Supervisor Safety Declaration

Below you will find some background information to help you understand these responsibilities, followed by a declaration that all supervisors at the University of Alberta are asked to sign to acknowledge their understanding and commitment to fulfilling their duties as a supervisor. A toolkit of related activities and resources is also available to help you turn principles into meaningful action. 

Background Information

1. Duty of Care
2. Safety As A Shared Responsibility
3. Supervisor Expectations
4. Supervisor Safety Declaration

1. Duty Of Care

The university is diverse and complex, operating many worksites with an extensive range of hazards. No matter the location or type of worksite, supervisors have a duty of care to provide safe environments in the worksites they oversee or have charge of, including worksites where supervisors have tasked others to manage the worksite . This duty of care must be fulfilled in a manner that is in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) and with the university’s Health, Safety and Environment Policy, supporting appendices and procedures.

From a legal perspective, your health and safety duty of care is found in:

• Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act Chapter O-2.2 Part 1 Section 4, and
• University of Alberta Policies and Procedures (UAPPOL), with responsibilities for supervision under the Health, Safety and Environment Policy and Management System
• Various federal, provincial and/or municipal health and safety related legislation detailing obligations for which the supervisor will act on behalf of the employer to achieve compliance

Specifically, the Alberta OHS Act sets out a supervisor’s legal obligations as follows:

Every supervisor shall

1. as far as it is reasonably practicable for the supervisor to do so, 
   • take all precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of every worker under the supervisor’s supervision, 
   • ensure that a worker under the supervisor’s supervision works in the manner and in accordance with the requirements of this Act, the regulations and the OHS Code, and 
   • ensure that none of the workers under the supervisor’s supervision are subjected to or participate in harassment or violence at the work site,
2. advise every worker under the supervisor’s supervision of all known or reasonably foreseeable hazards to health and safety in the area where the worker is performing work, 
3. report to the employer a concern about an unsafe or harmful work site act that occurs or has occurred or an unsafe or harmful work site condition that exists or has existed, and 
4. cooperate with any person exercising a duty imposed by the OHS Act, the regulations and the OHS Code.

2. Safety As A Shared Responsibility

The university and its colleges, faculties and portfolios are responsible to set up faculty, staff, students, contractors and visitors for success in achieving safety performance. Some key ways this is done are:

• The Culture of Care Leadership Commitment is signed by all senior leaders starting with the president and board chair. This commits leaders to lead and act in alignment with eighth safety principles. Although safety is a shared responsibility, senior leaders must show leadership and demonstrate their commitment to safety and the Culture of Care.
• The Health, Safety and Environment department provides an extensive range of tools, templates, e-learning and professional guidance to assist supervisors in fulfilling their health and safety responsibilities.
• The university has developed two mandatory e-learning courses for supervisors to set them up for success in understanding their basic health and safety responsibilities:
  • The Supervising Safely course introduces basic elements of safety management and identifies specific legal responsibilities of a supervisor such as developing hazard assessments and controls, assessing competency, having emergency response plans and reporting incidents with a bias to learning from them to prevent recurrence. 
  • The Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention course defines what violence and harassment may look like in the workplace, how to prevent it, what resources are available to the university community and what steps should be taken in the case of alleged workplace violence or harassment.

3. Supervisor Expectations

As far as it is reasonably practicable, for the worksites that they are responsible for, supervisors at the University of Alberta are expected to acknowledge and act on the following obligations and commitments to safety and a supervisor’s legal obligations under the OHS Act.

Competent and Effective Supervision

• Mandatory Supervisory Training: Complete the following mandatory training courses and understand their content:
  • Supervising Safely
  • Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention (supervisor version)

Supervision and Delegation in the Event of an Absence: Be available to provide effective, onsite and/or accessible supervision to workers under a supervisor’s care and delegate an appropriately competent alternate supervisor in a supervisor’s absence.

Ensure alternate supervisors are aware of their supervisory status and the need to complete Supervising Safely and Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention training and this declaration.

Cultural Safety

• Good Relations*: In the spirit of the treaty agreements, assist the university in upholding its commitment to working and living in Good Relations with each other. This includes addressing long standing barriers to Indigenous inclusion and safety.
  
  *Good Relations (Miyo-Wîcêhtowin): The Cree/Indigenous understanding of earth's
  interconnectedness, one that recognizes the responsibility of all peoples to work
  together for what is good; a foundational understanding that underpins the treaties.
  
  
• Respect for Diversity: Promote respect for all individuals by encouraging open dialogue and the celebration of diverse perspectives.
• Inclusion: Actively work to eliminate barriers that might prevent individuals from fully participating in the workplace. Ensure practices are culturally sensitive and equitable for all employees and students.
• Cultural Awareness:
  • Develop and enhance your own awareness of the lived experiences of other equity-denied university community members and how you can contribute to helping them feel safer.
  • Support access to ongoing topic developments and training opportunities that promote understanding of cultural differences and reduce bias in decision-making and interpersonal interactions. Examples of current foundational documents and training include:
    • Braiding Past, Present and Future: University of Alberta Indigenous Strategic Plan.
    • U of A’s Indigenous Canada Online Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and/or other relevant content aimed at improving cultural safety for equity denied groups.
    • EDI Module 1 + Module 2 (*Module 2 is set to be launched in late 2024)
    • Black Canadians: History, Presence, and Anti-Racist Futures
      

Physical Safety

• Hazard Management:
  • Ensure that hazard assessments and safe work procedures/standard operating procedures are available and up to date.
    • Confirm that hazard assessments and procedures are completed before workers start new tasks, when the work significantly changes or when new work is pursued.
    • Confirm that workers have reviewed and understand the hazards associated with their work.
    • To the best of a supervisor’s knowledge, workers use all the hazard controls specified in safe work procedures/standard operating procedures when reasonably possible.
  • To the best of a supervisor’s knowledge, ensure that workers properly use or wear appropriate personal protective equipment including additional protection for specialized tasks with unique hazards as identified and documented in the hazard assessments and safe work procedures/standard operating procedures.
  • If applicable, ensure that any off-campus research activities (field research) have plans that address hazards in these environments, and these plans are prepared and approved as required by university protocols.
  • Only permit working alone activities for work that can be safely undertaken by a lone worker and also ensure that a working alone plan is in place to adequately support lone workers.
• Training: Ensure that workers have completed all required safety training and maintain currency.
• Compliance: Support the university and workers in achieving compliance with federal, provincial, and municipal health and safety legislation.
• Incident Reporting: Encourage the reporting of incidents or near misses that occur on any University of Alberta worksite through the ARISE Incident Reporting portal and ensure that serious incidents (e.g., injury, fires, explosions, building/crane collapse) are immediately reported to the Unified Control Centre (UCC) at 780-492-5555 by requesting to speak to the HSE Officer on-call (All external reporting will be handled by HSE.).
• Emergency Preparedness: Familiarize workers with emergency preparedness plans and the location and use of emergency supplies and equipment.
  

Psychological Safety

• Fostering Psychological Safety: Actively build and support environments that are safe, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, equitable and respectful where faculty and staff feel safe to express ideas, ask questions, and raise concerns without fear of reprisal or judgment.
• Support for Mental Health: Promote mental well-being through access to internal programs and resources (i.e., EFAP, Learning + Development) as well as external resources. These are listed as Quick Look Resources on the We Care Program Tipsheet.
• Workload and Stress Management: Be mindful of workload distribution, encourage reasonable expectations, and support faculty and staff in managing work-related stress. This includes regular check-ins to ensure work is balanced and manageable.
• Addressing Psychological Hazards: Actively identify, communicate, and mitigate psychological hazards such as bullying, harassment, discrimination, and workplace violence, in accordance with health and safety legislation and university policy.

4. SUPERVISOR SAFETY DECLARATION

Every effort will be made to support you in delivering on your health and safety expectations. To confirm your understanding of these expectations, we ask that you complete your Supervisor's Safety Declaration.

Thank you for being a safety champion and for your commitment to a Culture of Care.