Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) states that employers must take every reasonable precaution to protect workers, provide information and instruction, and to ensure that workers properly use or wear the required equipment. This includes assessing, identifying and controlling all of the hazards in the workplace that could cause injury or illness to your employees. These hazards must then be eliminated or controlled. Employers, supervisors and workers can be prosecuted for not complying with the law.
In addition to the assessments outlined below, WSPS provides a full complement of detailed risk analysis services as provided by our expert technical consulting team.
Hazard Identification and Preliminary Risk Assessment (HIpRA)
The Internal Responsibility System requires employers provide information on hazards to workers, and to protect workers from those workplace hazards. In Canada, CSA Z1002-12: Occupational Health & Safety Hazard identification and elimination and risk assessment control sets the foundation for adequate risk assessment process. HIpRA service is designed to be a customer facilitated general review of the major occupations conducted in the workplace. Information on hazards and risks will be amassed by internal and external document reviews, interviews of competent persons familiar with the work tasks and an onsite visit to validate initial HIRA findings.
Detailed Job Task Analysis
Detailed Job Task Analysis (JTA) is a key prevention activity that is designed to identify task specific hazards so that they can be eliminated or controlled before an injury or illness might occur. This activity focuses on a single job task specifically rather than a preliminary HIRA which has a broader focus on all occupations employed at the workplace(s). Customers find JTA activities beneficial particularly for high risk job tasks or tasks which result in reoccurring injuries or illness.
Confined Space Assessments
This detailed assessment service is designed to determine if a specific work area meets the legal definition of a Confined Space and to identify the hazards associated with each confined space. The service is designed to help move customers closer to meeting compliance with the legal expectations of the OHSA and associated regulations related to confined spaces.
Workplace Violence Risk Assessment
This service will provide employers with a structured violence risk assessment following the Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario (OHSCO) model endorsed by the Ontario Ministry of Labour. This assessment ensures the employer has considered and assessed the risk of workplace violence that may arise from the nature of the workplace, as well as the type and conditions of work. The assessment also takes into account the circumstances of the workplace and those circumstances common to similar workplaces, in order to develop measures and procedures to control identified risks which are likely to expose a worker to physical injury. Such measures and procedures form part of the employer’s workplace violence prevention program.
