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Resources & Tools

Resources and Tools

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The Home Care and Community Health Support Pocketbook was created to bring awareness to several health and safety issues faced in home and community care.
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In long-term care it is increasingly apparent that who is on shift is just as important as how many staff are on shift. Quality care is difficult to achieve when we do not routinely engage with one another in a positive, or civil, manner.
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Programs & Services

Programs and Services

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Leading from the Inside Out
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Leading from the Inside Out provides a safe space for leaders in continuing care to share their challenges and learn self-care practices.
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The Provincial Violence Prevention Curriculum is recognized as best-practice in violence prevention training for health care workers.
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Guidelines & Regulations

Guidelines and Regulations

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WorkSafeBC’s healthcare and social services planned inspection initiative focuses on high-risk activities in the workplace that lead to serious injuries and time-loss claims.
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WorkSafeBC is releasing a discussion paper with proposed amendments to the Current Rehabilitation Services and Claims Manual that guide wage rate decisions related to short-term and long-term disability compensation. Recommended amendments include: These changes may affect your claims costs. Click here to view the proposed changes and offer feedback to WorkSafeBC – The deadline is 4:30 p.m. on Friday, […]
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Safety Month - April 2024

Joint Health & Safety Committee

A Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee is required in workplaces where there are 20 or more employees. Small workplaces with more than nine but less than 20 employees must have a worker health and safety representative.
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Tips and ideas for your safety committee
Joint occupational health and safety refresher presentation

A key component of a workplace health and safety program that prevents injury is the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee. 

Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee is required in workplaces where there are 20 or more employees. Small workplaces with more than nine but less than 20 employees must have a worker health and safety representative.

The information in this section will support your Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees or  Worker Representatives to fulfill their legal obligations in the workplace.

Tips for your annual review

An annual review of your safety program does not need to be done simultaneously. Consider creating a road map by choosing 1-2 monthly topics to evaluate.

  • First, start with your joint health and safety committee review; WorkSafeBC has a Joint Health and Safety Committee Evaluation Tool and Guide to help.
  • Then, use the headings from your safety program to divide the topics into months - after a year, your entire safety program will be evaluated!

More bulletin board tips

Keep it updated; make it worth checking out. Assign someone with a creative flair to keep it looking its best!

  • Post a funny health and safety quote or cartoon or post WorkSafeBC’s What's Wrong With This Photo?
  • Post small contests or challenges, and see past Safety Den entries and the Safety Innovations Database for ideas.
  • Consider an electronic bulletin board with regular reminders about access and updates.

Engage all workers

Safety is not just the responsibility of the employer or the safety committee; engage all workers!

  • Support natural leaders throughout your organization in ways that leverage their natural abilities to build trust, increase buy-in and positively influence your workplace health and safety culture.
  • Brainstorm creative ideas focusing on practical site-specific health and safety ideas.
  • Engage workers in workplace safety through fun and comradery. Consider what innovation ideas you’ve implemented in your workplace and create an application for next year’s Safety Den.

Tips for your annual review

Your bulletin board (physical or digital) is a valuable resource for providing information to all workers.

  • Post the location of first aid, how to report an incident or injury, meeting minutes, as well as the names of your sites committee members.
  • Other helpful resources on your bulletin board can include:
    • Call to action that engages all workers to think and work safely
    • Site-specific health and safety resources
    • Current education and training opportunities
    • Employee and Family Assistance Program information

Recruit committee members

Want workers to join the health and safety committee or engage in health and safety?

  • Brainstorm why workers are not interested in joining your health and safety committee.
    • Do all workers understand what a health and safety committee does?
    • Are the meeting dates inaccessible or inconvenient times?
  • Highlight some benefits: an opportunity for their working group to be at the table, offering solutions to health and safety issues, additional training, and job enlargement.

More tips to engage workers

Safety is not just the responsibility of the employer or the safety committee; engage all workers!

  • Let workers use their hidden talents and skills beyond their primary roles
    • Take turns training: use our Safety Huddles or send a worker to one of our health and safety train-the-trainer courses. Explore the courses we offer through our Learning Space.
  • Show your appreciation for your healthcare assistants – send them to one of our Hearts and Hands events!

Share a success story or tip from your safety committee

Safety committee success stories

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SafeCare BC is currently offering an occupational health and safety refresher presentation. This free 30-minute presentation is offered in-person or virtually and can be integrated into your health and safety committee meeting. It’s filled with practical advice on sector-specific safety topics and includes an opportunity to ask one of our health and safety consultants site-specific safety questions. 

Fill out the form below to schedule a presentation or for more information on the OHS Refresher presentation.

Book a JOHSC refresher
Joint Health & Safety Committee

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The general health and safety orientation provides general information related to the organization’s overall occupational health and safety program.
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This template provides employers and supervisors with an overview of occupational health and safety topics to be considered for inclusion when providing caregiver-specific health and safety training and should be used with the general health and safety orientation.
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Download our easy-to-use template to create terms of reference for your Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee.
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Choose from template A or B for your Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee meeting minutes.
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Use this template to create a personalized agenda for your next Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee meeting.
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Starting at $20
If you’re a member of a Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, this online self-paced course will provide you with systematic and practical guidance to ensure that your committee gets the most out of your health and safety meetings, while following occupational health and safety legislation in British Columbia.
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Starting at $35
This introductory or ‘fundamentals’ Occupational Health and Safety course will introduce new committee members to the basic principles of workplace health and safety.
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As a SafeCare member, your voice counts. We want to hear from you. I invite you to take our annual member survey. In the time you can make yourself a coffee or brush your teeth, you can complete it. Don’t believe us? Take the survey to find out.  Your feedback helps us understand the health […]
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Member Survey 2024 Resources
March 21, 2024
As a SafeCare member, your voice counts. We want to hear from you. I invite you to take our annual member survey. In the time you can make yourself a coffee or brush your teeth, you can complete it. Don’t believe us? Take the survey to find out.  Your feedback helps us understand the health […]
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Do you have a question you think should be answered in our FAQ? Send us your joint occupational health and safety committee questions to: info@safecarebc.ca 
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Joint Health & Safety Committee

Web links

The joint health and safety committee supports the employer's duty to ensure a healthy and safe workplace.
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Joint health and safety committees play a key role in workplace health and safety, and can assist employers with reducing injuries and disease. The intent of this handbook is to support effective joint committees in B.C.
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This document contains sample tools and templates for joint health and safety committee work. You can modify and customize them for your own use.
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This tool has been developed to help you meet the legal requirements for conducting the annual evaluation of your joint health and safety committee.
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In Canadian legislation, health and safety committees are mentioned under slightly varying names. We have used the name joint health and safety committee to reflect its composition. The committee may also be known as the joint health and safety committee, occupational health committee, workplace safety and health committee, or occupational health and safety committee.
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This book is an updated version of How to Implement a Formal Health and Safety Program. It has been revised to be a comprehensive primer on basic health and safety planning and management for employers and joint committees.
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A key risk inventory (KRI) can be a valuable tool in your overall strategy for managing workplace risks. This guide describes what a KRI is and how to use a collaborative approach to create one for your workplace.
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Joint Health & Safety Committee resources

Have you integrated the new first aid requirements that came into effect on November 1? Join us on Thursday, November 7, from 11 a.m. – noon for a WorkSafeBC webinar on the new occupational first aid requirements. This session is designed to help you understand and implement the necessary changes. Join us, to learn more […]
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Want to show your commitment to health and safety—and save a bit of money? The Certificate of Recognition (COR) program is a voluntary WorkSafeBC program that recognizes and financially rewards employers that have proactively elevated their health and safety beyond the legal requirements.  Join us on October 24 for an overview of the COR program. […]
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Fillable PDF to accompany a request for an acceptance under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
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See a summary of your organization's prevention activities, including inspections reports. You’ll see the most prevalent orders and the location within your organization of those orders.
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This fillable poster is designed to assist you in meeting the second requirement. You can download the poster and fill it out electronically in Acrobat Reader, or you can print and fill it out manually.
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What defines safety?   Navigating the complexities of workplace safety can be daunting, but with Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees (JOHSC), it has become a collective journey toward safer and more secure work environments. These committees, comprised of employers and employees, are fully committed to advancing occupational health and safety regulations. But they're more than […]
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Explore some tips and ideas for your joint occupational health and safety committee!
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SafeCare BC is currently offering an occupational health and safety refresher presentation. This free 30-minute presentation is offered in-person or virtually and can be integrated into your health and safety committee meeting. It’s filled with practical advice on sector-specific safety topics and includes an opportunity to ask one of our health and safety consultants site-specific safety questions. 
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This policy statement should be reviewed and supported by the JOHS Committee and the union(s) and communicated to all workers before being finalized and signed by the most senior member of the organization.
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WorkSafeBC’s healthcare and social services planned inspection initiative focuses on high-risk activities in the workplace that lead to serious injuries and time-loss claims.
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To increase overall safety awareness, we have created a safety game similar to Jeopardy, with four categories, each with three questions, and each of our six communities competes to win our safety drills with new questions every month.
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Safety huddles are always in season
February 5, 2020
The Super Bowl may have marked the end of football season, but don’t let that stop you from doing a huddle — Safety Huddle! Whether you’re a football player or a healthcare assistant, huddles are a great way to get your team performing their best. Download a safety huddle today.
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SafeCare BC wants to ensure that you are prepared for the new Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) regulations that will become effective on April 3, 2017.
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We strive to empower those working in the continuing care sector to create safer, healthier workplaces by fostering a culture of safety through evidence-based education, leadership, and collaboration.
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