RTU School Health and Safety Committee - RTU-SER

This committee is to address employee concerns regarding:
- physical harm that has occured to employees while carrying out their duties
- psychological harm that has occured to employees while carrying out their duties
- minimizing the sources of risk for physical or psychological harm
- prevention of harm to all employees
This committee is where the plans to resolve dangerous situations and prevent future ones are adressed.

As written in the Local Agreement 10-8.09:

a) to draft a procedure for dealing with inquiries or complaints concerning the workplace and to inform the staff of this procedure;
b) to determine whether or not a particular inquiry or complaint may be dealt with at the level of school, and this within one (1) week of the receipt of the inquiry or complaint;
c) to refer the matter immediately to the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) representative and/or board-level committee if circumstances are such that the inquiry or complaint cannot be dealt with at the school level;
d) to ensure, when necessary, that corrective measures are taken;
e) to inform the staff of progress in this matter
The minimum required participants are 1 RTU delegate and 1 administrator. (Local agreement 10-8.08)

There should be more teacher members than just the delegate.
Other employee groups should be invited to attend.

The RTU delegate is the Chair of the Committee.
The minutes should be recorded by a teacher represntative.
The committee has a wide range of plans and documentation to review at the beginning of the year. Including, but not limited to:
- emergency evacuation plans
- response to staff accident protocols ( at school/on field trips)
- Policies that concern staff behaviour standards
As the year continues the committee monitors harm that is occuring to employees in work situations, and determine what needs to be done to prevent a reoccurence if possible. Administration has a "reasonable" time period to provide a plan to deal with the complaint at the school level. 1 month has been the standard "reasonable" for years. The administration must keep the committee informed of how the plan is progressing if it takes time to execute. The plan can be to escalate the issue to the School board level H&S committee.

School Inspections and emergency evacuation results are also discussed several times a year at this committee.

This is a consultative commitee, but has the implication of labour law behind it. Any issue that is consistently ignored or unadressed can be escalated to the OHS reps and School board level committee by any staff member.
Pamphlet on H&S Committee

Minutes Template

What to do if you have been hurt at work