Summer School 2024
July 19, 2024 at 5:00 PM EST Best Western St. Catharines 2 North Service Rd St. Catharines, Ontario L2N 4G9
The Niagara Regional Labour Council is pleased to announce that we will be holding Summer School this year July 15 to 19, 2024.
Prevention Link: WSIB Level 1 and 2: $725.00
Rights & Obligations: Provides an overview of Ontario’s compensation system, the development of legislation and the general principles of the system. Worker and employer obligations, roles and responsibilities with respect to work reintegration are covered.
The WSIB work reintegration policies are discussed and the new direction that the Board is taking with respect to returning workers to their pre-injury job with the accident employer. Disability Prevention best practices and shared responsibilities are discussed and ways in which unions should participate in work reintegration are explored.
Protections under other legislation are discussed should a work reintegration plan not provide sufficient protection to a worker.
Benefits and Services: Participants learn: the significance of legislation (OHSA and WSIA), regulations and policy, changes to the legislation and the effects these changes have had on benefits; and the benefits available under the WSIA in the three different eras, including PT, TT, FEL, NEL, and LOE
Detailed examples of benefit calculations and parameters affecting final number will be explored. The structure of WSIB and the appeal system are described in relation to the New Delivery Module and the roles of each WSIB position. Participants will also learn how to make a case plan for a successful outcome and different types of evidence to use. The organization of a Board file is presented and participants will explore how to effectively review a file.
Medical Orientation: (Prerequisite is WSIB level 4)
This advanced course is designed to assist participants in understanding medical terminology, anatomy, and medical testing so they can interpret and be comfortable with medical information in Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) files.
Participants will be exposed to medical terminology and human anatomy with attention to the different organ systems (skeletal, muscular, nervous, auditory, ocular, respiratory, circulatory, digestive and integumentary). Special focus will be placed on injuries commonly seen in WSIB cases (back, bone, MSI’s, lower extremities).
Disorders such as chronic pain and fibromyalgia are discussed in detail. Mental stress related injuries are examined and the WSIB policies relating to traumatic stress, psycho-traumatic disability and behavioural disorders are presented. Learn how disability and permanent rewards are determined, how they are assessed and the different types of awards (PPDS and NELs)
Prevention Link: 3 Workshop Bundle (This Course to run Wednesday to Friday): $600.00
Workers Comp 101: (day one)
This course introduces participants to the compensation system in Ontario, the history of compensation legislation, its principals and third party rights of action. Key definitions within the system are described including: worker, employer, accident, disablement, recurrence, secondary injuries, aggravation, occupational disease, stress and chronic pain. Participants learn about injury reporting and how claims are filed, as well as the responsibilities of the workplace parties and medical professionals. Benefits and services for injured workers are presented.
The objective of this course is to provide participants with the tools to develop strategies to assist workers with disabilities, individually and collectively and return them to long-term healthy and productive employment. The course also reviews noteworthy case law and Human Rights Legislation.
The workshop focuses on the most frequently cited ground of discrimination that is disability. It looks at how disability and the duty to accommodate plays out with emphasis on employment. The workshop will help participants recognize rights, obligations and principals of accommodation (respect for dignity, individualization, integration and full participation)
WHSC: Level 2 Federal: Law: $625.00
This 30-hour program equips participants with an understanding of federal health and safety law, its strengths’ and deficiencies, and enables participants to develop strategies to improve working conditions and worker well-being. This course covers the duties and powers of Labour Program health and safety officers in enforcing compliance with Part II of the Code, the appeal process under the Code and the role of the Canada Appeal Office and how laws and regulations are changed and interpreted and discusses how participants can keep abreast of amendments to the law.
Participants are issued with a certificate upon completion. (Only after completing WHSC Level 1)
WHSC: 6 Workshops-Bundle (This Course to run Wednesday to Friday): $575.00
Mould: (day one)
This program will provide participants with a basic understanding of the potential sources of mould growth. It also discusses how mould can damage the health and well-being of exposed workplace parties. Participants will gain knowledge and skills in recognizing and assessing potential and actual sources of mould contamination and will look at how existing legislation can be applied.
This module is to provide participants with the knowledge and skills required to identify and assess the potential sources of mould and to recommend controls to eliminate or reduce exposure to these harmful substances in the workplace. Record of Training is provided once the course completed.
This program addresses hazards that cause injuries when workers slip, trip or fall while walking and working on the same level, or from a height. The program is intended to enable participants to identify and assess walking and working hazards, and recommend controls. It is divided into nine main sections.
This module is intended for workers in an office or similar environment who may be exposed to biohazards such as bacteria, viruses and mould. The module discusses how biohazards are transmitted, the different types of bacteria, viruses and mould that may be found in an office environment, as well as their health effects.
The content addresses relevant methods that can be used to assess and control biohazards, as well as the steps involved in developing and implementing an effective action plan to reduce this hazard in their workplace. The purpose of this module is to provide participants with the knowledge required to enable them to recognize and assess office biohazards and to recommend controls to eliminate or reduce exposure to these hazards in their workplace. Record of training is provided once course is completed.
Electricity is sometimes referred to as the silent killer because electrical hazards are often difficult to detect. But electricity is a vital part of our lives and so we have to learn how to protect ourselves from its hazards. This is especially true for the workers who have to work with it on a daily basis as the injuries from electrical incidents can be horrendous.
The Electrical Hazards program is intended to enable participants to identify and assess electrical hazards, and recommend controls. It is divided into ten main sections:
This three hour program, which expands upon the material provided in the Basic Certification program, divides workplace investigations into two parts: the accident investigation and the occupational disease investigation.
Delving into the core beliefs held by workers and employers, participants explore how the health and safety culture of a workplace guide a workplace investigation and affect the conclusions drawn by the investigator about what happened and why. Participants soon discover that accidents may be the result of unplanned events but they don’t happen by chance. Using adult centered techniques, participants quickly make the connection between workplace accidents, illnesses and workplace hazards.
Workplace hazards that cause illness and accidents are sorted and categorized. Uncovering the what and whys requires asking a lot of questions. Cause categories and specific questions are introduced and discussed. The role of workplace parties and their duties are explored as is the purpose and steps of an accident or disease investigation.
A worksheet uses a case study to place both participants and instructor into the scene of a workplace accident where participants draw upon the information and skills they have developed and learned throughout the course in order to ferret out what happened.
The instructor encourages them to ask critical questions, to think, to draw conclusions, make recommendations and follow up. A whole group activity brainstorms the skills, attitude, and follow up procedure of a good investigator and a video reinforces the importance of employing a systematic approach when conducting a workplace investigation.
Whether it is an occurrence of an accident or the development of a disease, participants recognize the value of adopting a systematic approach to a workplace investigation. A thorough investigation ends with a completed report. Each section of the report is introduced, reviewed and pieces together the framework of a workplace investigation that can be used upon their return to the workplace.
The course objective is to conduct thorough investigations the focus on the causes of accidents, diseases and incidents and to make recommendations that prevent recurrences and improve health and safety conditions.
Knowing what to look for and why is key when conducting a workplace inspection. For this reason workplace hazards are defined and categorized, roles and responsibilities of workplace parties are identified and discussed.
Upon completing this program, worker members of the joint committee will have a firm knowledge base to draw upon when conducting their monthly inspections. Recognizing hazards, participants go back to the workplace and spot the things, processes, or conditions that can harm workers.
Although each workplace is different, the steps in the inspection cycle are the same. This three-hour program breaks the inspection process into five stages. Participants work together to define the purpose, discuss the requirements and examine the stages of a workplace inspection.
Participants look at each of the five stages through buzz group activities and walk away with practical tools and resources that will enable them to conduct thorough workplace inspections. Objective is to conduct thorough inspections that maintain and broaden the health and safety program through comprehensive inspection reports leading to corrective action on workplace hazards.