BILL C-12 - First Reading

Approval of plans, procedures	137.2 (1) The Commission or persons designated by the Commission for the purposes of this subsection may approve in writing, with or without modification, plans or procedures submitted in accordance with paragraph 125.3(1)(d).
R.S., c. 26 (4th Supp.), s. 3	(2) The portion of subsection 137.2(2) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
Approval of methods, machinery, equipment	(2) On the application of an employer, the Commission or persons designated by the Commission for the purposes of this subsection may, if , in the opinion of the Commission or those persons , protection of the health and safety of employees would not thereby be diminished,
R.S., c. 26 (4th Supp.), s. 3	(3) The portion of subsection 137.2(3) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
Exemptions and substitutions	(3) On the application of an employer, the Commission may, if in its opinion protection of the health and safety of employees would not thereby be diminished, by order,
R.S., c. 9 (1st Supp.), s. 4	13. (1) Subsections 138(1) and (2) of the Act are replaced by the following:
Special committees	138. (1) The Minister may appoint committees of persons to assist or advise the Minister on any matter that the Minister considers advisable concerning occupational health and safety related to employment to which this Part applies.
Remunera- tion and expenses	(1.1) At the discretion of the Minister, persons appointed to those committees may be paid the remuneration that may be fixed by the Minister and, in accordance with any applicable Treasury Board directives, any reasonable travel and living expenses that are incurred by them while performing their functions away from their ordinary place of residence.
Inquiries	(2) The Minister may cause an inquiry to be made into and concerning occupational health and safety in any employment to which this Part applies and may appoint one or more persons to hold the inquiry.
R.S., c. 9 (1st Supp.), s. 4	(2) Subsection 138(5) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Publication of information	(5) The Minister may publish the results of any research undertaken under subsection (4) and compile, prepare and disseminate data or information bearing on health or safety of employees obtained from that research or otherwise.
R.S., c. 9 (1st Supp.), s. 4, c. 24 (3rd Supp.), ss. 6, 7; 1993, c. 42, ss. 9(F), 10; 1998, c. 26, par. 59(k)(E), s. 60(E)	14. The heading before section 139 and sections 139 to 148 of the Act are replaced by the following:
Medical surveillance and examination programs	139. (1) The Minister may undertake medical surveillance and examination programs with respect to occupational health and safety 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 of the 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 143.2 , a health and safety officer may, in carrying out 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 person 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;
	(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) meet with any person in private or, at the request of the person, in the presence of the person's legal counsel or union representative.
Officer not on premises	(2) A health and safety officer may issue a direction under subsection (1) whether or not the officer is in the work place at the time the direction is issued.
Return of material and equipment	(3) 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 deaths	(4) A health and safety officer shall investigate every death of an employee that occurred in the work place or while the employee was working, or that was the result of an injury that occurred in the work place or while the employee was working.
Investigation of motor vehicle accidents	(5) If the death results from a motor vehicle accident on a public road, as part of the investigation the health and safety officer shall obtain a copy of any police report as soon as possible after the accident.
Report by officer	(6) 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	(7) 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	(8) 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	(9) Notwithstanding subsection (8), 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 any person mentioned in subsection (1) if that person chooses not to be present.
	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.
Provision of information	143.1 No person shall prevent an employee from providing information 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	143.2 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.
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 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 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-disclosur e 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 a health and safety officer under section 141.
Confidential communi- cation	(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 recently 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 re-occur.
Confirmation in writing	(1.1) 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 the officer was in the work place when the direction was issued; or
	(b) as soon as possible by mail, or by 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, to take measures to
	(i) correct the hazard or condition or alter the activity that constitutes the danger, or
	(ii) protect any person from the danger; and
	(b) the officer may, if the officer considers that the danger or the hazard, condition or activity that constitutes the danger cannot otherwise be corrected, altered 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 employer has complied with the directions issued under that paragraph.
Posting notice of danger	(3) If a health and safety officer issues a direction under paragraph (2)(a), 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 shall 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 shall 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 policy committee and a copy to the work place committee or the 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 immediately 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 immediately give a copy of the direction to the employee's employer.
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, within the time that the officer may specify. The employer or employee shall provide a copy of the response to the policy committee and a copy to the work place committee or the health and safety representative.

Health and Safety Officers

General Matters

Special Safety Measures