Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/86-304)

Medical Examinations

• 10.7 (1) If a report referred to in section 10.5 recommends a medical examination for the employees likely to be exposed to a hazardous substance, the employer shall consult a physician to ascertain the necessity for that medical examination.

• (2) The employer, having consulted a physician pursuant to subsection (1) who has confirmed the necessity for a medical examination, shall not permit an employee to handle the hazardous substance in the work place unless a physician acceptable to the employee has examined the employee and declared the employee fit, or fit with specified restrictions, to handle the hazardous substance.

• (3) Where the physician examining an employee pursuant to subsection (2) declares the employee fit with specified restrictions to handle the hazardous substance, the employer shall not permit the employee to handle the hazardous substance in the work place except in accordance with the specified restrictions.

• (4) Where an employer consults a physician pursuant to subsection (1), the employer shall keep a copy of the physician’s decision with the report referred to in section 10.5.

• (5) The cost of a medical examination referred to in subsection (2) shall be borne by the employer.

Storage, Handling and Use

10.8 Every hazardous substance stored, handled or used in a work place shall be stored, handled or used in a manner whereby the hazard related to that substance is reduced to a minimum.

10.9 If a hazardous substance is stored, handled or used in a work place, any hazard resulting from that storage, handling or use shall be confined to as small an area as possible.

10.10 Every container for a hazardous substance that is used in a work place shall be so designed and constructed that it protects the employees from any health or safety hazard that is caused by the hazardous substance.

10.11 The quantity of a hazardous substance for use or processing in a work place shall, if feasible, be limited to the quantity required in one work day.

• 10.12 (1) Where, in a work place, a hazardous substance is capable of combining with another substance to form an ignitable combination and there exists a hazard of ignition of the combination by static electricity, the employer shall implement the standards set out in the United States National Fire Protection Association, Inc. publication NFPA 77, Recommended Practice on Static Electricity, dated 1988, as amended from time to time.

• (2) For the purpose of interpreting the standards referred to in subsection (1), acceptable means appropriate.

Warning of Hazardous Substances

10.13 Where a hazardous substance is stored, handled or used in a work place, warnings shall be given in appropriate places at access points warning every person granted access to the work place of the presence of the hazardous substance and of any precautions to be taken to prevent or reduce any hazard of injury to health.

Employee Education and Training

• 10.14 (1) Every employer shall, in consultation with the policy committee or, if there is no policy committee, the work place committee or the health and safety representative, develop and implement an employee education and training program with respect to hazard prevention and control at the work place.

• (2) The employee education and training program shall include

  • (a) the education and training of each employee who handles or is exposed to or who is likely to handle or be exposed to a hazardous substance, with respect to

    • (i) the product identifier of the hazardous substance,

    • (ii) all hazard information disclosed by the supplier or by the employer on a safety data sheet or label,

    • (iii) all hazard information of which the employer is aware or ought to be aware,

    • (iv) the observations referred to in subparagraph 10.5(a)(i),

    • (v) the information disclosed on a safety data sheet referred to in section 10.28 and the purpose and significance of that information, and

    • (vi) in respect of hazardous products in the work place, the information required to be disclosed on a safety data sheet and on a label under Division III and the purpose and significance of that information;

  • (b) the education and training of each employee who installs, operates, maintains or repairs an assembly of pipes or any other equipment referred to in section 10.24, with respect to

    • (i) every valve and other control and safety device connected to the assembly of pipes,

    • (ii) the procedures to follow for the proper and safe use of the assembly of pipes, and

    • (iii) the significance of the labelling, colour-coding, placarding or other modes of identification that are used;

  • (c) the education and training of each employee who is referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), with respect to

    • (i) the procedures to follow to implement sections 10.8, 10.9 and 10.12,

    • (ii) the procedures to follow for the safe storage, handling, use and disposal of hazardous substances, including procedures to be followed in an emergency involving a hazardous substance, and

    • (iii) the procedures to follow if an employee is exposed to fugitive emissions as defined in section 10.29; and

  • (d) the education and training of each employee on the procedures to follow to access electronic or paper versions of reports, records of education and training given and safety data sheets.

• (3) Every employer shall, in consultation with the policy committee or, if there is no policy committee, the work place committee or the health and safety representative, review and, if necessary, revise the employee education and training program

  • (a) at least once a year;

  • (b) whenever there is a change in conditions in respect of the presence of hazardous substances in the work place; and

  • (c) whenever new hazard information in respect of a hazardous substance in the work place becomes available to the employer.

10.15 The employer shall keep a paper or electronic record of the education and training given to every employee and

• (a) make it readily available for examination by the employee in any form, as determined in consultation with the policy committee or, if there is no policy committee, the work place committee or the health and safety representative; and

• (b) keep it for a period of two years after the employee ceases

  • (i) to handle or be exposed to the hazardous substance, or is no longer likely to handle or be exposed to the hazardous substance, or

  • (ii) to install, operate, maintain or repair the assembly of pipes.

Substitution of Substances

10.16 No person shall use a hazardous substance in a work place if a non-hazardous substance or one that is less hazardous can be used instead.

Ventilation

• 10.17 (1) Every ventilation system installed on or after January 1, 1997 to control the concentration of an airborne hazardous substance shall be so designed, constructed, installed, operated and maintained that

  • (a) the concentration of the airborne hazardous substance does not exceed the values and levels prescribed in subsections 10.19(1) and 10.20(1) and (2); and

  • (b) it meets the standards set out in

    • (i) Part 6 of the National Building Code,

    • (ii) the publication of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists entitled Industrial Ventilation, 20th edition, dated 1988, as amended from time to time, or

    • (iii) ANSI Standard ANSI Z9.2-1979 entitled Fundamentals Governing the Design and Operation of Local Exhaust Systems, dated 1979, as amended from time to time.

• (2) If feasible, every ventilation system installed before January 1, 1997 to control the concentration of an airborne hazardous substance shall be maintained so as to meet the requirements set out in subsection (1).

• 10.18 (1) Before a ventilation system referred to in subsection 10.17(1) is operated for the first time in a work place, the employer shall set out in writing instructions pertaining to the inspection, testing and maintenance of that ventilation system.

• (2) The instructions referred to in subsection (1) shall specify the nature and frequency of inspections, tests and maintenance to be performed on the ventilation system.

• (3) The employer shall ensure that a qualified person

  • (a) carries out each inspection, testing and maintenance of the ventilation system in accordance with the instructions referred to in subsection (1); and

  • (b) makes and signs a report with respect to each inspection, test or maintenance work.

• (4) A report referred to in paragraph (3)(b) shall

  • (a) include the date of the inspection, test or maintenance work performed by the qualified person;

  • (b) identify the ventilation system that was inspected, tested or maintained; and

  • (c) set out the safety observations of the qualified person in respect of the ventilation system.

• (5) The employer shall keep at the work place at which the ventilation system is located a copy of

  • (a) the instructions referred to in subsection (1), and

  • (b) the most recent report referred to in paragraph (3)(b).

• (6) The employer shall give to every employee who operates a ventilation system the necessary education and training for the safe and proper use of the system.

• (7) The employer shall keep a paper or electronic record of the education and training given to every employee who operates a ventilation system for as long as the employee remains in the employer’s employ.

Control of Hazards

• 10.19 (1) An employee shall be kept free from exposure to a concentration of

  • (a) an airborne chemical agent, other than airborne grain dust, airborne flour dust and airborne asbestos fibres, in excess of the value for that chemical agent adopted by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, in its publication entitled Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) and Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs), as amended from time to time;

  • (b) airborne grain dust in excess of 4 mg/m³; or

  • (c) airborne flour dust in excess of 3 mg/m³.

• (1.1) An employer shall ensure that an employee’s exposure to a concentration of airborne asbestos fibres is as close to zero as possible, but in any event the employer shall ensure that the concentration does not exceed the value for airborne asbestos fibres adopted by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists in its publication entitled Threshold Limit Values (TLV) and Biological Exposure Indices (BEI), as amended from time to time.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of concentrations of carbon dioxide or respirable dust in the underground portion of a coal mine.

• (3) If the concentration of an airborne chemical agent is likely to exceed the value referred to in subsection (1), air samples shall be taken and the concentration of the chemical agent shall be determined

  • (a) in accordance with the standards set out by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists in its publication entitled Manual of Analytical Methods Recommended for Sampling and Analysis of Atmospheric Contaminants, dated 1958, as amended from time to time;

  • (b) in accordance with the standards set out by the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods, third edition, volumes 1 and 2, dated February, 1984, as amended from time to time;

  • (c) in accordance with a method that collects and analyses a representative sample of the chemical agent with accuracy and with detection levels at least equal to those which would be obtained if the standards referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) were used; or

  • (d) where no specific standards for the chemical agent are set out in the publications referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) and no method is available under paragraph (c), in accordance with a scientifically proven method used to collect and analyse a representative sample of the chemical agent.

• (4) A paper or electronic record of each test made under subsection (3) shall be kept by the employer at the employer’s place of business that is nearest to the work place where the air sample was taken, for a period of three years after the date of the test.

• (5) A record referred to in subsection (4) shall include

  • (a) the date, time and location of the test;

  • (b) the hazardous substance in respect of which the test was made;

  • (c) the sampling and testing method used;

  • (d) the result obtained; and

  • (e) the name and occupation of the person who made the test.