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 A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

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: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

''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 province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, 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 provincesCanadian 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 The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS; french: links=no, Système d'information sur les matières dangereuses utilisées au travail, SIMDUT) is Canada's national workplace hazard communication standard. The key elements of t ...

(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 Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) is a database of toxicity information compiled from the open scientific literature without reference to the validity or usefulness of the studies reported. Until 2001 it was maintained by U ...

(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