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WorkSafeBC announces new health and safety requirements
Richmond, B.C., September 5, 2006 — WorkSafeBC has announced amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation designed to bring the Regulation up to date with new advances and current workplace practices, and to enhance workplace health and safety throughout the province.
The amendments introduce new safety requirements that will affect a number of B.C. industries. They include substantial changes related to safety-engineered needles, traffic control, and crane safety. All amendments will become effective beginning January 1, 2007.
New safety-engineered needle requirements
Under the amended regulation, workplaces will be required to protect workers by ensuring that safety-engineered needles that provide the highest level of protection are used, whenever clinically appropriate, for collecting blood or accessing a vein or artery, while caring for or treating a person. Needleless devices may also be used when safe and appropriate. And employers must ensure that safe work procedures are in place to govern the use of safety-engineered needles or needleless devices.
“Needle-stick injuries pose a serious risk to health-care and other workers, exposing workers to potential blood-borne infections such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV,” said Roberta Ellis, WorkSafeBC's vice-president of Policy and Research. “The new needle requirements are a significant step forward in improving safety and reducing the risk of these potentially deadly incidents.”
B.C. is the third province in Canada to introduce safety-engineered needle requirements, following Saskatchewan and Manitoba . The changes will come into effect on January 1, 2007 with a one-year phase-in period for full implementation. Most health authorities in B.C. are already in the process of transitioning to safety-engineered needles.
“This is an important first step that will address the greatest risk of blood-borne pathogen exposure. Based on our recent consultation and public hearings across the province there are additional safety measures that must be explored to ensure workers are protected,” said Ellis.
This fall, WorksafeBC will conduct an additional public hearing to consider expanding the scope of the requirement to include safety-engineered devices for all hollow-bore needles and other medical sharps. A date and location will be announced shortly.
New traffic control requirements
The amendments to the traffic control section of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation provide employers and workers with greater flexibility in training traffic control persons. Previously, all traffic control persons were required to take the same comprehensive course. With these amendments, training can be delivered in a number of ways, tailored to meet the specific job requirements. The regulation maintains the requirement that this training be acceptable to WorkSafeBC.
The amendments also provide greater clarity around various aspects of traffic control safety and employer responsibilities, and set out new traffic control equipment requirements that reflect current industry standards to protect workers. The changes will impact a number of industry sectors, including municipalities, construction operations, utility companies, emergency response agencies, and the road building and road maintenance sectors.
Crane safety and additional changes
The amendments to the Regulation broaden the scope of safety requirements to apply to all crane and hoist owners/operators. As part of the changes, the operators of a mobile crane, tower crane, and boom truck will need to have a valid operators' certificate, issued by a person recognized by WorkSafeBC. This amendment will provide the framework for a crane operator certification program, which is currently being developed by the B.C. Association for Crane Safety and WorkSafeBC.
WorkSafeBC has also introduced amendments to other sections of the Regulation to provide clarity and address issues related to implementation and compliance. A complete listing of the changes is available on WorkSafeBC's web site at www.worksafebc.com.
Prior to final approval by the Board of Directors, WorkSafeBC consulted extensively with stakeholders and held public hearings in May 2006. WorkSafeBC's Board of Directors carefully considered the feedback received from worker and employer communities and the public before approving the changes.
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation contains legal requirements that must be met by all workplaces under the inspection jurisdiction of WorkSafeBC. By law, WorkSafeBC is committed to ongoing review of the Regulation to ensure that it remains consistent with current workplace practices, technological advances, and other changes affecting occupational health and safety in B.C.
WorkSafeBC is an independent provincial statutory agency governed by a Board of Directors that serves nearly two million workers and 184,000 employers. WorkSafeBC was born from the historic compromise between B.C.'s workers and employers in 1917 where workers gave up the right to sue their employers and fellow workers for injuries on the job in return for a no-fault insurance program fully paid for by employers. The organization is committed to safe and healthy workplaces and to providing return-to-work rehabilitation and legislated compensation benefits.
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For more information please contact: |
| Donna Freeman Manager Corporate Public Affairs WorkSafeBC Phone: 604 276-3141 or 604 802-1127 E-mail: donna.freeman@worksafebc.com |