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

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.

Marginal note:Information likely to reveal identity

• 136.1 (1) Neither the Head nor an employer shall, without the person’s consent, provide, under this Part, a health and safety representative 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. A health and safety representative shall not 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:Committees or representatives — specified work places

137 Despite sections 135 and 136, if an employer controls more than one work place or the size or nature of the operations of the employer or those of the work place precludes the effective functioning of a single work place committee or health and safety representative, as the case may be, for those work places, the employer shall, subject to the approval or in accordance with the direction of the Head, establish or appoint in accordance with section 135 or 136, as the case may be, a work place committee or health and safety representative for the work places that are specified in the approval or direction.

Coal Mining Safety Commission

Marginal note:Establishment of Commission

• 137.1 (1) There is hereby established a Coal Mining Safety Commission, in this section referred to as the “Commission” consisting of, subject to subsection (2.1), not more than five members to be appointed by the Minister to hold office during pleasure.

• Marginal note:Members of Commission

  (2) One member of the Commission shall be designated chairperson of the Commission by the Minister and the others shall be equally representative of the non-supervisory employees employed in coal mines and of the employers of those employees.

• Marginal note:Alternate chairperson

  (2.1) The Minister may appoint, by order, and under the terms and conditions specified in the order, any person as an alternate chairperson to act in the absence or incapacity of the chairperson. An alternate chairperson, while acting as chairperson, has all of the powers, duties and immunity of the chairperson.

• Marginal note:Selection and tenure

  (3) The manner of selection of the members of the Commission, other than the chairperson and an alternate chairperson, and the term of office of the members of the Commission shall be such as may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Quorum

  (4) A quorum of the Commission consists of the chairperson or alternate chairperson, one member representative of non-supervisory employees and one member representative of employers.

• Marginal note:Ineligibility

  (5) No person to whom powers, duties or functions have been delegated under subsection 140(1) or (1.1), or under an agreement entered into under subsection 140(2), is eligible to be appointed to the Commission or as alternate chairperson under subsection (2.1), or to be designated for the purposes of subsection 137.2(1) or (2).

• Marginal note:Remuneration

  (6) The members of the Commission, including an alternate chairperson, shall be paid the remuneration that may be fixed by the Governor in Council and, subject to the approval of the Treasury Board, any reasonable travel and living expenses that are incurred by them while performing their functions away from their ordinary place of residence.

• Marginal note:By-laws

  (7) The Commission may, subject to the approval of the Minister, make by-laws for the conduct of its activities.

• Marginal note:Staff and other assistance

  (8) The Minister may, at the request of the Commission, make available to the Commission such staff and other assistance as are necessary for the proper conduct of its activities.

• Marginal note:Annual report

  (9) The Commission shall, within sixty days following the end of each calendar year, submit a report to the Minister of its activities during the year.

• Marginal note:Immunity

  (10) No member of the Commission and no person designated by the Commission pursuant to subsection 137.2(1) or (2) is personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done in good faith under section 137.2.

Marginal note:Approval of plans, procedures

• 137.2 (1) The Commission or persons designated by the Commission for the purposes of this subsection may approve in writing, with or without modification, plans or procedures submitted in accordance with paragraph 125.3(1)(d).

• Marginal note:Approval of methods, machinery, equipment

  (2) On the application of an employer, the Commission or persons designated by the Commission for the purposes of this subsection may, if, in the opinion of the Commission or those persons, protection of the health and safety of employees would not thereby be diminished,

  • (a) approve in writing the use by the employer in coal mines of mining methods, machinery or equipment in respect of which no prescribed safety standards are applicable; or

  • (b) approve in writing, notwithstanding anything in this Part, the use by the employer in coal mines, for a specified time and subject to specified conditions, of any mining method, machinery or equipment that does not meet prescribed safety standards applicable in respect of it.

• Marginal note:Exemptions and substitutions

  (3) On the application of an employer, the Commission may, if in its opinion protection of the health and safety of employees would not thereby be diminished, by order,

  • (a) exempt the employer from compliance with any provision of the regulations in the operation of coal mines controlled by the employer, subject to any conditions contained in the order; or

  • (b) substitute for any provision of the regulations, so far as it applies to coal mines controlled by the employer, another provision having substantially the same purpose and effect.

• Marginal note:Recommendations for amendments

  (4) The Commission may make recommendations to the Minister for amending or revoking any provision of the regulations applicable to coal mines or for adding any provision thereto.