Module 1 - Supervisor's role

Supervisor

Supervisor's role

Module 1.1 - Why the Supervisor Role is so Important

When a person is hired or promoted to the position of supervisor, it means more than a pay raise. A promotion entails more responsibility, including legal responsibilities related to the health and safety of the workers they supervise. It’s natural for a new supervisor to wonder whether he or she is up to the challenge. In fact, asking yourself that question will help you figure out what additional information or training you might need to do your job well.

A lot is expected of a supervisor, no matter how big or small the workplace. A healthy and safe workplace matters to every single person at uOttawa, and the OHSA expects supervisors to be the front-line guardians in ensuring a safe workplace. uOttawa expects this from all supervisors, and so do the people you supervise.

As a supervisor, you are a crucial part of the University’s Internal Responsibility System simply because you are the day-to-day eyes and ears in the workplace; you’re also the first person a worker will turn to for answers about their duties, roles and tasks. You need to be aware of your duties as a supervisor.

Module 1.2 - Duties of a Supervisor

Under the OHSA, a supervisor may be defined as any of the following:

“Supervisor” means a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a Worker or another person.  Depending on the workplace relationship, a Supervisor may include, for example, the President, Vice-Presidents, directors, deans, managers or principle investigators.  The determination as to whether a person is a Supervisor does not depend on that person’s job title.  It depends on whether the person has charge of a location (for example, an office or laboratory) where the work is done on a paid or unpaid basis or when they give direction over the work done by Workers, Students, Visitors, Volunteers or Learners.

Every supervisor is also considered to be a worker and has the same workplace duties and rights as a worker. However, the OHSA also assigns you specific duties related to your role as a supervisor, including:

  • Informing workers about hazards and dangers and responding to their concerns;
  • Showing workers how to work safely and making sure they follow the law, and the internal workplace health and safety policies and procedures;
  • Making sure workers wear and use the right protective equipment;
  • Doing everything reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers from being hurt or contracting a work-related illness;
  • Ensuring that those under your responsibility follow the necessary training;
  • Monitoring the safety performance of those you supervise.

The OHSA requires uOttawa to prepare a written occupational health and safety policy and to develop and maintain a program to implement that policy. You can find Policy 77 on the Administration and Governance section of the uOttawa website.

One of your tasks as a supervisor is to help implement that program in your workplace. Here’s how you do it:

Know the OHSA and the various regulations attached to it that apply to your workplace. A supervisor who knows and understands the OHSA and its regulations can make sure workers follow the law, and can identify ways to make the workplace safer. Some of the regulations that apply to the University include:

Make sure that workers wear and use the right protective equipment. uOttawa is responsible for telling you what types of protective equipment, devices or clothing that workers are required to use or wear, and both parties are responsible for making sure that workers are using or wearing such equipment. This means that you need to know and understand the requirements in the Act and its regulations about equipment, devices and clothing, as well as the University’s internal policies and work procedures related to the task.

Tell workers about the hazards they may encounter in their work. Every workplace has hazards; there’s no avoiding it. Hazards include anything in the workplace that can hurt someone or make them sick. You must know about, and be able to explain, the actual and potential dangers involved in the work a worker is doing, and ensure that the workers do their work safely. You may be required to give written instructions that tell the workers what steps and procedures must be followed to stay safe. You will need to know if certain regulations apply to the work you are supervising. Your general duties as a supervisor also apply to the prevention of workplace violence, harassment and other potential hazards.

Plan the work so that it can be done safely. The people you supervise are relying on your knowledge and experience of the work to make sure it’s done safely and properly from start to finish.

Make sure workers know and follow through on their health and safety duties. It’s your job as a supervisor to monitor the work, to remind workers of their health and safety duties if necessary, to show them how to work safely, and to enforce uOttawa’s workplace health and safety policies and procedures if they aren’t being followed.

Test yourself –

  • Do I understand the OHSA and the regulations that apply to the work our team does?
  • As a supervisor, can I explain these sections of the OHSA and regulations to the workers?
  • Am I informing the workers about hazards, both actual and potential?
  • Have I planned the work so that it can be done safely?
  • Am I making sure that workers wear or use the proper protective gear, devices and clothing?
  • Am I doing everything I can to reasonably protect our team?

Module 1.3 - Duties of the Employer and Worker

As you can see, a supervisor has several important responsibilities. To carry out these responsibilities, you need help from uOttawa and the people you supervise. The Occupational Health and Safety Act assigns duties to employers and workers that will help you do your job.

Under the OHSA, uOttawa is required to appoint a “competent person” as a supervisor. To be a competent supervisor under the OHSA, prior to actually supervising someone, you must:

  • Have the knowledge, training and experience to organize work for your workers
  • Be familiar with the OHSA and the regulations that apply to the work you are supervising
  • Have knowledge of any potential or actual danger to health or safety in the workplace

The OHSA also imposes the following requirements on the employer:

  • Create and annually review a health and safety policy. The Joint Health and Safety Committees participate in this process.
  • Develop a program to implement that policy
  • Post the policy in the workplace
  • Make sure that workers and supervisors know about hazards involved in the work they do and provide them with information, instructions and supervision to protect their health and safety
  • Take steps to eliminate hazards in the workplace (PDF, 494KB), and where elimination is not possible, to control them
  • Make sure workers use and wear protective equipment (PDF, 946.KB), material and devices where required by the regulations
  • Do everything reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers from being hurt or contracting a work-related illness

The OHSA also imposes certain duties on workers, which supports you in your role as supervisor:

  • Workers are required to follow the law and workplace health and safety policies and procedures
  • Workers are required to use and wear the protective equipment decided upon by the employer
  • Workers are required to act in a way that will not hurt themselves or anyone else
  • If workers see anything that is unsafe or that goes against the Act, they are required to report the problem to you or to the University so that you and the employer can take all steps necessary to solve the problem
  • Workers must report to you or to the University any absence of, or any defect in, any equipment or protective device as soon as they become aware of the problem

As a supervisor, you can make a difference in your workplace, but you can’t do it alone. You need your employer and the workers you supervise to do their part to keep the workplace safe. Like you, they need to be aware of their health and safety duties under the OHSA and regulations. That’s the first step in creating an effective Internal Responsibility System.

If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you’re well on your way to fulfilling your duties as a supervisor. If you didn’t, don’t worry – we’re not done yet!

Module 2 - Teamwork and Internal Responsibility System (IRS)