Health and Safety

PSAC Policy 16
Health and Safety

Introduction

The gains we have made in health and safety have come, in very large part, from grass roots workplace activism—the hundreds of thousands of workers who are tired of getting maimed, killed and kicked around and who have organized workplace change. The labour movement demanded and achieved improved health and safety legislation in the 1970s and 1980s.

Since the 1970’s, there has been an average of one million injuries per year in Canada and fifty per cent of these injuries have resulted in lost-time at work. This figure drastically underestimates the true magnitude of the problems since these figures are based solely on accepted Workers’ Compensation Board claims. Even more tragic are the 1000 fatalities that occur, on average, each year.

Our members have earned the right to enjoy a life - on and off the job - of personal and social well-being. A safe, healthy work environment is basic to that right. When we talk about job health and safety, we do not mean simply the absence of injuries to the body. We accept the broader definition of occupational health and safety adopted by the World Health Organization:

"The promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention among workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health, the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological condition."

Measured by these objectives, workers across Canada are clearly not enjoying good health on their jobs. Every day workers are faced with high levels of dusts, fumes, gases, vapours, noise, vibration, heat, cold, stress and physically unsafe conditions. A massive and concerted attack must be made on conditions of work that cause not only illness, injury and death but also increased mental stress and disruption to family and social life. While some attention has been paid to health and safety problems, we are still years away from understanding the need to adapt the workplace to the worker, in an effort to promote " the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being."

In more recent years, we now face the governments’ and employers’ assaults against health, safety and workers’ compensation, designed to abolish or erode workers’ rights and standards, and to nullify the laws, regulations, and workplace practices which are the core of workplace health and safety. It is important that we as a union continue to strive for improvements to the laws and regulations so that we do not return to the dark ages where there is a total non-existence of any health and safety coverage for workers.

The PSAC has a vital interest in protecting the occupational health and safety of its members. Our aim is the promotion of the highest level of health for our members -- the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.

The Alliance promotes the following principles as they apply to the health and safety of all members:

Organizing And Development

• Promote health and safety activism at all levels of the union.
• Establish and maintain effective union health and safety committees at local, regional and national levels.
• Assist members to develop and maintain effective workplace union-management health and safety committees to meet the legal requirements.
• Promote union and workplace participation in program design and in the development of health and safety policies.

Legislation/Collective Bargaining

• Promote greater emphasis on worker health in legislation, and worker rights.
• Promote proper enforcement of health and safety laws to ensure a healthy, safe and stress free workplace.
• Promote national health and safety standards to improve and extend workers’ health and safety protection.
• Promote protective reassignment of pregnant and breast-feeding workers.
• Strengthen health and safety protection of workers in collective agreements.

Education and Training

• Promote and expand the training of health and safety activists so that they are effective in all aspects of health and safety action in the union and in the workplace.
• Develop publications dealing with health and safety matters to maintain awareness, to improve members’ ability to solve problems and to indicate the seriousness of Alliance concerns.
• Develop positions and strategies on emerging health and safety issues before and when they arise.
• Maintain an ongoing capability to monitor programs, guide members and officers, incorporate new standards of knowledge, and act as a central resource on all matters related to occupational safety and health.

Other Activities

• Promote where possible for worker controlled health and safety clinics.
• Promote annually, the National Day of Mourning, April 28th.
• Promote the existence and expansion of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) as a national reference centre.
• Provide representation, education and health and safety conferences/seminars to advance the cause of health and safety.