December 2013
Consider involving ergonomist
Continued from page 7
cant positions in which to place him.
Purina was not required to displace another employee to fulfill the duty to accommodate.
Conclusion
This decision stands as a reminder that
the duty to accommodate has its limits.
While these limits will not be reached in
every case, the following steps should
be taken by employers to increase the
likelihood that a termination for frustration of contract will be upheld as reasonable:
• an analysis should be undertaken of
the employee's ability to perform the
core duties of her position, with reference to the medical information provided by the employee and an objective
analysis of the work that has to be performed
• records should be kept of the employer's efforts to find safe work that
accommodates an employee's abilities
and restrictions
• up-to-date medical information should
be requested from employees asserting an ongoing need for workplace accommodations. This information will
confirm the scope of the employee's
restrictions, facilitate the employer's
continued search for workplace accommodation and support any assertion by
the employer that there are no further
workplace accommodations that can be
provided.
• the employee's doctor should be
asked to provide a prognosis for recovery, including the time it would take the
employee to return to her core duties
(whether or not on an accommodated
basis)
• employers should consider involving workplace ergonomists and other
specialists in the search for appropriate
workplace accommodations. These specialists may be able to confirm or refute
an employee's ability to perform accommodated work that has been offered or
requested.
Madeleine Loewenberg and Pamela
Hofman are lawyers with Norton Rose
Fulbright in Toronto. They practice
management-side employment and
labour law, including health and safety
and can be reached at madeleine.
loewenberg@nortonrosefulbright.com
or pamela.hofman@
nortonrosefulbright.com.
Behavioural shift from within
Continued from page 3
responsibilities with respect to the management system. Workers need to be held
accountable for meeting those objectives.
The IRS must include all contributory
groups, both internal and external, that
interact with the organization.
Merely stating the requirements to
employees will not be enough. The organization must be clear on its expectations (verbal and written), observe its
workers in the field and assist them in
modifying the behaviours that are counterproductive in achieving better safety
performance.
This is where having excellent communications will enable an organization to build trust with its workforce.
Ensure the organization says what it
8
means, that it takes its employee ideas
into consideration, that it is committed
to improving the situation and that it is
able to do what it promised.
Integrating the IRS with the safety
management system will not only allow
the organization to achieve its goals but
it will also influence its safety culture
by creating a behavioural shift from
within.
Of course, the real benefit of fostering
people skills in an organization is building a co-operative relationship amongst
the employees that will enable them to
be respected and engaged.
Guy Chenard is a senior health and
safety advisor for Ontario Power
Generation. He can be contacted at guy.
chenard@opg.com or (519) 431-1241.
Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013
www.safety-reporter.com
Published 12 times a year by
Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd.
Subscription rate: $129 per year
Customer Service
Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto)
(800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto)
Fax: (416) 298-5106
E-mail: carswell.customerrelations
@thomsonreuters.com
Website: www.carswell.com
One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4
Publisher: John Hobel
Managing Editor: Todd Humber
Editor: Zachary Pedersen
zachary.pedersen@thomsonreuters.com
(416) 649-9584
Marketing Manager: Mohammad Ali
mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com
(416) 609-5866
Circulation Co-ordinator: Travis Chan
travis.chan@thomsonreuters.com
(416) 609-5872
©2013 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd/
ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the written permission of
the publisher (Carswell, a Thomson Reuters
business).
Canadian Safety Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications:
• anadian HR Reporter
C
(www.hrreporter.com)
• anadian Occupational Safety
C
magazine (www.cos-mag.com)
• anadian Payroll Reporter
C
(www.payroll-reporter.com)
• anadian Employment Law Today
C
(www.employmentlawtoday.com)
• anadian Labour Reporter
C
(www.labour-reporter.com)
See carswell.com for information
