Worksafe BC and Employer Responsibilities

Workplace safety is both a legal obligation and a moral responsibility.

When you start a business in the trades, safety becomes one of your most important responsibilities. As a worker you are responsible for performing your job safely and following established procedures. When you become a business owner or supervisor those responsibilities grow. You are now accountable for helping ensure the entire workplace operates safely.

In British Columbia, workplace safety is regulated by WorkSafeBC, which administers the Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. These set out the legal requirements for maintaining safe workplaces and apply to most workplaces in the province, including construction sites, trades businesses, and small contracting companies.

What WorkSafeBC Does

WorkSafeBC plays several roles within the provincial safety system. It provides compensation and support for workers injured on the job while also helping employers prevent injuries before they happen. Its responsibilities include providing workplace injury insurance, developing and enforcing safety regulations, conducting workplace inspections, investigating serious incidents, and providing safety education and resources.

Employers in British Columbia must register with WorkSafeBC and pay insurance premiums based on their payroll. Those premiums fund the system that supports injured workers and workplace safety programs across the province.

Employer Responsibilities

Employers carry the greatest responsibility for maintaining safe workplaces. An employer must take all reasonable steps to protect workers from hazards. This means ensuring work is planned and carried out safely, that workers are properly trained, and that hazards are identified and controlled before someone gets hurt.

Specific employer responsibilities include providing a safe workplace, identifying and controlling hazards, providing safety training and supervision, ensuring workers follow safe work procedures, supplying appropriate personal protective equipment, maintaining safety records, and reporting serious incidents to WorkSafeBC. Employers are also responsible for establishing and maintaining a health and safety program appropriate for the size and risk level of their workplace.

Supervisor Responsibilities

A supervisor is anyone who directs the work of others. In small trades businesses the owner is often also the supervisor, which means these responsibilities land directly on you. Supervisors must ensure workers understand and follow safe work procedures, provide clear instructions for tasks, correct unsafe behaviour when they see it, confirm workers are using proper protective equipment, and report hazards and incidents.

Because supervisors are directly involved in day-to-day operations they are often the first line of defence in preventing injuries.

Worker Responsibilities

Safety is not only the responsibility of employers and supervisors. Workers are also legally required to work safely and follow procedures, use personal protective equipment when required, report hazards and unsafe conditions, and report injuries and incidents immediately.

Workers also have the right to refuse unsafe work if they believe a task presents an unreasonable risk. That right is an important part of the safety system and one that every worker should understand.

Due Diligence

Due diligence is one of the key concepts in workplace safety. It means taking all reasonable steps to prevent workplace injuries. For employers this means actively identifying hazards, training workers, enforcing safety rules, and correcting unsafe conditions before an incident occurs.

Due diligence is not about reacting after something goes wrong. It is about proactively preventing problems. Maintaining records of training, inspections, and safety meetings is one of the primary ways a business demonstrates it is taking its safety obligations seriously.

Safety as Part of Professional Practice

Experienced trades professionals understand that safety is part of professional pride. A well-run jobsite is usually a safe jobsite. When workers are trained, hazards are identified early, and safe procedures are followed, projects run more smoothly and efficiently. Strong safety practices protect workers, improve project performance, and build trust with clients.

For entrepreneurs, safety is not just about following regulations. It is about building a workplace where people can do their best work and go home at the end of the day.

Watch

Reflect

As you watch the video above, pay attention to the specific legal obligations a small business owner carries, how even a one- or two-person operation is affected by occupational health and safety requirements, and what the cost of ignoring these responsibilities can be.

• Are you aware of the specific safety obligations that apply to your trade?
• Where do you see the biggest gaps between legal requirements and common practice on jobsites you have worked on?
• What steps could you take as an owner or supervisor to demonstrate due diligence from day one?