OH&S

UNA Local 183’s OH&S Representatives include:
– Michael P. (Executive Liaison)
– Sabrina L.
– Sean G. (2 year alternate)
– Jen B. (1 year alternate)

-Current vacant OH&S positions:
– None

Please bring forward your concerns to us.

UNA Local 183 participates at the Alberta Hospital Edmonton – Joint Workplace Health & Safety Committee, the Community Addictions and Mental Health – Joint Workplace Health & Safety Committee and the RAH – Joint Workplace Health Safety Committee.

A OH&S Form can be found here.

A printable document regarding OH&S can be found here.

What Nurses need to know about their legal right to refuse dangerous work information can be found here.

What are the differences between Professional Responsibility Concern and a Occupational Health issue?

In general, occupational health issues focus on the safety of the nurse and Professional Responsibility Concerns focus on the safety of patients. Read here for further examples/explanation.

Under your collective agreement all employers are required to have an occupational health and safety committee composed of representatives of the employer and the union. Representatives from other unions may also be part of the committee. The purpose of the committee is to deal with concerns regarding health and safety and the union can make recommendations on how to deal with the concern to the employer.

The Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) process was developed based on the concept that individual employers should deal with health and safety issues internally with the support of government enforcement of legislation. It is commonly referred to as the internal responsibility system.

A joint health and safety committee is a forum for bringing the internal responsibility system into practice. The advantage of a joint committee is that the in-depth practical knowledge of specific tasks (workers) is brought together with the larger overview of company policies and procedures (management) with the assistance of those with the technical knowledge (OH&S practitioners). The work of the committee is to be supported by the legislation and if need be by the enforcement of legislation.