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Legislation passes to help small businesses improve workplace safety Government Services Minister Dianne Whalen said today she is pleased with the passage in the House of Assembly of legislation to help small businesses comply with occupational health and safety requirements. The amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act passed during the fall session with the support of all parties. The changes provide flexibility to small businesses employing five persons or less to participate in mandatory occupational health and safety training. The Act previously stipulated that the required training must be taken by someone not associated with the owner or management of a company. The Occupational Health and Safety Branch has been monitoring the reaction of the small business community to this requirement since 2001. The department has received representation from small businesses that the requirement is too onerous to meet when dealing with high staff turnover. "What these amendments do is ensure that, in circumstances where it�s a hardship on an employer to send their limited staff resources for worker representative training, the employer has the option of sending a supervisor to take the training, or the employer can take the training," Minister Whalen said. "This ensures that someone in the workplace has the required training and essential workplace health and safety information. We believe we have achieved a balance that preserves the objective of healthy and safe workplaces without causing undue hardship on the small business sector. These amendments do not in anyway change the ultimate responsibility of the employer to provide a safe workplace." The Act now stipulates that, if a workplace employs five or less persons, then either a workplace health and safety designate or a worker health and safety representative is required, as well as an occupational health and safety policy. The workplace health and safety designate can be the supervisor or the employer. The department does retain the authority to intervene and order an employer to have a worker health and safety representative if it�s deemed in the best interest of the workers. This ensures that, where appropriate, a worker health and safety representative can still be required in workplaces with five or less persons. "We realize that requiring a worker health representative independent of the management or owner is not always appropriate or realistic for small and family-owned businesses," Minister Whalen said. "Given the high staff turnover and small number of workers, it�s difficult for this sector to meet the legislation on an ongoing basis." For employers and employees looking for more information on these changes, contact the Occupational Health and Safety Branch at 1-800-563-5471 or 729-3619. Media contact: Tracy Barron, Communications, (709) 729-4860 or 690-6157. 2004 12 20 1:00 p.m. |
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