As an employer, you play an important role in preventing workplace injuries and promoting a safe and healthy workplace. In fact, in Quebec, under the Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety (AOHS) and the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (AIAOD) as well as their various regulations, you have a legal obligation to properly inform, instruct, and supervise your employees and to do everything you reasonably can to protect them.
Everyone has a role to play in managing occupational health and safety in the company.
Health and safety responsibilities must be clearly defined, known to all staff and included in everyone's job descriptions.
Employers must ensure that their workers are aware of them and apply them in their day-to-day activities.
Each person must find out about and comply with their rights and obligations (in French only) with respect to occupational health and safety.
The employer, in collaboration with the workers, must develop and implement a prevention program and present it to all their staff for their consideration. Employers must train their workers to ensure they are aware of the hazards in the workplace and can perform their work safely.
Other measures to be implemented in the workplace include:
Evaluation of the company's occupational health and safety performance
Management must conduct at least an annual evaluation of the health and safety performance and communicate the results to all its workers. It is also necessary to evaluate the implementation of the prevention program, the activities of the health and safety committee and prevention activities.
Finally, management must track accidents and incidents and take into account the management of accident and return-to-work files.
Levels of management
There are 4 levels of management in the Framework (in French only):
At a minimum, a business must achieve the proactive management level.
Preventive management ensures effective management in the workplace on a permanent basis.
The company must find ways to improve prevention and reach the highest level. A company that is starting out in prevention will not be able to implement everything overnight. For continuous improvement, it must set objectives and put the winning conditions in place to advance through the management levels from year to year.
To get an accurate diagnosis of occupational health and safety management in your workplace, you can use the diagnostic tool (in French only).
This tool can be useful for performance evaluation if it is used annually.
CNESST Resources:
OHS Policy
OHS Program
Committees & Representatives
Posters, Signage, Printables
Violence, Harassment & Bullying
Orientation & Training
Young Workers
First Aid
Emergencies, Hazards & Communicable Disease
GHS (WHMIS)
Return to Work
In Quebec a written health & safety policy is not mandatory, however, CNESST recommends creating Winning Conditions for determining your level of health and safety which includes the commitment and support of senior management.
Senior management must:
This policy or commitment should be:
You should review the OHS policy whenever job functions and business activities change. Keep your policy current by reviewing at least annually.
CFIB members can download CFIB’s occupational health & safety policy template for their business from the Member Portal.
Prevention mechanisms according to priority groups
Prevention mechanisms refer to the prevention program. An action plan will also have to be put in place. If your business is part of priority group 1, 2 or 3, you were already required to have a prevention program, and you must continue to fulfil this requirement for the time being. New requirements will come into force later.
Businesses in priority groups 5, 4, and 6
You must implement a prevention program by identifying and analyzing the risks to the health and safety of your workers. This requirement applies regardless of the size of your business.
If your business has 20 or more workers, once the hazards have been identified, you must analyze them and prioritize them. The prioritization of hazards allows you to act quickly on the most urgent issues. It is important to document everything in writing. This documentation must be accessible to:
If your business has 19 or fewer workers, you have the same requirement as businesses with 20 or more workers. However, you do not have to prioritize the hazards. The documentation must also be accessible to:
To help you identify and analyze hazards, the CNESST has useful information pages:
• IDENTIFY: Hazard identification and prioritization and Hazard Identification Tool;
• ANALYZE: Analyze the risks (French Only);
CFIB members can access our Prevention Program Template in the Member Portal. The identification and analysis of the risks corresponds to the "Prevention Plan" page in the document.
Businesses with 20 or more workers
If your business has 20 or more workers, regardless of priority group, you must form a health and safety committee. The purpose of this committee is to participate in the identification and analysis of occupational health and safety hazards and make recommendations to the employer.
To determine the number of members in the committee, you must agree with your workers. If there is no agreement, the regulation applies:
At least one representative must be appointed to act as an intermediary between the employees and the committee.
Businesses with fewer than 20 workers
If your business has 19 or fewer workers, a Health and Safety Liaison Officer must be appointed by the workers.
For more details on upcoming changes, please visit the CNESST calendar.
Post a copy of the First-aid Poster in a conspicuous place and identify on it the family and given name of all First-aid trained workers, their job title, work location, and the location of your First-aid kits.
As an employer, you have an obligation to provide a harassment-free workplace. To fulfill this obligation, you must:
You are required to put in place a comprehensive policy for the prevention of psychological and sexual harassment in your workplace (available to members in the Member Portal). This policy must include a component concerning conduct that manifests itself through words, acts or gestures of a sexual nature, as well as a process for handling complaints. You will also need to appoint a person to be responsible for its implementation.
IMPORTANT: if you do not have this policy, you could receive a hefty fine.
What to do in the event of an internal report or complaint
When a situation of harassment is brought to your attention, either through a report or an internal complaint, you must act immediately and take the situation seriously. Here are the steps to follow:
If, after analyzing the facts, you determine that no harassment is present, you are not required to go further. We advise you to write a report to explain your approach and your reasoning. Keep this report carefully. If the complaint is admissible, you will have to appoint a person responsible for the investigation. You are not required to appoint an external person, but it is strongly recommended that you do so.
Please note that even if a complaint does not constitute harassment, it is appropriate to do a small investigation to determine if there is an underlying problem.
If you have hired an external person for the investigation, they should provide you with a written report of the investigation with recommendations. As the employer, it is up to you to make decisions based on the findings of the investigation. If you conducted the investigation, you would also need to provide a written report.
Possible findings of the investigation
If harassment has occurred, you must take all necessary and reasonable steps to stop the harassment and ensure that it does not happen again. Also, make sure that you have fulfilled all your obligations and make corrections if necessary.
If there was no harassment, but there are some things to consider, you will also need to take some steps to resolve the problem.
Filing a complaint with the CNESST
Even if you have an internal policy that provides for a complaint process, an employee who feels they have been the victim of psychological or sexual harassment can file a complaint directly with the CNESST. The CNESST will offer mediation which may be accepted or refused. The CNESST will also investigate to analyze the admissibility of the complaint. If the complaint is deemed admissible, it will be heard by the Administrative Labour Tribunal.
If, at any time during the process, the employer and employee reach an agreement and resolve the problem, the intervention of the CNESST will end.
The consequences of harassment for the business
Psychological and sexual harassment in the business can undermine the work atmosphere, cause friction between workers, increase staff turnover, reduce motivation, and increase absenteeism. If the harassment occurred with customers or suppliers, it is obvious that the consequences could be serious for the business's survival. Finally, if a complaint is filed with the CNESST and the court finds that you have not fulfilled your obligations, you could be required to compensate the person who initiated the complaint.
Training is necessary to create a safe workplace and create winning conditions in occupational health and safety management.
As of January 1, 2024:
More information can be found on the CNESST website here.
In Quebec, a person can start working at the age of 14. However, under 18’s cannot be given dangerous work, and you must make sure that their work does not interfere with their education. (See more here.)
FIRST AID
Offer medical attention (First aid) on site as per the First-aid Minimum Standards Regulation. In order to do so, you must:
CNESST-accredited training providers
The CNESST has a dedicate section on their website concerning respiratory infectious diseases with information on sanitary measures to help protect everyone’s health and safety in the workplace.
Under the Act Respecting Civil Protection to Promote Disaster Resilience, every person is responsible for ensuring their own safety as well as the safety of their property and activities.
An Emergency Response Plan can be part of the OHS Program and would document essential procedures and reference lists. Having an emergency response plan will also help you draft a Business Continuity Plan, a document that identifies hazards, ways to minimize risk, and ensures the minimum of disruption to your business during an emergency.
We have information on our website regarding flood mitigation and the benefits of having a storm day policy.
WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) and GHS (Globally Harmonized System) are world-wide systems providing information on hazardous materials used in the workplace. Employees need to know how to work safely, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to implement costly training programs.
If employees could come in contact with hazardous products, you must ensure:
Read our article WHMIS: Are your employees trained to safely handle hazardous materials? For more information.
An employee’s right to return to work requires you to reinstate a sick/injured worker who is able to resume their job, or hold an equivalent position, and to pay their salary and associated benefits. If a worker is unable to resume their job or hold an equivalent position because of an employment injury, they are entitled to the first suitable job available at your establishment, subject to any seniority rules included in their collective agreement (if applicable). The right to return to work must be exercised within the required time limit: two years if your establishment had more than 20 employees at the beginning of the period of continuous absence, and one year in other cases.
The CNESST offers a wealth of information and valuable resources within their dedicated section "Return-to-Work " on their website.
To offer a temporary work assignment to an employee who is unable to perform the regular duties of their job, you must complete a temporary work assignment form ( l’Assignation temporaire d’un travail) through the CNESST's secure online service (French only) and obtain approval from the treating health professional.