Program administration is the backbone of your Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management system. It ensures your safety program is organized, documented, and effectively maintained, so it meets legal requirements and drives continuous improvement. It also applies to the responsibility of employers to allow workers an opportunity to discuss current and on-going health and safety issues in the workplace.
There’s a lot to consider when creating your organization’s program administration process. Check out our templates and resources, created with social service workers in mind, to help your process.
WorkSafeBC Requirements
Maintaining records and statistics is a requirement of the WorkSafe BC Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Regulations.
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Employers must keep excellent records of incidents, inspections, meetings to show due diligence and prevent risk of WorkSafeBC fine and orders.
What Employers Need to Know
Required Records
To meet regulatory and Certificate of Recognition (COR) standards, the following health and safety records must be maintained:
- Incident records
- First aid treatment
- Lost time, medical aid, and near-miss incidents
- Incident investigations
- Inspection records
- Workplace inspections
- Corrective action reports
- Vehicle maintenance reports
- WorkSafeBC inspections and orders
- Meeting documentation
- Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee (JOHSC) meeting minutes
- Safety huddles and staff meetings discussing OHS topics
- OHS goals and senior leadership safety meetings (e.g., quarterly reviews)
- Reports and analysis
- Statistical reports identifying incident trends
- Program documentation
- Signed policies and procedures
- Training and certification records
Best Practices
Take Safety Seriously
- Establish clear policies and procedures for record keeping, including defined roles and responsibilities for maintaining safety documentation.
- Develop and implement regular internal reporting systems, such as monthly or quarterly safety summaries.
- Track both leading and lagging safety indicators, including metrics like training completion rates and incident reports. Tip: You can use the CSSHSA Learning Centre to provide regular reports to management and JOSHC on training completion rates.
Review and Update Your Program
- Regularly review and engage the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) in reviewing safety records and contributing to the revision of policies and procedures.
- Monitor changes in relevant legislation and revise documentation accordingly.
- Leverage reporting data for continuous improvement in health and safety performance.
Maintain Records
- Maintain detailed records of all program updates and employee communications related to health and safety.
- Keep first aid and training records for a minimum of three years.
- Keep records of occupational exposures and incident reports for at least 10 years.
Disclaimer: This resource is intended to help community social service organizations understand the requirements of developing different aspects of health and safety programs. It provides information on key concepts and directs users to relevant resources. The content above is not a substitute for professional legal advice. Please refer to the included links or consult official legislation and resources for current and accurate information.