Internal Responsibility System

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Did you know, according to OHS legislation, everyone in a workplace is responsible for the health and safety of themselves and others?

The Internal Responsibility System (IRS) is the foundation of Nova Scotia’s occupational health and safety legislation. The central message of the IRS is that everyone in a workplace – including employers, employees, contractors, constructors, owners, and suppliers - shares primary responsibility for the health and safety of persons at the workplace. The level of responsibility is based on each person’s authority and ability.

The IRS is based on a few key principles:

  • The responsibility for identifying and addressing workplace hazards belongs to the people who work in the workplace (workers, supervisors, managers, owners, contractors, constructors, suppliers, and service providers).
  • The greatest responsibility for creating and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace is shared by all of these groups, to the extent of their authority and ability.
  • The IRS includes a plan for participation in safety matters and the flow of information about safety, as well as the right to refuse unsafe work.
  • The Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education plays a supportive role. The Division establishes and clarifies roles and responsibilities for all workplace parties; assists the meeting of these responsibilities; and, intervenes when the responsibilities are not met.

Nova Scotia is unique among Canadian provinces in that it has included the IRS within its Occupational Health and Safety Act, giving the IRS strong legislative support.

Overall, the IRS helps to do the following in workplaces:

  • Establishes a responsibility sharing system
  • Promotes safety culture
  • Promotes best practice
  • Helps develop self-reliance
  • Ensures compliance

The Occupational Health and Safety Act outlines the IRS as follows:

  • Is based on the principle that the responsibility for the health and safety of persons at the workplace is shared by employers, contractors, constructors, employees and self- employed persons at a workplace, and the owner of a workplace, a supplier of goods or provider of an occupational health or safety service to a workplace or an architect or professional engineer, all of whom can affect the health and safety of persons at the workplace;
  • Assumes that the primary responsibility for creating and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace should be that of each of the parties, to the extent of each party's authority and ability to do so;
  • Includes a framework for participation, transfer of information and refusal of unsafe work, all of which are necessary for the parties to carry out their responsibilities under the Act and the regulations; and,
  • Is supplemented by the role of the Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education, which is not to assume responsibility for creating and maintaining safe and healthy workplaces, but to establish and clarify the responsibilities of the parties under the law, to support them in carrying out their responsibilities and to intervene appropriately when those responsibilities are not carried out.

Responsibilities and duties include the following:

An employer must:

  • Take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to ensure the health and safety of persons at or near the workplace.

A contractor must:

  • Take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to ensure the health and safety of persons at or near a workplace, and at or near a project.

An employee must:

  • While at work, take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances to protect the employee’s own health and safety and that of other persons at or near the workplace.
  • Where they believe that any condition, device, equipment, machine, material or thing or any aspect of the workplace is or may be dangerous to their health or safety or that of any other person at the workplace:
    • immediately report it to a supervisor
    • report it to the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) or safety representative, if the matter is not resolved to the employee’s satisfaction; or
    • report it to the Division, if the matter is not resolved to the employee’s satisfaction after reporting it to a supervisor and the JOHSC or safety representative.

A self-employed person must:

  • Take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances to protect their own health and safety and that of other persons who may be affected by the self-employed person’s undertaking.

An owner must:

  • Take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to provide and maintain their land or premises being, or to be used, as a workplace, in a manner that ensures the health and safety of persons at or near the workplace.

"Employer" means a person who employs one or more employees or contracts for the services of one or more employees, and includes a constructor, contractor, or subcontractor.

“employee” means a person who is employed to do work and includes a dependent contractor.

“contractor” means a person who contracts for work to be performed at the premises of the person contracting to have the work performed, but does not include a dependent contractor or a constructor.
constructor” means a person who contracts for work on a project or who undertakes work on a project himself or herself.
Owner” includes a trustee, receiver, mortgagee in possession, tenant, lessee or occupier of lands or premises used as a workplace and a person who acts for, or on behalf of, an owner as an agent or delegate.
supplier” means a person who manufactures, supplies, sells, leases, distributes, or installs any tool, equipment, machine, or device, or any biological, chemical, or physical agent to be used at or near a workplace.
Source:
Promoting the Internal Responsibility System in Nova Scotia
https://novascotia.ca/lae/healthandsafety/docs/IRSConsultation.pdf
(ae) "self-employed person" means a person who is engaged in an occupation on that person's own behalf and includes a person or persons operating a sole proprietorship but does not include a dependent contractor;
Project” means a construction project, and includes
(i) the construction, erection, excavation, renovation,
repair, alteration or demolition of any structure, building, tunnel or work and the preparatory work of land clearing or earth moving, and
(ii) work of any nature or kind designated by the Director as a project.
Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT
S.N.S. 1996, c. 7

Section 2

2. The foundation of this Act is the Internal Responsibility System which

(a) is based on the principle that

(i) employers, contractors, constructors, employees and self- employed persons at a workplace, and

(ii) the owner of a workplace, a supplier of goods or provider of an occupational health or safety service to a workplace or an architect or professional engineer, all of whom can affect the health and safety of persons at the workplace,

share the responsibility for the health and safety of persons at the workplace;

(b) assumes that the primary responsibility for creating and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace should be that of each of these parties, to the extent of each party's authority and ability to do so;

(c) includes a framework for participation, transfer of information and refusal of unsafe work, all of which are necessary for the parties to carry out their responsibilities pursuant to this Act and the regulations; and

(d) is supplemented by the role of the Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Department of Labour and Advanced Education, which is not to assume responsibility for creating and maintaining safe and healthy workplaces, but to establish and clarify the responsibilities of the parties under the law, to support them in carrying out their responsibilities and to intervene appropriately when those responsibilities are not carried out.

[ S.N.S. 2010, c. 66, s. 1; 2011, c. 24, s. 1]

Section 3

3. In this Act,

(a) "aggrieved person" means an employer, constructor, contractor, employee, self-employed person, owner, supplier, provider of an occupational health or safety service, architect, engineer or union at a workplace who is directly affected by an order or decision;

(b) "analyst" means a person appointed as an analyst by the Minister pursuant to this Act;

(c) "Board" means the Labour Board established under the Labour Board Act;

(d) "committee" means a joint occupational health and safety committee established pursuant to this Act;

(e) "compliance notice" means a response, in writing, to an order of an officer, describing the extent to which the person against whom the order was made has complied with each item identified in the order;

(f) "constructor" means a person who contracts for work on a project or who undertakes work on a project himself or herself;

(g) "contractor" means a person who contracts for work to be performed at the premises of the person contracting to have the work performed, but does not include a dependent contractor or a constructor;

(h) "contracts for work" includes contracting to perform work and contracting to have work performed;

(i) "Council" means the Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Council established pursuant to this Act;

(j) "dependent contractor" means a person, whether or not employed under a contract of employment and whether or not furnishing the person's own tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material or any other thing, who performs work or services for another on such terms and conditions that the person is

(i) in a position of economic dependence upon the other,

(ii) under an obligation to perform duties mainly for the other, and

(iii) in a relationship with the other more closely resembling that of an employee than an independent contractor;

(k) "Deputy Minister of Labour and Advanced Education" includes a person designated by the Deputy Minister of Labour and Advanced Education to act in the stead of the Deputy Minister;

(l) "Director" means the Executive Director of Occupational Health and Safety or any person designated by the Executive Director pursuant to this Act to act on behalf of the Executive Director;

(m) "Director of Labour Standards" means the Director of Labour Standards under the Labour Standards Code;

(n) "Division" means the Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Department of Labour and Advanced Education;

(o) "employee" means a person who is employed to do work and includes a dependent contractor;

(p) "employer" means a person who employs one or more employees or contracts for the services of one or more employees, and includes a constructor, contractor or subcontractor;

(q) "former Act" means Chapter 320 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Occupational Health and Safety Act;

(r) Repealed. [S.N.S. 2010, c. 37, s. 117]

(s) "Minister" means the Minister of Labour and Advanced Education;

(t) "occupation" means any employment, business, calling or pursuit;

(u) "officer" means an occupational health and safety officer appointed pursuant to this Act and includes the Director;

(v) "owner" includes a trustee, receiver, mortgagee in possession, tenant, lessee or occupier of lands or premises used as a workplace and a person who acts for, or on behalf of, an owner as an agent or delegate;

(w) "police officer" means

(i) a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or

(ii) a member or chief officer of a police force appointed pursuant to the Police Act;

(x) "policy" means an occupational health and safety policy made pursuant to this Act;

(y) "practicable" means possible, given current knowledge, technology and invention;

(z) "program" means an occupational health and safety program required pursuant to this Act, unless the context otherwise requires;

(aa) "project" means a construction project, and includes

(i) the construction, erection, excavation, renovation, repair, alteration or demolition of any structure, building, tunnel or work and the preparatory work of land clearing or earth moving, and

(ii) work of any nature or kind designated by the Director as a project;

(ab) "reasonably practicable" means practicable unless the person on whom a duty is placed can show that there is a gross disproportion between the benefit of the duty and the cost, in time, trouble and money, of the measures to secure the duty;

(ac) "regularly employed" includes seasonal employment with a predictably recurring period of employment that exceeds four weeks, unless otherwise established by regulation or ordered by an officer;

(aca) "repeatedly" means occurring more than once within the preceding three year period;

(ad) "representative" means a health and safety representative selected pursuant to this Act;

(ae) "self-employed person" means a person who is engaged in an occupation on that person's own behalf and includes a person or persons operating a sole proprietorship but does not include a dependent contractor;

(aea) "serious injury" means an injury that endangers life or causes permanent injury;

(af) "supplier" means a person who manufactures, supplies, sells, leases, distributes or installs any tool, equipment, machine or device or any biological, chemical or physical agent to be used at or near a workplace;

(ag) "union" includes a trade union as defined in the Trade Union Act that has the status of bargaining agent under that Act in respect of any bargaining unit at a workplace, and includes an organization representing employees where the organization has exclusive bargaining rights under any other Act in respect of the employees;

(ah) "workplace" means any place where an employee or a self-employed person is or is likely to be engaged in any occupation and includes any vehicle or mobile equipment used or likely to be used by an employee or a self-employed person in an occupation.

[S.N.S. 2000, c. 28, s. 86; 2010, c. 66, s. 2; 2010, c. 37, s. 117; 2011, c. 24, s. 2; 2016, c. 14, s. 1]

Section 13 DUTIES AND PRECAUTIONS

13. (1) Every employer shall take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to

(a) ensure the health and safety of persons at or near the workplace;

(b) provide and maintain equipment, machines, materials or things that are properly equipped with safety devices;

(c) provide such information, instruction, training, supervision and facilities as are necessary to the health or safety of the employees;

(d) ensure that the employees, and particularly the supervisors and foremen, are made familiar with any health or safety hazards that may be met by them at the workplace;

(e) ensure that the employees are made familiar with the proper use of all devices, equipment and clothing required for their protection; and

(f) conduct the employer's undertaking so that employees are not exposed to health or safety hazards as a result of the undertaking.

(2) Every employer shall

(a) consult and co-operate with the joint occupational health and safety committee, where such a committee has been established at the workplace, or the health and safety representative, where one has been selected at the workplace;

(b) co-operate with any person performing a duty imposed or exercising a power conferred by this Act or the regulations;

(c) provide such additional training of committee members or the representative as may be prescribed by the regulations;

(d) comply with this Act and the regulations and ensure that employees at the workplace comply with this Act and the regulations; and

(e) where an occupational health and safety policy or occupational health and safety program is required pursuant to this Act or the regulations, establish the policy or program.

(3) The employer at a subsea coal mine shall provide such additional resources or information for the committee as may be prescribed by the regulations.

[N.S. 2007, c. 14, s. 7; 2010, c. 66, s. 5]

Section 14

14. Every contractor shall take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to ensure

(a) the health and safety of persons at or near a workplace;

(b) that the activities of the employers and self-employed persons at the workplace are co-ordinated;

(c) communication between the employers and self-employed persons at the workplace of information necessary to the health and safety of persons at the workplace;

(d) that the measures and procedures prescribed pursuant to this Act and the regulations are carried out at the workplace; and

(e) that every employee, self-employed person and employer performing work at the workplace complies with this Act and the regulations.

Section 15

15. Every constructor shall take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to ensure

(a) the health and safety of persons at or near a project;

(b) that the activities of the employers and self-employed persons at the project are co-ordinated;

(c) communication between the employers and self-employed persons at the project of information necessary to the health and safety of persons at the project, and facilitate communication with any committee or representative required for the project pursuant to this Act or the regulations;

(d) that the measures and procedures prescribed under this Act and the regulations are carried out on the project; and

(e) that every employee, self-employed person and employer performing work in respect of the project complies with this Act and the regulations.

Section 17

17. (1) Every employee, while at work, shall

(a) take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances to protect the employee's own health and safety and that of other persons at or near the workplace;

(b) co-operate with the employer and with the employee's fellow employees to protect the employee's own health and safety and that of other persons at or near the workplace;

(c) take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances to ensure that protective devices, equipment or clothing required by the employer, this Act or the regulations are used or worn;

(d) consult and co-operate with the joint occupational health and safety committee, where such a committee has been established at the workplace, or the health and safety representative, where one has been selected at the workplace;

(e) co-operate with any person performing a duty or exercising a power conferred by this Act or the regulations; and

(f) comply with this Act and the regulations.

(2) Where an employee believes that any condition, device, equipment, machine, material or thing or any aspect of the workplace is or may be dangerous to the employee's health or safety or that of any other person at the workplace, the employee shall

(a) immediately report it to a supervisor;

(b) where the matter is not remedied to the employee's satisfaction, report it to the committee or the representative, if any; and

(c) where the matter is not remedied to the employee's satisfaction after the employee reports in accordance with clauses (a) and (b), report it to the Division.

Section 18

18. Every self-employed person shall

(a) take every reasonable precaution in the circumstances to protect the self-employed person's own health and safety and that of other persons who may be affected by the self-employed person's undertaking;

(b) co-operate with any employer, joint occupational health and safety committee or health and safety representative that may be found at a place at which the self-employed person conducts an undertaking, to protect the self-employed person's own health and safety and that of other persons who may be affected by the undertaking;

(c) co-operate with any person performing a duty or exercising a power conferred by this Act or the regulations; and

(d) comply with this Act and the regulations.

Section 19

19. Every owner shall

(a) take every precaution that is reasonable in the circumstances to provide and maintain the owner's land or premises being or to be used as a workplace

(i) in a manner that ensures the health and safety of persons at or near the workplace, and

(ii) in compliance with this Act and the regulations; and

(b) give to the employer at the workplace the information that is

(i) known to the owner or that the owner could reasonably be expected to know, and

(ii) necessary to identify and eliminate or control hazards to the health or safety of persons at the workplace.