prevention

Cold and flu season has arrived ̶ Is your workplace prepared?

November 11, 2013 Christina Catenacci Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Wages and Compensation

Cold and flu season has arrived. Cold and flu spread more easily in the cold winter months because they thrive in colder, less humid environments. Thus, between October and February of each year, virtually thousands of employees get sick with the cold and/or flu, and that translates into lost work time, reduced productivity and disruption of workplace operations. As we all know, the flu can wreak havoc in the workplace as it spreads very quickly. What can employers do to minimize the impact of colds and influenzas (flus) on the workplace?

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Integrating the psychological health and safety standard into existing organizational policies and processes

March 4, 2013 Michele Glassford Accessibility Standards, Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Recruiting and Hiring, Standard for Employment, Training and Development, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

On January 16, 2013, the Standards Council of Canada (CSA) published a new national standard dealing with psychological health and safety in the workplace. Although not a mandatory standard at this time, it is foreseeable that legislators, health and safety officers and inspectors, adjudicators and tribunals will be influenced by the standard when dealing with psychological and mental health issues in the workplace. In addition, such standards may be absorbed into the employer’s general duty to protect workers from harm in the workplace, which exists in all jurisdictions in Canada. Employers should also scrutinize their workplace operations, policies, procedures and processes under the auspices of the psychological health and safety system recommended in the standard.

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Travelling for business – not all fun and games!

July 6, 2012 Clear Path Employer Services Employee Relations, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Training and Development

How often do your employees travel? If your answer is: “Not that often,” you may not have considered implementing a policy regarding work travel. More importantly, you may not have considered whether you are liable if something happens to a worker while they are travelling. Do you know how the new changes to Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act affect work travel and your employees?

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WSIB introduces safe communities incentive program

May 9, 2012 Marcia Scheffler Health and Safety, Human Resources, Training and Development

Do you, like 98 percent of Ontario businesses, employ 100 or fewer employees? Then you should try SCIP-ing into spring with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s Safe Communities Incentive Program.

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Don’t sweep harassment under the carpet

May 10, 2011 Andrew Lawson Employee Relations, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights

Occupational health and safety law and human rights law both prohibit reprisals, threats and intimidation against a person for exercising their rights. Employers can be liable for stiff financial penalties for permitting this unacceptable behaviour…

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How do you promote workplace health and safety?

January 27, 2011 Adam Gorley Health and Safety, Human Resources

When Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, it turns out he was talking about fire safety at a time when fire departments and other prevention measures didn’t exist.

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