BCGEU OHS courses are open to BCGEU OHS representatives as well as employer OHS representatives.
Covid-19 update: We have returned to scheduling in-person courses with Covid-19 protocols in place. The BCGEU OHS department has also developed a virtual version of our Basic OHS Committee and Incident Investigations training courses, which we will continue to offer upon request.
Click the links below to find course descriptions.
Click here to view and register for available courses.
Note: Within six months of being appointed, OHS committee representatives are required to take eight hours of eduation (employer paid). The Workers' Compensation Act also stipulates an additional entitlement of eight hours of training every year. This means that in their first year, OHS representatives are entitled to 16 hours of training.
Please ensure that you have approval from your employer prior to registering for this EMPLOYER PAID training.
Click here to view Mental Health Courses
Courses for Non-Government OHS Reps
Delivered via Zoom, this is interactive online course meets the criteria set by WCB Regulation. It is mandatory for new committee members, and is a prerequisite for all other non-Mental Health BCGEU OH&S courses. For those who have been on the committee for longer than 2 years, this course is a great refresher.
In this course, you will learn:
- Occupational health and safety rights – Right to Know, Right to Participate, Right to Refuse Unsafe Work and Right to No Discrimination
- Introduction to the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
- Duties and functions of a joint committee
- Rules of procedure or committee terms of reference
- Roles and responsibilities of the employer, supervisor, workers and committees
- Requirements respecting workplace inspections and incident investigation
- Requirements respecting committee evaluation
This introductory course meets the criteria set by WCB Regulation. It is a mandatory course for new committee members, and is a prerequisite for all other non-Mental Health BCGEU OH&S courses. For those who have been on the committee for longer than 2 years, this course is a great refresher.
In this course, you will learn:
- Occupational health and safety rights – Right to Know, Right to Participate, Right to Refuse Unsafe Work and Right to No Discrimination
- Introduction to the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
- Duties and functions of a joint committee
- Rules of procedure or committee terms of reference
- Roles and responsibilities of the employer, supervisor, workers and committees
- Requirements respecting workplace inspections and incident investigation
- Requirements respecting committee evaluation
This course is for OHS committee representatives with more than 6 months experience serving on an OHS committee.
Does your committee struggle to address health and safety concerns? Are your committee meetings filled with conflict and inaction? This course has been designed to allow participants to evaluate their joint committee's effectiveness and to develop the tools, resources and strategies to build on their successes and to effectively address difficult OHS issues.
In this course, you will learn:
- Key elements of an effective joint OH&S committee
- Group dynamics and stages of group development
- How to solve issues and learn to use the dispute resolution processes available through OH&S legislation
- Identify barriers facing a committee and develop practical strategies and solutions to deal with them
- The importance of developing a terms of reference for your committee
- How to conduct an annual committee evaluation
How can we prevent those aches, pains and strains that are caused by work? This course provides basic ergonomic information to committee members, explains risk factors and outlines employer responsibilities to mitigate the risk of injury. This course is a must for all types of work.
In this course, you will learn:
- Employer responsibilities under OHS Regulation
- Identification/assessment of ergonomic hazards and risk factors
- Strategies for recommending corrective measures
- Common ergonomic issues in offices, mobile workplaces, healthcare, highways, and social service sectors
- Opportunity to practice a workspace ergonomic assessment
Violence should not be a part of your job but we know that workers suffer physical and psychological injury from violent workplace incidents. This course will assist joint committee members to set up an effective violence prevention program.
In this course, you will learn:
- Definition of workplace violence
- Legal requirements for employers to complete a violence risk assessment and to develop a violence prevention program
- Hazard identification and emergency response
- Factors that contribute to an increased risk of violence
- Strategies for recommending corrective measures to eliminate or reduce the risk of violence
- Strategies to address domestic violence at workplaces
All workers face health and safety issues at work but many issues affect women in particular ways. This course provides participants with the opportunity to develop their ability to identify, assess and control workplace hazards from a woman’s perspective.
In this course, you will learn:
- How women’s physical and psychological health is affected by toxic workplace substances, work design, and work organization
- Workplace stressors such as inequity, domestic and gender based violence, sexual harassment, shiftwork
- Human rights legislation which requires the employer to address workplace hazards that predominately affect women
- Learn how pregnancy and menopause can impact women's safety at work
An incident happens at your workplace and you suddenly get a call to participate in an investigation. What do you do? What is the purpose of an investigation? What is required? This course will answer all these questions and provide you with the opportunity to improve your investigative skills.
In this course, you will learn:
- Legal requirements for conducting incident investigations
- Employer and worker representative participation
- The 7 step process – secure the scene, collect data, develop the sequence of events, determine the causes, recommendations, write the report, refer other hazards
- Effective interviewing skills
- Multiple causation models
- The hierarchy of effective control measures
An incident happens at your workplace and you suddenly get a call to participate in an investigation. What do you do? What is the purpose of an investigation? What is required? Delivered via zoom, this interactive online course will answer all these questions and provide you with the opportunity to improve your investigative skills.
In this course, you will learn:
- Legal requirements for conducting incident investigations
- Employer and worker representative participation
- The 7 step process – secure the scene, collect data, develop the sequence of events, determine the causes, recommendations, write the report, refer other hazards
- Effective interviewing skills
- Multiple causation models
- The hierarchy of effective control measures
Conducting risk assessments is a key role of a joint committee. Having the ability to identify hazards and the risks they pose to workers' health, and how to determine control measures, is essential to any risk management program. You will have the opportunity to develop your skills through the practical component of this course.
In this course, you will learn:
- The difference between hazards and risks
- Roles and responsibilities of the employer, supervisor, worker, and committee during a risk assessment
- Common types of risk assessments
- The 3 components of a risk assessment: hazard identification, risk evaluation, determination of control measures