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Bill C-12

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	RECOMMENDATION
	Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (Part II) in respect of occupational health and safety, to make technical amendments to the Canada Labour Code (Part I) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts''.
	SUMMARY
	This enactment implements reforms to the occupational health and safety provisions of Part II of the Canada Labour Code. A realignment in responsibilities for work place health and safety will place a greater onus on employers and employees to work together to ensure a healthy and safe working environment. The reforms will modernize existing requirements and provide a more favourable regulatory framework for the shift in onus to occur while, at the same time, requiring less government intervention. Finally, the reforms will ensure that work place health and safety concerns, on the whole, are identified and resolved in a more flexible, timely and cost-effective manner.
	The key components of the enactment include
	(a) the creation of an internal resolution process to assist parties in the work place in resolving problems in a more independent and timely manner;
	(b) the enhancement of the powers of work place health and safety committees to allow them to identify and resolve problems as they arise, without requiring the previous level of intervention from government officials;
	(c) the creation of corporate policy health and safety committees for employers with more than three hundred employees to ensure that health and safety is addressed at the corporate level;
	(d) the requirement for employers to establish and maintain a prevention program specific to occupational health and safety;
	(e) the enhancement of the powers of federal enforcement officers to improve their efficiency and effectiveness;
	(f) the streamlining of the appeal process for the review of directions and decisions of federal enforcement officers; and
	(g) the updating of fines and terminology to reflect current practice in other Canadian jurisdictions.
	This enactment also makes technical amendments to Part I of the Canada Labour Code.