OHS Program
Building a Strong Foundation for Workplace Safety
An effective Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Program turns your organization’s commitment to safety into everyday action. It explains how you identify and control hazards, train and supervise workers, respond to incidents, and evaluate what is working.
AWARE-NS helps health and community services organizations develop, review, and strengthen practical OHS programs that reflect their work, hazards, and applicable legal requirements.
Whether you are starting from scratch or updating an existing program, our step-by-step OHS Program Guide can help.
The guide introduces AWARE-NS’s 13-component framework, covering leadership and participation, training, safe work procedures, hazard management, emergency planning, incident investigation, and program evaluation.
Components
Component 1: Leadership, Responsibilities & Participation
Clarifies who is responsible for health and safety and how workers participate in the Internal Responsibility System.
Component 2: Training and Supervision
Ensures workers are trained, informed, and supervised to do their work safely.
Component 3: Written Safe Work Procedures
Identifies which work requires written procedures and explains how tasks are to be done safely.
Component 4: JOHSC Process
Explains how the JOHSC is established, operates, keeps records, and participates in health and safety matters.
Component 4: Health and Safety Representative Process
Explains how the Safety Representative is selected and how they participate in health and safety matters.
Component 5: Hazard Identification Systems
Sets out how hazards are identified through inspections, reporting, workplace review, and worker input.
Component 6: Hazard Control and Corrective-Action Follow-Up
Explains how identified hazards are controlled, assigned, tracked, and followed up.
Component 7: Emergency Management & Planning
Establishes how the organization will prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies while protecting workers and others affected by the work.
Component 8: Incident and Hazardous Occurrence Investigation
Explains how incidents and hazardous occurrences are reported, investigated, documented, and used to prevent recurrence.
Component 9: Contractor and Third-Party Safety
Sets expectations for contractor safety, communication, coordination, and control of work that may affect workers or others.
Component 10: Return-to-Work Process
Supports a safe and suitable return to work after injury or illness through clear communication, modified duties where appropriate, documentation, and follow-up.
Component 11: Communication, Posting & Access to OHS Information
Explains how required safety information is shared, posted, and made available to workers, the JOHSC, or Safety Representative.
Component 12: Records and Statistics
Ensures required OHS records, reports, statistics, inspection reports, and investigation reports are maintained and accessible where required.
Component 13: Program Monitoring and Evaluation
Explains how the organization checks whether the OHS Program is being implemented and whether it is effective.
Ready to get started?
For practical steps and tools to help develop or strengthen your OHS program, request a free copy of AWARE-NS’s OHS Program Guide.
