Report of the Health and Safety Committee

Health and Safety Committee
Report of the Health and Safety Committee
December 2018

Doug Gaetz

The National Health and Safety conference was held Oct 12 to Oct 14, 2018 in Ottawa.

From a review of the evaluation and speaking to participants, it was a resounding success.

I cannot express my gratitude enough to my committee members: Mathieu Juneau, Brian Oldford, Annick Lamoureux, for their work and dedication to making this conference a success.

I also would like to thank Louise Dorion for all the work she did in the background and the National Office staff for all their help. The Executive Council was very helpful during the conference and their contribution was greatly appreciated.

I be remised if I did not thank all the guest speakers and facilitator who contributed to the conference in one way or other, including employees of the CRA National OHS Office.

Finally, this conference would not have worked without the participants who took the time to give feedback and participated fully during the conference.

Thank you to all, I was proud and honoured to chair the conference and hope the participants have gain further knowledge and tools to help them in the day to day affairs of health and safety in their offices.

On another positive note Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, received Royal Assent on October 25, 2018. The Bill includes additions to the Canada Labour Code on preventing harassment and violence in the workplace. Federally-regulated workplaces will need to comply with the changes introduced through Bill C-65 as early as spring 2019. Regulations are expected to be introduced in the near future.

The UTE Health and Safety Committee will work with the CRA on modifying its current Procedures in Response to Workplace Violence to meet new legislative requirements, through its working group on violence in the workplace, under the National Health and Safety Policy Committee.

Next meeting of the National Health & Safety Policy committee will be held December 6, 2018. Minutes will be posted when completed.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug Gaetz
Chair of the Committee

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