Worker Representative / Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC)

A worker health and safety representative is required if your clinic has more than nine and less than 20 staff members.

• A worker health and safety representative must be selected from staff at the workplace who do not exercise managerial functions and must be elected by a ballot.
• If the staff do not make their own selection after being given the opportunity, the employer must assign a worker to act as the health and safety worker representative.
• The employer must ensure that the worker health and safety representative receives at least four hours of instruction and training within six months of being selected. To meet educational requirements, WorkSafeBC offers a free virtual course (refer to the Additional Resources section below).

• If your clinic has 20 or more workers, you need a joint committee under the Workers Compensation Act.
• The committee must meet at least once a month, and minutes must be recorded and kept for at least 2 years.
• The JOHSC meeting minutes from the past three months must be posted in the workplace for all clinic staff to access.
• For consistency, it is recommended that all 12 meetings be scheduled in advance on the same day of the week at the same time. For example, a clinic could hold its JOHSC meeting on the third Thursday of each month at 3 p.m.

This meeting agenda template could be used to record the details of the monthly JOHSC meetings.

A joint occupational health and safety committee must be established in accordance with the following:

• The committee must have at least four members to function.
• Employer members cannot outnumber workers.
• Worker members should not perform managerial functions in the clinic.
• Employer members should perform managerial functions in the clinic, and the physician employer may act as a representative.
• Two co-chairs must be chosen: one selected by the worker representatives and the other by the employer representatives.
• The employer must ensure that each joint committee member receives at least eight hours of instruction and training within six months of being selected. To meet the educational requirements for new joint committee members, the BC Employers’ Advisers Office offers free virtual education.

The joint committee must establish its own rules of procedures (Terms of Reference).

A joint occupational health and safety committee has the following key responsibilities:

• Consult and discuss with staff and the employer on all workplace health and safety matters.
• Recommend improvements to occupational health, safety, and the work environment.
• Conduct joint regular workplace inspections and identify potential health and safety hazards.
• Jointly investigate accidents and incidents.
• Jointly discuss and implement corrective actions to potential hazards.
• Advise the employer on proposed changes to the workplace, including significant proposed changes to equipment and machinery, or the work processes that may affect the health or safety of workers.

A worker health and safety representative has the same duties and functions as a joint committee.