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May 2-8: Together we can create safe workplaces and communities
To support Safety and Health Week, WSCC is planning a week-long focus on young workers and on reducing the risks of fatigue in the workplace. Join our online webinars, check out our online resources, and follow our social media pages for daily updates.
How Can you celebrate in your workplace?
- Host a daily safety meeting for employees.
- Pick the subjects that are important for your workplace, and give staff members the opportunity to lead the discussion.
- Send out a daily safety email with resources that your team can read or review. Check out some of WSCC's resources that you can share:
- Have a safety competition. Organize a daily quiz or weekly bingo sheet on your workplace's essential safety information: emergency plans, safety policies, and industry or job-specific subjects that are important for your workers.
Show your commitment to health and safety by sharing how you are celebrating by emailing our team, or by sharing a photo on Facebook and Twitter and tagging @WSCCNTNU!
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Safety Spotlight: Fatigue
Creating an impairment policy for your workplace
Fatigue can be a hard form of impairment to identify. Being tired is practically a fixture of a busy life, but when is tired TOO tired? Having an impairment policy in your workplace can help prepare workers and supervisors to identify fatigue in the workplace and manage it appropriately.
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations says that you need to have a policy covering all forms of impairment in your workplace. The legislation says that your impairment policy must include:
- Duties of the worker to report when they are impaired.
- Duties of the employer for identification of impairment, worker protection, and corrective action.
- A description of how your policy will be implemented in your workplace.
- An outline of how impairment will be identified.
- Ways to prevent impairment in the workplace.
- An education and training plan for your workers.
- A timeline for policy review.
The WSCC recommends that impairment management is an open conversation between workers and employers. When it comes to fatigue in the workplace, it requires everyone to watch out for one another as the signs and symptoms can be hard to recognize.
Resources
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Young Workers
creating a safe and strong next generation of workers
Did you know that workers under the age of 25 are more likely to experience a workplace incident or injury? On-site orientation, clear educational resources, and the essentials of safety are things that should be provided to all workers, but particularly when they are a young worker who is new to the workforce!
Resources
The WSCC has good guidance resources and tools to help employers start young employees off on the right foot. The Young Workers' Program has resources that are written for a young audience with clear explanations that cover the basics of safety. All of these resources are available for free online, and can be incorporated into your safety program:
- Young Worker Certificate Course - An online 2-hour e-course that reviews the essentials of workplace safety. Have all your new and returning workers take the course and receive a certificate of completion.
- Orientation guide for Young Workers - A step-by-step overview of topics you should be covering in orientation with your new and returning workers.
- Young Worker Toolbox Talks - Instructor and student sheets designed to discuss industry specific safety topics.
Employers have a responsibility to train and prepare workers to do their job safely. The WSCC is here to support your organization with resources covering the essentials of safety, which can be added to your job-specific safety training. Give young workers the tools and information they need to do their job safely from day one. Encourage young workers to ask questions when they don't understand something. Safety is everyone's responsibility, even if it is their very first day on the job.
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Summer is just around the corner. With warmer weather comes seasonal work, which may require additional administrative items and training for your staff.
High Hazard Work Notification
If your business is taking on any high hazard work, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (OHS Regulations) states that employer needs to give notice to the Chief Safety Officer of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories as soon as reasonably possible. If your business is taking on any high hazard work over the summer, contact us today. High hazard work includes:
- Beginning a new operation in construction, manufacturing, or processing with 20 or more workers who will be working for six months or more;
- Digging an excavation, trench, or excavating a shaft that is more than 5 feet, or that a worker will need to enter;
- Digging a tunnel that a worker will be required or permitted to enter.
Clearance Letter Request
Did you know that under the Workers' Compensation Act(s), you can be held liable for any unpaid assessments of contractors that you hire? The Act(s) state that you are both jointly and individually liable to pay the WSCC any assessment relating to their contracts. On WSCC Connect, you can obtain a Letter of Good Standing before you start work, and a Final Clearance when the work is finished to protect yourself from the liability of having to pay your contractors' assessments.
If you are putting in a proposal for work that your company hopes to take on, you can request a Bidding Clearance letter to prove that your business is registered with the WSCC.
Safety resources
Remember that any time the work changes or the work site changes, your workers need to be trained to do their work safely. The WSCC has several types of resources you can use to help train your workers:
- Codes of Practice will help employers, supervisors, and workers understand what is required by the legislation.
- Safety Bulletins are subject overviews that can be posted around your office.
- Toolbox Talks are outlines for safety talks that you can have with employees.
- The OHS App is safety legislation at your fingertips! Once downloaded, the app works regardless of whether you have access to internet or not, so it is perfect for anyone working off-site, on the land, or simply a worker or supervisor that needs fast and easy access to essential safety information.
Contact the WSCC if you have any questions about the work you are taking on this summer, or your responsibilities under the Workers' Compensation Act(s) and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. All workplace safety related legislation can be found on our website. The WSCC is here to support you in creating a safer workplace.
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WSCC Offices are closed for Victoria Day on Monday, May 24th, and will reopen on Tuesday, May 25th at 8:30 AM.
To report a serious workplace injury or incident, call 1-800-661-0792.
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wscc.nt.ca / 1.800.661.0792 * wscc.nu.ca / 1.877.404.4407
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