National Health and Safety Policy Committee (NHSPC) Minutes

This meeting was chaired by Sonia Côté, Employer Co-chair. 
 

OPENING REMARKS

The Employer Co-Chair opened the meeting and welcomed attendees to the December 12, 2023 meeting.

Doug Gaetz, Employee Co-chair, gave opening remarks. He announced that Mathieu Juneau, long time UTE Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Technical Advisor, had taken on a new role as the Employee Representative OHS Technical Advisor with the Agriculture Union. Doug thanked Mathieu for his many years of service and commitment to the OHS program at the CRA. Remarks were provided by employee and employer representatives echoing the remarks and thanking the OHS Technical Advisor for his years of positive and valuable service. The UTE OHS Advisor role has not yet been filled.

REVIEW OF DOCUMENTS

NHSPC Meeting Minutes – September 26, 2023

The minutes have been signed and have been sent for publishing.   

Action Item Report

The action item report from the September 26 meeting was reviewed and accepted. Items that have been actioned have been closed.

Forward Agenda

The forward agenda was reviewed and approved by the members. 

OHS Communication Plan    

It was noted that a number of communication products from the NHSPC Co-chairs were published, including the latest edition of the OHS Newsletter.

VERBAL UPDATE FROM THE HUMAN RESOURCES BRANCH (HRB) – NATIONAL OHS PROGRAM 

Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention (WHVP)

Members were provided with an overview of the work done since the last meeting which included the working group meeting in September to begin the tri-annual review of the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention and Resolution Procedures. The first review of the updates were provided to the group on November 10, and will be discussed in early 2024. The targeted implementation date is June 2024.

The new CRA WHVP stand-alone training module is set to launch in the next several months. The AFS member questioned whether consultation would occur and a commitment was made to look at what consultation had already been done and if additional review was required. This information will be communicated to the committee.   

Well-Being and Psychological Health and Safety

October 1 to 7 was Mental Illness Awareness Week. To coincide with this week, the CRA’s new approach to workplace well-being and psychological health and safety was shared on InfoZone on October 5, 2023. It was followed by an all-employee email sent on October 6.  

The Psychological Health and Safety Working Group met on October 5. At the meeting, the members reviewed a draft resource being developed to build awareness on the 13 psychosocial risk factors in the workplace. One resource will be for general use of all employees. A second resource for health and safety committees and representatives, will contain additional tools that consider psychological risk factors when assisting with incident investigations.

The Working Group reviewed the Treasury Board Secretariat Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) Data Analytics visualization tool, that allows users to configure data from the survey to explore results within and among organizations, by Branch, question, or demographic breakdown. This allows for analysis of how the Agency performed relative to each of the 13 psychosocial risk factors as a whole, and at the Branch level against other government departments.

The Director of Well-being and OHS, Deirdra Finn, mentioned the opportunities they had had to present on the new Well-Being and Psychological Health and Safety approach at the CRA, alongside Ms. Kyla McGuire, Assistant Director Well-being. This included presenting at the UTE National Mental Health Conference in October, the Assessment, Benefit, and Service Branch (ABSB) Fall Leadership Engagement Event, and the Appeals Branch Town Hall on November 24.

The Employee Co-chair thanked Ms. Finn and Ms. McGuire for speaking at the UTE conference and noted that the presentation was well done and well received. 

VERBAL UPDATE FROM THE FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION BRANCH (FAB)

Provision of menstrual products in the workplace 

The committee was provided a verbal update on the status of equipping all CRA workplaces with free menstrual products and appropriate waste receptacles, in order to meet the new legislation in the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, December 15, 2023 deadline.

An InfoZone Agency News Item message was shared December 14 to advise all employees of the new legislation, and advise of steps to follow if there was any issues with access to products.

Bedbugs

An update on new written guidelines was provided at the meeting. The intent of this guidance is to ensure a timely and consistent response is provided at CRA workplaces. The guidance was with the union representatives for their review and feedback. The Employee Co-chair confirmed they would submit the comments and feedback to FAB as requested by December 15.

WRITTEN UPDATES

Members received the following written updates in advance of the meeting.

National Occupational Health and Safety Program Updates

Q2 2023–2024 National OHS Dashboard 

In conjunction to the written update, the committee was provided with the Q2 2023-2024 National OHS dashboard representing program measurements on:

• Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVCs) and Directions
• Mandatory OHS training completion rates
• HSC/HSR effectiveness rates
• Workplace harassment and violence prevention
• First aid & AED program
• Ergonomics program
• Occupational injuries & illnesses
• Hazards and safety complaints

Several comments were made regarding the dashboard information.

The statistics for employees and managers OHS corporate mandatory training shared on the OHS Dashboard has not significantly changed in this quarter.  At time of release of this dashboard, the training completion statistics took into account the grace period that employees and managers have to complete the training.  

The AFS Employee Representative asked if the dashboard, specifically the injury numbers, could be shared outside of this meeting with the Regions. National OHS advised that the OHS Dashboard was protected and should not be shared. They will confirm if a suppressed copy can be made available.

The representatives discussed the ongoing challenge of ensuring monthly inspections were being completed as required by legislation. A discussion followed on what type of strategy could or should be used to improve the compliance numbers.  This will be taken back to the National OHS Program to investigate strategies and to bring recommendations back to the NHSPC. 

Multiple Environment Job Hazard Analysis (MEJHA) Working Group

Since the September 2023 NHSPC meeting, the working group members had been contacted to provide back to the National OHS Program, the annual update as to whether there had been changes to work practices or equipment that might necessitate a review of the current standard operating procedures and associated safe work procedures. Also, the Working Group was asked to survey within their area of responsibility, the types of safety footwear commonly worn by employees as part of their job task safety requirements. This information will be reviewed against current market conditions to determine if a change should be made on the current safety footwear allowance.

Finally, the working group discussed and agreed that the annual scheduled review of standard operating procedures and safe work procedures should be changed from one year to every three years, unless adhoc reviews were required for any relevant reason.

Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) for Field Employees Working Group

The Working Group met on November 16, 2023. The main focus of discussion was safety concerns that had been raised regarding the safety protocols currently in place for CRA employees when executing a search warrant at a taxpayer location, and whether the current procedures were sufficient.

On November 16, 2023, the Working Group discussed the procedures in place for Criminal Investigations Division (CID) employees conducting a search at a taxpayer residence or business. The specific task of concern was the initial approach by the CRA employee to execute the search warrant and the level of risk it presented. It was agreed that the current Field Employee Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), would be reviewed alongside the current CID Search procedures, to ensure they sufficiently mitigated the level of risk that could be present during this stage of a search.   

The AFS employee representative requested that AFS have more union representation at the JHA working group meetings to ensure the current operational realities are considered. The Director Well-Being and OHS informed the Committee that a review of the TOR would be needed. She also reminded members that the CID has a functional authority from the management subject matter expert on the JHA working group.  

Finally, the working group discussed and agreed that the scheduled review of the standard operating procedure and safe work procedures, would be updated to a three year review period, unless adhoc reviews were required for any relevant reason.

Health and Safety Committee (HSC)/ Health and Safety Representative Program (HSR)

Since the NHSPC meeting in September, the updated Terms of Reference guide and tool were shared with the union representatives for review and feedback. The updates will be finalized and published to InfoZone in the new year. 

The HSC/HSR training material has also completed an accessibility review and is ready to be used for co-facilitated training either in-person or virtually. The Employee Co-chair, reiterated that he was thankful to the OHS Officers for delivering the training to committee members in the interim, but that it was important the training return to the previous co-facilitated format with an employee trainer and employer trainer. The employee representatives voiced a preference for in-person training for committee and representative training. The National OHS Program will analyze options for both committee and representative training, as well as for the train the trainer course. Recommendations will be brought back to the NHSPC co-chair for discussion. 

The HSC/HSR corporate policy instruments (CPI) and associated tools are also undergoing an accessibility review. The draft CPI and tools will be shared with the unions for review and feedback in the new year.

Monitoring Program Update

The committee was informed that the monitoring is on target to re-commence in 2024-2025.

OHS Training Courses

The current OHS training for employees and managers is in the process of being revised and updated as necessary.

• TD1599-001 Health and Safety for Employees has been updated and the draft is with employee representatives for review and feedback.
• TD1599-003 Health and Safety for Managers is under review with the Learning and Leadership Directorate (LLD) to ensure it meets accessibility requirements. Contingent on accessibility requirements being met, the pilot is expected to be underway by next fiscal.

Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention

The committee was provided with the statistics related to reported cases of workplace harassment and violence at the CRA over the last quarter (Q2 - 2023 to 2024). The AFS representative asked for confirmation on one of the statistic. This will be taken back to the National OHS Program and a response will be provided to the committee members.

Workplace Health and Safety Operations

The committee was provided with an update on the operation and outreach of the Occupational Health and Safety Prevention and Compliance Center (OHS PCC) and the Harassment and Violence Prevention Centre (HVPC).

They continue to work with their clients providing numerous awareness sessions on different components of the OHS Program as well as providing on-going advice and guidance to their clients.

Finance and Administration Branch (FAB) Updates

Airborne Asbestos Fibre Testing

The asbestos fibre testing report was presented to the committee. A question was asked to clarify why the “Agency-occupied sites where asbestos-containing material (ACM) is present” report on InfoZone was different from the “Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) - National asbestos inventory report” of CRA leased sites. Specifically, why were there sites listed on the PSPC report as having ACM, but they were not listed on the internal CRA building report.

It was explained that where there are buildings in which the CRA is a tenant, that are known to have ACM, and therefore on the PSPC national asbestos inventory. The location of ACMs is outside of CRA’s use and occupancy, and the CRA is not informed of the presence of asbestos and the site is not included on the internal inventory.

The FAB Employer Representative committed to reviewing the sites that were not included on the internal “Agency-occupied sites where asbestos-containing material (ACM) is present” report to confirm that any space CRA leased and/or occupied space is separate from areas of the building with known ACM. Information will be provided to the committee members.

Security Branch (SB) Update

Quarterly Incident Report  

The AFS representative thanked the Security Branch representative for providing additional reporting elements to the report. The employee representative asked for clarification on threat indicators and if there were different levels assigned to increasing levels of risk. The Security Branch representative confirmed that the threat mitigation framework did have varying degrees of risk, and appropriate actions to take for each level. These actions could entail involving police services for future meetings, or meeting with a given taxpayer whose file had been tagged with a threat indicator, if an in-person meeting was deemed necessary. 

The committee reviewed the report, with clarifications provided as required.

The Security Branch representative closed by addressing a point made at the last NHSPC meeting regarding the frequency of threat risk assessments. They clarified that formal threat risk assessments were not automatically completed for CRA workplaces on an annual basis. Rather, local security offices completed site assessment questionnaires annually to ensure compliance with physical security requirements, and that the questionnaires could suggest a threat risk assessment be reviewed if local conditions warranted it.

CLOSING REMARKS

Mr. Gaetz thanked everyone for their work and their participation in the meeting.

Ms. Côté closed the meeting by thanking members for their work. The next NHSPC meeting is scheduled for March 5, 2024.

The meeting adjourned at 2:55 p.m. EST.

Image Sonia Côté Employer Co-Chair  National Health and Safety Policy Committee		Image Doug Gaetz Employee Co-Chair  National Health and Safety Policy Committee
Date: 2024-02-13		Date: 2024-02-14