Service-Wide Committee on Occupational Health and Safety

The role of the Service-Wide Committee on Occupational Health and Safety (SWOHS) is to participate in the development and review of all Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat policies, programs and issues relating to occupational health and safety. The SWOHS Committee provides advice and leadership to the departmental or agency policy committees.

SWOHS Communiqués

Committee Advisor: David.Le@njc-cnm.gc.ca

Quarterly Report to the National Joint Council (June 2019)

Regular activities:

• The Committee has met twice (2) and has held two (2) additional ad hoc meetings since the last Council meeting.
• The Committee also wishes to note the departure of Employer Side Co-Chair, Don Graham, from TBS, and thank him for his many years of service and contributions to the priorities of the Service-Wide Committee on Occupational Health and Safety.
• In May, the Committee welcomed a new Employer Side Co-Chairperson, Renée de Bellefeuille, from TBS.
• The Committee received a presentation from Health Canada regarding the Public Service Occupational Health Program (PSOHP), which is responsible for administering health evaluations for jobs with specific medical requirements. It was explained that the PSOHP will be transitioning away from paper-based assessments/file management and will begin piloting an electronic information management system known as the National Occupational Health Information System (NOHIS), which will provide a number of benefits to client departments.
• With respect to activity based working, the Committee received two presentations from PSPC. The first was a summary report of the GCworkplace fit-up pilot which took place in March 2018. The second was a new initiative called GCcoworking, which seeks to establish shared office spaces across the country where employees from multiple departments can visit and go about their daily tasks.
• The Committee received a briefing from the Labour Program on the Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations which were published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on April 27, 2019. Recognizing areas of mutual concern, the Committee prepared a jointly developed submission to the Labour Program.
• SWOHS sub-committees continue to work actively on developing resources and materials which will assist Departments/Agencies and Policy Committees.
  1. Sub-committee on Competent Persons – The sub-committee continues to review and develop guidance materials related to the competent person selection process. Most recently, the sub-committee developed a high level flow chart which will assist Departments/Agencies in navigating the steps to respond to a work place violence incident. This flow chart is available on the SWOHS communiqué page.
  2. Sub-committee on OHS Training – The sub-committee is well on its way to developing an OHS curriculum for all employees. An overview of the course modules has been established and the sub-committee has been reviewing possible training providers as well as drafting communication pieces.

Outstanding item(s):

• The Committee will continue to monitor the progress on the Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations.

Next meeting: September 26, 2019