News & Events

Date: Friday Dec 13, 2019 - Thursday Dec 31, 2020
Time: None
Location: Alberta

DID YOU KNOW? Alberta Employers will no Longer be Required to have a Health and Safety Committee or Representative at Every Work Site!

On Friday, December 13, Alberta Labour announced two new rules providing employers flexibility to meet the unique needs of each workplace. The two changes are as follows:

Reduction in Training

• Part 1 Health & Safety Committee (HSC) and Health & Safety Representative (HS Reps) training is no longer a mandatory requirement for HSC Co-Chairs and HS Reps; and
• Part 2 training remains a mandatory requirement for HSC Co-Chairs and HS Representatives and will now be known as “Joint HSC/HS Representative Training.” It is still required to receive this training from a government-approved training provider like AMHSA.

Committee Requirement

• Employers now need to count the number of total workers across all work sites to determine if an HSC or HS Representative is required (versus having them at each work site). If that total number of workers is over 20, only one committee is needed. Separate work site committees can still be maintained if they are working for you. [Sections 16(1) and 17(1) of the OHS Act].

How do you know if this affects you?

If you didn’t need a committee or a representative as a result of the initial legislation introduced in 2018, you may be impacted by this change. The following is an example of what is now required based on the new changes:

• 5 - 19 total employees = Need 1 Health & Safety Representative
• 20+ total employees = Need 1 Health & Safety Committee

These changes will need to be in place by January 31, 2020.

Employer Acceptances Issued by Alberta Labour

Are you an employer who was issued an approval from Alberta Labour to vary the practices and procedures of a Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committee? If so, your order may now be nullified.  

If the approval allowed a multi-site employer to have one Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committee this approval is no longer in effect. Employers are now required to count their workers collectively among all sites to determine if a Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committee is required. Therefore, an acceptance granted to allow a multi-site employer to have just one Joint Health and Safety Committee would no longer be required.