Together, we can keep workers safe
As an employer, you have a responsibility to promote a safe workplace for your employees — one where workers feel comfortable exercising their rights. Educating your workers on their rights promotes a more productive and efficient work environment. Safety is good for business!
Protecting rights starts with employers.
There are three important rights all workers have to stay safe on the job. These rights are protected under the Saskatchewan Employment Act.
Click on a “right” to learn more and ace a quiz!
Learn what supervisors can do to promote workers’ rights and prevent injuries in our online Supervision and Safety course!
The Supervision and Safety course introduces supervisors to their legal responsibilities for occupational health and safety at the workplace. By the end of this one-day course, supervisors will know:
- how to locate relevant information in Saskatchewan Occupational Health and Safety legislation to address occupational health and safety (OHS) issues in their workplace
- their duties and required competencies under Saskatchewan Occupational Health and Safety legislation
- specific duties of a supervisor within workplace OHS management systems
What is the “right to know”?
Give your staff the training and information they need to do their jobs safely and prevent injuries.
The right to know means that as an employer you need to educate your employees about all the potential hazards in your workplace and how to protect themselves and others. A hazard is anything that might cause an injury or illness. A good first step to determine what information and training your workers need is to do a hazard assessment of your workplace. A hazard assessment identifies the hazards in your workplace and the controls you need to prevent injuries and illnesses.
Information can look like product labels, safety data sheets and safe work procedures or codes of practice. The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) is used by many workplaces to provide information about how to use, handle and store hazardous materials.
- A general understanding of occupational health and safety regulations.
- Workplace hazards identified during day-to-day operations.
- Steps to take for daily pre-use inspections of tools and how to use equipment and machinery safely.
- How to report sub-standard or hazardous working conditions.
- Specific procedures for various types of work (e.g., working in a confined space, working alone, working at heights).
- Safe work policies, procedures and codes of practice as required by both the legislation and the workplace.
- Emergency procedures, such as emergency evacuation, first aid, incident reporting and investigation procedures.
Training and instruction can be given online, in writing or in person. It can come from a supervisor, a co-worker or someone outside of the workplace, and employers must pay for all training that is part of a workers’ job.
Clear communication is also included in the right to know. Employers need to give workers the information they need to do their job safely in a way that they can understand.
How to use this right
Example:
You manage a restaurant and have just hired a new server. Before they start work, you need to give your new employee the right information to do their job safely.
All new workers must have a workplace training session. You educate them on how to safely handle the soft drink dispensers because they use compressed air cylinders. You also teach them how to use and clean the deep fryers without getting hurt and how to prevent strains, sprains and back injuries.
As an employer, you make sure that the new employee’s first shift is all about learning what to do and how to do it safely.
What is the “right to participate”?
Everyone has a right and a responsibility to help make the workplace safe.
You can improve safety and staff engagement by encouraging employees to use their right to participate by voicing their ideas and concerns. They have the right to share ideas about how to make your workplace safer. The more involved your staff are, the more aware they will be of safety in the workplace.
How to encourage participation
Example:
You’ve been managing a grocery store for over a year. There is one set of swinging doors that act as an entrance and exit to the grocery storage area at the back of the store.
One of your employees tells you they have seen a few incidents where workers who use these doors at the same time bump into each other and the door hits one of the workers. Luckily, no one has been badly injured yet, but they mention that they have some ideas about how to make these doors safer. They suggest that you add windows so workers can see oncoming foot traffic. They also suggest that you put up signs that say workers must enter through one door and exit through the other.
You agree with your employee and the occupational health committee (OHC) that these doors are an issue and approve the worker’s suggestions. The changes are made to make the doors safer for everyone.
When employees feel encouraged to bring up safety issues or ideas, everyone benefits from a safer workplace. The right to participate is all about improving the safety of your workplace for everyone.
What is the ““?
If the task is too risky, your employees can say no.
Workers in Saskatchewan have the right to refuse unusually dangerous work. As an employer, it is your responsibility to investigate and address the concern in a way that makes everyone feel heard and safe. When employers value their people’s safety, it pays off in higher morale and staff retention.
Every workplace has hazards. Not all hazards are considered unusually dangerous. An unusual danger or hazard could include:
- A danger that would normally stop work, like operating a forklift that has a flat tire.
- Something that is not normal for the job, like repairing a roof in bad weather with dangerous winds.
- A situation employees haven’t been properly trained for, or where they don’t have the right equipment or experience to do the work safely. For example, cleaning windows on a tall building without any training or fall protection equipment.
You can support the right to refuse by having a clear process for everyone to follow when a worker refuses unusually dangerous work. Encourage workers, occupational health committees and supervisors to take the right to refuse unusually dangerous work seriously. This right is guaranteed in the Saskatchewan Employment Act and you cannot fire employees for speaking up about their concerns.
What to do when an employee refuses unusually dangerous work
Example:
Unfortunately, too often workers do not speak up when they are uncomfortable with a task and injuries occur. Empower your workers to speak up!
You are a supervisor at a personal care home. There’s a large sign outside that’s usually lit up, but it’s not working. You ask one of your staff to fix it. While this employee mostly works with patients, they also spend a few hours a week cleaning and helping with small maintenance tasks.
The employee tells you they are not comfortable doing the task. The ladder is broken, and they do not have any training to work with electricity.
You understand their concerns and decide to call a company to come and fix the light.
Because this employee felt comfortable raising their concerns, you prevented a potentially hazardous situation that could have caused a serious injury or even death.
Prevention is the best defense when it comes to workplace health and safety.
