Venue

• 50% of nurses and social service workers report some form of violence annually, including threats and verbal abuse.
• 25% of nurses and social service workers report physical violence.
• 21% of retail workers in BC have experienced violent acts.
• 4.5% of teachers are physically assaulted.
• In 2006, there were 200 assaults on bus drivers in BC.

The repercussions of violence for workers are devastating, affecting their physical and mental health and job satisfaction. For employers it means reduced productivity. This course assists Joint OH&S Committee Members and Worker Representatives in identifying potentially violent situations in the workplace and developing a plan for violence prevention.

In this course participants will:

• Learn what the requirements of the Violence in the Workplace Regulation are for implementing a violence prevention program.
• Learn how to identify and assess hazards of violent incidents and implement solutions for preventing violence at the workplace.
• Develop an outline of a violence prevention program for the workplace. 

Venue

OH&S Part 2 (Advanced) *REVISED

 The OH&S Part 2 has been designed to allow participants to pick up where our OH&S Part 1 left off and to further develop the concepts, tools and resources needed to tackle OH&S issues at their workplaces.

 In this course participants will:

• Learn about Human Health, Routes of Entry and Musculoskeletal Injures
• Legal requirements and elements of an effective Health & Safety Program
• Understand Hazard Identification recognition principles Inspections, Job Safety Analysis, Work Procedures and Hazard Reporting Methods
• Concepts around Hazard & Risk Assessments, Occupational Health & Hygiene and Exposure Limits
• Hazard control principles, setting priorities, hierarchy of controls & developing effective recommendations.

Cocourse.mpletion of the OHS Part 1 (Basic Course) is required before taking this

Venue

This advanced course is designed to give OH&S Committees an understanding of the theory and practice of occupational hygiene monitoring and interpreting occupational hygiene reports.

Hazardous chemicals, poor air quality, noise, asbestos, mould, and other hazards may be present in the workplace environment.  Hygiene monitoring is used to detect the presence of these hazards to measure their concentrations and to evaluate the hazard to workers. This warning allows OH&S Committees to press for control measures in order to prevent or reduce human exposure to the health hazard. Continued monitoring should then be used to evaluate the efficiency of those controls.

Strategies for sampling, sampling techniques and monitoring limits and errors will be main discussion points. Concepts such as Threshold Limit Values (TLVs), Time Weighted Average (TWA), Short Term Exposure Limit (STEL) and Ceiling (C) terminology will be explained.

An Occupational Hygienist will be present in the afternoon to provide hands on examples of monitoring equipment and to provide an opportunity for Q&A.

Venue

No workplace is immune from potential emergencies. 

This course provides participants with a basic understanding of the preparations needed so that emergencies don't translate into disasters in terms of worker and public health as well as causing serious economic impact. The many components of emergency preparedness plans are explored, including the involvement of Joint Health and Safety Committees in the development and implementation process.  Special attention is paid to Influenza Pandemic Response Plans along with bomb threat procedures.

Venue

What chemical hazards are there at your workplace? Are you exposed to hazards such as: chemical solvents and cleaners, electro-magnetic fields, diesel fumes, wood dust, or asbestos at your workplace? How can you make your workplace safer?

In this course participants will:

• Learn about the relationship between health and environmental effects of exposure to chemical hazards at your workplaces.
• Learn about worker rights and protections under the WCB OH&S Regulation.
• Learn about the sources and effects of exposure to: carcinogens, endocrine disrupters, neuro and reproductive toxins, liver and kidney toxins and sensitizers.
• Learn to identify essential components of MSDS and how to use resources to assist in analyzing MSDS information.
• Learn to develop strategies to control exposures in the workplace.

Participants are asked to bring Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) from products used in their workplace. 

Venue

• 50% of nurses and social service workers report some form of violence annually, including threats and verbal abuse.
• 25% of nurses and social service workers report physical violence.
• 21% of retail workers in BC have experienced violent acts.
• 4.5% of teachers are physically assaulted.
• In 2006, there were 200 assaults on bus drivers in BC.

The repercussions of violence for workers are devastating, affecting their physical and mental health and job satisfaction. For employers it means reduced productivity. This course assists Joint OH&S Committee Members and Worker Representatives in identifying potentially violent situations in the workplace and developing a plan for violence prevention.

In this course participants will:

• Learn what the requirements of the Violence in the Workplace Regulation are for implementing a violence prevention program.
• Learn how to identify and assess hazards of violent incidents and implement solutions for preventing violence at the workplace.
• Develop an outline of a violence prevention program for the workplace. 

Venue

An incident or near hit happens at the workplace.  An investigation by the employer and the OH&S Committee must take place.  It is your responsibility to gather the facts, objectively assess those facts and arrive at appropriate solutions to prevent any future incidents.  How do you conduct an effective investigation?

Incident investigation is a serious matter. This course will provide you with the opportunity to improve your investigative skills.

In this course participants will:

• Learn the Workers Compensation Act and OH&S Regulation requirements for incident/accident investigations.
• Learn how to conduct effective interviews in order to get the full story of the incident.
• Learn how to assess all the contributing factors in order to put develop effective corrective actions.
• Conduct an incident investigation and put theory to practice.

Venue

This course is designed for Joint OH&S Committee Members and Worker Representatives to identify stressors such as job demands, job control, lack of support, management styles, bullying and lack of work and life balance that cause workplace stress and worker burnout.  We will examine how the Joint OH&S Committee can work with the employer to develop prevention strategies to reduce worker stress. 

This is not a time management or coping strategies course.

In this course participants will:

• Discuss what stress is and how it affects you.
• Learn about the contributing organizational stressors in the workplace.
• Identify the stress hazards in your own workplace.
• Discuss how stress affects our work, our families and our communities.
• Develop prevention strategies to minimize workplace stress.

Venue

Supervisors play a critical role in the workplace because they have the authority to oversee the work of others.  As such, supervisors have considerable responsibilities under Occupational Health & Safety Legislation. The Law also obligates employers to appoint competent persons as supervisors.  A supervisor is deemed competent if they are: qualified by knowledge, training and experience in the work they oversee; familiar with the Act and Regulations that apply to their workplace; and most importantly, knowledgeable about actual or potential workplace hazards, so they can in turn advise workers about these hazards.

To help workplaces understand and fulfill their significant supervisory responsibilities, the BCFED Health & Safety Centre has developed a new one-day training program.  The Supervisor Health and Safety Training reviews the specific responsibilities of supervisors under the Act and related Regulations.  Detailed attention is paid to the supervisor's role in addressing work refusals, and working with Joint Health and Safety Committees and Worker Representatives during inspections, investigations and during WCB inspections.

This new program also reviews relevant case law and provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada to help participants better identify types of work that are supervisory in nature and their related legal duties.

Venue

This course is designed to provide OH&S Committee Members and Worker Representatives with the knowledge and skills to identify Ergonomic problems at the workplace, and ways of finding solutions.

In this course participants will:

• Learn how to identify ergonomic hazards.
• Learn risk assessment techniques.
• Learn how to generate solutions to deal with hazards.
• Learn strategies to assist in implementing an effective prevention program.
• Learn how to comply with existing Ergonomics legislation.
• Have an opportunity to put theory into practice in the exercise, "Fix That Job."

Completion of the OH&S Part 1 (Basic Course) is advantageous before taking this course.