Business Employment Law: Alberta's OSH Act and Amendments

This report analyzes the Business Employment Law in Alberta, focusing on the Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) Act. It begins by outlining the act's origins, established in 1976 to protect worker safety and health, and its subsequent amendments, including the 2018 update aimed at modernizing workplace standards and enhancing employee engagement. The report details the scope of the act, covering most employees and employers in Alberta, while excluding specific groups like domestic workers and those in federally regulated industries. It then explores the act's main purpose, which is to define responsibilities and set health and safety standards. The report outlines key sections of the act, including the OHS Act, OHS Regulation, and OHS Code, and identifies the OHS officers as the responsible enforcers. Furthermore, the report applies the act to two employment-related situations: workplace harassment and the lack of fire safety equipment, identifying the relevant sections of the OSH Code and OHS Act and describing how they apply. Finally, the report concludes by listing potential risks associated with violations of the act, such as fire, chemical hazards, harassment, and injuries.

Running Head: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT LAW
Business Employment Law
Name
Institution

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Business Employment Law
Origin
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act or Alberta’s OSH Act was established in
1976 to promote the safety and health of the Alberta workers. The main reason the act was
established was to focus on setting standards to protect, as well as support the health and safety
of the employees throughout the Alberta province by defining the responsibilities of employees
besides others connected to the place of work. The act gives the government the power to make
regulations for health besides safety at the place of work for the interest of the employees
(Hazard Alert Training Inc., 2009).
The Alberta’s OSH Act was last amended on June 1, 2018 to replace the OSHA, SA
2017, c 0-21. The amended undertaken in 2018 considerably expanded law, which recognizes
new rights, fashions new duties on workplace shareholders and improves enforcement. Several
owners, employers, plus other work site under the amendment would be needed to undertake
proactive measures to comply with the new regulation. The reason for the amendment was to set
minimum standards for health and safety workplaces by modernizing Alberta’s health, as well as
safety workplace to reflect modern workplace, boost employee engagement, enhance employees’
security and boost support (Stefanick, 2015).
Scope
The Alberta occupation health and safety acct affects the majority of the employees and
employers in the province. The act covers employees working at the Alberta province,
employees in farming and ranching in Alberta.

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The act does not cover domestic employees (nannies or housekeepers), workers working
in federally regulated activities (banking, ground transport over provincial boundaries), air
transport, federal government employees, and First Nation Reserves.
Purpose and Overview of the Act
Main Purpose of the Act
 Sets out the fundamental duties of employers, owners, employees, suppliers, as well as
contractors in matters of health and safety.
 The act also gives the government power to make regulations plus codes (that is rules)
regarding health and safety in the workplace.
 The act establishes standards to safeguard and support the health plus safety of
employees all through the Alberta province, as well as offers officers the power visit
work sites and enforces the requirements (Hazard Alert Training Inc., 2009).
Sections of the Act
 OHS Act: sets out fundamental responsibilities of owners, employers, suppliers,
employees and contractors in issues related to workplace safety and health. The section
also confers the government the power to make regulations, as well as codes regarding
health and safety of employees all through Alberta province and presents offers with the
power to visit workplace and enforce the requirements of the act.
 The OHS Regulation: The section addresses specific requirements connected to
government policy, as well as administrative issues concerning health plus safety.

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 The OHS Code: The section specifies all the technical standards besides regulations,
which employers and employees should adhere to satisfy their responsibilities. The code
will encompass topic areas, like hazard assessment and control, general safety, noise,
violence in place of work, workplace harassment, chemical hazards, and first aid among
others (Lotti & Bleecker, 2015).
Who is responsible to enforce the Act?
The persons responsible for the enforcement of the act are the OHS officers under the
Alberta province as provided by the act. The officers are given the powers to enforce rules and
regulations by visiting the work site and make the necessary steps as required by the act.
Application
Situations
1. When there is harassment in workplace by the employer where an employee harasses an
employee harass an employee on the ground of sex, this will warrant the application of
Alberta OSH Act. . The employee violates the provisions of the OSHA of Alberta that
stipulates that the employer must not harass any employee on any ground and should
provide a safe working environment. This situation will imply that the workplace is not
safe for the employee and the employee can lodge a complaint to the authorities
enforcing the act. This situation is clearly under the act because the act requires owners,
employers, and contractors to promote a health and safe workplace that will ensure that
all employees are safe from any form of harassment and such harassment should be

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tolerated. This situation is taken care in the Alberta OSHA and the situation will be taken
care by the act through enforcement officers (Piper, 2018).
2. The other situation is when an employer does not put in place fire extinguishers in the
plants, which exposes the workers to dangers situations when there is a fire outbreak and
there are not fire assembly points. The fire extinguishers and other fire equipments are
essential in the workplace and should be mandatory to all employers to guarantee the
safety and health of the employees. In this case, the lack of fire extinguishers and other
fire equipment will mean that the employees are at a greater risk of injuries when there is
a fire outbreak in the workplace. This situation is addressed through the Alberta OSHA
that requires all the employers to put in place measures to promote safe workplace and
employees’ safety and health should be a priority. Therefore, this was violation of the
provisions of the act and the company should shoulder the responsibility (Towle,
Tolliver, Bui, Warner & Van Dyke, 2015).
Sections of the Act would apply to each situation
The section applicable for situation 1 is the OSH Code that is on workplace harassment,
while situation applicable is applicable to section OHS Act.
Description
OSH Code is application to situation 1 because under Alberta OSHA that requires that
the employer and employee should create a health and safe workplace. The employees and
employers must adhere to certain standards that will ensure that both have a health and safe
environment. However, in situation1, the employer decided to harass the employee on grounds of

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sexual harassment that the employer makes it unsafe for the employee whom the employee
should have protected (Stefanick, 2015).
Situation 2 is applicable for OSHA Act of Alberta Act that requires the government to
ensure that the employer through the government policies. The government through the
provisions of Alberta OSHA must have ensured that there are adequate measures to ensure that
the employer put in place fire extinguishers and other firefighting equipment to ensure that in
case of fire the employees are safe, but in this case, the employer had no these equipments
(Hazard Alert Training Inc., 2009).
Risks
 Fire
 Chemical Hazard
 Harassment
 Injuries

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References
Hazard Alert Training Inc. (2009). Handi-guide to Alberta's OH & S Act, Regulation and Code.
Edmonton: Hazard Alert Training Inc.
In Lotti, M., & In Bleecker, M. L. (2015). Occupational neurology. Amsterdam, Netherlands ;
Waltham, MA : Elsevier.
Piper, D. (2018). What do upcoming changes to Alberta’s occupational health and safety laws
mean for employers? Lexology. Retrieved September 21, 2019 from
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9e10fa1c-2d17-4e46-89d5-
8a7c9680b461.
Stefanick, E. M. S. L. (2015). Alberta Oil and the Decline of Democracy in Canada. Athabasca
University Press.
Towle, M., Tolliver, R., Bui, A. G., Warner, A., & Van Dyke, M. (2015). Adding Industry and
Occupation Questions to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System: New
Opportunities in Public Health Surveillance. Public Health Reports, 130(2), 153–160.