The Government of New Brunswick has enacted amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act following recommendations from WorkSafeNB. These changes, which received Royal Assent on June 7, include administrative updates and significant alterations impacting employers and workers across the province.
Among the key changes are amendments to Section 14 of the Act, which previously required joint health and safety committees (JHSCs) to submit their meeting minutes to WorkSafeNB automatically. Effective immediately, this requirement has been eliminated. JHSCs must still record meeting minutes, retain them for at least three years, and provide them to WorkSafeNB upon request.
This adjustment was well-received during stakeholder consultations, according to a WorkSafeNB press release, with 96% of the 119 respondents supporting the change. Notably, New Brunswick was the only province in Canada mandating the automatic submission of these minutes.
The second major change involves harmonizing the requirement for Type 2 headwear on project sites, aligning New Brunswick’s regulations with those of other Canadian jurisdictions. Although WorkSafeNB has been preparing stakeholders for this change over several months, the focus will remain on raising awareness rather than strict enforcement for the next six months.
Other updates to the OHS Act include modernizing definitions, clarifying requirements for health and safety programs, and resolving inconsistencies between English and French provisions.
These amendments aim to enhance workplace safety and streamline compliance requirements for New Brunswick employers. The press release from WorkSafeNB stated, “We applaud the government on updates to the OHS Act, ensuring they are meeting current needs of our workplaces and collaborating with us to make New Brunswick the safest place to work.”
