The Government of Manitoba has introduced Bill 29, An Act to amend The Workplace Safety and Health Act, which proposes significant changes to enhance workplace safety and health standards.
We encourage all members to review the bill’s details here and stay informed about how these changes may affect our industry. We will continue to provide updates on this development.
Below is the explanatory note of the amendments:
The Workplace Safety and Health Act is amended as follows.
- The purposes of the Act are expanded to include enabling workers to work in psychologically safe workplaces.
- Dangerous work is confirmed to be work involving an imminent risk of serious physical or health injury where reasonable controls have not been put in place.
- An employer may be ordered to put in place a medical surveillance program if the Chief Occupational Medical Officer has reason to believe that a worker has been over-exposed to a harmful substance.
- Complaints regarding reprisals in unionized workplaces continue to be dealt with under the Act. Wages lost due to a reprisal may be collected as if they were unpaid wages under The Employment Standards Code.
- Amendments related to the Manitoba Labour Board include enabling the Board to
- determine whether hearings are to be by oral or written submissions; and
- award hearing costs against a party in appropriate circumstances.
- The Workplace Safety and Health Branch (the “branch”) may decline to deal with a matter if the worker has chosen to deal with the matter in a different forum.
- The period during which improvement orders and stop work orders must be posted at a workplace is extended and orders of the branch may be served electronically.
- Related employers may be treated as a single employer for the purposes of the Act.
- An employer who is required to conduct a risk assessment must ensure that the assessment is carried out by a competent person.
