NO and MAYBE
EMPLOYERS AS SUPPLIERS: An employer’s providing of the required PPE and safety equipment to workers is NOT the intent of the OHS supplier requirements. Employers already have the bulk of the responsibility for health, safety and compliance and there’s really no reason to treat them as suppliers also. I’ve never seen or heard of any case in which an employer was prosecuted as a supplier just for furnishing safety equipment. On the flip side, the intent of supplier requirements is to ensure that equipment providers furnish safe products for use at the site. This is something over which the employer has limited to no control, unless it also happens to manufacture the stuff.
OHS MANAGER AS SERVICE PROVIDER: Unlike the employer, there is no assigned IRS tag for the OHS manager and he/she has gone largely unprosecuted under the system. The one exception was in Nova Scotia where the OHS manager of an asbestos contractor was prosecuted as an employer, I believe. One reason it doesn’t happen often, IMHO, is that the OHS guy/gal is the white hat trying to make companies safer. But to the extent they aid and abet an unsafe employer/prime contractor, there’s nothing to prevent them from being targeted by a prosecutor in the capacity as “employer,” “supervisor” or, yes, service provider, depending on the circumstances and nature of the offence.
If you want to talk about the particular situation, hit me up at glennd@bongarde.com. Meantime, sorry for the delay in response. During COVID-19, I’m trying to answer all Qs within an hour, but yours came in on Sunday. Great Qs, as usual, Dan. Glenn
