It is very important that employees know their rights in the workplace:

• The Right to participate in safety that affects yourself and your co-worker
• The Right to know about hazards both physical and unseen hazards like chemicals
• Right to refuse unsafe work, that could hurt themselves or someone else
• Rights are exercised for themselves and for others!

Summary

The right to participate in our own health and safety, and that of others, is a cornerstone of the Internal Responsibility System. When workers exercise their right to participate, they are working to ensure that their voices are heard. When employers put programs in place that support the right to participate in safety, they are showing that they value the health, safety and input of workers. In action, the right to participate may look like joining the health and safety committee, a process for reporting hazards, and everyone at the workplace taking part in safety training. Workers may exercise their right to refuse where they have reasonable grounds to believe that an assigned task will likely hurt them or someone else at the work place. For instance, if a worker finds him or herself faced with a task for which there are few or no safety measures in place, that he or she has no training or proper equipment for, or that other workers have been injured while completing, it is likely the time to exercise the right to refuse. Nova Scotia’s OHS Act clearly explains the right to refuse, including the need to always report the situation first to a supervisor and how workers who exercise their right to refuse are protected from discrimination.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act and regulations describe your responsibilities in detail and you are encouraged to read these documents and learn more about what they mean for you and your workplace.