Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations

2.27 (1) Every employer shall develop, or appoint a qualified person to develop, a procedure for investigating situations in which the health or safety of an employee in the work place is or may be endangered by the air quality.

(2) The procedure shall include the following steps:

• (a) a review of the nature and number of health or safety complaints;

• (b) a visual inspection of the work place;

• (c) the inspection of the HVAC system for cleanliness, operation and performance;

• (d) a review of the maintenance schedule for the HVAC system;

• (e) the assessment of building use as compared to the use for which it was designed;

• (f) the assessment of actual level of occupancy as compared to the level for which the building was designed;

• (g) the determination of potential sources of contaminants;

• (h) the determination of levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, temperature, humidity and air motion, where necessary;

• (i) the specification, where necessary, of tests to be conducted to determine levels of formaldehyde, particulates, airborne fungi and volatile organic compounds; and

• (j) the identification of the standards or guidelines to be used in evaluating test results.

(3) In developing the procedure, the employer or the qualified person appointed by the employer shall take into account the Department of Health publication 93-EHD-166, entitled Indoor Air Quality in Office Buildings: A Technical Guide.

(4) Where the health or safety of an employee in a work place is or may be endangered by the air quality, the employer shall, without delay, appoint a qualified person to carry out an investigation in accordance with the procedure developed pursuant to subsection (1).

(5) The investigation shall be carried out in consultation with the work place committee or the health and safety representative.

(6) To the extent reasonably practicable, the employer shall, in consultation with the work place committee or the health and safety representative, remove or control any health or safety hazard that is identified in the course of the investigation.

(7) Every employer shall keep the records of every indoor air quality complaint and investigation for at least five years.