Watching out for employees on the road
Question: What kind of health and safety standards does an employer have to maintain for employees outside the normal workplace, such as those driving company vehicles or going on business trips?
Answer: This is an excellent question, as it provides an opportunity to remind our readers that a “workplace” does not only encompass the office or warehouse. Rather, it encompasses all places where “workers” perform work.
According to the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, a workplace “means any land, premises, location or thing at, upon, in or near which a worker works.” If an individual is travelling in a company car, then that company car is their workplace for that period of time. Similarly, when employees attend conferences or meetings, their workplaces include those locations. Employers are strongly advised not to focus solely upon the location they consider to be their “place of business.”
As of June 2010, the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act was amended by Bill 168 in order to dramatically increase employer’s obligations with respect to workplace violence and harassment. Employers must now conduct risk assessments in order to consider potential risks in all workplaces, prepare policies designed to address the risks that have been identified in the assessment, and then design plans to implement the policies that are drafted.
As part of this process, employers must consider risks in all workplaces. This can include many locations. This process goes far beyond the initial inclination of some employers to “walk around the plant at lunch and take note of any loose floorboards or sharp objects.” The risk assessment is a critical part of Bill 168 compliance, as well as an important aspect of ensuring the safety of your employees.
Obviously, it is impossible to consider every single place that a worker may find themselves in the context of their work. However, where there are certain types of places such as vehicles, convention centres, hotels or restaurants, employers must consider those and assess any risks that exist. They must then design policies and plans to address those risks. Ignoring those workplaces will expose the employer to potential liability for, among other things, penalties that the provincial ministry of labour can levy for a failure to comply.
