9.14 Key Terms

Act is a federal, provincial, or territorial law that sets out the broad legal framework around occupational health and safety in each jurisdiction. (9.1)

Acute stress, which is short-term high stress. (9.9)

Collective liability: One of the Meredith principles underlying workers’ compensation, stating that the cost of injury is shared among all employers in an industry. (9.6)

Carpal tunnel syndrome, or CTS, is a common cumulative disorder in which the hand and wrist is particularly affected. (9.8)

Chronic stress, is prolonged exposure to stress. (9.9)

Cyberbullying is defined as the use of the Internet or technology used to send text that is intended to hurt or embarrass another person. (9.9)

Cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) are injuries to the fingers, hands, arms, or shoulders that result from repetitive motions such as typing. (9.8)

Distress is the term used for negative stress. (9.9)

Domino theory: 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. (9.12)

Due diligence is taking reasonable precautions and steps to prevent injury, given the circumstances. (9.2)

Duty to accommodate: 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. (9.6)

Employee assistance program: Employer-funded access to short-term psychological counselling to help employees to cope with personal problems. (9.13)

Employment standards: 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. (9.6)

Eustress is positive stress. (9.9)

Fatality benefits: 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. (9.6)

Gaming: Behaviour whereby an employer maximizes the return it receives from the experience-rating system by means other than improving safety. (9.6)

Guidelines and policies are more specific rules about occupational health and safety. (9.1)

Hazard category identifies the severity of hazard and tells us just how hazardous the product is. (9.7)

Hazard control: Implementing corrective measures to eliminate or mitigate the effect of a hazard. (9.11)

Hazard recognition: The systematic act of identifying all hazards present, or potentially present, in a workplace. (9.11)

Hazard recognition, assessment, and control: The process of identifying, prioritizing, and eliminating or mitigating workplace hazards. (9.11)

Human rights legislation: An act prohibiting discrimination on the basis of protected grounds (e.g., disability, age, gender, race). (9.6)

Hyperstress is a type of stress in which there are extremes with little or no relief for a long period of time. (9.9)

Hypostress is the lack of eustress or distress in someone’s life. (9.9)

Incident report: A written document outlining the findings of an incident investigation, including recommendations for preventing future incidents. (9.12)

Internal responsibility system (IRS). The IRS assumes that workers and employers have a shared responsibility for workplace health and safety. (9.2)

Joint health and safety committees (JHSCs): Committees comprising both worker and management representatives responsible for enhancing workplace health and safety. (9.4)

Jurisdiction: Geographic district or industry sector which is subject to the authority of the federal Parliament or a provincial or territorial legislature. (9.1)

Management rights: The right of an employer to manage and direct the operation of a business bound only by limits set out in law and contract. (9.2)

Material safety data sheets (MSDSs): Information about hazardous material handling that employers must provide under the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. (9.6)

Medical benefits: 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. (9.6)

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) or environmental illness (EI). MCS or EI is the inability to tolerate an environmental chemical or class of foreign chemicals. (9.8)

Near miss is an unwanted, unplanned event that did not cause an injury or property damage but may have done so if conditions had been slightly different. (9.11)

No fault: One of the Meredith principles underlying workers’ compensation, stating that who caused the injury is not a factor in the awarding of compensation. (9.6)

Presumptive status: Instances where a workers’ injury is assumed to have arisen and occurred in the course of work unless proven otherwise. (9.6)

Prosecute: Court proceedings regarding the violation. (9.5)

Re-enactment: Recreating the events of an incident to provide a deeper understanding of what happened and why it happened. (9.12)

Reasonably practicable: Precautions that are not only possible but are also suitable or rational, given the particular situation. (9.2)

Return to work (RTW): Programs designed to reintegrate injured workers into the workplace via practices such as modified work. (9.6)

Regulation typically sets out how the general principles of the Act will be applied in specific circumstances and is enforceable. (9.1)

Stop-work order: An order made by a government occupational health and safety inspector that requires work to stop until a workplace hazard is remediated. (9.5)

Stress is the reaction we have to a stressor. (9.9)

Stressor is some activity, event, or other stimulus that causes either a positive or negative reaction in the body. (9.9)

Swiss cheese model: 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. (9.12)

Wage-loss benefits: Benefits paid by a workers’ compensation board to workers whose income is reduced by an injury. (9.6)

Walk-through: 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. (9.12)

Web of rules: The interlocking set of laws that limit employers’ right to manage. (9.6)

Workers’ compensation: The system within a jurisdiction providing injured workers with wage-loss, vocational rehabilitation, medical, and fatality benefits. (9.6)

Workplace bullying is defined as a tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent or repeated aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a coworker or subordinate. (9.9)

Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS): A national system that requires the labelling of hazardous materials. (9.6)

Worksite inspections: An examination of a worksite by a government inspector to ensure compliance with occupational health and safety requirements. (9.5)

Vocational rehabilitation benefits: Programs and other benefits provided by a workers’ compensation board to increase the probability of an injured worker returning to employment. (9.6)