Occupational Health & Safety Programs

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  
  The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Program is in place to provide the College community with the necessary information to identify hazardous work situations that require the use of PPE, the proper selection and use of PPE, and documentation of this information. This information is important to help ensure the safety and health of all employees at Algonquin College and to achieve regulatory compliance with the Occupational Health & Safety Act. Appendix A of the PPE Program relates specifically to Emergency Eyewash and Shower Procedures.
  
  
• Hazardous Waste
  
  The Hazardous Waste Program is intended to provide the college community with clear direction on how to deal with hazardous waste at Algonquin. The program outlines policies and procedures staff need to utilize in order to handle, transport, and dispose of hazardous waste.
  
  
• Laser Safety
  
  The use of lasers in the workplace presents a variety of chemical and physical hazards, to varying degrees, dependant on the class of laser and the specific application. The purpose of this document is to facilitate appropriate assessment of these hazards and identify the corresponding engineering, administrative and personal protective equipment controls that must be in place to mitigate the risk to staff and students. It describes the roles and responsibilities of personnel/students who work with or supervise laser operations and identifies the training required for all College operations involving laser use.
  
  
• Lead Control
  
  The Lead Control program is intended for Ottawa Police Service (OPS) and Algonquin College maintenance and operations staff. The principle objective of the Algonquin College Firing Range Lead Control Program is to minimize the exposure of maintenance and custodial personnel to lead. This program outlines procedures and training initiatives that accomplish this.
• Respiratory Protection
  
  The Respiratory Protection program outlines specific procedures on selection, use, training and fit-testing in which staff/student must adhere to when working with or around respiratory hazards.
  
  
• WHMIS
  
  The Occupational Health and Safety Act Part IV and Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS) Regulation 860, require all workplaces to follow specific regulations in order to minimize exposure to hazardous materials. The following program identifies all applicable procedures staff must follow to ensure they are in compliance and safe while working with hazardous materials.
  
  
• Workplace Violence Prevention
  
  This program has been developed to help college staff create and maintain a learning/work environment which is mutually respectful and conducive to learning and working for all. This program discusses various acts of violence and the procedures to be taken to mitigate such occurrences from happening at the college.
  
  
• Lock out / Tag out
  
  The purpose of this program is to prevent injuries to employees from the unexpected energizing, start-up, or release of stored energy from machines, equipment, or processes when such employees are engaged in activities where they are at risk from these hazardous sources. This program requires departments, to establish and implement procedures for affixing the appropriate lockout/tagout devices to energy isolating devices, and to otherwise disable machines, equipment, or processes to prevent unexpected energizing, start-up, or the release of stored energy.
  
  
• Confined Space Entry
  
  The information contained in this package is intended to serve as the accepted practice for all work done in confined spaces at the College.  All persons (College employees and contractors) entering and working in confined spaces must be knowledgeable about the information and follow the procedures contained in this document.
  
  
• Hearing Conservation
  
  The Hearing Conservation Program is intended to act as guideline for staff and students to follow when dealing with the risk of injury due to noise induced hearing loss. The following program discusses procedures concerning the selection of hearing protection, potential hazards, monitoring and training of individuals who are exposed to loud noises.
  
  
• Fall Protection
  
  Over the past 20 years falls have accounted for the largest amount of serious injuries and workplace deaths. Most of these incidents were due to; lack of fall protection equipment and improper use of fall protection equipment. The purpose of this program is educate college employees in: recognizing fall hazards and the identification and application of fall protection controls, including fall prevention and fall arrest.
  
  
• Asbestos Control
  
  The purpose of the Algonquin College Asbestos Control Program is the prevention of worker exposure to airborne asbestos and subsequent occupational illness arising from exposure to airborne asbestos. The program outlines the required procedural controls, personal protective equipment requirements, specific work procedures and training requirements for College staff and contractors in the management of asbestos at the College.

• Office Ergonomics

The purpose of the Algonquin College Office Ergonomics Program is to provide a resource to assist College employees in the recognition, assessment and control of ergonomic hazards in the office environment. Ergonomics can be defined as the science of matching work or tasks to the body and relates to the design of the workplace, equipment, machine, tool, product, environment and system taking into consideration a human’s physical, physiological, biomechanical and psychological capabilities.