The National Policy Health and Safety Committee (NPHSC) met on 6 December 2017 in Toronto to review policies, procedures, practices, and training related to the health and safety of CBC employees across the country. Along with attendees from the other unions at CBC and from management, Canadian Media Guild (CMG) representatives Wil Fundal and Andrew Shipley, and Staff Representative Olivier Desharnais-Roy took part in the meeting. The other unions involved are Syndicat des Communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC), Association des réalisateurs (AR) and Association of Professionals and Supervisors (APS).
We had 20 items on the agenda, including harassment and violence in the workplace, psychological health (including PTSD), health and safety representatives, and training.
Harassment and Violence in the Workplace
On 7 November 2017, Bill C-65, an Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), passed first reading in the House of Commons. The proposed legislation seeks to address concerns expressed by the Guild and other unions about health and safety requirements on harassment and violence in the workplace. The bill also seeks to clarify that health and safety requirements shall address both physical AND psychological health of workers. It is too early to implement changes to health and safety policies, programs and training at the CBC, since the final version of the bill has yet to be passed by the Parliament, and regulations have yet to be issued by the Government. Once this process is completed, the Committee will review every policy affected by the changes. For now, the Committee made the decision to put the review of the Violence in the Workplace policy on hold until the bill is passed.
Psychological health
The Corporation has many initiatives related to the psychological health of workers dealing with particular circumstances, but the Committee noted that there is no comprehensive policy or program that list all these initiatives .The Committee made the decision to review them all and to publish a comprehensive psychological health program soon.
Health and Safety Representatives
Some locations still do not have proper health and safety representation.
Smaller locations without on-site management may find more difficult to complete inspections, to address health and safety concerns and to implement corrective measures. The Committee confirmed that local inspections can be done by local workers H&S representatives without local management representatives. They also confirmed that managers are ultimately responsible for addressing H&S concerns, whether they are on-site or not. If a particular situation is not addressed properly in a timely fashion, it can be forwarded directly to the Health, Safety and Environment sector of the Corporation.
If you need assistance on health and safety matters, contact Olivier Desharnais-Roy at olivier@cmg.ca.
Training
The statistics on training remain low in many areas of the Corporation, and it will take steps to improve these statistics. If you have not done the mandatory training modules, or any other relevant health and safety training, please check with your manager. Also, make sure that, after completing the training, you confirm having completed the training via email. The Corporation made changes to its Learning Management System, so it should be easier for workers to confirm they completed the training modules.
Guidelines, programs and policies
Many guidelines, programs and policies have been updated or will be soon. These will be posted soon on iO, including:
- Guidelines on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, aka drones)
- Ergonomic Hazard Prevention Program
CMG’s representatives on the National Health and Safety Committee:
Wil Fundal
Andrew Shipley
Olivier Desharnais-Roy, Staff Representative