New Exposure Control Plan Template

Each employer must ensure the health and safety of all workers working for that employer (s. 115 of the Workers Compensation Act). The employer must remedy any workplace conditions that are hazardous to the health or safety of those workers.

In light of Covid-19, employers must develop and implement an exposure control plan (OH&S Regulation, section 6.34) that includes the following:

(a) a risk assessment conducted by a qualified person to determine if there is a potential for occupational exposure by any route of transmission;

(b) a list of all work activities for which there is a potential for occupational exposure;

(c) engineering controls and administrative controls to eliminate or minimize the potential for occupational exposure;

(d) standard or routine infection control precautions and transmission-based precautions for all work activities that have been identified as having a potential for occupational exposure, including

(i) housekeeping practices designed to keep the workplace clean and free from spills, splashes or other accidental contamination,

(ii) work procedures to ensure that contaminated laundry is isolated, bagged and handled as little as possible,

(e) a description of personal protective equipment designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure;

(f) a program to inform workers about the contents of the exposure control plan and to provide them with adequate education, training and supervision to work safely with, and in proximity to, a biological agent designated as a hazardous substance in section 5.1.1;

(g) a record of all training and education provided to workers in the program described in paragraph (f);

(h) a record of all workers who have been exposed, while performing work activities, to a biological agent designated as a hazardous substance in section 5.1.1.

To assist with developing the exposure control plan we have attached a template that can be used by each OH&S Committee, with participation from both employer OH&S representatives and worker OH&S representatives. Also attached is an example of how to use the template.

A worker may refuse to carry out any work if they have reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person (OH&S Regulation, section 3.12). This could apply to exposure to COVID-19. It is important that if workers are interacting with the public that a strict exposure control plan is posted and enforced. It is also important to know that there is a standard procedure for refusing to carry out any work that is set out in OH&S Regulation, section 3.12.

If you have any questions or concerns about this exposure control plan template or the right to refuse unsafe work, please contact Niki Schnurr at 604-473-3899 or nschnurr@moveuptogether.ca.

Niki Schnurr, WCB Appeals Representative & OH&S Coordinator