Pan Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Reconciliation Agreement (2020)

The Pan Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Reconciliation Agreement is an umbrella regulatory reconciliation agreement which covers reconciliation of seven different types of Fall Protection equipment. It also provides scope for future reconciliation work focusing on personal protective equipment (PPE); occupational exposure limits; and safety training. The Agreement allows for future reconciled items to be added through individual schedules without having to amend the entire agreement.

This Agreement builds on and is in addition to the first 2019 National Occupational Health and Safety Reconciliation Agreement, which set out common standards in the areas of First Aid Kit Contents and PPE such as Eye and Face Protection, Head Protection, Foot Protection, Hearing Protection, Personal Floatation Devices and Life Jackets.

While this Agreement does not replace or impact the 2019 Agreement, it incorporates some ‘lessons learned’ from that process and allows for the future addition of new areas of alignment through a streamlined approval process.

The first outcome of the Agreement is to reconcile standards for seven types of Fall Protection equipment and may be amended in the future to cover additional types of PPE. The following standards are being recognized by all jurisdictions that sign the agreement:

• 1. Where an energy/shock absorber is required, an accepted standard will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.11-17 – Personal Energy Absorbers and Lanyards
• 2. Where a full body harness is required, an accepted standard will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.10-18 – Full Body Harnesses
• 3. Where a fall arrester is required, accepted standards will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.2.4-15 (R2020) – Fall arresters and vertical rigid rails; and
  • CSA Standard Z259.2.5-17 – Fall arresters and vertical lifelines
• 4. Where a lanyard is required, an accepted standard will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.11-17 – Personal Energy Absorbers and Lanyards
• 5. Where a self-retracting device is required, an accepted standard will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.2.2-17 – Self Retracting Devices
• 6. Where a vertical lifeline is required, accepted standards will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.2.4-15 (R2020) – Fall arresters and vertical rigid rails; and
  • CSA Standard Z259.2.5-17 – Fall arresters and vertical lifelines
• 7. Where connecting components are required, an accepted standard will be:
  • CSA Standard Z259.12-16 – Connecting Components for Personal Fall Arrest Systems (PFAS)

When fully implemented, the Agreement will allow businesses operating across multiple Canadian jurisdictions to be certain that a listed common standard for Fall Protection equipment will be accepted in each of the jurisdictions. As a result, Canadian businesses and workers who operate in multiple jurisdictions may no longer need to purchase multiple sets of Fall Protection PPE.

The Agreement may require some jurisdictions to make regulatory or legislative changes with implementation anticipated by early 2022.

Future Areas of Harmonization

The umbrella nature of the Agreement also allows Occupational Health and Safety regulators to incorporate additional RCT Work Plan items by amendment. The Agreement may be amended in the future to cover the following RCT Work Plan items:

• Occupational Exposure Limits (by December 2022) – Businesses operating in or desiring to expand into other jurisdictions in Canada must comply with differing federal, provincial and territorial occupational exposure limits for chemicals and airborne contaminants. Work in this area will align requirements for select substances to common standards.

Amendments

• Working First Aid Training
• Personal Protective Equipment