Contents
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
G29.0 Jurisdiction
G29.3 Pre-job planning and training
G29.5 Communications
G29.12 Unstable materials
Guidelines Part 29 - General requirements
G29.0 Aircraft Operations – Jurisdiction
Issued August 1999
The federal government has jurisdiction over the operation of aircraft, the aircraft's equipment, navigation and crewing, including workers on the ground solely engaged in attaching or detaching loads from the aircraft. The Board's jurisdiction covers the safety of other workers on the ground where an aircraft is used in a provincially regulated business.
Some of the matters dealt with by the Board's regulations will be to a large extent under the control of the owner or pilot of the aircraft who is outside the Board's jurisdiction. For example, the flying of loads over workers as prohibited by section 29.9 and the load that an aircraft can safely lift under section 29.15 fall in this category. In such situations, the employer who hires the aircraft company, or the owner or prime contractor where there is more than one employer on the site, should coordinate the work to ensure that these provisions are complied with. See section 118 of the Workers Compensation Act and section 26.2 of the OHS Regulation.
G29.3 Pre-job planning and training
Issued August 1999
Section 29(3) of the OHS Regulation states "The employer must
(a) provide written safe work procedures for workers who are exposed to hazards from aircraft operations,
(b) ensure that workers are provided with adequate pre-job instruction and that the instruction is documented, and
(c) ensure that workers can demonstrate the ability to safely perform their tasks as required".
Clause (b) requires not only that workers are instructed but that this is documented. Normally, the instruction would consist of orientation of the worker to job task written procedures, followed by instruction and initial supervision on the job. The type and length of the training provided will depend on the job to be done and the worker's previous experience. All parts of the training process must be documented. The documentation may consist of signed acknowledgments by workers, notes kept by supervisors or other training records.
An employer at a remote worksite may not have all the documentation at that site. Officers may consider whatever documentation the employer has but, if insufficient, may ask the employer to produce the documentation at another time and place.
G29.5 Communications
Issued August 1999
Section 29.5(1) of the OHS Regulation states "The employer must ensure that effective communication between air and ground crews has been established before initiating airlift operations".
The following safeguards should be in place to ensure effective communication:
- if an operation uses several radio channels or frequencies, they should be coordinated or adjusted to ensure continued uninterrupted communication,
- management should ensure ground workers identify aircraft when giving airlift direction to aircrews, and
- pilots should acknowledge ground crew directions before airlifts are initiated.
G29.12 Unstable materials
Issued August 1999
Section 29.12 of the OHS Regulation states "The employer must ensure that work areas are planned and maintained to avoid placing workers in hazardous proximity to unstable materials".
Unstable material may consist of, for example, standing trees of questionable "windfirmness", cliff faces that may collapse, or logs and material on side hill slopes that may "run away". These hazards must be removed before workers enter the area.