Acceptable Risk

The level of risk deemed acceptable to a group of people, usually based on industry practices, previous experience and cultural norms.

Acceptable to The Board

Many sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation refer to standards, procedures, or means "acceptable to the Board." Information on what is acceptable to the Board may be obtained by referring to the OHS Guidelines on the section at www.worksafebc.com or by contacting the Board.

Administrative Controls

Identifying and implementing safe work procedures so workers can perform their job duties safely

Authorized

A person approved by the employer to perform specific tasks or be at a particular location on the job site.

Board

he Workers' Compensation Board;

Bullying

Is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent, aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying includes verbal, non-verbal, psychological and physical abuse.

Critical task

Any task or job identified as having a high risk of incident.

Competence

Adequately qualified, suitably trained and with sufficient experience to safely perform work. 

Conformance

Meeting the requirements of the organization's Health and Safety Program and this Standard

Contaminant

A polluting or poisonous substance that makes something impure.

Continual Improvement

The process of enhancing the Health and Safety Program to achieve ongoing improvement in overall safety performance.

Contractor

A person, partnership or group of persons who, through an agreed contract, directs the activities of one or more workers involved in work on behalf of the BC Conservation Foundation.

Control

A type of intervention used to manage, eliminate, or mitigate a workplace hazard.

Corrective Action

An action taken to remove or control the cause of a safety nonconformity, eliminate the hazard, or minimize the associated risk.

Direct Supervision

Personally and visually supervising a worker. The supervisor is able to communicate readily and clearly with the worker.

Document

A medium containing information related to the Health and Safety Program.

Early Return to Work

Returning to work after sustaining an injury/illness to perform modified job duties until full recovery.

Employer

Includes every person having in their service under a contract of hiring or apprenticeship, written or oral, express or implied, a person engaged in work in or about an industry.

Engineering Controls

The physical arrangement, design or alteration of workstations, equipment, materials, production facilities or other aspects of the physical work environment for the purpose of controlling risk.

Ergonomics

The scientific discipline concerned with understanding interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and methods to design in order to enhance human well-being and optimize overall system performance.

Harassment

Harassment is any inappropriate conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause the worker to be humiliated or intimidated.

Harm

Physical injury, illness, or adverse effect on health (whether acute or chronic).

Hazard

Any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone.

Hazard Area

An area of a workplace where a hazard exists or is created due to a condition in the area or the activities conducted in it.

Hazardous Product

Any product, mixture, material or substance that is classified in accordance with the regulations made under section 15 (1) of the Hazardous Products Act (Canada) in a category or subcategory of a hazard class listed in Schedule 2 of that Act.

HEPA

Means, in reference to air filtration, a high-efficiency particulate air filter meeting the specifications of a nuclear grade filter, providing a 99.97% filtration efficiency at a 0.3 micrometre particle size.

IDLH Atmosphere

Means an atmosphere containing a substance at a concentration which is immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) because the concentration is greater than that from which one could escape without any escape-impairing symptoms or irreversible health effects and includes an atmosphere with an unknown concentration with the potential to be immediately dangerous to life or health.

Incident

An unplanned or unwanted event that results in damage or injury, or could have resulted in damage or injury. Includes an accident or other occurrence which resulted in or had the potential for causing an injury or occupational disease.

Legal Requirements

Requirements of applicable OHS federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal laws, regulations, and bylaws, and where they exist, provisions of the organization's collective agreements that relate to health and safety.

mg/m3

Means milligrams of a substance per cubic metre of air; 
Note: It is a measure of weight and generally applies to aerosols such as dusts, fumes and mists.

Modified Work

Temporary work arrangement offered to an injured worker in which their regular pre-injury job duties can be modified sufficiently to accommodate the worker's physical limitations, medical restrictions, and abilities. The tasks will allow the worker to recover while performing modified or alternate job duties and will not negatively impact the injury or illness. Work must be meaningful and necessary and should in no way provoke or re-aggravate the worker's current condition. All modified work must adhere to Doctor recommendations and limitations.

Non-Occupational

A medical condition that is the result of a non-work-related incident or exposure.

Occupational

A medical condition that is the result of a work-related incident or exposure

Occupational Disease

Means

(a) a disease mentioned in WorkSafeBC Claims and Rehabilitation Manual Schedule B,

(b) a disease the Board may designate or recognize by regulation of general application,

(c) a disease the Board may designate or recognize by order dealing with a specific case, and

(d) a disease prescribed by regulation and includes disablement resulting from exposure to contamination.

Occupational Health and Safety

The promotion in the workplace of the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of workers and the protection of workers from, and the prevention of, workplace conditions and factors adverse to their health and safety.

Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS)

Part of the overall management of the organization that addresses OHS hazards and risk associated with its activities.

OHS Policy

Overall intentions and direction of an organization related to its OHS performance.

OHSMS Audit

A systematic, documented process to obtain and objectively evaluate evidence for determining the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled.

Organization

A company, operation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, or association, or a part or combination thereof, which has its own management. An organization may be incorporated or unincorporated, public or private.

Other Requirements

Other OHS provisions adopted by the organization.

Oxygen Deficient

Means, in relation to air, a condition in which there is less than 19.5% oxygen by volume or the partial pressure of oxygen is less than 16.3 kPa (122 mm Hg).

Personal Risk Tolerance

Is the variability in individuals' willingness to accept a given level of risk. Personal risk tolerances must be adjusted to align with Acceptable Risk.

Plan

A detailed method for doing or achieving something.

PPM

Means parts of a vapour or a gas per million parts of contaminated air by volume at a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and an atmospheric pressure of 760 millimetres of mercury.

Practicable

Means that which is reasonably capable of being done.

Preventive Action

Action taken to remove or reduce the likelihood of an OHSMS nonconformity or eliminate a hazard or minimize the associated risk that could occur (e.g., fix a potential problem).

Prime Contractor

Is the contractor, employer, or other person(s) who enters into an agreement with the owner of the worksite to be the prime contractor and if no agreement is made then there is no agreement in force, and the owner will be responsible for all the health and safety requirements for that worksite.

Procedure

A documented step-by-step method to carry out an activity

Process

A set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs.

Program Review

A documented process to ensure elements of the OHSMS are reviewed and revised annually or as required by legislation.

Qualified

Means being knowledgeable of the work, the hazards involved, and the means to control the hazards by reason of education, training, experience or a combination thereof.

Qualified Practitioner

Means a person authorized under an enactment to practise in British Columbia as a chiropractor, a dentist, a naturopathic physician or a podiatrist.

Rated Capacity

Or "rated load" means the load that machinery or a piece of equipment is, in accordance with its design, rated to bear.

Record

A document that states results achieved or provides evidence of activities performed.

Regulation/Requirement

An ordinance, a law, or a directive set by an outside organization or agency, such as government, for control of people and their environment.

Residual Risk

The risk remaining after a hierarchy of controls has been implemented.

Risk

A combination of the likelihood of the occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm.

Rule

A directive that governs and controls conduct or action, and that is instituted by an organization.

Safe Job Procedures

Instructions that provide step-by-step instructions on completing a task safely. Instructions must be followed in sequence.

Safe Work Practices

A set of guidelines that assist workers in safely performing a task that cannot always be done in the same way. Often includes a list of the "Do's" and "Don'ts" to consider while performing a task.

Safety Data Sheet (SDS) 

Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) are summary documents that provide information about the hazards of a product and advice about safety precautions. SDSs are usually written by the manufacturer or supplier of the product. In some circumstances, an employer may be required to prepare an SDS (e.g., when the product is produced and used exclusively in that workplace).

Senior Management

The person(s) at the highest level of an organizational structure responsible for leading, managing, and/or directing an organization.

Sensitizer

Means a substance that has been shown to elicit an allergenic type of response in humans after an initial exposure, resulting in the development of symptoms upon subsequent exposure at much lower concentrations;

Supervisor

Means a person who instructs, directs and controls workers in the performance of their duties; also means the senior worker in the work unit.

System

A set of interrelated or interacting elements.

Utility Service

Means a petroleum pipeline, sanitary sewer line, enclosed storm sewer, water line, steam line or electrical cable.

Violence

Is the attempted or actual exercise by a person, other than a worker, of any physical force to cause injury to a worker and includes any threatening statement or behavior which gives a worker reasonable cause to believe that he or she is at risk of injury.

WHMIS

WHMIS stands for the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. It is a comprehensive system for providing health and safety information on hazardous products intended for use, handling, or storage in Canadian workplaces.

Worker

A person employed by the organization or a person under the day-to-day control of the organization, whether paid or unpaid.

Note: This definition of "worker" includes employees, supervisors, managers, team leaders, contractors, service providers, volunteers, and students or others actively engaged in undertaking activities for the benefit of the organization.

Worker Representative

A non-managerial worker who is a member of a workplace health and safety committee; a representative of other workers according to the requirements of law or collective agreements; or selected by non-managerial workers for other reasons.

Working Load Limit Or WLL

Means the maximum load which a product is authorized by the manufacturer to support in a particular service.

Workplace

Any location in which work-related activities under the control of the organization are performed.