Why is the Canadian Government so concerned with occupational health and safety?

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Labour

www.labour.gc.ca

Workplace Safety - An Overview

Ensuring Respect for Workplace Safety

We all spend a considerable portion of our day in the workplace. Ensuring that workplaces are safe is important to the well-being of everyone and to the performance of the country’s economy.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s Labour Program is committed to workplace safety in the federal public service and in the private sector under federal jurisdiction. […]

Occupational Health and Safety

Canadians have the right to work in a safe and healthy environment. The Government of Canada protects this right through legislation, programs and services designed to prevent accidents and injuries on the job. The Labour Program works proactively with employers to reduce occupational injuries and illnesses in federally regulated workplaces by providing information on improving health and safety in their organizations, such as:

• the role of policy, workplace health and safety committees and health and safety representatives;
• workplace inspections and safety audits;
• the right to refuse dangerous work;
• worker complaints procedures; and
• accident investigations procedures.

A Few Highlights

In recent years, the Labour Program has focused on a number of special activities. An example is new regulatory requirements for employers to develop and implement a hazard prevention program in consultation with their policy and workplace committee or health and safety representative, including the identification and assessment of ergonomics-related hazards.

Workplace Violence

Discrimination, harassment or physical violence: workplace violence in its many forms affects the lives of many Canadians. Curbing violence in the workplace is everyone’s responsibility – employers, unions and government. In 2008, the Government of Canada introduced new regulations under the Canada Labour Code to prevent violence in the workplace. The Violence Prevention in the Workplace Regulations define workplace violence and require the development of a policy to prevent it.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

The Labour Program is committed to eliminating sexual harassment from our workplaces. The Canada Labour Code confirms a worker’s right to a workplace free of sexual harassment and requires that employers make every reasonable effort to ensure that no worker is subjected to sexual harassment. […]

Available in: <http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/labour/overviews/workplace_safety/overview.shtml>. Access on: Sept. 10, 2011. Adapted.

Why is the Canadian Government so concerned with occupational health and safety?