Safety Update

Safety Update: Transport Safety & Hours of Work

If your employee leaves work after a long tiring day and is involved in a vehicle accident because he fell asleep behind the wheel are you liable?

There are various views and considerations in answering this question in the affirmative:

1. Under common law you could be liable if it can be proven that you were negligent. However, negligence can only be proven if:
• You knew that due to the work conditions or worker specific factors (such as double shift) that the worker posed an unreasonable risk to himself or others,
• You, the employer, could have taken action to control the risk but did not do so,
• Your company does not have a policy around hours of work in accordance with government standards; and
• If you do have such a policy it does not provide specifics to control risk factors associated with hours of work.
2. Under appropriate OHS Laws the following apply:
• Alberta's Standards recognizes that fatigue impairs performance and is directly correlated to human error and in turn higher rates of incidents and, more specific, motor vehicle accidents,
• It also recognizes that an employer is responsible to ensure that all employees, contractors and visitors follow policies addressing hours of work and consecutive days of work,
• Accordingly Alberta's standards state that an employee's work hours must fall within a 12-hour period in a workday unless an unforeseeable emergency occurs, or the Director of Employment Standards issues a permit authorizing extended hours of work (This means, for example, that an employee who begins work at 8 a.m. cannot work past 8 p.m. This includes travel time!); and
• In addition to standard hours of work, an employer must give an employee:
• one day of rest each week
• two consecutive days of rest in each period of two consecutive weeks
• three consecutive days of rest in each period of three consecutive weeks
• four consecutive days of rest in each period of four consecutive weeks
• after 24 consecutive days of work, employees must be provided with at least four consecutive days of rest

It is important that workers are protected by the employer to ensure that they are in a healthy state when it comes to transport safety.

The Topic for October 4: Motor Vehicle Incidents

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