Overview
GVRDEU members face a wide range of hazards on the jobsites. While some hazards are obvious and in clear sight, others are less obvious, and present unseen risks. It is the Employer’s responsibility to provide a safe work place however your Union is here to hold the Employer accountable, and to work collaboratively with them to create the safest workplace possible.
There are three key rights a worker in this Province has in regards to safety:
- The right to know. Workers have the right to know what constitutes safe work and how they are being protected from hazards by the Employer.
- The right to participate. Workers have the right to actively participate in their own safety, as well as that of their co-workers. Participation takes on many forms and ranges from speaking up on a safety issue without fear of reprisal, to involvement on their work group’s JHSC.
- The right to refuse unsafe work. See section below.
Got a health and safety problem? Here’s what you can do…
- Tell your Supervisor. The BC Worker’s Compensation Act states that it is the primary duty of the employer to provide workers with a safe workplace. Your supervisor is the first link in a chain that goes to the CAO at the top, so they need to be told about the hazards and dangers you discover in the workplace.
No job is worth dying over. Workers have the legal right to refuse to perform a task that they feel will cause harm to themselves or others. If you feel the task is unsafe or dangerous, tell your supervisor that “you are refusing to do the task because you feel it is too dangerous.” This will set into motion a series of steps that will lead to the hazard being removed, or an investigation with your Corporate Safety representative or a JHSC committee member.
For more information on the right to refuse unsafe work, check out the following link for WorkSafe BC.
Refusing unsafe work – WorkSafeBC
- Make sure your co-workers are also made aware of the hazard. It is the law that teh Employer must tell all employees about the hazards of the workplace, however not all do. To help protect each other, tell co-workers, especially those who will be potentially exposed to the hazard.
- Make sure your joint health and safety committee (JHSC) knows about the problem. All hazards should be reported to members of your JH&S committee or health and safety representative, but this is a particularly important step if your supervisor does not take action to fix the hazard. A well-functioning committee will address problems brought to its agenda, as well as conduct regular health and safety inspections to make sure that working conditions are safe. For more information on health and safety committees check out the following handbook from WorkSafe BC.
Handbook for Joint Health and Safety Committees | WorkSafeBC
Mental Health/Bullying & Harassment
The workplace affects mental health, but in the past if has not been given its proper due. Often the response from employers and colleagues has been to simply ‘toughen up’. Recently the goals of many unions (including the GVRDEU) has been in ‘creating a healthier workplace, as opposed to creating tougher workers’. This includes calling out bullying and harassment when it occurs.
Bullying and harassment in the workplace can take many forms, including verbal aggression, personal attacks, and other intimidating or humiliating behaviours. If workplace bullying and harassment is not addressed, it can lead to lost productivity, anxiety, and depression.
See link below to WorkSafe BC’s bullying and harassment page.