Glossary

Negative health effects caused by short, intense exposure to noise, usually of high frequency.

Law passed by the federal Parliament or a provincial or territorial legislature.

Fatigue caused by failure to get adequate sleep in the period before a work shift.

Time-specific events of high-intensity, short duration and infrequent occurrence, such as a performance review, a car accident or unexpected encounter.

The immediate harm caused by exposure to a chemical substance.

A form of hazard control that entails changes to work process, policies, training, or rules designed to reduce exposure to hazards.

 Measuring the amount of alcohol in a worker’s breath or blood to determine impairment.

Measuring the level of a hazard in a geographic space.

A test used by a workers’ compensation board to assess whether an injury claim is compensable. To meet this test, an injury must arise from and occur during the course of a worker’s employment.

Microscopic organisms that live in soil, water, organic matter, or the bodies of plants and animals.

A standard of proof wherein a proposition is deemed to be true if is it more likely to be true than not based upon the evidence at hand.

An approach to OHS that views the workplace as a venue of measurable behaviour that can be shaped via feedback to prevent injuries.

An approach to OHS that views the workplace as a venue of measurable behaviour that can be shaped via feedback to prevent injuries.

A learning theory that asserts that attaching rewards and punishments to specific worker actions can shape how workers behave.

Workplace hazards potentially giving rise to injuries caused by organisms—such as bacteria, molds, funguses—or the products of organisms that harm human health.

A rule or requirement necessary for the proper performance of a job, which can prevail even if it causes otherwise prohibited discrimination.

Repeated actions or verbal comments that lead to mental harm, isolation, or humiliation of a worker (or group), often with the intent to wield power over them.

A subset of acute stress, but differing in their intensity, threatening life, safety, or property.

Workplace hazards potentially giving rise to injuries caused by a chemical substance that harms human tissue or interferes with normal physiological functioning.

An ongoing, severe feeling of tiredness not relieved by sleep.

Harm caused by exposure to a substance that manifests itself over a longer period of time.

The daily (24-hour) cycles our body follows to ensure high activity during the day and low activity at night.

One of the Meredith principles underlying workers’ compensation, stating that the cost of injury is shared among all employers in an industry.

A policy wherein workplace inspections are triggered by individual complaints or in response to incidents (i.e., a serious injury or fatality).

An arrangement wherein workers work longer each day to reduce the number of days per week (or month) that they are required to work.

The severity of injury/ill health that will result from an incident.

An approach to hazard control that addresses the hazard at some point between its source and when workers encounter the hazard.

An approach to hazard control that prevents the hazard from entering the workplace via elimination, substitution, or some type of engineering controls.

An approach to hazard control that controls the hazard only after it reaches the worker.

An approach to injury prevention that compares the cost of an injury with the cost of injury prevention.

Irritation of the skin that often begins with a rash and can lead to severe itching, burning, flaking, cracking, blistering, and bleeding.

The condition of being unable to perform a function or task as a consequence of a physical or mental impairment.

Private insurance benefits providing wage-loss replacement for workers who require a longer period of time away from work than can be accommodated under sick leave provisions and that is required for reasons other than a work-related injury.

A set of employer practices designed to prevent or reduce workplace disability and help workers to recover normal functioning as quickly and to the maximum degree possible.

An accident analysis model premised on five factors (background, personal defects, unsafe acts and conditions, incident, and injury), the elimination of any one resulting in the prevention of an incident.

The amount of a chemical that enters the body.

Standard of conduct wherein employers take every reasonable precaution to ensure safety.

The length of time a worker is exposed to a phenomenon.

Employers’ legal obligation to alter work, work practices, or the workplace to the point of undue hardship in order to allow workers with disabilities to perform meaningful work.

A form of hazard control that removes the hazard from the worksite.

A sudden event that poses a hazard to workers’ health and safety and requires immediate action.

Work requiring workers to regulate their emotions to meet organizationally defined rules and to display the required emotions to customers.

Employer-funded access to short-term psychological counselling to help employees to cope with personal problems.

An act that sets out minimum terms and conditions of employment for a jurisdiction, such as maximum hours of work and required rest breaks. Sometimes called labour standards.

A holistic model of how employment uncertainty, effort, and support affect precarious workers’ health.

A holistic model of how employment uncertainty, effort, and support affect precarious workers’ health.

A form of hazard control that entails modifications to the workplace, equipment, materials, or work processes that reduce workers’ exposure to hazards.

Scientists who study the patterns and causes of illness and disease in the population.

Events similar to acute stressors, but occurring more frequently, having a longer duration, and often of lower intensity.

Workplace hazards potentially giving rise to injuries caused by the interaction of work design and the human body.

The study of how workers and the work environment interact.

How often or regularly workers come in contact with the hazard.

Hour of work beyond 8 or 12 in a single day.

Concluding that no difference or relationship exists when it does.

Benefits paid by a workers’ compensation board to the dependents of a worker who has died. These can include funeral costs and wage-loss benefits.

The state of feeling tired, weary, or sleepy caused by insufficient sleep, prolonged mental or physical work, or extended periods of stress or anxiety.

Altering the normal hours of work in order to accommodate the needs of workers.

The vibration of the medium through which energy moves.

Behaviour whereby an employer maximizes the return it receives from the experience-rating system by means other than improving safety.

A form of segmental vibration affecting a worker’s hands and arms, often caused by gripping power tools.

is anything that might harm, damage, or adversely affect any person or thing under certain conditions at work.

The process of determining which of identified hazards need to be addressed most urgently.

identifies the severity of hazard and tells us just how hazardous the product is.

Implementing corrective measures to eliminate or mitigate the effect of a hazard.

The systematic act of identifying all hazards present, or potentially present, in a workplace.

The process of identifying, prioritizing, and eliminating or mitigating workplace hazards.

The process of identifying, prioritizing, and eliminating or mitigating workplace hazards.

A health effect caused by a body becoming too hot.

An act prohibiting discrimination on the basis of protected grounds (e.g., disability, age, gender, race).

A health effect caused by a body becoming too cold.

A cognitive or physical difference that, in a specific context, may give rise to a disability.

The process of determining what caused an incident and identifying ways of preventing its recurrence.

A written document outlining the findings of an incident investigation, including recommendations for preventing future incidents.

The first case that indicates the outbreak of a disease.

Bodies formed by employers in an industry to deliver safety services and advocate on behalf of the employers on safety issues.

The process of systematically developing training to meet particular goals and objectives.

System of shared responsibility for occupational health and safety.

A collection of materials, including a process, forms, and recording equipment designed to assist in an incident investigation.

Radiation with enough strength to remove electrons from a molecule as it passes through, such as x-rays, gamma rays, alpha particles, and neutrons.

Decisions employers make about what tasks will be performed by workers and how that work will be performed.

An arrangement wherein two workers share a single position, each working some portion of the otherwise full-time job.

Committees comprising both worker and management representatives responsible for enhancing workplace health and safety.

Geographic district or industry sector which is subject to the authority of the federal Parliament or a provincial or territorial legislature.

The time between exposure and the development of symptoms from that exposure.

The process of acquiring knowledge and skills that can lead to behavioural change.

Conceptual frameworks that describe how learners absorb, process, and retain information.

The amount of a substance in the air or water required to cause death.

The amount of a substance required to cause death upon ingestion, thereby quantifying a substance’s acute toxicity and allowing us to compare the toxicity of substances.

The amount of a substance in the air or water required to cause death.

Reaction to a toxic substance reaction at the point of contact.

An approach to hazard control focusing on where and when the hazard is controlled in the context of where the worker is in the production process.

The amount of energy that is being transported through the medium.

The right of an employer to manage and direct the operation of a business bound only by limits set out in law and contract.

Benefits paid by a workers’ compensation board to cover the costs of treating an injury, thereby relieving workers and the taxpayer-funded health care system of these costs.

Measuring the presence of a chemical or its metabolic residue in a worker’s blood, body fluids, or tissues.

An altered set of duties and responsibilities that a worker is able to perform despite an injury or disability.

A process to determine what kind of training is required to meet organizational goals.

Removing undesirable stimulus when a worker demonstrates a desired behaviour, in order to elicit further instances of the desired behaviour.

One of the Meredith principles underlying workers’ compensation, stating that who caused the injury is not a factor in the awarding of compensation.

Sound energy transmitted by small air-pressure changes caused by the vibration of molecules.

Radiation without enough strength to remove electrons from a molecule as it passes through but which may cause other effects, and includes microwaves, radio waves and ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light.

The outcome(s) an organization expects to realize from training.

Regulations that identify desired outcomes and leave the specifics of how to achieve them to the employer.

Measuring the dose experienced by a worker.

A form of hazard control that comprises equipment worn by workers designed to protect the workers should they come into contact with a hazard.

Workplace hazards potentially giving rise to injuries typically (but not always) caused by a transfer of energy that result in an injury.

Workplace hazards potentially giving rise to injuries typically (but not always) caused by a transfer of energy that result in an injury.

A way of looking at workplace injury that emphasizes issues of power and financial gain.

Rewarding a worker when the worker demonstrates a desired behaviour, in order to elicit further instances of the desired behaviour.

Ill health typically brought on by a terrifying event, with symptoms including flashbacks, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

Paid work characterized by limited social benefits and statutory entitlements, job insecurity, and low wages and associated with a high risk of ill health.

The position that responsibility to establish that the activity will not (or is very unlikely to) cause harm falls to the proponent.

Regulations that stipulate specific requirements an employer must meet (e.g., standards for fall protection equipment).

A model that explains the increased health and safety risks associated with precarious employment as the result of precarity’s effects on the workplace structure and practice.

Instances where a workers’ injury is assumed to have arisen and occurred in the course of work unless proven otherwise.

The likelihood that the hazard will result in an incident.

The steps required to complete work.

Court proceedings regarding the violation of a law.

The event that is immediately responsible for the injury.

Workplace hazards potentially giving rise to injuries caused by the social environment and psychological factors in the workplace.

Energy emitted from a source, including heat, light, x-rays, microwaves, and other waves and particles.

Recreating the events of an incident to provide a deeper understanding of what happened and why it happened.

Precautions that are not only possible but are also suitable or rational, given the particular situation.

A rule made by a federal, provincial, or territorial cabinet, cabinet minister, or other public body under the authority of an act and having the force of law.

A standard measure of radiation.

Programs designed to reintegrate injured workers into the workplace via practices such as modified work.

Programs designed to reintegrate injured workers into the workplace via practices such as modified work.

Workers’ right to be apprised of workplace hazards under the internal responsibility system.

Workers’ right to engage in workplace health and safety activities (often through joint health and safety committees) under the internal responsibility system.

Workers’ right to decline to undertake unsafe work under the internal responsibility system.

Likelihood that a hazard will result in injury/ill health.

Quantifying the likelihood of injury/ill health by assessing the probability, consequences, and exposure posed by the hazards.

The ultimate or “real” cause of an injury.

The four ways chemicals can get into a workers’ body: inhalation, ingestion, skin absorption, and skin penetration.

Information about hazardous material handling that employers must provide under the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System.

Programs that construct goals and performance measures related to safety, often with the assistance of an outside consultant.

Training for new workers that addresses workplace hazards, emergency procedures, PPE training, policies, and job-specific OHS

When part of a worker’s body experiences shaking due to contact with the vibration.

Paid leave designed to help workers recover from short-term illness or injury.

A learning theory that asserts that learning occurs through observation and imitation and thus through formal and informal interactions with others.

Employment characterized by full-time permanent employment with a single employer.

An order made by a government occupational health and safety inspector that requires work to stop until a workplace hazard is remediated.

A form of hazard control that involves replacing something that produces a hazard with something that does not.

A variation of the domino theory of accident analysis which identifies four subfactors (organizational influences, local working conditions, unsafe acts, and defences, barriers, and safeguards) that influence whether an incident occurs or not.

An increase in an effect (e.g., toxicity) caused by two chemicals interacting.

Reaction to a toxic substance at a point in the body other than the point of contact.

Identifying specific industries (e.g., residential construction) or working situations (e.g., employers of migrant workers) for additional inspection activity.

Mapping out the flow of work to allow for a systematic examination of how a job is supposed to be conducted.

A way of looking at workplace injury that emphasizes the mechanism(s) of injury.

Maintaining a core body temperature at about 37 degrees Celsius.

The condition in which a person wearing normal clothing feels neither too cold nor too warm.

Stress produced when temperature extremes prevent our bodies from properly self-regulating to maintain temperature homeostasis.

Accepted workers’ compensation claims where a worker could not report to work due to the injury.

A measure of loudness that factors in the frequency of the noise.

Workplaces characterized by relentless demands, extreme pressure, and brutal ruthlessness and representing the extreme of stressful workplace environments.

The ability of a substance to cause injury.

Teaching a worker knowledge, skills, or behaviours with the expectation that the worker will apply that training in ways that reduce the risk of a workplace injury.

The strategies and techniques used to meet training objectives.

What the worker is expected to know or be able to do or how they will act as a consequence of the training, often expressed as some level of acceptable post-training performance.

Policy discussions involving representatives of government, employers, and labour.

The point at which an accommodation is economically unsustainable, interferes with a legitimate operational requirement, or poses a health-and-safety threat.

An administrative control that can reduce worker susceptibility to viruses through inoculation.

The results of a scientific experiment or observation accurately reflect the real world.

The oscillating movement of a particle around its stationary reference position.

Programs and other benefits provided by a workers’ compensation board to increase the probability of an injured worker returning to employment.

Benefits paid by a workers’ compensation board to workers whose income is reduced by an injury.

A preliminary step in an incident investigation designed to provide a basic overview of the incident and assist investigators to determine what future investigative steps are appropriate.

The interlocking set of laws that limit employers’ right to manage.

When a worker’s entire body experiences shaking due to contact with the vibration.

Providing a worker with the opportunity to gradually return to work (via increasing hours and work demands) in order to build stamina.

The system within a jurisdiction providing injured workers with wage-loss, vocational rehabilitation, medical, and fatality benefits.

A government agency established by the legislature of a province or territory that operates that jurisdiction’s workers’ compensation system.

A situation where a worker is performing tasks out of contact with persons capable of offering assistance in case of emergency.

Behaviour aimed at an individual (or group) that is belittling or threatening in nature.

Any source of potential injury or illness in a workplace, including objects, processes, contexts, people, or sets of circumstances.

A national system that requires the labelling of hazardous materials.

Any form of ill health—such as a physical or mental injury or illness—that arises due to a worker’s employment.

Alterations to work processes or the workplace in order to accommodate a worker’s disabilities.

An assessment of whether a workplace has an appropriate safety system in place to deal with safety matters.

Any act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated, or assaulted in his or her employment.

Health and well-being services provided by or through the employer that focus on health promotion and illness prevention.

An examination of a worksite by a government inspector to ensure compliance with occupational health and safety requirements.