As we move into the dawn of the new WorkSafeBC era (aka Provincial OH&S Strategic Plan), the main principles of Health and Safety remain the same.

The First Aid Review has just been beefed up in time for the provincial elections. The regulatory amendments to the OHS Regulation that are effective April 3, 2017 are posing unique challenges that I can help you with (see below). In the meantime the basics of First Aid remain the same.

1. Assess your workplace
Whether you have 1 or 100 workplaces, you need a mechanism to review the location through a Health and Safety lens. If you have more than 20 workers at one location you have a greater need to meet the intent of these steps. Contact me for more detail on compliance in large organizations. If you have less than 20 employees at any workplace, an assessment can be as easy as a walkthrough of the building; subsequently clearing hazards, ensuring access to escape routes, and the location of First Aid equipment is marked. I can provide you with templates if needed.

2. Identify hazard rating
Generally speaking WorkSafeBC requires the Employer, Supervisor, and the Employee to address risk on a daily basis however sometimes we become a little complacent. Accreditation standards suggest a minimum of twice per year that a formal inspection occur, with a checklist assessing areas of concern (high risk), areas of potential issue (medium risk), and non-issue (low risk). This checklist often turns quickly into a maintenance list :-)

3. Hospital Proximity
The proximity to a hospital is important to note because in rural areas you may need an increased skill set and/or a larger First Aid kit. Regardless, to ensure the best possible outcome for an injured employee (or customer) be sure to have a decent sized First Aid kit on-site, accessible to you so you don’t need to go searching for keys to pull it from storage.

4. Working Alone
Whether you work alone or with other people on-site, the purpose of this regulation is to ensure that in the event of an employee injury, that attention can be provided immediately. The outcome of an Emergency Procedure could be to a) Call 911 b) Provide First Aid c) Ensure personal safety until help arrives. Each company whether it is 1 or 1000 employees, requires emergency procedures to meet this requirement.

5. First Aid Services
As mentioned above, a First Aid attendant is required in offices with more than 20 personnel, however even in smaller workplaces it is best practice to identify one or two people that have First Aid that will be designated to respond in the case of an emergency. Hopefully you will be nice and pay for their First Aid certificate.

6. Review Annually
Part of the new WorkSafeBC regulation that came into effect April 2017 is to conduct an annual review of your First Aid records. This means that any time an attendant responds to an emergency or inspects the grounds and identifies problem risks, that a review occurs and is documented for inspection by WorkSafeBC.

Overall these requirements are valuable, and are now required by law.  If you feel overwhelmed by all of this, we can easily help you navigate all of these issues and provide you with the required report and templates for you to complete this process year after year.