Health and safety management

The inclusion in the Quebec Act respecting occupational health and safety of preventive measures and obligations specific to construction sites is the legislator’s will to consider construction sites as work environments with unique characteristics. The law states that an OHS manager must be designated to coordinate the preventative measures to protect the health and ensure the safety and integrity of all workers.

OHS management by CIMA+ involves representing the prime contactor on a construction site to ensure management of its due diligence in a legal sense, and according to real-time operations. Exercising due diligence consists of taking all reasonable measures to prevent accidents and protect workers’ health and safety. OHS management mainly consists of managing the execution of all operations and work, according to the terms and conditions imposed by the various laws governing the construction industry. Whether through the Quebec Act and Regulation respecting occupational health and safety, Safety Code for the construction industry or Bill C-21 of the Canadian Criminal Code, the various legislative authorities impose an unequivocal obligation regarding the prime contractor on a construction site. The prime contractor’s representative can be compared to an “orchestra conductor” ensuring the harmonization of all stakeholders’ activities on the construction site, and the client’s compliance with all their legal obligations in terms of health and safety.

It consists of:

• Managing and applying the due diligence concept.
• Interpreting and applying the various industry laws through multidisciplinary teams comprised of OHS coordinators (certified by the CNESST) on construction sites, OHS project managers,preventionists/consultants, OHS technicians, etc.
• Organizing specific prevention measures on the construction site.
• Ensuring that all stakeholders carry out their obligations and responsibilities pertaining to health and safety.
• Ensuring the implementation of the control measures identified in the master prevention program in health and safety.
• Analyzing contractors’ and their subcontractors’ specific prevention programs in health and safety.
• Identifying, correcting and controlling work-related risks, including zero tolerance work identified by the CNESST, and high-risk work.
• Ensuring work coordination with all stakeholders, as well as logistic management.
• Modelling operations according to legislative changes and ensuring that the client respects all regulations (Quebec’s Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime, by-law modernizing the health and safety mechanisms specific to a construction site, modifications to the Safety Code for the construction industry, etc.).
• Managing unforeseen events related to site operations and ensure communications.
• Ensuring the organization and in-person conduct of all meetings.
• Collating all mandatory documents, producing and completing records, establishing performance indicators, and ensuring follow-up thereon.
• Ensuring the drafting of mandatory documents, including official protocols required to be presented to the CNESST.

In the province of Quebec, the notion of prime contractor applies to all construction sites and covers, without limitation, the following sectors:

• Municipal engineering
• Airport engineering
• Health
• Road engineering (highways and roads)
• Public transportation
• Rail transit
• Hydropower and dams
• Bridges and tunnels
• Port and marine engineering
• Education and research
• Culture, sports and recreation
• Light and manufacturing industries
• Residential and commercial

*Currently, these services are only offered in Québec. For more information, please contact us.

Given the multitude of jobs that should be monitored, the CIMA+ OHS department recognizes that health and safety monitoring is one of its most important responsibilities.

The purpose of OHS monitoring is to protect the public and workforce, plus intervene or report any hazardous situation. OHS monitoring personnel must assess the workplace environment and identify hazardous situations and work practices that pose a risk to the health and safety of any worker.

Mandated by clients to ensure due diligence, CIMA+ is responsible for ensuring that all stakeholders fulfill their contractual obligations in terms of occupational health and safety and comply with the applicable regulatory requirements set every level of government (federal, provincial and municipal).

Our OHS monitoring includes these services:

• Understanding the requirements of construction contracts and applicable OHS regulations
• Ensuring that contractors comply with their legal and contractual obligations
• Identifying key high-level OHS issues and risks
• Conducting planned and/or targeted work site inspections based on the hazards and risks of the operation
• Validating emergency and rescue plans
• Implementing OHS training, support and supervision
• Ensuring all high-risk work is subject to specific protocols and/or procedures
• Coordinating and following up on accident and incident investigations

*Currently, these services are only offered in Québec. For more information, please contact us.

CIMA+'s OHSM department offers auditing services to help develop assessment matrices for a thorough and measured risk analysis. In addition to offering the option to develop a model assessment framework or use the one specified in the mandate, the OHSM team provides tangible findings and recommendations that translate into performance indicators based on the actual operational profile. With well-trained employees in areas such as the environment and industrial hygiene, the recommendations issued by the CIMA+ team include specific instructions for eliminating risks based on the proven methods recommended by the CNESST for prioritizing preventive measures.

*Currently, these services are only offered in Québec. For more information, please contact us.

OHS inspections are physical visits to the site and complement the actual audit report. This ensures that there are no hazards at the source and that recommendations and controls are in place. Inspections help ensure the due diligence of the employer, whose roles and responsibilities are listed in Section 51 of the OHSA.

*Currently, these services are only offered in Québec. For more information, please contact us.

The OHSA is complex and continually updated, particularly with the introduction of the new Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime and the Regulation respecting preventive mechanisms specific to construction sites. CIMA+'s OHS department has the expertise to keep up-to-date on any legislative changes in this area. Our employees carefully analyze the impact of new legislative changes on company operations and recommend tangible solutions to protect stakeholders from breaching their OHS obligations. Some high-risk operations require sophisticated preventive measures and extensive mandatory protocols. In such cases, CIMA+ can recommend and implement the best preventive measures. Whether you need lockout protocols, support in fulfilling legal obligations or advice on the best way to implement preventive measures, CIMA+ can help you.

*Currently, these services are only offered in Québec. For more information, please contact us.

The OHSA regulations on prevention programs require that all employers and contractors establish a prevention program to address hazards in the workplace or during the performance of certain tasks. The Prevention Program Framework is the official document that must include every preventive measures, step and work method aimed at protecting the health and safety of workers, which must be exhaustive and presented in a very specific format. Since the adoption of the new Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime, the Prevention Program Framework must be treated as a real-time action plan based on workplace hazards. The Prevention Program Framework cannot be static and must evolve over time. This program must be updated to reflect any new detected hazards. It must also demonstrate a willingness to manage risks based on the CNESST's recommendations for prioritizing preventive measures. The goal is to eliminate hazards at the source as much as possible.

In addition, new measures will be required by the Regulation respecting preventive measures specific to construction sites under the Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime. For this reason, you must create and/or update the Prevention Program Framework in accordance with applicable regulations and the OHSM team requirements.

*Currently, these services are only offered in Québec. For more information, please contact us.