Under the Workers Compensation Act (WCA), your employer is required to maintain a safe and healthy workplace and respond to hazards as quickly as possible. However, our experience tells us that there can still be situations that arise where doing the work could result in an injury.

As a worker in British Columbia, you have the right to refuse unsafe work. Refusing unsafe work is the exception to "work now, grieve later" and you have the right to protection against prohibited action as a result of exercising your OHS rights.

What do you do if you encounter a work task that you believe is not safe for you to perform?

The WCA sets out a process for refusing unsafe work:

1. When you are assigned a task that you feel is unsafe for you to perform, you must first contact your supervisor. Make sure you inform them that you are refusing unsafe work and why the work is unsafe.
   a. If you are refusing unsafe work, you may be reassigned to other duties.
    
2. The supervisor must evaluate the situation to remedy the hazard. 
   
   
3. If you still feel the work is unsafe, you can request an OHS committee member perform an inspection to address the hazard.
    
4. If you still feel the work is unsafe, you can contact WorkSafeBC to get their assistance.
    
5. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your steward or OHS representative. If you are interested in becoming an OHS rep or want to contact us directly, please email [email protected]. You can always access OHS info at http://ohs.bcgeu.ca.

Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP