| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 67.46 |
| Liaison | Brandon Raco |
| Submission Date | Sept. 2, 2020 |
University of Guelph
PA-15: Workplace Health and Safety
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.86 / 2.00 |
Does the institution have an occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS)?:
Does the system use a nationally or internationally recognized standard or guideline?:
The nationally or internationally recognized OHSMS standard or guideline used:
A brief description of the key components of the custom OHSMS:
Through various policies and programs including Policy 851.01.01 Environmental Health and Safety the University is committed to providing a safe and healthy work and educational environment for its students, faculty, staff, contractors and visitors. The University is unique amongst its provincial peer group in that it not only supports the University but also supports a hospital (the Ontario Veterinary College, OVC).
The University insists on compliance with legislative requirements and regulations contained in, but not limited to, the Environmental Protection Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), Workers Safety and Insurance Act (WSIA), Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and the Nuclear Safety and Control Act.
As part of Human Resources, the directorate of Health Safety and Wellness (HSW) is comprised of two units, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and Occupational Health and Wellness (OHW). The two units oversee and administer programs in incident management, biosafety, radiation safety, laboratory safety, agricultural & veterinary safety, occupational hygiene, facility safety, occupational and non-occupational disability management, medical surveillance, ergonomics, and accommodation and return to work. The University also has policies and programs in Workplace Violence Prevention and Workplace Harassment Prevention.
The EHS unit provides or facilitates most of the health and safety training for the University community either in class or on-line, including but not limited to, health and safety awareness, asbestos awareness, contractor safety awareness, outdoor spill management, working at heights, hearing loss prevention, respiratory protection and fit-testing, WHIMS (Workplace Hazardous Information System), first-aid, farm safety awareness, field worker safety, x-ray safety, laser (Class 3,4) safety and laboratory safety. The OHW unit provides training in MSD (muscular skeletal disorder) prevention and office ergonomics.
As well, the University has an active workplace inspection and audit program for the proactive identification of hazards leading to the prevention of workplace accidents and illness. Workplace inspections are conducted through various avenues including EHS, Joint Health and Safety Committees (JHSC) and Health & Safety Representatives. This includes one Central JHSC and 32 local (departmental) JHSC on Guelph Campus and three JHSCs at Ridgetown Campus, Simcoe and Arkell Research Stations respectively and eight Health and Safety Representatives at other research station locations. The subject matter experts in EHS also conduct or facilitate various inspections, audits and assessments including but not limited to, laboratory, biosafety lab and radiation safety lab inspections, fume hood performance verifications, biosafety cabinet certifications, chemical exposures, noise surveys, facility project reviews and the review of both institutional and student run events with a lens on Health and Safety (for example, Take Your Kids to Work day, Convocation, College Royal).
Incident management at the University is a shared function. All injury or illness incident reports are received in OHW and forwarded to EHS for investigation and follow-up as required.
Annual number of recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health:
Full-time equivalent of employees:
Full-time equivalent of workers who are not employees, but whose work and/or workplace is controlled by the institution:
A brief description of the methodology used to track and calculate the number of recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health :
All workplace injuries, illness, near-misses or hazardous conditions are reported by completing the Incident Reporting Form and submitting it to OHW. The details of the incident report are entered into the Park Lane system, and OHW manages the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) requirements. Incident reports are forwarded to EHS for investigation and follow-up as required. A copy of the incident report is also sent to the pertaining bargaining groups and LJHSC as applicable. On a quarterly and annual basis incident data is presented to the Central Joint Health and Safety Committee. An annual Health Safety & Wellness report is also presented to the Board of Governors.
Annual number of recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health per 100 FTE employees:
Website URL where information about the occupational health and safety program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.