The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour.
CCOHS functions as the primary national agency in Canada for the advancement of
safe and healthy workplaces and preventing work-related
injuries
An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, or o ...
,
illnesses and
deaths
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
. Additional work in this area is carried out by provincial and territorial labour departments and
workers' compensation
Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...
.
CCOHS was created in 1978 by an Act of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
''Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act'' S.C., 1977-78, c. 29 The act was based on the belief that all Canadians had "…a fundamental right to a healthy and safe working environment".
The centre, located in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
, is governed by a tripartite Council of Governors representing government (federal, provincial and territorial), employers, and workers.
CCOHS promotes the total well-being—physical, psychosocial and mental health—of working Canadians by providing information, training, education, management systems and solutions. It makes credible information about workplace hazards and conditions easily and widely accessible to all Canadians - promoting safe and healthy workplaces.
Services
* Partial online list (with hyperlinks) of occupational safety regulations in Canada and its provinces
Canadian enviroOSH Legislation website
/ref>
* Safety InfoLine Service - the free, confidential, person-to-person information service for Canadians
* OSH Answers - Q&A on CCOHS website
* Health and Safety Report - free monthly electronic newsletter
* Flu and Infectious Disease Outbreak Planning portal - tools, tips and resources
* Advancing Healthy Workplaces portal - information on creating healthy workplaces
* Webinar presentations
* Podcasts on a variety of issues and topics as well as interviews with experts
* Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) Classification Database
* Young Workers Zone website for new and young workers, addressing the high levels of injuries and illnesses suffered by this group of workers
* CANOSH website – a web portal of links to Canadian occupational health and safety information that is provided by federal, provincial and territorial government agencies, Workers' Compensation Boards and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. The site aims to make this information readily and easily accessible to Canadians in the continuing effort to prevent workplace injury and illness and help create healthy workplaces. Canosh was created and is maintained by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
* Podcasts - new episodes added monthly
* e-courses
* Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS)
* Chemical safety databases and services
* MSDS Management Service
* OSH Works Occupational Health and Safety Management Service
* Health and safety promotional tools
* Health and safety pocket guides - CCOHS publications are offered in English and French and in several formats (print, CD ROM, DVD, PDF)
* CANWrite Safety Data Sheets authoring software
References
External links
Official site
{{authority control
Federal departments and agencies of Canada
Canadian federal Crown corporations
Companies based in Hamilton, Ontario
Occupational safety and health organizations
Medical and health organizations based in Ontario