Free joint health and safety committee e-course

Alberta's new OHS legislation has (finally) made joint health and safety committees (JHSCs) mandatory for employers with more than 20 employers. The legislation requires employers must allow 16 hours (or two shifts) of work time for JHSC members to be trained.

The legislation empowers the Minister to establish training criteria. At present, these criteria and approved providers are under development. 

Private training providers are, however, already offering courses, such as this one (for $499) from the Occupational Safety Group Inc or this one for $199 from Online Learning Enterprises Inc.

Earlier this summer, Alberta partnered with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety to offer a free (to Alberta residents) two-hour e-course on how joint health and safety committees are supposed to operate.

You can sign up for the course here and, if you can score 80% (in three tries) on the exam, you get a spiffy certificate like this one on the right.

My understanding is that completing this course will be considered a part of the required training for JHSC members. I found the course to be a decent introduction to JHSCs and their duties.

I wouldn't say it was hard (I quickly clicked through the slides and did the quiz while in a phone meeting and got 87% on my first try). But it is a decent start for new JHSC members.

-- Bob Barnetson