Joint Health and Safety Committee

By law, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) (external link)  requires every employer with more than 20 workers to establish and maintain a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) in the workplace, which is defined as "any land, premises, location or thing at, upon, in or near which a worker works." The OHSA also prescribes the composition of these committees, the methods by which members are selected and their rights and duties.

Toronto Metropolitan University’s JHSC is the primary vehicle by which workers participate in decisions affecting their health and safety.

The role of the JHSC

The JHSC play an advisory role and have the following functions and powers:

• Identify situations which may be a source of danger or hazard to workers.
• Make recommendations on establishment, maintenance and monitoring of programs, measures and procedures respecting the health and safety of workers.
• Make recommendations to improve the health and safety of workers.
• Investigate work refusals and serious accidents.
• Obtain information from the employer regarding potential or existing hazards.
• Inspect the physical condition of the workplace.

TMU is obligated to establish the JHSC, support their operation, provide time for workers to perform their committee functions, and respond to the recommendations of these committees. In addition, the university must ensure that at least two members of each committee (one representing management and one representing the workers) receives additional health and safety training and is "certified" in accordance with OHSA.

Certification of committee members

The committee is required to have at least one certified worker and one certified employer representative.  

JHSC representatives at TMU

Co-chairs

Management representatives

Worker representatives

Meetings

To achieve its purposes, the committee conducts yearly workplace inspections and holds regular meetings every six weeks, at which minutes are taken.

The JHSC meets every six weeks (excluding July and August).

If you would like to attend a meeting, please contact the co-chairs:

• Darrick Heyd, management co-chair at dheyd@torontomu.ca or 416-979-5000, ext. 553387
• Alex Ferworn, worker co-chair at aferworn@torontomu.ca or 416-979-5000, ext. 556968

Meeting minutes

Review JHSC meeting minutes (external link) .

2024 schedule of workplace inspections

Workplace inspections are a crucial part of preventing incidents, injuries and illnesses. Through critical examination of the workplace, inspections identify and record hazards for corrective action. Regular workplace inspections are an important role of the JHSC in supporting TMU’s commitment to a healthy and safe work environment.

Visit the Workplace Inspections page to learn more, including how hazards are categorized.

The JHSC conducts yearly workplace inspections across all TMU owned and leased buildings with support provided by the Environmental Health and Safety team at TMU. All inspections are documented and discussed in the meetings.

Review the  (google sheet) 2024 JHSC Workplace Inspection Schedule (external link) .

Ministry of Labour field visit report

Please log in with your my.torontomu ID to review the October 10, 2024 field visit report (external link) . Contact Environmental Health and Safety if you require an accessible version of this document.

Additional resources

For more information on the Joint Health and Safety Committee, review the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s  (PDF file) Guide to the Joint Health and Safety Committee.

Learn more about the OHSA and JHSC Certification Training  (external link) offered by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.