All other elements of your program should be reviewed as needed, such as after a significant change to clinic operations (e.g., a move, renovation, change in procedure, or near miss/injury).

• Get the employee medical attention. Provide first aid, arrange transportation to a hospital, or call 9-1-1 if necessary.
• Report the injury to WorkSafeBC within 3 days.*
• Help the worker return to work safely and as early as possible after an injury. Develop a return-to-work plan.

Employers with more than 20 workers must also maintain the injured employee’s job for up to 2 years during recovery, if the employee worked there continuously for at least 1 year before the injury.

*Find more information in the Reporting to WorkSafeBC module.

To ensure the health and safety of all staff under their direct supervision, supervisors, including physicians and office managers, must:

• Be knowledgeable about applicable OHS provisions and regulations.
• Comply with OHS provisions, regulations, and any applicable WorkSafeBC orders.
• Insist workers who appear to be impaired by fatigue or another condition leave the workplace.

Supervisors must ensure staff:

• Are aware of all known or reasonably foreseeable health or safety hazards in the area where they work.
• Comply with OHS provisions, regulations, and any applicable orders.
• Consult and cooperate with the JOHSC or the worker health and safety representative for the workplace.
• Cooperate with the WorkSafeBC Board, safety officers of the Board, and any other person carrying out a duty under OHS provisions or regulations.

All clinic workers, including medical office staff, clinic managers, physicians, nurses, residents, students, learners not under a contract of service or apprenticeship, and other clinicians, such as Primary Care Network allied health staff, must:

• Take reasonable care to protect their own health and safety, and the health and safety of other people who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work.
• Comply with OHS provisions, regulations, and any applicable WorkSafeBC orders.
• Carry out their work in accordance with established safe work procedures as required by OHS provisions and regulations.
• Use or wear protective equipment, devices, and clothing as required.
• Not engage in horseplay or similar conduct that may endanger the worker or any other person.
• Ensure that their ability to work without risk to their own health or safety, or to the health or safety of any other person, is not impaired by alcohol, drugs, or other causes.
• Cooperate with the JOHSC or the worker health and safety representative, where applicable, for the clinic.
• Cooperate with the WorkSafeBC Board, safety officers of the Board, and any other person carrying out a duty under OHS provisions or regulations.
• Report to the supervisor or employer:
  • Any contravention of OHS provisions, regulations, or an applicable order of which the worker is aware.
  • The absence of or defect in any protective equipment, device or clothing, or the existence of any other hazard that the worker considers is likely to endanger them or any other person.
  • Situations where a worker suspects another worker is impaired while at work.

When multiple employers share a workplace, the clinic owner is considered the prime contractor and is responsible for coordinating health and safety, unless otherwise stated in a written agreement with one of the employers/contractors in the workplace. The clinic owner is the person or corporation who owns or rents the workspace.

The prime contractor of a multiple-employer workplace must:

• Coordinate the activities of employers, workers, and other persons at the workplace related to occupational health and safety.
• Establish and maintain, as far as reasonably practicable, a system or process to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. The system may include all the health and safety topics covered on the Community Physician Health and Safety (CPHS) website.
• Know who each employer has designated to supervise their own workers at the workplace.

What does that really mean? It means the prime contractor must:

• Have systems in place to ensure two-way communication with other employers in the workplace (subcontractors or co-occupants). These systems should address how the prime contractor will:
  • Receive up-to-date information from each employer in the workplace about who is designated to supervise their workers and who is responsible for that employer’s health and safety activities.
  • Coordinate safety among the other employers in the workplace and ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. This could include setting meetings with these other employers, or other means of communication.
  • Ensure subcontractors and co-occupants will notify the prime contractor in advance of any undertaking likely to create a hazard for any worker in the clinic.
  • Communicate any known hazards to the affected workers.
• Establish an emergency response plan and communicate it to all workers.
• Maintain accurate records of each employer’s safety-related activities to demonstrate due diligence and compliance with OHS regulations. This can include, but is not limited to, keeping meeting minutes, copies of risk assessments, inspections, and incident investigation reports.