SNEAK PEEK: What’s this Internal Responsibility System thing I keep hearing about?
STACS Inc. will be providing a week-long review of the key features and responsibilities of the Internal Responsibility System according to the OHSA starting on January 28th, 2013 brought to you by Nora Rock’s “Occupational Health and Safety in Ontario”
In the meantime, enjoy this sneak peak of what’s to come:
Key Features of the Internal Responsibility System in the eyes of OHSA:
“One of the key features of the OHSA is that it makes protecting worker safety a shared responsibility. It repudiates both the view that working (and earning) is a privilege that a worker assumes at her own risk, and the opposite view- that the employer is solely responsible for protecting workers. Instead, ever workplace party is expected to participate in making the workplace safe. The net result of the expectation is known as the Internal Responsibility System (IRS).”
Key Participants in the IRS are:
Employers and constructors;
Supervisors (as defined by the OHSA, not as defined by the employer);
The Health and Safety Representative or JHSC, and the Worker Trades Committee, if any;
Trade unions; and
Workers
Corporate officers and directors, owners of workplaces that are not construction projects, suppliers, licensees, and architects and engineers are also responsible for imposing safety promotions as well.
