Health and safety representatives — project site
17.1(1)This section applies to a project site
(a)
with more than five but fewer than thirty employees working on the site, regardless of the length of time work is carried out on the site, or
(b)
where work carried out on the site has not exceeded ninety days, and thirty or more but fewer than five hundred employees work on the site.
17.1(2)On and after the date that is one year after the commencement of this section, no person may be designated as a health and safety representative unless the person
(a)
has attended an educational program prescribed by the regulations, or
(b)
has served as a health and safety representative or as a member of a joint health and safety committee on a project site within the twelve months preceding the commencement of this section.
17.1(3)Subject to subsection (4), the contractor and the employees working on a project site shall jointly designate a health and safety representative within two weeks
(a)
after work on the project site has commenced,
(b)
after a person designated as a health and safety representative resigns, is removed or ceases to work at the site, and
(c)
after any increase in the number of employees working on the site warrants another designation.
17.1(4)Subject to subsection (5), health and safety representatives shall be designated as follows:
(a)
for five to fifty employees working at the site – one representative; and
(b)
for every fifty employees thereafter working at the site, or any portion in excess of a multiple of fifty – one representative.
17.1(5)Where the contractor and the employees working at the site are unable to agree on a joint designation under subsection (3), the employees shall designate a health and safety representative within one week after the applicable period set out in subsection (3), and the contractor may designate a health and safety representative within the same period, and subsequent health and safety representatives shall be designated by the employees and may be designated by the contractor in accordance with subsection (4).
17.1(6)A person who is designated as a health and safety representative remains in the position until the person resigns, is removed, no longer works at the site or a committee is established under section 14.3 or 14.4.
17.1(7)Section 18 applies with the necessary modifications to health and safety representatives and a contractor on a project site.
17.1(8)Each health and safety representative shall, for the periods during which the health and safety representative is taking any educational program required under this Act that relates to service as a health and safety representative, receive pay at the rate and other benefits to which the health and safety representative would otherwise be entitled.
17.1(9)A person referred to in paragraph (2)(
b) may attend an educational program prescribed by the regulations if the person requests the training and the employer grants leave to the person.
17.1(10)Where an employer does not grant leave under subsection (9), the Commission may order the employer to grant the person leave to attend the educational program.
17.1(11)The contractor shall post the name of the health and safety representatives in a prominent place or places at the project site.
2007, c.12, s.7; 2022, c.32, s.13