Heat Stress & Air Condition
Heat Stress Awareness & Reporting
CUPE 3902 Joint Health & Safety (JHSC) Council members want you to be aware of your right to a healthy and safe workplace at all times including during the spring and fall “shoulder seasons” and throughout the summer.
The University administration has acknowledged an acceptable summer indoor temperature range for all workplaces of 23-26 degrees Celsius with relative humidity less than 65%. If your workplace exceeds these acceptable levels at any time this summer, please immediately email your direct supervisor or manager to inform them and copy your Health and Safety Officer at hso@cupe3902.org. More information about heat stress can be found here.
Wildfire Smoke and Hazardous Air in the Workplace
Wildfire smoke caused by climate change is an increasingly serious health hazard for all workers at University of Toronto. Hazardous air quality in the GTA from wildfires will unfortunately not be isolated events. This wildfire season has just begun and we should prepare for more o these events to occur throughout the summer.
How does wildfire smoke affect me as a CUPE 3902 member?
Given that indoor air is affected by hazardous outdoor air and the current MERV-13 filters used in buildings with HVAC systems do not filter out all of the harmful PM 2.5 (one of the seriously harmful particles present in wildfire smoke), we are left to protect ourselves.
No amount of exposure to smoke is safe. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you consider wearing a N95/KN95 or equivalent mask on days when the Government of Canada Air Quality Health Index for your workplace location is at 7 ("high risk") or above. Furthermore, some buildings on campus do not have HVAC systems at all. Click here for more information about this.
Your employer’s obligations:
It's the employer's responsibility under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to take "every reasonable precaution" to protect workers from all workplace health hazards including breathing in toxic smoke from wildfires. “Reasonable” means that the employer needs to address all foreseeable hazards. This means employers should have reasonable precautions already in place for protecting workers from wildfire smoke.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety provide guidance on what might be a reasonable precaution in response to exposure to wildfire smoke:
Evaluate the risks of wildfire smoke in the workplace and monitor smoke events and air quality.
Eliminate or prevent exposure by rescheduling outdoor work or moving work indoors.
Close windows and ensure that ventilation systems and air filters are maintained and effective.
Identify workers at increased risk and reduce activities of workers with difficulty breathing.
Introduce respiratory equipment if necessary to reduce exposure to particulates.
Inform workers about the hazards, signs, and symptoms of wildfire smoke.
Check in regularly with workers about both their physical and mental health
Your right to refuse unsafe work:
You have the right to refuse unsafe work. This includes refusing work that is made unsafe by wildfire smoke:
"As a worker in Ontario you have the legal right to refuse unsafe work, according to Section 43(3) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,
when you believe that any equipment, workplace condition or contravention of OHSA is likely to endanger you or another person’s health and safety.”
For more information click this link.
To refuse unsafe work, you must have reason to believe that:
the working conditions are dangerous
and/or there is unusual or heightened risk to you
and/or the required precautions have not been taken
If you feel the need to exercise your right to refuse unsafe work, follow these steps:
Stop working and go to a safe place near your workplace.
Immediately notify your supervisor and email your union at work.refusals@cupe3902.org. Let both your supervisor and your union know about the circumstances for refusing to work. Your supervisor (or delegate) must investigate the workplace with you and a worker-selected member (steward or Health and Safety Rep).
If your supervisor resolves the issue or provides alternative duties that are safe, you return to work.
If there’s still reasonable grounds for unsafe work, you can continue to refuse unsafe work (Stage 2)
Either you or your employer notifies a Ministry of Labour inspector who investigates the workplace in consultation with you, your supervisor and your union rep. The inspector’s decision must be provided in writing to all those involved in the investigation.
During the investigation, you may be assigned other reasonable alternative work or duties by your supervisor.
You cannot be threatened, dismissed, disciplined, intimidated or coerced for complying with the legislation, according to Section 50 of the OHSA act.
Source: https://cupe.ca/refusing-unsafe-work-step-step-guide
More information about refusing unsafe work including YouTube and other visual tutorials are available here https://linktr.ee/3902unsafework.