Canada–Nova Scotia Offshore Area Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/2021-248)

PART 4Training — General

Marginal note:Provision of general training

15 The training that every employer must provide to each of its employees includes,

• (a) before the employee is first transported to a workplace and then as necessary to ensure the training remains valid for the duration of the employee’s employment at the workplace,

  • (i) an offshore survival training program appropriate to the workplace location and to the means of transportation to be used to transport the employee to and from the workplace,

  • (ii) training on the legislation applicable to occupational health and safety, including the rights of employees and the duties of operators, employers, supervisors and employees, and

  • (iii) training on hydrogen sulfide safety, if hydrogen sulfide may be present at the workplace; and

• (b) without delay on the employee’s arrival at a workplace at which they have not been present in the previous six months and before they perform any work there,

  • (i) an orientation to the hazards and emergency procedures at the workplace,

  • (ii) training in respect of any emergency duties that may be assigned to them at that workplace, and

  • (iii) if the workplace is a marine installation or structure that is equipped with lifeboats, practice in boarding a lifeboat and securing themselves on a seat.

Marginal note:Competent person

16 Every employer must ensure that all instruction and training that it is required to provide under the Act is developed by and, if applicable, delivered by a competent person.

Marginal note:Records

17 Every employer must retain records of all instruction and training provided under the Act for

• (a) at least five years after the day on which the person to whom the instruction or training is provided ceases to be employed at any of the employer’s workplaces; or

• (b) if the person to whom the instruction or training is provided is not an employee of the employer, at least five years after the instruction or training is provided.

PART 5Emergency Response and Preparedness

Marginal note:Emergency response plan

• 18 (1) Every employer must, for each workplace under its control that is a marine installation or structure and having regard to the risk assessment carried out by it for the purpose of the occupational health and safety program, develop, implement and maintain a written emergency response plan in preparation for any reasonably foreseeable emergency that might compromise the health and safety of persons at that workplace or at any other workplace under its control that is a workboat or dive site associated with the marine installation or structure.

• Marginal note:Contents of plan

  (2) The emergency response plan must

  • (a) indicate the maximum number of persons who can safely occupy the workplace;

  • (b) indicate the minimum number of persons needed at the workplace to be able to maintain safe operations in the event of an emergency;

  • (c) set out procedures for ensuring that the personnel on board list, which sets out the total number of persons at the workplace each day and the name, position, employer and, if applicable, cabin number of each, is kept up to date;

  • (d) set out the name and contact information of the operator, if the operator is not the employer with control over the workplace;

  • (e) provide for the establishment of emergency response teams;

  • (f) set out the name, position and contact information, including the usual location, of each person responsible for overseeing the emergency response teams and the implementation of emergency response procedures, as well as the name, position and contact information of those persons’ delegates;

  • (g) set out the duties of employees, including members of the emergency response teams, and the procedures to be followed by all persons during an emergency;

  • (h) indicate the muster station or other location where each employee is required to report during an emergency;

  • (i) identify the system to be used for counting employees at each muster station and determining which employees, if any, are missing;

  • (j) include a description of all emergency alarm signals that may be used, including how the order to abandon is to be given;

  • (k) set out contact information for obtaining a means of transportation to be used to evacuate the workplace;

  • (l) identify and set out contact information for all emergency response entities — and other entities operating nearby — that could render assistance in the event of an emergency;

  • (m) include verified drawings of the layout of the workplace that clearly identify the person who verified them, indicate the scale of the drawings and show

    • (i) the location of all exits, fire escapes, stairways, elevators, corridors and other exit routes,

    • (ii) the location of all muster stations, temporary refuge areas, evacuation stations and other locations where lifeboats and life rafts are stored,

    • (iii) the location, quantity and type of all equipment that may be used or worn in implementing emergency response procedures,

    • (iv) the location of manual emergency shutdown and activation devices for all safety critical systems,

    • (v) the location, quantity and type of all emergency communications equipment,

    • (vi) the location of all first aid stations, medical rooms and casualty clearing areas, and

    • (vii) the location of all designated hazardous substance storage areas; and

  • (n) identify all resources necessary for the plan’s implementation.

• Marginal note:Availability of plan

  (3) The employer must ensure that a copy of the emergency response plan is made readily available to all employees at the workplace.

• Marginal note:Multiple employers

  (4) If an employer has employees at a workplace not under its control, it must ensure that those employees comply with

  • (a) the duties and procedures set out in the emergency response plan developed by the employer with control over the workplace; or

  • (b) emergency duties and procedures that the employer has ensured are aligned with those referred to in paragraph (a).

Marginal note:Posting of information

19 Every employer must ensure that the following items are posted in the specified locations, separately from the emergency response plan, at each workplace under its control that is a marine installation or structure:

• (a) a station bill containing the information referred to in subsection 7(1) of the Fire and Boat Drills Regulations as well as a description of any additional alarm signals, the membership of all emergency response teams and the location of all evacuation stations

  • (i) in conspicuous places on every deck, and

  • (ii) on the bridge, if the workplace is a vessel, or at the location where the installation manager referred to in section 198.2 of the Act is expected to be during an emergency, if the workplace is not a vessel;

• (b) the personnel on board list referred to in paragraph 18(2)(c), at the applicable location referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii); and

• (c) a drawing identifying all emergency escape routes from the location at which it is posted

  • (i) at conspicuous locations around the workplace, and

  • (ii) in every person’s sleeping quarters.

Marginal note:Instruction and training

20 The instruction and training that every employer must provide to each of its employees includes

• (a) training in the procedures to be followed by the employee in the event of an emergency; and

• (b) instruction on the location of any emergency and fire protection equipment that the employee may be reasonably expected to use and training in the use of that equipment.

Marginal note:Means of evacuation

21 Every employer must ensure, with respect to each workplace under its control that is a marine installation or structure, that

• (a) all muster stations, escape routes, exits, stairways and any other means of evacuation are maintained in serviceable condition and, to the extent feasible, are accessible and ready for use at all times;

• (b) all exits to the exterior, muster stations and evacuation stations are clearly identified by illuminated signs or otherwise clearly visible in all conditions; and

• (c) all escape routes are clearly identified with light-reflecting or illuminated markings.

Marginal note:Emergency equipment

• 22 (1) Every employer must ensure that the location of all equipment to be used or worn in implementing emergency response procedures at each workplace under its control is clearly identified with light-reflecting or illuminated signs.

• Marginal note:Grab bags

  (2) Every employer must provide, in all sleeping quarters at a workplace under its control, a readily available grab bag for each person assigned to the sleeping quarters containing a smoke hood, heat-resistant gloves and a portable light source to enable the person to reach muster stations, temporary refuge areas and evacuation stations in conditions of fire, intense heat or smoke.

• Marginal note:Emergency escape breathing devices or respirators

  (3) Every employer must ensure that the emergency escape breathing devices or respirators that it provides in accordance with paragraph 46(a) are provided in appropriate quantities and at appropriate locations at the workplace to facilitate escape, having regard to

  • (a) the maximum number of persons who may be at the workplace;

  • (b) how those persons are generally distributed among various areas at the workplace; and

  • (c) the configuration of the workplace and the potential for a person’s ability to move within it to be impeded by hazards arising from the situation that requires escape or from the escape itself.

• Marginal note:Immersion suits

  (4) Every employer must ensure that the immersion suits that it provides in accordance with paragraph 46(b) are provided in appropriate quantities and sizes and at appropriate locations at the workplace to facilitate abandonment, having regard to

  • (a) the maximum number of persons who may be at the workplace;

  • (b) how those persons are generally distributed among various areas at the workplace;

  • (c) those persons’ sizes; and

  • (d) the configuration of the workplace and the potential for a person’s ability to move within it to be impeded by hazards arising from the situation that requires abandonment or from the abandonment itself.

• Marginal note:Minimum number required

  (5) Despite subsection (4), the employer must provide the following minimum number of immersion suits:

  • (a) in the case of a workplace that is a marine installation or structure used for drilling or production or as a living accommodation,

    • (i) if it is normally attended, two immersion suits for each person at the workplace, including one in the person’s sleeping quarters, and

    • (ii) if it is normally unattended, one immersion suit for each person at the workplace;

  • (b) in the case of a workplace that is a marine installation or structure used for construction, diving or geotechnical or seismic work, one immersion suit for each person at the workplace, plus two additional suits in each of the bridge and the engine control room; and

  • (c) in the case of any other workplace, one immersion suit for each person at the workplace.

Marginal note:Emergency alert system

23 Every employer must ensure that each workplace under its control that is a marine installation or structure is equipped with a public address and alarm system that is audible or visible, as the case may be, in all areas of the workplace where a person may be present and is to be used to warn persons if

• (a) the workplace has to be evacuated;

• (b) a fire is detected;

• (c) there is a malfunction of a mechanical ventilation system provided for an area where toxic or combustible gases may accumulate to hazardous levels;

• (d) there is a person overboard; or

• (e) there is any other threat to the health or safety of persons at the workplace.

Marginal note:Emergency power source

24 Every employer must ensure that each workplace under its control that is a marine installation or structure is equipped with an emergency power source that is sufficient to operate the following to the degree necessary to allow for safe occupancy of or egress from the workplace in the case of a failure of the main power system:

• (a) the public address and alarm system;

• (b) the emergency lighting system;

• (c) internal and external communications systems; and

• (d) light and sound signals marking the location of the workplace.