Canada Labour Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. L-2)

Work Place Health and Safety Committees

Marginal note:Establishment mandatory

• 135 (1) For the purposes of addressing health and safety matters that apply to individual work places, and subject to this section, every employer shall, for each work place controlled by the employer at which twenty or more employees are normally employed, establish a work place health and safety committee and, subject to section 135.1, select and appoint its members.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) An employer is not required to establish a committee under subsection (1) for a work place that is on board a ship in respect of employees whose base is the ship.

• (3) [Repealed, 2018, c. 22, s. 7]

• (4) [Repealed, 2018, c. 22, s. 7]

• (5) [Repealed, 2018, c. 22, s. 7]

• Marginal note:Exemption if agreement

  (6) If, under a collective agreement or any other agreement between an employer and the employer’s employees, a committee of persons has been appointed and the committee has, in the opinion of the Head, a responsibility for matters relating to health and safety in the work place to such an extent that a work place committee established under subsection (1) for that work place would not be necessary,

  • (a) at an employer’s request, the Head may, in writing, exempt the employer from the requirements of subsection (1) in respect of that work place;

  • (b) the committee of persons that has been appointed for the work place has, in addition to any rights, functions, powers, privileges and obligations under the agreement, the same rights, functions, powers, privileges and obligations as a work place committee under this Part; and

  • (c) the committee of persons so appointed is, for the purposes of this Part, deemed to be a work place committee established under subsection (1) and all rights and obligations of employers and employees under this Part and the provisions of this Part respecting a work place committee apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, to the committee of persons so appointed.

• Marginal note:Posting of request

  (6.1) A request for an exemption must be posted in a conspicuous place or places where it is likely to come to the attention of employees, and be kept posted until the employees are informed of the Head’s decision in respect of the request.

• Marginal note:Duties of committee

  (7) A work place committee, in respect of the work place for which it is established,

  • (a) shall consider and expeditiously dispose of complaints relating to the health and safety of employees;

  • (b) shall participate in the implementation and monitoring of the program referred to in paragraph 134.1(4)(c);

  • (c) where the program referred to in paragraph 134.1(4)(c) does not cover certain hazards unique to the work place, shall participate in the development, implementation and monitoring of a program for the prevention of those hazards that also provides for the education of employees in health and safety matters related to those hazards;

  • (d) where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the development, implementation and monitoring of a program for the prevention of hazards in the work place that also provides for the education of employees in health and safety matters related to those hazards;

  • (e) shall participate in all of the inquiries, investigations, studies and inspections pertaining to the health and safety of employees, including any consultations that may be necessary with persons who are professionally or technically qualified to advise the committee on those matters;

  • (f) shall participate in the implementation and monitoring of a program for the provision of personal protective equipment, clothing, devices or materials and, where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the development of the program;

  • (g) shall ensure that adequate records are maintained on work accidents, injuries and health hazards relating to the health and safety of employees and regularly monitor data relating to those accidents, injuries and hazards;

  • (h) shall cooperate with the Head;

  • (i) shall participate in the implementation of changes that might affect occupational health and safety, including work processes and procedures and, where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the planning of the implementation of those changes;

  • (j) shall assist the employer in investigating and assessing the exposure of employees to hazardous substances;

  • (k) shall inspect each month all or part of the work place, so that every part of the work place is inspected at least once each year; and

  • (l) where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the development of health and safety policies and programs.

• Marginal note:Investigation — harassment and violence

  (7.1) Despite paragraph (7)(e), a work place committee shall not participate in an investigation, other than an investigation under section 128 or 129, relating to an occurrence of harassment and violence in the work place.

• Marginal note:Information

  (8) A work place committee, in respect of the work place for which it is established, may request from an employer any information that the committee considers necessary to identify existing or potential hazards with respect to materials, processes, equipment or activities.

• Marginal note:Access

  (9) A work place committee, in respect of the work place for which it is established, shall have full access to all of the government and employer reports, studies and tests relating to the health and safety of the employees, or to the parts of those reports, studies and tests that relate to the health and safety of employees, but shall not have access to the medical records of any person except with the person’s consent.

• Marginal note:Meetings of committee

  (10) A work place committee shall meet during regular working hours at least nine times a year at regular intervals and, if other meetings are required as a result of an emergency or other special circumstances, the committee shall meet as required during regular working hours or outside those hours.

Provisions Common to Policy Committees and Work Place Committees

Marginal note:Appointment of members

• 135.1 (1) Subject to this section, a policy committee or a work place committee shall consist of at least two persons and at least half of the members shall be employees who

  • (a) do not exercise managerial functions; and

  • (b) subject to any regulations made under subsection 135.2(1), have been selected by

    • (i) the employees, if the employees are not represented by a trade union, or

    • (ii) the trade union representing employees, in consultation with any employees who are not so represented.

• Marginal note:Exception — policy committee

  (2) Despite subsection (1) and if provided in a collective agreement or other agreement, the members of a policy committee may include persons who are not employees.

• Marginal note:Exception — work place committee

  (3) If there is no policy committee, a work place committee may, when dealing with an issue that would have come within the responsibilities of a policy committee, select two additional members. Unless otherwise provided in a collective agreement or other agreement, one of the additional members shall be an employee who meets the criteria set out in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b).

• Marginal note:Notification

  (4) If a trade union fails to select a person under subparagraph (1)(b)(ii), the Head may notify in writing the local branch of the trade union, and shall send a copy of any such notification to the trade union’s national or international headquarters and to the employer, indicating that the committee is not established until a person is selected in accordance with that subparagraph.

• Marginal note:Failure to select

  (5) If no person is selected under paragraph (1)(b), the employer shall perform the functions of the committee until a person is selected and the committee is established.

• Marginal note:Alternate members

  (6) The employer and employees may select alternate members to serve as replacements for members selected by them who are unable to perform their functions. Alternate members for employee members shall meet the criteria set out in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b).

• Marginal note:Chairpersons

  (7) A committee shall have two chairpersons selected from among the committee members. One of the chairpersons shall be selected by the employee members and the other shall be selected by the employer members.

• Marginal note:Chairpersons to assign functions

  (8) The chairpersons of a committee shall jointly designate members of the committee to perform the functions of the committee under this Part as follows:

  • (a) if two or more members are designated, at least half of the members shall be employee members; or

  • (b) if one member is designated, the member shall be an employee member.

• Marginal note:Records

  (9) A committee shall ensure that accurate records are kept of all of the matters that come before it and that minutes are kept of its meetings. The committee shall make the minutes and records available to the Head at the Head’s request.

• Marginal note:Time required for duties

  (10) The members of a committee are entitled to take the time required, during their regular working hours,

  • (a) to attend meetings or to perform any of their other functions; and

  • (b) for the purposes of preparation and travel, as authorized by both chairpersons of the committee.

• Marginal note:Payment of wages

  (11) A committee member shall be compensated by the employer for the functions described in paragraphs (10)(a) and (b), whether performed during or outside the member’s regular working hours, at the member’s regular rate of pay or premium rate of pay, as specified in the collective agreement or, if there is no collective agreement, in accordance with the employer’s policy.

• Marginal note:Wages for alternate members

  (12) Subsections (10) and (11) apply to alternate members only while they are actually performing the functions of the committee member they are replacing.

• Marginal note:Limitation of liability

  (13) No person serving as a member of a committee is personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done by the person in good faith under the authority or purported authority of this Part.

• Marginal note:Committee may establish rules

  (14) Subject to subsections 134.1(7) and 135(10) and any regulations made under subsection 135.2(1), a committee shall establish its own rules of procedure in respect of the terms of office, not exceeding two years, of its members and the time, place and frequency of regular meetings of the committee and may establish any rules of procedure for its operation that it considers advisable.

Marginal note:Information likely to reveal identity

• 135.11 (1) Neither the Head nor an employer shall, without the person’s consent, provide, under this Part, a policy committee or a work place committee with any information that is likely to reveal the identity of a person who was involved in an occurrence of harassment and violence in the work place. Neither a policy committee nor a work place committee shall have access to that information without the person’s consent.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply with respect to

  • (a) information provided under section 128 or 129 or a direction or report relating to the application of those sections; or

  • (b) a decision, reasons or a direction referred to in subsection 146.1(2).

Marginal note:Regulations

• 135.2 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) specifying the qualifications and terms of office of members of a committee;

  • (b) specifying the time and place of regular meetings of a committee;

  • (c) specifying the method of selecting employee members of a committee if employees are not represented by a trade union;

  • (d) specifying the method of selecting the chairpersons of a committee and their terms of office;

  • (e) establishing any rules of procedure for the operation of a committee that the Governor in Council considers advisable;

  • (f) requiring copies of minutes of committee meetings to be provided by and to any persons that the Governor in Council may prescribe;

  • (g) requiring a committee to submit an annual report of its activities, containing the prescribed information, to a specified person in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time; and

  • (h) specifying the manner in which a committee may exercise its powers and perform its functions.

• Marginal note:Regulation may be general or specific

  (2) A regulation made under subsection (1) may be made applicable generally to all committees or particularly to one or more committees or classes of committees.

Health and Safety Representatives

Marginal note:Appointment of health and safety representative

• 136 (1) Every employer shall, for each work place controlled by the employer at which fewer than twenty employees are normally employed or for which an employer is not required to establish a work place committee, appoint the person selected in accordance with subsection (2) as the health and safety representative for that work place.

• Marginal note:Selection of person to be appointed

  (2) The health and safety representative for a work place shall be selected as follows:

  • (a) the employees at the work place who do not exercise managerial functions shall select from among those employees the person to be appointed; or

  • (b) if those employees are represented by a trade union, the trade union shall select the person to be appointed, in consultation with any employees who are not so represented, and subject to any regulations made under subsection (11).

  The employees or the trade union shall advise the employer in writing of the name of the person so selected.

• Marginal note:Notification

  (3) If a trade union fails to select a person under subsection (2), the Head may so notify in writing the local branch of the trade union. The Head shall send a copy of the notification to the trade union’s national or international headquarters and to the employer.

• Marginal note:Failure to select a representative

  (4) The employer shall perform the functions of the health and safety representative until a person is selected under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Duties of representative

  (5) A health and safety representative, in respect of the work place for which the representative is appointed,

  • (a) shall consider and expeditiously dispose of complaints relating to the health and safety of employees;

  • (b) shall ensure that adequate records are maintained pertaining to work accidents, injuries, health hazards and the disposition of complaints related to the health and safety of employees and regularly monitor data relating to those accidents, injuries, hazards and complaints;

  • (c) shall meet with the employer as necessary to address health and safety matters;

  • (d) shall participate in the implementation and monitoring of the program referred to in paragraph 134.1(4)(c);

  • (e) where the program referred to in paragraph 134.1(4)(c) does not cover certain hazards unique to that work place, shall participate in the development, implementation and monitoring of a program for the prevention of those hazards that also provides for the education of employees in health and safety matters related to those hazards;

  • (f) where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the development, implementation and monitoring of a program for the prevention of hazards in the work place that also provides for the education of employees in health and safety matters;

  • (g) shall participate in all of the inquiries, investigations, studies and inspections pertaining to the health and safety of employees, including any consultations that may be necessary with persons who are professionally or technically qualified to advise the representative on those matters;

  • (h) shall cooperate with the Head;

  • (i) shall participate in the implementation of changes that may affect occupational health and safety, including work processes and procedures and, where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the planning of the implementation of those changes;

  • (j) shall inspect each month all or part of the work place, so that every part of the work place is inspected at least once each year;

  • (k) shall participate in the development of health and safety policies and programs;

  • (l) shall assist the employer in investigating and assessing the exposure of employees to hazardous substances; and

  • (m) shall participate in the implementation and monitoring of a program for the provision of personal protective equipment, clothing, devices or materials and, where there is no policy committee, shall participate in the development of the program.

• Marginal note:Investigation — harassment and violence

  (5.1) Despite paragraph (5)(g), a health and safety representative shall not participate in an investigation, other than an investigation under section 128 or 129, relating to an occurrence of harassment and violence in the work place.

• Marginal note:Information

  (6) A health and safety representative, in respect of the work place for which the representative is appointed, may request from an employer any information that the representative considers necessary to identify existing or potential hazards with respect to materials, processes, equipment or activities.

• Marginal note:Access

  (7) A health and safety representative, in respect of the work place for which the representative is appointed, shall have full access to all of the government and employer reports, studies and tests relating to the health and safety of employees, or to the parts of those reports, studies and tests that relate to the health and safety of employees, but shall not have access to the medical records of any person except with the person’s consent.

• Marginal note:Time required for duties

  (8) A health and safety representative is entitled to take the time required, during their regular working hours,

  • (a) to perform any of the representative’s functions; and

  • (b) for the purposes of preparation and travel, as authorized by both chairpersons of the policy committee or, if there is no policy committee, as authorized by the employer.

• Marginal note:Payment of wages

  (9) A health and safety representative shall be compensated by the employer for the functions described in paragraphs (8)(a) and (b), whether performed during or outside the representative’s regular working hours, at the representative’s regular rate of pay or premium rate of pay, as specified in the collective agreement or, if there is no collective agreement, in accordance with the employer’s policy.

• Marginal note:Limitation of liability

  (10) No health and safety representative is personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done by the representative in good faith under the authority or purported authority of this section.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (11) The Governor in Council may make regulations specifying

  • (a) the qualifications and term of office of a health and safety representative;

  • (b) the method of selecting a health and safety representative if employees are not represented by a trade union; and

  • (c) the manner in which a health and safety representative may exercise their powers and perform their functions.