JOINT CONSULTATION

National Health and Safety Policy Committee

December 13, 2007

The National Health and Safety Policy Committee had its final meeting of 2007 on December 13. The following is what we discussed.

The Auditor General is conducting a Health & Safety Audit and we will review those results as they become available. In the meantime, the NHSPC is examining the Health and Safety Standards of both the CSA (Canadian Standards Association) and the ISO (International Standards Organization). In January we will adopt one or the other, in order to be able to measure our current program for compliance. This measurable program is a requirement of the Canada Labour Code and will no doubt be an aspect of the Audit.

The issue of Appliances in the Workplace was brought back, as it seems that the network of Health & safety Committees was not officially notified of the last communiqué on the subject. Notification was sent to Property Managers and to all employees, but the OSH committees were expected to read the minutes of this committee to remain informed. A separate reminder will now be sent to the committees, but please do read the minutes of this committee to remain further informed. They are posted on the Intranet

A new process for Policy Creation was presented at this meeting. The steps involved in creating a policy were reduced from 18 to 8. This should lessen the amount of time required to adopt a policy considerably. There will be input from all of the regions much earlier in the process, in order to incorporate their concerns and issues from the beginning. Some finalization of the details is still to be done, but once completed I will let all of you know.

The Emergency Evacuation Policy is still unresolved, but the Working Group will outline the areas where there is agreement and clarify those areas where there is disagreement in order to report to the Deputy Minister. Treasury Board Standard 3.1, which is the issue of contention, will be placed on the agenda of the National Joint Council for discussion and a representative of Treasury Board will be invited to attend a meeting of the Working Group in order to more fully understand the implications and concerns over this standard.

The Health & Safety Policy (DP-007) has been translated, approved and is en route to the Deputy Minister for signature.

The Training Sub-committee has had to postpone its third meeting of the year due to low attendance. We hope to have this problem rectified in the coming year. In the meantime we are still seized of the Departmental Policy on H&S Training (DP-024), hoping to have this completed by the spring.

Environmental Sensitivities was another well-discussed issue at this meeting. The Department currently deals with this as a Duty to Accommodate concern, and the committee was satisfied that for now this would protect our members sufficiently. If a member is being made ill by the workplace however, they should not continue to report to work until the matter has been resolved. Medical certification of the condition is required in order for the accommodation to be provided, but in the case of a Refusal to Work, a Health Canada investigator can issue a directive without a doctor.

Potable Water was also discussed. The Committee agreed that municipal water was the safest because it is tested daily. Bottled water and water coolers are not so rigorously tested. Water coolers have varying degrees of sanitation, and there is an emerging concern over the safety of the plastics used to bottle water. Most people are unaware that bottled water has a "Best Before" date too, and that this is for safety reasons.

Finally, I'd like to thank the Pacific Region for their hospitality during their recent Health & Safety Seminar. It was a very interesting and lively event.

Of particular interest was their work regarding Environmental Sensitivities, where one of the workplace committees issued its own policy. They report that there has been a significant reduction in absenteeism as a result of this directive and that the cost to the Department was zero dollars.

They also had a demonstration of the most recent defibrillators, along with a presentation on their effectiveness and ease of use. The Department still remains unconvinced that they should be made available, but we are considering reviewing this stand. It has been several years since we examined this issue and there have been significant changes in the technology and maintenance required since then.

Again, if you have any questions, feel free to call me. This report is not secret, so you may also feel free to distribute it to your network of Health and Safety activists.

May the season be kind to all of you, and may the New Year bring you the best. 

In Solidarity,

Alex Sauvé, GSU National Vice-president