Lesson 1: Health and Safety Legislation

Glossary


Workplace Health and Safety Legislation


Every job has safety concerns and risks — some jobs are very dangerous. Since it is impossible to completely eliminate all risks, government legislation and regulations are needed so that these risks are at least minimized. 

In every province of Canada, governments have written acts, regulations, and codes & guidelines to increase safety and decrease injury and fatality incidents in the workplace.

The purposes of these government "acts, regulations, and codes & guidelines" are summarized in the following table:




 ACTS REGULATIONS
 CODES & GUIDELINES

  • establish legal authority              
  • provide general principles      
  • identify rights
  • state responsibilities
  • set the rules supported by law           
  • establish safety requirements
 
  • provide outlines and details
  • specify testing procedures
  • establish procedures for keeping records
 
e.g, Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act

 e.g., WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System  e.g., Employment Standards Code


In general, these acts, regulations, and codes & guidelines determine laws, regulations, and rules for the behaviour of employers and employees in most work situations.

      The following lessons, in this unit, will explore more about the government acts, codes and guidelines.