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B.Planning Overview
CCOHS is a source for unbiased technical information and expertise to support the efforts of governments, labour organizations, employers and individual Canadians to improve workplace safety and health.
This service is delivered to Canadians through a confidential free occupational health and safety Inquiries Service. It is also available via mail, telephone, e-mail or on the Internet. In addition to this service, extensive information is made available through the Internet. Collaborative projects are undertaken to provide additional resources to Canadians. CCOHS also provides electronic products, a series of over 20 CD-ROMs that contain databases, publications and full text Canadian safety and environmental legislation. The service has subscribers in more than 50 countries. These products are also delivered via the Internet.
Unbiased and credible occupational health and safety information is obtained in co-operation with Canadian and worldwide sources. This information, is analyzed and used by CCOHS to provide Canadians with a confidential free and current occupational health and safety Inquiries Service.
The resources and funds for supporting and providing the Inquiries Service are derived from a combination of provincial, territorial and federal government funding and monies. Revenue is also generated from the creation, production and worldwide sales of fee-for-service and revenue generating occupational health and safety products and services. CCOHS is approximately 50% funded through government appropriations and 50% from cost recovered activities.
CCOHS functions as an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour.
The past 10 years have been very difficult financially at CCOHS. Following the recent Evaluation and Cost Recovery Report, the appropriations were increased from 40% to 50% coverage of the budget while cost recoveries cover the remaining 50% of expenditures. The additional funding contributes greatly to the future stability at CCOHS.
A significant portion of the additional funding will offset the deficit funding position. The first step towards rebuilding program effectiveness will be the acquisition and upgrading of key infrastructure components and capabilities. The next step will be to focus on improving products and services for public service and cost recovery clients, with the overall goal of supporting Canadians to improve occupational safety and health in Canada. This additional investment in CCOHS will create the foundation for improvements in future stable program delivery for the benefit of Canadians.
Details about the Strategic direction of CCOHS can be found in Appendix 6. Further information about CCOHS can be found on the following website: www.ccohs.ca
Section III: Plans and Priorities
by Strategic Outcomes
The commitment is maintained for CCOHS as a national centre dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of unbiased information on occupational health and safety. CCOHS provides Canadians with information about occupational health and safety that is trustworthy, comprehensive, and intelligible. The information facilitates responsible decision-making, promotes improvements in workplace health and safety, increases awareness of the need for improving healthy and safe working environment, and supports occupational health and safety education training.
Although CCOHS has one business line, the departmentOs policies and programs are directed to the pursuit of the following strategic outcomes:
- Inquiries service: satisfaction with the overall delivery of this service
- Accessibility and availability: current, accurate and reliable information is provided in various formats to serve all Canadians
- Global advancement to Health and Safety: international recognition as a significant contributor to the advancement of occupational health and safety information services
- Unbiased and Impartial: maintain the confidence of all level of governments, labour and business stakeholders in the provision of unbiased and impartial information to Canadians
- Education: to increase the recognition of occupational health and safety as an important academic issue in educational institutions
A.Inquiries Service
This service provides Canadians with invaluable unbiased information to respond to their workplace health and safety questions. This bilingual service is available free of charge via mail, telephone service or e-mail. Specialists in workplace health and safety are available to assist Canadians with their questions. In addition, OshAnswers is available in a web based information service which covers over 545 topics in occupational health and safety. The information is presented in a question-and-answer format and answers more than 2,800 questions. The new goals for the upcoming year are:
- To increase the amount of information available through OshAnswers through providing additional content delivered from the Internet
- Improve customer satisfaction by responding to feedback from client surveys
- Enhance the internet usability through improvements to the internet searching technology and graphical presentations
- Increase awareness of the service to Canadians
B. Accessibility and Availability
Information needs to be made available to Canadians in many formats in order to meet the needs of various user groups. In recent years, the use of the Internet has becoming increasingly important to serve Canadians. However, printed copies are still imperative. Health and safety is a continually changing field with updating of knowledge and new issues that need to be addressed each year. Reliable information needs to be obtained, interpreted and published. The new goals for the upcoming year are:
- To produce four new health and safety guides relating to current needs in occupational health and safety
- Increase the availability of databases on the Internet
- Improve the availability of information through enhancements to the website presentation and improve the search ability
- Provide additional resources on chemical health and safety
- Provide increased workplace health content information through partnerships with organizations such as the Canadian Health Network.
C. Global Advancement to Health and Safety
As CanadaOs national occupational health and safety information repository, CCOHS encourages and supports exchanges of OSH information with leading international health and safety centres throughout the world. This includes our role as a National OSH Information Centre in the International Occupational Safety and Health Information CentresO, Program of the International Labour Organization. From these collaborators international databases are obtained, updated and made available to Canadians. Our new goals for the upcoming year include:
- Enhance relationships with international health and safety organizations to obtain global information resources for Canadians
- Participate in the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), occupational health and safety tri-national co-operation program
- Participate in international work groups relating to chemical regulation and safety policy development to improve global and national chemical safety processes
D. Unbiased and Impartial
The tripartite Council of Governors, comprised of representatives from labour, business and governments, assures the unbiased and relevant nature of CCOHS services. Council meets three times a year to review operational plans and provides input from its constituents. The continuing goals for this outcome are:
- To participate in various collaborative projects with different levels of government and other organizations throughout the year.
- To foster collaboration and exchanges in ideas through a national dialogue, forums and conference
- Enhance relationships with stakeholders by continually assessing relevance to the expressed needs
E. Education
Health and Safety in the workplace is being promoted through the education system by providing CCOHS information to students and faculty through the Academic Support Package. CCOHS also collaborates with MinistryOs of Education and other groups to develop OSH support resources for teachers and students.
The goals for this outcome are:
- Continue to promote the Academic Support Program to post secondary institutions
- Collaborate with education, youth groups and other partners, on teaching health and safety issues in the school system through participation on various working groups
- Expand the CCOHS Youth Zone OSH resources web-site content
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Section IV : Organization
A. Organization Chart
B. Approved Business Line
To provide Canadians with information about occupational health and safety which is trustworthy, comprehensive, and intelligible. The information facilitates responsible decision making, promotes improvements in the workplace, increases awareness of the need for a healthy and safe working environment, and supports occupational health and safety education and training.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is CanadaOs national institute which promotes the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment. CCOHS is independent from other federal and provincial departments and maintains a tripartite (labour, business, and government) governing council to help insure that intelligible, unbiased information is delivered to Canadians and their workplaces. The public service delivery of this information is provided via a toll free telephone and Internet delivery based inquiries service. A fee-for-service operation is also provided using the latest print and electronic technology. Information is gathered from numerous Canadian and international health and safety institutions thereby providing Canadians with the most comprehensive, current, and reliable information. Basic free information services are offered to all Canadians. The fee-for-service business line is provided to Canadians and to more than 50 countries.
C.Departmental Planned Spending
($ thousands)
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Forecast Spending 2002-03 |
Planned Spending 2003-04 |
Planned Spending 2004-05 |
Planned Spending 2005-06 |
Gross Program Spending:
CCOHS |
7740 |
8324 |
8324 |
8324 |
| Less: Respendable revenue |
5841 |
4300 |
4300 |
4300 |
| Total Main Estimates |
1899 |
4024 |
4024 |
4024 |
| Adjustments: |
| Supplementary Estimates Note 1 |
2257 |
- |
- |
- |
| Net Planned Spending |
4156 |
4024 |
4024 |
4024 |
| Plus: Cost of Services Provided by other |
| Departments or Agencies |
556 |
676 |
676 |
676 |
| Net Cost of Program |
4712 |
4700 |
4700 |
4700 |
| Full Time Equivalents |
87 |
96 |
96 |
96 |
Note 1: Represents Supplementary Estimates 2002-2003 and permanent allocation from Treasury Board Vote 10 and Treasury Board Vote 15.
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Section V : Annexs
Annex 1 : Source of Respendable Revenue
($ thousands)
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Forecast Revenue 2002-03 |
Planned Revenue 2003-04 |
Planned Revenue 2004-05 |
Planned Revenue 2005-06 |
| CCOHS |
5841 |
4300 |
4300 |
4300 |
| Total Credited to the Vote |
5841 |
4300 |
4300 |
4300 |
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Annex 2: Net Cost of Program for the Estimates Year 2003-2004
($ thousands)
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| Gross Planned Spending |
8324 |
| Plus: |
| Services Received without Charge |
|
| Accomodation provided by PWGSC |
675 |
Workers' Compensation coverage provided
by Human Resources Development Canada |
1 |
Salaries and associated costs of legal services
provided by Justice Canada |
- |
| 676 |
| Total Cost of Program |
9000 |
| Less: |
| Revenue Credited to the Vote |
4300 |
| Revenue Credited to the CRF |
- |
| Net Cost of program |
4700 |
| 2003-4 Estimated Net Program Cost |
4700 |
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Annex 3 : Listing of Statutes and Regulations
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act (R.S. 1985, c. C-13)
Annex 4 : Publications
The following reports are available at: www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports.html
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Annual Reports
Departmental Performance Reports
Program Evaluation and Cost Recovery Study: Assessing the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety ? Modern Management Practices Assessment
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety ? Modern Comptrollership Action Plan
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Annex 5 : Government-wide and Horizontal Initiatives
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| Horizontal Initiative |
Goal of Initiative |
Results |
Modern Comptrollership
Initiated in 2002
Assessment in DPR 2002-2003 |
The goal of this initiative is to improve management practices and the stewardship of public resources resulting in effective decision making
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- The Capacity Assessment was completed in 2002
- The Action Plan was completed in 2002
- The training and recommendations in the report are being implemented
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Annex 6 : Strategic Priorities
Our Mission
To provide Canadians with information about occupational health and safety which is trustworthy, comprehensive, and intelligible. The information facilitates responsible decision-making, promotes improvements in the workplace, increases awareness of the need for a healthy and safe working environment, and supports occupational health and safety education and training.
Strategic Priorities
CCOHS is governed and directed by a tripartite Council of Governors comprised of members from labour, business and government leaders representing their respective constituents across Canada. The Council meets three times a year to review policy and monitor the progress of CCOHS. In January 1997, the Council ad'pted the following set of guiding principles for the CentreOs future, which have been supported by federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for occupational health and safety:
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act allows the Centre to undertake a broad range of activities "to promote the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment".
The Council of Governors intends these principles to guide the Centre for the short to mid term and to allow for continued growth in cost-recovery.
- The Council reconfirms its support and commitment to the CCOHS and the valuable role the Centre provides to Canada's workers and employers. Further, the Council recognizes the importance of its tripartite nature in governing the Centre.
The Centre is to continue to serve as a source of excellence for unbiased technical information and expertise to support labour, employers, and governments in maintaining safe and healthy workplaces.
The Centre is to continue to provide critical analysis and interpretation of occupational safety and health information.
Further, the three caucuses recognize the critical importance of maintaining a free inquiry service to support the right of working Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment.
- The Council and the Centre shall communicate to respective Ministers regarding the excellence and role of the Centre in order to obtain broad public policy support and guidance.
The Council recognizes the high standard and non-partisan nature of the Centre's undertakings. It recommends the Centre continue in its consulting and research efforts, while meeting the test of fairness in a competitive world. Joint funding of projects that target key areas of information needs should be a special focus of these efforts.
The Council urges all governments and other organizations to consider the Centre as a potential source of consulting and research services.
The Council urges governmental and non-governmental organizations, including labour and employers, to work in partnership with the Centre to provide public access to the Centre's CD-ROM, Internet and other services.
The Council recommends the Centre consider the future possibility of gathering and disseminating occupational health and safety statistical information.
The Council recognizes that the Centre has become a national repository for MSDS, and efforts to encourage companies to continue to supply data sheets to the Centre will continue, where practicable and feasible.
The Council recommends that health and safety materials are available in the form most useful to the user, including hard copy.
The Council encourages the development of partnerships, tailored to specific jurisdictions, that enhance the visibility and distribution of CCOHS information. This could also include co-operation between various government inquiry services.
The Council recommends that jurisdictions and others systematically provide all technical, research, guidelines, codes of practice, and best practices to the Centre.
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