into the employers hands,
including the duties to: identify hazardous materials, to obtain or prepare
Material Safety Data Sheets, and to provide information and prescribed
instruction, training and education programs to workers who are exposed or
likely to be exposed to hazardous materials and to ensure that the workers
participate in such training. (Ministry of Labour, 2016)

This right also had substantial impact on occupational health and safety
programs. The most prominent impact of the right is on the Canada-wide
Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, a system designed to
give employers and workers information about hazardous materials. WHMIS
was established in every Canadian jurisdiction, based on the fundamental
right of workers to know about potential hazards in the workplace. (Kelloway,
Francis, & Gatien, 2014, p. 7) WHMIS gives workers the right to know about
the hazardous materials they are exposed to on the job. (Ministry of Labour,
2016) The right to know has created numerous other programs such as the
Hazard Control Program which consists of all steps necessary to protect
workers from exposure to a substance or system, the training and the
procedures required to monitor worker exposure and their health to hazards
such as chemicals, materials or substance, or other types of hazards such as
noise and vibration. A written workplace hazard control program should be
provided to workers and should outline which methods are being used to
control the exposure and how these controls will be monitored for
effectiveness. (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2017)

Although the right to know was originally created in 1988, it didnt stop
many companies from operating with asbestos without providing their
workers with appropriate training, prevention or limited exposure to this
extremely hazardous chemical. My grandfather was a welder in my
hometown, Sarnia Ontario which is considered the Chemical Valley of
Ontario. He welded mainly in the petrochemical industry, where asbestos
was widely used as insulation for pipelines. Although the welders were
informed of the use of asbestos, they were uninformed of its deadly risks or
provided sufficient means to take precaution and avoid breathing it in as
much as possible. Through constant and long-standing exposure to asbestos
my grandfather passed away from mesothelioma, an asbestos-linked cancer
in late 2015. From the period of 1993-2008 there were over 1000 workers
with asbestos-related cancer and another 1200 people with pleural plaques,
a fibrotic condition of the lungs that is a marker of asbestos exposure.
(Ubelacker, 2016) Had the unions and various companies that employed
welders and pipefitters adhered more closely to the WHMIS Act and provided
workers, apprentices and students with information on how dangerous and
present the chemical is in the field of welding and pipefitting perhaps Sarnia
would not have lost so many loved ones from this horrible disease. Deaths by
mesothelioma and other asbestos-induced cancers and diseases have cost
the countrys health care system hundreds of millions of dollars and the
financial toll will continue to rise as more cases arise. Finally, in wake of
hundreds of thousands of deaths and hundreds of million dollars spent, the
federal government has announced a national strategy to protect people
from health risks posed by exposure to asbestos and to ban asbestos and
asbestos-containing products by 2018. (Workplace Safety and Prevention
Services, 2017)

The Right to Refuse Unsafe Work

This right allows an employee to refuse work that they believe to be unsafe
to either himself/herself or his/her workers without penalty. A worker who
believes that he or she is endangered by workplace violence may also refuse
work. (Ministry of Labour, 2016) A worker can refuse to work if he or she has
reason to believe that: any machine, equipment or took that the worker is
using or is told to use is likely to endanger himself or herself or another
worker, the physical condition of the workplace or workstation is likely to
endanger himself or herself, workplace violence is likely to endanger himself
or herself, or any of the above is likely to endanger another worker. (Ministry
of Labour, 2016) If a worker wishes to refuse work on the basis of it being
unsafe they must immediately tell the supervisor or manager that the work
is being refused and explain the circumstances for the refusal. (Ministry of
Labour, 2016) Further, an employer is prohibited from penalizing, dismissing,
disciplining, suspending or threatening to do any of these things to a worker
who has obeyed the Occupational Health and Safety Act. (Ministry of Labour,
2016) Work can only be stopped in dangerous circumstances meaning
that: the OHSA or the regulations are being contravened, the contravention
poses a danger or hazard to a worker, and any delay in controlling the
danger or hazard which may endanger a worker.

This right lead to the creation of the Young Worker Awareness Program,
which was designed to integrate training into high school curricula about
recognition of hazards faced by young people in the workplace. (Kelloway,
Francis, & Gatien, 2014, p. 15) In 2015 the Young Worker Awareness Program
was transitioned into the Health and Safety Awareness Presentation,
available through the Workplace Safety & Prevention Services. This
presentation/program gives students, new immigrants and other vulnerable
workers the crucial information they need to ensure health and safety on the
job. (Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, 2015) This program aims to
inform vulnerable workers who are at a higher risk for workplace injury and
illness, as well as to help them understand their risks and their rights, such
as to refuse unsafe work.

Summer students often do not receive the proper training and the
information that they have the right to refuse unsafe work. During the
Summer between my first and second year of university my friends and I
decided to accept jobs with a landscape and maintenance company here in
Ottawa. Although I was advised to wear steel toed shoes I was not provided
any training to use the machinery that I did. On a daily basis I used chain
saws, industrial tree clippers, drills and more. Furthermore, part of our role
was to pick up large fallen branches from parks and were told to continue
working during high-wind storms when branches were falling in all directions
around us. Luckily none of my friends or I were injured, however they type of
work we were performing had a high risk of accidents without any training or
the information that we had the right to refuse such unsafe work. Its
extremely scary looking back on the tasks we were assigned considering
between 2009-2013, 30 young workers aged 15 to 24 died in work related
incidents and more than 30,000 received injuries resulting in lost time at
work. (Ministry of Labour, 2015) Thankfully, starting in May 2015 the Ministry
of Labour inspectors check that employers are complying with Ontarios
OHSA, including checking that new and young workers are properly
informed, instructed and supervised on the job, that they meet minimum age
requirements and that they follow safety measures and procedures to
prevent injuries. (Ministry of Labour, 2015)

Bibliography
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Kelloway, K., Francis, L., & Gatien, B. (2014). Management of Occupational

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Education Ltd.

Ministry of Labour. (2015, May 13). Summer Inspection Blitz Targets New and
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https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/news/2015/bul_summerblitz2015
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Ministry of Labour. (2016, September 12). Rights and Duties: FAQs. Retrieved
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https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/faqs/rights.php

Ubelacker, S. (2016, January 21). Cases of mesothelioma continue to rise:

StatsCan. National Post.
Windsor Worker's Education Centre. (2015). Right to Know, Right to
Participate, Right to Refuse. Retrieved January 14, 2017, from Windsor
Worker's Education Centre: http://www.wwec.ca/right-to-know-right-to-
participate-right-to-refuse/

Workplace Safety & Prevention Services. (2015). Health & Safety Awareness
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