Accidents in workplace: CNESST issues a call for vigilance
Accidents in workplace: CNESST issues a call for vigilance
The Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) is calling for vigilance and wishes to remind employers and employees about the importance of taking all the means to prevent workplace accidents. This warning reminder comes after the census of “many” cases of “severe and fatal” accidents in the province in recent weeks.
Prevention: the winning formula
According to the CNESST, the prevention of accidents at work requires effective management of health and safety. To do this, the key players in the workplace must take the necessary time to make a good risk assessment and plan the work to be done. They are also required to adequately train and supervise workers in the tasks that must be accomplished. These prevention measures apply to all workplaces, whether in a factory, a construction site, a farm, a business or elsewhere.
“Workplace accidents represent many broken lives. Let us insist, together, on the importance of having a favourable corporate culture in all workplaces by providing adequate management of occupational health and safety to make an active contribution to making workplaces safer, “says Manuelle Oudar, the Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of CNESST.
Roles and responsibilities of employers and workers
It is important to remember that under the Loi sur la santé et la sécurité du travail, employers have an obligation to protect workers. The workers also have an important role to play.
Employers must, in particular:
• ensure that the work organization, methods and techniques used to perform the intended tasks are safe and do not affect the health and safety of the worker;
• adequately inform the worker of the risks associated with the work at hand and provide them with adequate training, coaching and supervision so that the worker has the skills and knowledge required to safely perform the work entrusted to him;
• provide the worker, free of charge, with all the personal equipment and means of protection required to carry out his tasks safely, and ensure that he uses them.
As for them, workers must:
• actively participate in the identification and elimination of risks in the workplace;
• take the necessary measures to protect the health, safety and physical well-being of themselves and other persons at or near the workplaces;
• take note of the prevention program put in place by the employer for the tasks that they must carry out, if any.
Workplace accident statistics
In 2018, the CNESST recorded 91,711 workplace accidents, which represents 251 accidents every day. In 2018, 62 workers lost their lives as a result of an accident in workplace. In Outaouais, there are 2,435 accidents at work and 4 deaths following a work accident in 2018.
To consult the tools of the CNESST facilitating a better management of accidents at work:
www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca/priseencharge.
