Canadian Safety Reporter - sample

7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2019 News |Canadian Safety Reporter to complete the National Pro- fessional Practice Exam and achieve at least 65 per cent. In order for the safety profes- sion to be regulated, it needs to have clear educational prereq- uisites to obtaining professional member status. Oftentimes, the regulator will require post-secondary educa- tion be completed at an accredit- ed institution. These institutions have been vetted to ensure their program matches the require- ments of the regulated profession. "It's developing a process whereby the various colleges have standardization and a certain accepted level for what people need to know if they go to college and do a two-year di- ploma in occupational health and safety." says Dawson. But don't worry if you're a sea- soned health and safety profes- sional who went to school many moons ago. There is usually a phase-in period and there may be a special process to demon- strate equivalency or custom- ized upgrading programs. The BCRSP has been work- ing with OHS educational in- stitutions on accreditation, and it hosts a national education symposium that brings together OHS educators. At the next sym- posium in May, the BCRSP wants to present a proposed framework for accreditation, Dawson says. Professions also must have an experiential requirement for their members. Prospective members may be required to complete a mentorship, sponsor- ship or apprenticeship activity. Some professions simply require experience within the profession. For example, Management Con- sultants are required to have 600 hours of consulting experience within the past 24 months as well as five years of experience. With professional regulation comes increased public scrutiny. Members must conduct them- selves in a manner that is becom- ing to the profession. "There's an expectation that you conduct yourself as a professional all the time," says Taylor. "That means you have to change what things you say on social media, the way that you carry yourself, the way you speak. Now you are being held to a higher standard." Many professions have a general statement in their stat- ute around a good character requirement. Professionals in good standing should actually welcome this because it helps prevent individuals from tar- nishing and dragging down the profession, says Taylor. If a member of the public has an issue with a member of a pro- fession, there must be a process in place to lodge a complaint. This complaint will be reviewed and investigated by the regula- tory body and any malicious or vexatious complaints will be dismissed. A legitimate com- plaint will be cross-checked with the profession's code of ethics and standards of practice, and an alternative dispute outcome may be pursued, such as issuing a caution or requiring some re- mediation. The case may move to a disciplinary process, which could result in the revocation of professional membership. Safety professionals may not be able to share information as openly as they are accustomed to upon regulation. "As a member of CSSE (Cana- dian Society of Safety Engineer- ing) and a CRSP, I can send out a message to 5,000 people to say, 'This is the problem I have,' and I guarantee you within five minutes you're going to have a response," Sturm says. "When you get to (regulation), once you start to give opinions, is it a pro- fessional opinion or you're just giving information? I think there will have to be some clarity on that… because it could become a liability issue." On the flip side, a professional's work is not questioned when pro- vided. The advice they give and the tasks they complete are as- sumed to be of a high quality due to professionial requirements. There is also a certain status that comes with being a regu- lated profession that may mean- better job prospects and higher salaries, says Taylor. Concerns A current lack of uniformity is one reason why Paul Carolan, a health and safety professional in Nunavut, doesn't think the industry is ready for regulation quite yet. Such inconsistency is seen in the nearly 30 health and safety-related designations and the 14 jurisdictions doing things differently in OHS legislation. "Despite what might be said, it's a difficult challenge behind the scenes. I don't think people are being truly honest within government because the appe- tite isn't there. That's a signifi- cant problem," he said, speaking at the CSSE's professional devel- opment conference in 2017. In the spirit of uniformity, BCRSP would like to see the reg- ulation of the profession unfold with individual regulatory colleg- es in each jurisdiction, but with an overarching national framework. One option on the table is for the BCRSP to set up legal entities in each province, says Dawson. The BCRSP regulatory bod- ies would protect both the CRSP and the new Canadian Regis- tered Safety Technician (CRST) titles as well as other titles affect- ing health and safety generalists, hygienists and ergonomists. However, Carolan is advo- cating for the CSA to develop a National Standard for OHS Professionals as opposed to pro- fessional regulation. He noted governments prefer the "consen- sus model" of the CSA because not only does it work with indus- try representatives (which could include the BCRSP and CSSE) but it's also open to the public. "The CSA is accredited, its focus is worker safety when it comes to OHS, it's balanced," he said at the conference. Another concern is inter-pro- vincial mobility. Dawson says it's likely an individual would have to pass a province-specific com- petency test to work in another province. "Everybody realizes you have to have certain rules around fall protection, but Alberta might want to do it this way and B.C. wants to do it another way," he says. "Every province has its own little set of rules." There is some concern around the costs of becoming self-reg- ulated, too. Once the ASHSP becomes a regulatory college, Fedun expects the membership fees will be in the range of $350 to $450. For context, the current annual fee for CSSE membership is $205. But in many instances, the employer will pay for the fee. One of the requirements for a regulatory college is that it needs to be funded solely by member- ship dues — the regulator is not allowed to take money from ex- ternal sources. The regulatory body needs to charge enough to be in good financial health and this is something the govern- ment looks at when an applica- tion for self-regulation is made. "You need a strong contin- gency fund… because the last thing anybody wants, the gov- ernment included, is to have a self-regulating organization go bankrupt because they don't have enough money to weather unforeseen circumstances, such as court costs, regulatory costs, maintaining technology and all that stuff," says Fedun. Lastly, not everyone is keen on life-long learning — a key component often found in self- regulation. Regulatory bodies frequently have standards for continuing education so that members can stay abreast of all the new developments. Why now? The time has come for the safety profession to be regulated be- cause it has evolved tremen- dously over the years, says Daw- son. Not all that long ago, safety was shopped around within an organization, or the individual who sustained a workplace in- jury became the safety person. Now, specialized training is required in order to be a safety professional due to advanced management systems, auditing protocols and keeping up with changes in legislation. In October, the BCRSP met with the Ontario government and members of the opposition to explain the importance of regulating the safety profession. It is holding similar meetings in Alberta and British Columbia. Dawson says so far, it has not received any negative feedback from the government per se, but it is a process that takes time. The ASHSP is working hard to develop all the requirements to apply for regulation. Fedun says the group is aiming to apply in the fall, but its goal is to have 1,500 members before it does so. After application, it can take an- other one to three years for the government to make a decision. Amanda Silliker is the editor of Canadian Occupational Safety magazine. Higher standards The road < pg. 5

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