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Duty to maintain a safe workplaceIn each jurisdiction, employers have ageneral duty to maintain a safe workplaceand to ensure that measures andprocedures prescribed in their respectivelegislation are followed.Investigators are, in most of thejurisdictions, permitted to conduct auditsand send officers or investigators toworkplaces and issue warnings or penaltiesto ensure enforcement of the legislation.Employers and others may also beprosecuted for violation of occupationalhealth and safety legislation. Suchprosecutions are considered “strict liabilityoffences”. This means that the prosecutorneed only establish the facts of the offence– intent does not have to be proven. If theprosecution can establish the factualelements of the offence, it falls to theaccused to establish a “due diligencedefence”. This means that the accused hasto establish that the offence was caused bythe accused’s reasonable reliance on amistaken belief or that it did everything thata reasonable person should do to preventthe incident.Employers are not held to a standard ofperfection, but they must have the requiredsafety policies in place and also have asystem to ensure those policies are followedand enforced. Employers should alsoproactively identify, assess and remedy orotherwise address hazards in theworkplace, and this should be done on anongoing basis.Right to refuse workAll employees in workplaces covered byoccupational health and safety legislationhave the legal right to be informed by theiremployer about hazards in the workplaceand to refuse to perform unsafe work, aslong as that employee has a reasonablebelief that the work or workplace is likely toendanger himself or herself, or anotheremployee. Employees who, in good faith,exercise their statutory right to refuse to dounsafe work may not be disciplined by theiremployer.Other requirementsAlthough not exhaustive, the following aresome other requirements under thelegislation in each jurisdiction:Employees must receive instructionand supervision with respect tohealth and safety issues.Appropriate protective equipmentmust be provided to and worn byemployees;Depending on the size of theworkplace, a health and safetyrepresentative or a joint health andsafety committee may have to beestablished and maintained inworkplaces; each jurisdiction has itsown rules about the composition,responsibilities and requirements ofthe committee.Hazardous materials in theworkplace must be properly labelled,stored and disposed of, andemployees must be instructed abouthazards in accordance with theWorkplace Hazardous MaterialsInformation System.Employment and Labour Law 94