ARTICLE 1

(a) The Senior Joint Health and Safety Committee shall be comprised of seven members from each party. The Company shall supply secretarial services to the Committee.

(b) Regional Occupational Health and Safety Committees shall be established within the following six areas of the Company’s operation:

1. South Coast;

2. Central Coast;

3. North Coast;

4. Northern Islands;

5. Southern Islands; and

6. BCF Richmond

(c) The composition of these Regional Occupational Health and Safety Committees shall be comprised of up to four Management and four Union representatives. Union representatives shall be elected from within the local work units and shall represent as broad a range of work categories as practicable.

(d) Local Shore and Ship Occupational Health and Safety Committees shall be maintained to Workers’ Compensation Board standards.

(e) The Committees shall meet at least once a month.

(f) Committee minutes of the Senior and each Regional Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall be copied to the parties.

(g) The recommendations of all Committees shall be fully considered.

(h) Within on year of the Committees meeting, after the signing of the Collective Agreement, the parties shall meet to review the effectiveness of the Committees and may negotiate amendments to this clause as identified by the Parties.

27.02 - Unsafe Work Conditions

No employee shall be disciplined for refusal to work on a job where the employee believes that s/he would be placed at a significant and/or immediate risk to personal health or safety, provided s/he has acted in compliance with Section 3.12 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations dated April 15, 1998 with amendments effective October 1, 1999.

27.03 - Injury Pay Provisions

An employee who is injured on the job during working hours and is required to leave for treatment or is sent home for such injury shall receive payment for the remainder of his/her shift without deduction from sick leave.

27.04 - Transportation of Accident Victims

(a) Transportation to the nearest physician or hospital for employees requiring medical care as a result of an on-the-job accident shall be at the expense of the Company.

(b) Return transportation to the employees’ point of assembly, vessel, temporary work site or home shall be determined in consultation with the employee and undertaken at the Company’s expense.

27.05 - Investigation of Serious Incidents

(a) The President of the Union or his/her designate shall be notified immediately following any major accident/serious incident including:

1. those reportable to the WCB under WCB regulations;

2. any near miss that may be the subject of an inquiry by the Company.

(b) Where an incident is reportable to WCB pursuant to (a)1. above, the Chairperson of the Regional Occupational Health and Safety Committee shall convene a meeting of the Committee within five days of the serious incident to investigate and to report, to the Union and Company, the cause of the incident.

(c) An accident investigation carried out pursuant to WCB regulations, shall be carried out by the safety and health committee members knowledgeable of the type of work involved, and shall include a designated worker representative.

27.06 - Occupational First Aid Requirements

(a) The Union and the Company agree that first aid regulations made pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Act shall be fully complied with.

(b) Employees required by the Company to perform first aid duties shall have the cost of obtaining and renewing their First Aid Certificates through approved training facilities borne by the Company. Leave to take the necessary courses shall be granted with regular pay. Employees shall be offered these courses in order of seniority. Employees shall take courses provided by the Company in preference to other courses.

(d) An allowance of $50.00 per month shall be paid to employees designated as OFA attendants. For employees holding OFA Level 3 Certificates, this allowance is in addition to the allowance in accordance with (c) above.

27.07 - Occupational Health and Safety Courses

(a) The parties have a joint responsibility to provide training to Occupational Health and Safety Committee Members. Programs shall be jointly developed by the Union and the Company.

(b) The Company shall contribute $5000 per year to be used to provide training to the Occupational Health and Safety Committee members.

(c) Leave with regular pay and expenses to attend these Occupational Health and Safety courses shall be borne by the Company.

27.08 - Video Display Terminals

(a) Any pregnant employee may choose to discontinue using a video display terminal, and, where practicable, shall be reassigned to other work without any reduction in basic pay.

(b) Printers and central processing units shall, where possible, be located in an acoustically separated room from any employee work area.

27.09 - Crew Accommodation

Crew accommodation and mess rooms shall be equipped with adequate ventilation.

27.10 - Deck Department

A seat (with back) in the wheel-house shall be provided where practical for quartermasters.

27.11 - Workers’ Compensation Board Inspections

A Workers’ Compensation Board representative, while inspecting an Company work site, shall be accompanied by a Union member of the Regional Occupational Health and Safety Committee, or where there is no Regional Occupational Health and Safety Committee member at that work site, by a Union member of the Local Shore and Ship Occupational Health and Safety Committee.

27.12 - Hearing Conservation Program

(a) The Company shall comply with Workers’ Compensation Board regulations for noise control methods and hearing conservation programs. The effectiveness of these programs shall be reviewed annually by the Senior Joint Health and Safety Committee.

(b) The Company shall maintain sufficient numbers of certified audiometric technicians to comply with WCB standards and pay wages and expenses necessary for the certificates and renewals.

(c) An employee who is not in the Hearing Conservation Program may request an initial audiometric examination on his/her own time, subject to the availability of the technician and the equipment.

(d) Results of an employee’s hearing test shall be confidential.

27.13 - Asbestos Monitoring Program

The Company shall continue to fully fund an Asbestos Monitoring Program for further follow up testing of employees with a work history of two or more years (prior to the 1980’s) in Engineering or Maintenance, or who have spent two or more years living on board asbestos insulated ships.

27.14 - Operational Safety of the Ferry System

(a) The Company and the Union both recognize the paramount importance which must be placed on continuing the operational safety of the ferry system.

(b) An Operational Safety Joint Committee comprised of two Company and two Union representatives will be established within one month of the date of ratification of the Collective Agreement.

(c) The Committee will be charged with the responsibility of being proactive in discussing operational safety issues throughout the ferry system and in facilitating the resolution of disputes which may arise.

(d) Members of the Committee shall receive wages and expenses pursuant to clause 2.11.

(e) The Terms of Reference for the Operational Safety Joint Committee shall be developed by the Committee and shall incorporate by reference, statutes and requests by Transport Canada and other relevant operational safety statutes.