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: Jennifer.Purdy@njc-cnm.gc.ca 

Quarterly Report to the National Joint Council (September 2019)

Regular activities:

• The Committee has met once (1) since the last Council meeting.
• The Committee wishes to note the departure of Bertrand Myre, from CAPE, Drew Heavens, from TBS, and Bruce Christianson from the RCMP, and thank them for their contributions to the Committee.
• The Committee welcomed three (3) new Bargaining Agent Side members, Emma McEachran, from CAPE, Jerry Ryan, from FGDTLC-E, and Éric Thibault, from UCCO-SACC-CSN. The Committee also welcomed a new Employer Side member, Claudia Zovatto, from TBS.
• The Committee received two presentations from PSPC:
  • The first pertained to climate resiliency and the ability of PSPC assets (e.g. buildings and central heating plants) to withstand extreme weather events in the near and distant future based on anticipated greenhouse gas emissions and climate forecasts.
  • The second presentation related to the Accessible Canada Act (Bill C-81) which received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. The Committee was informed that PSPC is conducting accessibility evaluations on 500 properties over the next five years with a goal to recommend accessibility improvements which go above and beyond proposed regulatory requirements.
• The Committee also received a presentation from Health Canada on radon and the Federal Building Testing Program which assessed numerous federal workplaces and implemented measures to mitigate the risks of exposure.
• With respect to activity based working, following the 2018 GCworkplace fit-up pilot and subsequent report, the Committee visited four GCworkplace facilities in the NCR to better correlate the findings in the report with users’ experience.
• 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 – Given the draft Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations, the sub-committee reviewed its 2019 Work Plan and will be focussing its attention on developing a standardized Statement of Work (SOW) and a Competent Persons Assessment tool.
  2. Sub-committee on OHS Training – The sub-committee is well on its way to developing an OHS curriculum for all employees. The sub-committee anticipates presenting a draft of the training modules to the SWOHS Committee at its next meeting.
• The Committee was tasked to examine a memo from the JEEC regarding new departmental policies in response to the legalization of cannabis which could be perceived to have an adverse or discriminatory impact on equity groups and those with undisclosed medical conditions. After some discussion it was agreed that a JEEC/SWOHS sub-committee be struck to examine the issue and determine a way forward.

Outstanding item(s):

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

Next meetings: January 23, 2020