Alberta Bill 30: Alberta Occupation Health and Safety Act

As of June 1, 2018, Bill 30 came into effect. Since then, all Alberta employers with more than four workers must comply with an additional “part three” in the Alberta OHS Act and must have representatives protecting the health and well-being of the employees. However, there are different requirements for large and small business in Alberta.

This bill aims to focus on the following items:

• The right to refuse dangerous work.
• The right to know.
• The right to participate.

Bill 30 defines “large employers” as greater than 20 employees and “small employers” as five to 19 employees. In either a large or small company, they must create a joint work site health and safety committee (HSC). Black Gold falls under the “large employers” category; this means we must have an HSC committee that consists of at least four people who represent workers that receive training regarding their duties and functions. An employer must allow 16 hours of training per year.

Additional training is provided to co-chairs, and members of an HSC committee must be completed through an organization that has been designated by the minister.

In this committee, members must complete the following:

• Identification of Hazards.
• Inspection of the work site.
• Investigations of serious injuries.

What do employees need to know?

• Take care in protecting the health and safety of the workers within the vicinity of the worksite while workers are working.
• Cooperate within one’s supervisor or employer when they are protecting the health and safety of themselves or other workers.
• Use PPE equipment.
• Refrain from harassment or violence.
• Report unsafe or harmful work sites.
• Know your legal rights under the new legislation and comply.

Employers must update or implement the following:

• Ensure awareness
  • All employees need to be aware of their responsibilities in preventing harassment, bullying and violence in the workplace.

• Train for Competence
  • Leaders in the company must be competent to respond to and identify harassment, bullying and violence in the workplace. Additionally, employees must understand what is considered “bullying and harassment” behaviour, how to recognize and how to report it.

• Have an assessment and reporting process

• Have an investigation process

• Integrate
  • Have OHS and HR departments working together to deal with workplace safety.

Black Gold has been working towards implementing all of the new regulations for workplace safety. If you need more information on the new regulations, please visit Government of Alberta OHS https://www.alberta.ca/occupational-health-safety.aspx