SAFE Work Manitoba has made reasonable attempts to confirm the accuracy of information contained in this document. However, this document is intended for general information purposes only. SAFE Work Manitoba shall not assume responsibility or liability for actions taken or not taken as a result of reliance on information in this document alone. Manitoba employers must comply with Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation, as may be amended from time to time.

1. Training standard topic

Safety and health leadership

2. Purpose

The purpose of the safety and health leadership training program is to provide supervisors with an understanding of their legal duties and responsibilities pertaining to everyday safety and health functions. This training program will explain a supervisor’s role in providing a safe and healthy workplace for workers.

The training is intended for persons who have:

• Charge of a workplace.
• Authority over a worker.

This training program standard outlines the minimum requirements for the development and delivery of safety and health leadership training programs in Manitoba. It was developed in consideration of Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation and Canada Labour Code, Part II.

This course is one of the four essential courses defined in the SAFE Work Certified standards and procedures that certifying partners are required to offer to employers.

To be authorized as a certifying partner for SAFE Work Certified, industry-based safety programs and/or associations (IBSPs) must meet the requirements of this training standard. 

The format and structure of the training may vary and be customized by certifying partners to address the specific needs of their industry. Certifying partners need to effectively demonstrate the requirements outlined in the SAFE Work Certified standards and procedures and the SAFE Work Certified audit framework and achieve the learning outcomes outlined in the standard.

​Note: The SAFE Work Endorsed supervisor safety and health roles and responsibilities training program standard is equivalent to this training program standard.

3. Design

The training program must:

• Comply with adult learning principles:
  1. Ensure learners know why they need to learn specific content and its relevance to their workplaces.
  2. Relate training to learners’ own experiences when simulating workplace scenarios.
  3. Challenge and engage learners using a variety of activities that include participation, feedback and interaction.
  4. Recognize the limits of attention spans and apply techniques to address the ways that adults learn.
  5. Use activities and tools relevant to the workplace. 

• Use appropriate language.
• Provide accurate and current content.
• Include references to legal and technical information.
• Use a variety of technical teaching aids.
• Provide learner materials that follow the principles of instructional writing and good graphic design.
• Be consistent with provincial and federal legal requirements, the SAFE Work Certified standards and procedures, SAFE Work Certified audit framework and COR® standard.​

4. Delivery

Regardless of the delivery method, all approved training programs must meet the requirements of this standard, along with The Accessibility for Manitobans Act. Also, the delivery method must support the learner’s ability to attain the learning outcomes.

4.1      Face-to-face learning

Recommended maximum ratio of learners to instructor:

1. Basic theory module:  24:1

Minimum hours for training delivery:

1. Basic theory module: 3.5 hours

​The timing for delivery of this training program may be extended for various reasons, such as the amount of available equipment, instructor experience and/or the learning needs of the training participants.

4.2       eLearning and blended learning

The eLearning content should be consistent with Manitoba eLearning instructional design guidelines.​ 

This type of learning is acceptable for:

• Basic theory module

4.3      Distance learning

Training via a live video link and a plan for interactivity with a qualified instructor should be developed and available.

​This type of learning is acceptable for:

• Basic theory module

5. Learning outcomes

5.1 Why safety is important

Content includes:

• An overview of the importance of and reasons for safety in the workplace.
• An outline of costs associated with safety in the workplace.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Explain the moral, financial and legal reasons for safety.
• Differentiate between overt and hidden financial costs associated with unsafe and unhealthy workplaces.

​5.2 Due diligence

Content includes:

• An overview of what due diligence is and its underlying principles.
• An outline of the elements of due diligence and how they pertain to supervisors at a workplace.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Understand what due diligence is and its underlying principles.
• Identify the elements of due diligence.
• Demonstrate due diligence.

​5.3 Legal requirement

Content includes:

• An overview of legal framework, including: duties and responsibilities, elements of a safety and health program and the structure and function of an internal responsibility system with reference to statutory, regulatory and criminal law.
• An outline of the roles of a supervisor and how they pertain to the four worker rights.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Use and identify relevant parts of Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation and/or Canada Labour Code, Part II.
• Reference the legal duties and responsibilities of supervisors in the workplace and the legal implications of failing to meet their duties and responsibilities.
• Identify the elements of a safety and health program and the elements that are most pertinent to supervisors in the workplace.
• Describe the structure and function of an internal responsibility system.
• Identify where supervisors fit in the internal responsibility system.
• Describe the four basic rights and how they relate to supervisors.
• Apply the roles of the supervisor to ensure that worker rights are upheld, which includes informing, training, enabling participation, reporting, involving the safety and health committee and reassigning dangerous work.

​5.4 Hazard identification and risk control

Content includes:

• An overview of the steps of hazard identification and risk control as it pertains to supervisors in the workplace.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Define and identify the categories of hazards, and how they can be identified.
• Describe risk and how it can be assessed.
• Identify types of hazard controls by referencing the hierarchy of controls.
• Apply the steps of hazard identification and risk control as they pertain to supervisors in the workplace.

​5.5 Inspections

Content includes:

• A description of the different types of inspections.
• An overview of the components of conducting an inspection.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Differentiate between types and purposes of inspections.
• Identify an inspection checklist suitable for their workplace.
• Explain the components of conducting an inspection including frequency, content, participants, assigning corrective actions and follow-up.

​5.6 Investigations

Content includes:

• A description of the different types of investigations, including near-misses and incidents, serious incidents, right to refuse incidents and worker safety and health concerns.
• An overview of investigation principles and the steps involved in conducting an investigation .

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Differentiate between the types and purposes of investigations and who is required to conduct them.
• Explain the steps to conduct an investigation including caring for the injured, securing a scene, reporting an incident, conducting interviews, examining evidence and preparing the report.

5.7 Reporting

Content includes:

• An overview of the importance and reasons for reporting incidents, both internally and externally.
• An outline of what to report and to whom.

​At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• State the importance of reporting and why it is a crucial component of the workplace safety and health program.
• Describe the reasons for reporting, including moral and financial benefits and legal requirements.
• Identify what must be reported, both internally and externally.
• Identify the reporting bodies.
• Apply the reporting requirements.

5.8 Training

Content includes:

• An overview of the different types and purposes of training, and when training must take place.
• A review of vulnerable worker groups and training strategies for each group.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Describe the different types and purposes of training.
• Identify when training must take place and the reasons why.
• Explain training delivery styles and check participant understanding for all worker needs, including vulnerable workers.

5.9 Culture of safety

​Content includes:

• A description of a culture of safety, and how supervisors influence and promote a culture of safety.

At the end of this module, learners will be able to:

• Describe a culture of safety.
• Explain the role that supervisors play in a culture of safety.

​6. Resource material

The safety and health for supervisors in the workplace training standard has material requirements for both learners and instructors.

The date and version number should be indicated on all resource materials, as well as:

• Terms and definitions.
• Job aids, evaluation tools and templates.
• Copies of the applicable provincial or federal safety legislation.
• Manufacturers’ instructions for equipment.
• Participant and instructor manuals with copies of activities.
• Instructor manual and lesson plan.

​Learner materials include:

• Learning objectives, agenda, training content and evaluation/testing.

​Instructor materials include:

• Instructional methods, learning activities and lesson plan timing.
• Detailed instructor manual and lesson plans, including all learning activities and audio-visual resources.

​(Additional detailed resource materials and samples regarding learning/resource materials are available at the Training Standard Development Resource Centre.)

7. Learner evaluation

The training program must include a plan for learner evaluation that meets the requirements below. There must be a variety of evaluation methods available to the instructor and/or evaluator that suit the learning outcomes.

7.1      Evaluation methods

The training program will include a variety of evaluation methods to ensure that key concepts have been understood by the learner, including:

• Open discussion.
• Group discussion.
• Questions and answers.
• Written and/or oral test, where applicable.

Evaluation methods must be clearly outlined in the evaluation plan and the results must be documented by the evaluator.

7.2      Evaluation of demonstration learning outcomes

• Learning outcomes requiring demonstration must be performed satisfactorily in order to successfully complete the practical module.
• For learners with language, literacy or accommodation needs, alternative evaluation methods may be used. These evaluation methods must be clearly outlined in the evaluation plan and the corresponding results must be documented by the evaluator.

8. Validation/refresher requirements

Completion of the basic theory module in accordance with the criteria set out in this standard and the training provider standard is required to confirm a safety and health leadership training program has been successfully completed.

Refresher training may be recommended following an audit and/or as part of an audit action plan. The certifying partner may recommend refresher training based on an employer’s specific situation/needs.

​Glossary

General terms

Asynchronous instruction (ASTD)
A general term used to describe forms of education, instruction and learning that do not occur in the same place or at the same time. It uses resources that facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a network of people.

Blended learning
Describes the practice of using several training delivery mediums in a single training program and typically refers to the combination of classroom instruction and eLearning.

Distance learning
An educational situation in which the instructor and students are separated by time, location or both. Education or training courses are delivered to remote locations via synchronous or ASTD.

eLearning (Electronic learning)
A term covering a wide set of applications and processes that includes web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms and digital collaboration.

Face-to-face training
Usually refers to traditional classroom training in which an instructor teaches a course to a room of training participants. The term is used synonymously with on-site training, classroom training and instructor-led training (slightly modified from ASTD definition).

Minimum hours for training delivery
The timing for instruction of a training program which excludes breaks and lunch:

• 3.5 hours of instruction is equal to a half-day of delivery.
• 7 hours of instruction is equal to a full-day of delivery.

Module
A unit of instruction that can be measured, evaluated for change, assembled to form complete courses or bypassed as a whole, and that is usually intended to teach one or a group of skills or areas of knowledge (slightly modified from ASTD definition).

Evaluator
A person who evaluates learners.

Instructor
A person who delivers training programs.

Qualification
A skill, quality or attribute that makes somebody suitable for a job, activity or task.

Safety and health leadership terms

​Controls
Measures designed to eliminate or reduce hazards or hazardous exposures. Examples include: engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment. Hazards can be controlled at the source, along the path to the worker or at the worker.

Culture
A set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterize an organization or group.

Due diligence
The taking of every precaution reasonable, under the circumstances, to protect the safety and health of workers.

Hazard
The potential of any machine, equipment, process, material (including biological and chemical) or physical factor to cause harm to people or damage to property or the environment.

Incident investigation
The process of systematically gathering and analyzing information about an incident. This is done for the purposes of identifying causes and making recommendations to prevent the incident from happening again.

Inspection
A walkthrough of the workplace, selected areas or locations in order to identify safety and health hazards and to recommend corrective action. Workplace factors that have the potential to cause injury or illness to employees include equipment, materials, processes or work activities and the environment.

Internal responsibility system
Puts in place an employee-employer partnership in ensuring a safe and disease-free workplace. A safety and health committee is a joint forum for employers and employees working together to improve workplace safety and health.

Risk
The chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard.

Supervisor
A person who has charge over a workplace or authority over a worker

​Acknowledgements statement

The safety and health leadership committee/working group has developed a safety and health leadership training program standard that outlines the minimum requirements for program objectives, training requirements and learning outcomes that are designed to educate Manitoba workers on working in compliance.

Please note that while reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the criteria of the Training Program Standard are met, responsibility resides with employers to ensure compliance with training requirements under Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation. In determining what rights or obligations a party may have under the province’s legislation, reference should always be made to the official version of the WSH Act and WSH Regulation.