Medical surveillance and examination programs

139. (1) The Minister may undertake medical surveillance and examination programs and may, if the Minister considers it appropriate, undertake those programs in cooperation with any department or agency of the Government of Canada or with any or all provinces or any organization undertaking similar programs.

Appointment of medical officers

(2) The Minister may appoint any medical practitioner qualified in occupational medicine to undertake the medical surveillance and examination programs.

Health and Safety Officers

Designation

140. (1) The Minister may designate as a regional health and safety officer or as a health and safety officer for the purposes of this Part any person who is qualified to perform the duties of such an officer .

Agreements re use of provincial employees as officers

(2) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into an agreement with any province or any provincial body specifying the terms and conditions under which a person employed by that province or provincial body may act as a health and safety officer for the purposes of this Part and, if such an agreement has been entered into, a person so employed and referred to in the agreement is deemed to be designated as a health and safety officer under subsection (1).

Powers of health and safety officers

141. (1) Subject to section 143.1 , a health and safety officer may, in the performance of the officer's duties and at any reasonable time, enter any work place controlled by an employer and, in respect of any work place, may

    (a) conduct examinations, tests, inquiries, investigations and inspections or direct the employer to conduct them;

    (b) take or remove for analysis, samples of any material or substance or any biological, chemical or physical agent;

    (c) be accompanied or assisted by any persons and bring any equipment that the officer deems necessary to carry out the officer's duties;

    (d) take or remove, for testing, material or equipment if there is no reasonable alternative to doing so;

    (e) take photographs and make sketches, video recordings and sound recordings ;

    (f) direct the employer to ensure that any place or thing specified by the officer not be disturbed for a reasonable period pending an examination, test, inquiry, investigation or inspection in relation to the place or thing ;

    (g) direct any person not to disturb any place or thing specified by the officer for a reasonable period pending an examination, test, inquiry, investigation or inspection in relation to the place or thing;

    (h) direct the employer to produce documents and information relating to the health and safety of the employer's employees or the safety of the work place and to permit the officer to examine and make copies of or take extracts from those documents and that information;

    (i) direct the employer or an employee to make or provide statements, in the form and manner that the officer may specify, respecting working conditions and material and equipment that affect the health or safety of employees;

    (j) direct the employer or an employee or a person designated by either of them to accompany the officer while the officer is in the work place; and

    (k) conduct confidential and private interviews with any person.

Return of material and equipment

(2) A health and safety officer who has, under paragraph (1)(d), taken or removed material or equipment for testing shall, if requested by the person from whom it was taken or removed, return the material or equipment to the person after testing is completed unless the material or equipment is required for the purposes of a prosecution under this Part.

Investigation of fatalities

(3) A health and safety officer shall investigate every fatality of an employee if the death occurred in the work place or while the employee was working.

Investigation of motor vehicle accidents

(4) If a fatality of an employee results from an accident involving a motor vehicle on a public road, the health and safety officer investigating the fatality shall obtain, as soon as possible after the accident, a copy of any police report from the appropriate police authority.

Report by officer

(5) Within ten days after completing a written report on the findings of an inquiry or investigation, the health and safety officer shall provide the employer and the work place committee or the health and safety representative with a copy of the report.

Certificate of authority

(6) The Minister shall provide every health and safety officer with a certificate of authority and, when carrying out duties under this Part, the officer shall show the certificate to any person who asks to see it .

Limitation of liability

(7) A health and safety officer is not personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done by the officer in good faith under the authority or purported authority of this Part.

Duty of Her Majesty

(8) Notwithstanding subsection (7), and for greater certainty, Her Majesty in right of Canada is not relieved of any civil liability to which Her Majesty in right of Canada may otherwise be subject.

Inspections

141.1 (1) A health and safety officer shall conduct an inspection of the work place in the presence of

    (a) an employee member and an employer member of the work place committee; or

    (b) the health and safety representative and a person designated by the employer.

Inspection not to be delayed

(2) A health and safety officer may proceed with an inspection in the absence of the persons referred to in subsection (1) if they are unable to be present or choose not to be present at the inspection.

General Matters

Duty to assist officer

142. The person in charge of a work place and every person employed at, or in connection with, a work place shall give every appeals officer and health and safety officer all reasonable assistance to enable them to carry out their duties under this Part.

Obstruction and false statements

143. No person shall obstruct or hinder, or make a false or misleading statement either orally or in writing to, an appeals officer or a health and safety officer engaged in carrying out their duties under this Part.

Permission required for access to residence

143.1 No person who carries out a duty under this Part shall enter a work place that is situated in an employee's residence without the employee's permission.

Provision of information

143.2 No person shall prevent an employee from providing information to an appeals officer or health and safety officer engaged in carrying out their duties under this Part.

Evidence in civil suits precluded

144. (1) No health and safety officer or person who has accompanied or assisted the officer in carrying out the officer's duties and functions under this Part may be required to give testimony in a civil suit with regard to information obtained in the carrying out of those duties and functions or in accompanying or assisting the officer , except with the written permission of the Minister.

Appeals officer

(2) No appeals officer or person who has accompanied or assisted the officer in carrying out the officer's duties and functions under this Part may be required to give testimony in any proceeding with regard to information obtained in the carrying out of those duties and functions or in accompanying or assisting the officer.

Non-
disclosure of information

(3) Subject to subsection (4) , no appeals officer or health and safety officer who is admitted to a work place under the powers conferred on an officer by section 141 and no person accompanying such an officer shall disclose to any person any information obtained in the work place by that officer or person with regard to any secret process or trade secret, except for the purposes of this Part or as required by law.

Privileged information

(4) All information that, under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, an employer is exempt from disclosing under paragraph 125.1(d) or (e) or under paragraph 13(a) or (b) or 14(a) or (b) of the Hazardous Products Act and that is obtained in a work place, by an appeals officer or a health and safety officer who is admitted to the work place, under section 141, or by a person accompanying that officer, is privileged and, notwithstanding the Access to Information Act or any other Act or law, shall not be disclosed to any other person except for the purposes of this Part.

Information not to be published

(5) No person shall, except for the purposes of this Part or for the purposes of a prosecution under this Part, publish or disclose the results of an analysis, examination, testing, inquiry, investigation or sampling made or taken by or at the request of an appeals officer or health and safety officer under section 141.

Confidential communica-
tion

(6) No person to whom information obtained under section 141 is communicated in confidence shall divulge the name of the informant to any person except for the purposes of this Part, and no such person is competent or compellable to divulge the name of the informant before any court or other tribunal.

Special Safety Measures

Direction to terminate contravention

145. (1) A health and safety officer who is of the opinion that a provision of this Part is being contravened or has been contravened may direct the employer or employee concerned, or both , to

    (a) terminate the contravention within the time that the officer may specify; and

    (b) take steps, as specified by the officer and within the time that the officer may specify, to ensure that the contravention does not continue or reoccur.

Officer not on premises

(1.1) A health and safety officer may issue the direction whether or not the officer is in the work place at the time the direction is issued.

Confirmation in writing

(1.2) A health and safety officer who has issued a direction orally shall provide a written version of it

    (a) before the officer leaves the work place, if possible, if the officer was in the work place when the direction was issued; or

    (b) as soon as possible by mail, facsimile or other electronic means, in any other case.

Dangerous situations - direction to employer

(2) If a health and safety officer considers that the use or operation of a machine or thing, a condition in a place or the performance of an activity constitutes a danger to an employee while at work,

    (a) the officer shall notify the employer of the danger and issue directions in writing to the employer directing the employer immediately or within the period that the officer specifies

      (i) to take measures to eliminate the danger, or

      (ii) to protect any person from the danger; and

    (b) the officer may, if the officer considers that the danger cannot otherwise be eliminated or protected against immediately, issue a direction in writing to the employer directing that the place, machine, thing or activity in respect of which the direction is issued not be used, operated or performed, as the case may be , until the officer's directions are complied with, but nothing in this paragraph prevents the doing of anything necessary for the proper compliance with the direction.

Dangerous situations - direction to employee

(2.1) If a health and safety officer considers that the use or operation of a machine or thing by an employee, a condition in a place or the performance of an activity by an employee constitutes a danger to the employee or to another employee, the officer shall, in addition to the directions issued under paragraph (2)(a), issue a direction in writing to the employee to discontinue the use, operation or activity or cease to work in that place until the danger has been eliminated or protected against.

Posting notice of danger

(3) If a health and safety officer issues a direction under paragraph (2)(b), the officer shall affix or cause to be affixed to or near the place, machine or thing in respect of which the direction is issued, or in the area in which the activity in respect of which the direction is issued is performed, a notice in the form and containing the information that the Minister may specify, and no person may remove the notice unless authorized to do so by a health and safety officer.

Cessation of use

(4) If a health and safety officer issues a direction under paragraph (2)(b) in respect of a place, machine, thing or activity , the employer shall cause the use or operation of the place, machine or thing or the performance of the activity to be discontinued , and no person may use or operate the place, machine or thing or perform the activity until the measures directed by the officer have been taken.

Copies of directions and reports

(5) If a health and safety officer issues a direction under subsection (1) or (2) or makes a report in writing to an employer on any matter under this Part, the employer shall without delay

    (a) cause a copy or copies of the direction or report to be posted in the manner that the officer may specify; and

    (b) give a copy of the direction or report to the work place committee or health and safety representative.

Copy to person who made complaint

(6) If a health and safety officer issues a direction under subsection (1), (2) or (2.1) or makes a report referred to in subsection (5) in respect of an investigation made by the officer pursuant to a complaint, the officer shall without delay give a copy of the direction or report to each person, if any, whose complaint led to the investigation.

Copy to employer

(7) If a health and safety officer issues a direction to an employee under subsection (1) or (2.1), the officer shall give a copy of the direction to the employee's employer without delay.

Response to direction or report

(8) If a health and safety officer issues a direction under subsection (1), (2) or (2.1) or makes a report referred to in subsection (5), the officer may require the employer or the employee to whom the direction is issued or to whom the report relates, to respond in writing to the direction or report, and the employer or employee shall provide the work place committee or the health and safety representative with a copy of the response.

Appeals of Decisions and Directions

Appointment

145.1 (1) The Minister may designate as an appeals officer for the purposes of this Part any person who is qualified to perform the duties of such an officer.

Status

(2) For the purposes of sections 146 to 146.5, an appeals officer has all the powers, duties and immunity of a health and safety officer.

Appeal of direction

146. (1) An employer, employee or trade union that feels aggrieved by a direction issued by a health and safety officer under this Part may appeal in writing to an appeals officer within thirty days after the date of the direction being issued or confirmed in writing .

Direction not stayed

(2) An appeal of a direction does not operate as a stay of the direction. However, on application by the employer, employee or trade union, the appeals officer may vary the date by which the direction is to be complied with.

Inquiry

146.1 (1) If an appeal is brought under subsection 129(7) or section 146, the appeals officer shall, in a summary way and without delay, inquire into the circumstances of the decision or direction, as the case may be, and the reasons for it and may

    (a) vary, rescind or confirm the decision or direction; and

    (b) issue any direction that the appeals officer considers appropriate under subsection 145(1), (2) or (2.1).

Decision and reasons

(2) The appeals officer shall provide a written decision, with reasons, and a copy of any direction to the employer, employee or trade union concerned, and the employer shall, without delay, give a copy of it to the work place committee or health and safety representative.

Posting of notice

(3) If the appeals officer issues a direction under paragraph (1)(b), the employer shall, without delay, affix or cause to be affixed to or near the machine, thing or place in respect of which the direction is issued a notice of the direction, in the form and containing the information that the appeals officer may specify, and no person may remove the notice unless authorized to do so by the appeals officer.

Cessation of use

(4) If the appeals officer directs, under paragraph (1)(b), that a machine, thing or place not be used or an activity not be performed until the direction is complied with, no person may use the machine, thing or place or perform the activity until the direction is complied with, but nothing in this subsection prevents the doing of anything necessary for the proper compliance with the direction.

Powers and duties

146.2 For the purposes of a proceeding under subsection 146.1(1), an appeals officer may

    (a) summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses and compel them to give oral or written evidence under oath and to produce any documents and things that the officer considers necessary to decide the matter;

    (b) administer oaths and solemn affirmations;

    (c) receive and accept any evidence and information on oath, affidavit or otherwise that the officer sees fit, whether or not admissible in a court of law;

    (d) examine records and make inquiries as the officer considers necessary;

    (e) adjourn or postpone the proceeding from time to time;

    (f) abridge or enlarge the time for instituting the proceeding or for doing any act, filing any document or presenting any evidence in connection with the proceeding;

    (g) make a party to the proceeding, at any stage of the proceeding, any person who, or any group that, in the officer's opinion has substantially the same interest as one of the parties and could be affected by the decision;

    (h) determine the procedure to be followed, but the officer shall give an opportunity to the parties to present evidence and make submissions to the officer, and shall consider the information relating to the matter;