John Abbott College
PA-15: Workplace Health and Safety

A brief description of the key components of the Custom OHSMS.
The Main aim of the OHSMS is creating a safe and healthy campus for all users and it is comprised of the following components.
1. Developing, approving and implementing policies and procedures for all Health and safety aspects. Policies and procedures are important in that they guide us toward working safely while observing due diligence as well as meeting compliance needs. The main Health and safety policy is Policy 17. However, the OHSMS has sub policies and procedures with respect to specific aspects such as
-Accident reporting and investigation procedure,
-Eye wash and emergency showers policy and procedure for maintenance,
-Asbestos management program,
-Working at height policy and procedure,
-WHMIS education policy and procedure,
-Subcontractor policy and procedure.
2. Health and safety committee. The OHSMS also has within its framework a Joint health and safety committee (JHSC) that oversees health and safety in general in accordance with Quebec’s Act and Regulation Respecting Occupational Health and Safety. In addition to this we have a newly elected health and safety representative which is accordance with Bill 59, the ACT to modernize health and safety in Quebec.
A health and safety working group (HSWG) whose membership is composed of Chairs and technicians of all technical programs in both Science and Arts with emphasis on laboratory/workshop safety and the implementation of health and safety regulations in the respective labs/workshops.
3. Accident prevention. This is been achieved through the process of hazard identification, performing risk assessments, prioritizing hazards based on the risk they present and implementing control measures following the hierarchy of controls which are:
- Elimination. As much as reasonably practicable we try to eliminate hazards.
- More frequently we employ the principle of substitution and engineering controls. This is evident in all the construction and renovation projects currently taking place on campus with the aim of eliminating known hazards while improving the function and productivity of all who use this campus.
-Administrative controls which involve initiatives such as health and wellness days. Counselling for psychosocial issues provided by Life Works, flexible working hours and accommodation of employees when necessary.
-Finally, the use of PPE when carrying out job specific task.


4. Raising awareness of health and safety through trainings.
Training is an important component of our health and safety Program Here at JAC. we have general trainings and job specific trainings.
- General trainings apply to all employees and are part of the on-boarding process for new employees. An example of these trainings are workplace sexual harassment and violence training, emergency procedures and response training, cyber security trainings, office safety.
- Job specific trainings are designed based on the job description and the different task that make up the job. A few examples of job specific trainings provided to employees here at JAC are WHMIS, ladder safety, lockout tag out, hand tool safety, asbestos safety, electrical safety, machine safety, just to name a few.
- Trainings at JAC are made available by the safetyhub platform. https://johnabbott.safetyhub.com/category/all/?region=na
5. Sensitizing the JAC community on the internal responsibility system, helping all levels of management employees (directors, faculty heads, chairs, managers, supervisors), non-management employees, students, and visitors to understand their roles and duties in maintaining a safe and healthy working environment.
It is worth noting that OHSMS at JAC is under continuous improvement. Our goal is to achieve the highest standard possible.

In 2022, John Abbott College employees submitted 8 compensation claims to CHESST. Of those claims, 6 were accepted and 4 were charged. We are reporting the number of claims charged as the number of recordable incidents.