Health and safety programs and regulations

In brief

• Occupational health and safety interventions, including regulatory approaches, programs, and management systems, are key strategies for reducing worker injury and illness.
• Examples include inspections, citations and penalties; the requirement for firms to have joint labour and management health and safety committees and/or to conduct routine hazard assessment; and the implementation of integrated health and safety management systems.
• We conducted an independent impact evaluation of WorkSafeBC’s Certificate of Recognition (COR) audit program to assess how participation has affected firms’ claim rates and health and safety experience. COR programs provide premium rebates to employers who meet certain occupational health and safety management benchmarks or who have implemented a return to work program for injured workers. Results of this study

Next steps

• We are surveying long-term care homes and food processing firms about their health and safety practices, with the goal of establishing a set of leading health and safety indicators that organizations can use to assess and improve their health and safety performance. We are currently recruiting food processing and manufacturing firms to participate in this study. More information
• PhD trainee Kim McLeod’s PhD dissertation will examine the effectiveness of WorkSafeBC prevention activities, including punitive measures such as inspections and orders and more cooperative measures such as education and consultations.

Related publications

Contact: Chris McLeod