Safety Words

What is Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S)?

OH&S is the part of the Government that enforces health and safety laws.  They can give “tickets” to workers, supervisors, employers and companies for not following the safety laws of Saskatchewan.

What is the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB)?

WCB is the insurance agency for workers.  Like SGI does for your car, WCB insures you at work.  If you are injured on the job, WCB will pay for your medical bills and will cover a portion of your wage while you away from work.

What is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?

PPE is the protection you wear to stay safe when working.  The gloves you wear when cleaning the bathroom are called PPE because they protect you from the gross things you are cleaning and from the chemicals you are using.  Earplugs are another kind of PPE because they protect your hearing when you are working around loud noises.

What is WHMIS?  And what is an MSDS?

WHMIS stands for Workplace Hazardous Material Information System.  It is the system set up to protect you from dangerous chemicals.  WHMIS includes teaching you how to work safely with chemicals and what to do if something goes wrong.  WHMIS also uses symbols and labels to show you which chemicals are harmful.  MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheets.  These are the part of WHMIS which tells you all about a chemical.  They tell you what it’s called, what it looks like, what the dangers are, what to do in an emergency, and what PPE you should use.

What is a Safety Committee?

A safety committee may also be called an Occupational Health Committee (OHC), a Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC), or an Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee.

Safety committees are a group of workers and managers who get together to talk about safety concerns and find ways to work safer.  As a worker – you can be part of the committee.  This is part of your Right to Participate.  It’s important to know who is on the committee, so you can report anything unsafe to them, as well as to your supervisor or boss.