Safety in the workplace means that all individuals in a workplace are reasonably protected from physical, emotional and psychological harm.
Work can take place in both physical and virtual environments. The workplace might refer to a physical building or office space, a virtual environment (e.g., Teams, Slack, Zoom and/or email) or a hybrid combination of both. Regardless of whether you work in-person, virtual or hybrid, you have the right to a safe workplace.
Physical harm: factors that pose a risk of injury or death, or otherwise negatively impact our physical health.
Emotional harm: factors that negatively impact our emotional wellbeing such as bullying, or an unmanageable workload.
Psychological harm: factors that limit our ability to show up as ourselves, express our identities and engage with others at work (e.g., propose new ideas, seek feedback and report problems) without fear of negative consequences
What is physical safety in the workplace?
Physical hazards are substances or activities that threaten your physical safety. They are present in most workplaces at one time or another. Hazards include unsafe conditions that can cause injury, illness and death. Examples include extreme temperature, poor air quality, noise and radiation.
Your rights to physical safety
In Canada: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)
In Ontario: Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)
According to the OHSA, when it comes to physical safety in the workplace, all workers in Ontario (including students) have three basic rights:
The right to know about present health and safety hazards. The right to refuse work if it endangers your health and safety. The right to participate and make recommendations about health and safety in your workplace. OHSA requirements OHSA provides the legal framework to protect workers from health and safety hazards on the job by: Setting out duties for all workplace parties and rights for workers to help establish a strong internal responsibility system (IRS) in the workplace.