Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC)

On this page:

• What is a JOHSC?
• Committee basics
• JOHSC key duties and responsibilities
• Meetings
• Employer responsibilities
• JOHSC training
• Related Links & Resources

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What is a JOHSC?

A Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) is an advisory group made up of employers and employees working together to improve occupational health and safety in their workplace.

A JOHSC can provide in-depth, practical knowledge of the workplace and offer the best solutions to safety problems. Members meet regularly to identify hazards in the workplace, make recommendations to the employer and follow up on safety issues.

While the JOHSC’s role is to consult, working together can be the best way to reduce injury and illness in the workplace.

WorkSafeBC requires a JOHSC for all workplaces with 20 or more workers. In worksites with nine to 19 workers, a worker representative is required. This representative has the same duties and functions as the JOHSC.

The collective agreement also requires a JOHSC in any workplace classified as a high or medium hazard where there are more than 10 workers.

Committee basics

• The committee must have at least four members
• Employer/supervisor members cannot outnumber worker members
• Worker members must not exercise managerial functions
• Worker members are appointed by the union by the formal BCGEU process
• Employer members, while not necessarily excluded, are appointed by the employer
• Employer members must exercise supervisory function such as scheduling, signing off on Time and Leave requests, and assigning work
• Two co-chairs must be chosen. One represents and is selected by the worker members; the other by the employer members
• All groups on a work site must be represented. This might mean that members are included from all unions, departments, shifts and even other ministries if a workplace is shared

JOHSC key duties and responsibilities

• Conduct regular workplace inspections
• Investigate accidents and incidents
• Communicate any work process or environment changes that may impact worksite health and safety to management
• Attend to worker concerns about worksite health and safety
• Identify potential safety hazards
• Inform management of corrections to potential hazards
• Consult and liaise with workers and management on all workplace health and safety matters
• Participate in refusing unsafe work (only once a supervisor has investigated the safety issue and believes that an undue hazard does not exist)

Meetings

• Must occur at least once a month
• Minutes must be recorded and posted in the workplace for at least three months. Provide a copy to the local manager or supervisor. The supervisor must make minutes available to the union
• Minutes must be retained for at least two years and be accessible to staff and WorkSafeBC. WorkSafeBC considers it acceptable to store meeting minutes on shared drives or SharePoint sites accessible to all staff.

Employer responsibilities

• Respond in writing within 21 days to any written recommendations from JOHSC when requested
• Provide committee members time off from work with pay to prepare for and attend committee meetings and to carry out other functions and duties of the committee
• Provide each committee member with up to eight hours of annual educational leave with pay to attend health and safety training
• Provide the committee with the equipment, premises and clerical personnel necessary for carrying out its duties and functions
• Post the names and work locations of committee members
• Post the minutes of the three most recent committee meetings
• Post any WorkSafeBC orders for the preceding 12 months relating to the committee
• Make sure an annual JOHSC evaluation is completed

JOHSC training

A JOHSC monitors the effectiveness of the safety program and make sure that open communication about safety between workers and the employer is possible.

The Learning Centre offers a BCGEU/BC Public Service Agency jointly facilitated two-day occupational health and safety committee training course. This course should be taken by all new members within six months of appointment and on an as-needed basis as a refresher. After the initial training, committee members area allowed educational leave of eight hours per year for continuous safety learning.