Maritime Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/2010-120)

Operator Training and Instruction

• 228 (1) The employer must ensure that every operator of motorized materials handling equipment has been instructed and trained in the procedures to be followed for

  • (a) the inspection of the equipment;

  • (b) the safe and proper use of the equipment in accordance with the instructions provided by the manufacturer and taking into account the conditions of the work place in which the operator will operate the equipment; and

  • (c) the fuelling of the equipment, if applicable.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an employer with respect to an operator who, under the direct supervision of a qualified person, is being instructed and trained in the use of motorized materials handling equipment or in the procedures referred to in that subsection.

• (3) An employer must ensure that every operator of manual materials handling equipment receives on-the-job training by a qualified person on the procedures to be followed for

  • (a) the inspection of the equipment; and

  • (b) the safe and proper use of the equipment, in accordance with any manufacturer’s instructions and taking into account the condition of the work place in which the operator will operate that equipment and the operator’s physical capabilities.

• (4) Every employer must keep a written or electronic record of any training or instruction referred to in subsection (1) given to an operator of materials handling equipment for as long as the operator remains in their employ.

Operation

• 229 (1) An employer must not require an employee to operate materials handling equipment unless the employee is an operator who is capable of operating the equipment safely.

• (2) A person must not operate materials handling equipment unless

  • (a) they have a clear and unobstructed view of the area in which the equipment is being operated; or

  • (b) they are directed by a signaller.

• (3) Materials handling equipment must not be operated on a gangway with a slope greater than the maximum slope recommended by the manufacturer of the equipment.

• (4) A person must not leave materials handling equipment unattended unless the equipment has been secured to prevent inadvertent movement or unauthorized use.

• (5) Every employer must establish a code of signals for the purposes of paragraph (2)(b) and must

  • (a) instruct every signaller and operator of materials handling equipment employed by them in the use of the code; and

  • (b) keep a copy of the code in a place where it is readily available for examination by the signallers and operators.

• (6) A signaller must not perform duties other than signalling while any materials handling equipment under their direction is in motion.

• (7) If it is not feasible for a signaller to use visual signals, a telephone, radio or other audible signalling device must be provided by the employer for the signaller’s use.

Repairs

• 230 (1) Subject to subsection (2), any repair, modification or replacement of a part of any materials handling equipment must not decrease the safety of the equipment or part.

• (2) If a part of lesser strength or quality than the original part is used in the repair, modification or replacement of a part of any materials handling equipment, the use of the equipment must be restricted by the employer to such loading and use as will ensure the retention of the original safety factor of the equipment or part.

Loading, Unloading and Maintenance While in Motion

• 231 (1) A load must not be picked up from or placed on any materials handling equipment while the equipment is in motion unless the equipment is specifically designed for that purpose.

• (2) Except in the case of an emergency, an employee must not get on or off of any materials handling equipment while it is in motion.

• (3) Subject to subsection (4), repair, maintenance or cleaning work must not be performed on any materials handling equipment while the materials handling equipment is being operated.

• (4) Fixed parts of materials handling equipment may be repaired, maintained or cleaned while the equipment is being operated if they are isolated or protected so that the operation of the equipment does not affect the safety of the employee performing the repair, maintenance or cleaning work.

Positioning the Load

• 232 (1) If materials handling equipment is travelling with a raised or suspended load on a vessel, the operator must ensure that the load is carried as close as possible to the deck and that the load must not be carried at a point above the centre of gravity of the loaded materials handling equipment.

• (2) If tools, tool boxes or spare parts are carried on materials handling equipment, they must be securely stored.

Housekeeping

233 The floor, cab and other occupied parts of materials handling equipment must be kept free of any grease, oil, materials, tools or equipment that may create a hazard to an employee.

Parking

234 Materials handling equipment must not be parked in a passageway, doorway or other place where it may interfere with the safe movement of persons, materials, goods or things.

Materials Handling Area

• 235 (1) In this section, materials handling area means an area, including the area covered by wide swinging booms or other similar parts, within which materials handling equipment may create a hazard to any person.

• (2) The main approaches to any materials handling area must be posted with warning signs or must be under the control of a signaller while operations are in progress.

• (3) A person must not enter a materials handling area while operations are in progress unless that person

  • (a) is the Head of Compliance and Enforcement;

  • (b) is an employee whose presence in the materials handling area is essential to the conduct, supervision or safety of the operations; or

  • (c) is a person who has been assigned by the employer to be in the materials handling area while operations are in progress.

• (4) If any person other than a person referred to in subsection (3) enters a materials handling area while operations are in progress, the employer must ensure that the operations in that area are immediately discontinued and not resumed until that person has left the area.

Dumping

• 236 (1) If materials handling equipment designed for dumping is used to discharge a load at the edge of a sudden drop in level that may cause the equipment to tip, a bumping block must be used or a signaller must give directions to the operator of the equipment to prevent it from falling over the edge.

• (2) Every employer who wishes to use signals to direct the movement of motorized materials handling equipment must establish a single code of signals to be used by signallers in all of the employer’s work places.

• (3) A signal to stop given by any person granted access to the work place by the employer must be obeyed by the operator.

• (4) A signaller must not perform duties other than signalling while the motorized materials handling equipment under the signaller’s direction is in operation.

• (5) If any movement of motorized materials handling equipment that is directed by a signaller poses a risk to the safety of any person, the signaller must not give the signal to move until that person is warned of, or protected from, the risk.

• (6) If the operator of any motorized materials handling equipment does not understand a signal, the operator must consider that signal to be a stop signal.

• (7) [Repealed, SOR/2019-246, s. 328]

Gradients

237 An employee must not operate and the employer must not permit an employee to operate motorized materials handling equipment on a gangway with a gradient in excess of the lesser of

• (a) the gradient that is recommended as safe by the manufacturer of the motorized materials handling equipment, whether it is loaded or unloaded, as the case may be, and

• (b) the gradient that a qualified person ascertains is safe, having regard to the mechanical condition of the motorized materials handling equipment and its load and traction.

Enclosed Working Areas

• 238 (1) Every enclosed working area in which materials handling equipment powered by an internal combustion engine is used must be ventilated in a manner that the carbon monoxide concentration in the atmosphere of the working area is not more than the threshold limit values as set out by the most recent edition of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists publication entitled Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) and Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs).

• (2) The employer must keep a record of the date, time, location and results of carbon monoxide tests for every enclosed working area in which materials handling equipment powered by an internal combustion engine is used.

• (3) The records must be available for inspection for a period of at least 30 days after the day on which the record was created.

Fuelling

• 239 (1) If materials handling equipment is fuelled on a vessel, the fuelling is to be done in accordance with the instructions given by the employer under paragraph 228(1)(c) in a place where the vapours from the fuel are readily dissipated.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3), an employee must not fuel materials handling equipment

  • (a) in the hold or an enclosed space of a vessel;

  • (b) if the engine of the equipment is running; or

  • (c) if there is any source of ignition in the vicinity of the equipment.

• (3) Materials handling equipment may be fuelled in the hold or an enclosed space of a vessel if

  • (a) one employee is in the hold or space with a suitable fire extinguisher ready for use;

  • (b) only those employees engaged in the fuelling and the employee referred to in paragraph (a) are in the hold or space;

  • (c) only the minimum quantity of fuel needed to fill the fuel tank of the materials handling equipment is taken into the hold or space at one time;

  • (d) if the fuel is liquified gas, the materials handling equipment is fuelled only by the replacement of spent cylinders; and

  • (e) fuel is not transferred into containers other than the fuel tank of the materials handling equipment.

Safe Working Loads

• 240 (1) Materials handling equipment must not be used or operated with a load that is in excess of its safe working load.

• (2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the safe working load of materials handling equipment must be clearly marked on the equipment or on a label securely attached to a permanent part of the equipment in a position where the mark or label can be easily read by the operator of the equipment.

• (3) If derricks are certified for and marked with a safe working load for operation in union purchase, the load lifted when in union purchase must not be more than that safe working load.

• (4) If derricks are operated in union purchase and they are not certified and marked in accordance with subsection (3)

  • (a) the load lifted must not be in excess of one-half of the safe working load of the derrick with the smaller capacity;

  • (b) the angle formed by the cargo runners must not be more than 120°; and

  • (c) the attachments and fittings of the cargo runners, guy wires and preventers must be suitable for the loads to which they are subjected.

Clearances

• 241 (1) On any route that is regularly travelled by materials handling equipment, the overhead and side clearances must be adequate to permit the equipment and its load to be manoeuvred safely by an operator.

• (2) Materials handling equipment must not be operated in an area in which it may contact an electrical cable, pipeline or other overhead hazard known to the employer, unless the operator has been

  • (a) warned of the presence of the hazard;

  • (b) informed of the location of the hazard; and

  • (c) informed of the safety clearance that must be maintained with respect to the hazard in order to avoid accidental contact with it.

DIVISION 4Manual Handling of Materials

• 242 (1) If, because of the weight, size, shape, toxicity or other characteristic of materials, goods or things, the manual handling of them may be hazardous to the health or safety of an employee, the employer must issue instructions that the materials, goods or things are, if feasible, not to be handled manually.

• (2) If an employee is required to manually lift or carry a load in excess of 10 kg, the employer must train and instruct the employee

  • (a) in a safe method of lifting and carrying the load; and

  • (b) in a work procedure appropriate to the employee’s physical condition and the conditions of the work place.

PART 20Hazardous Substances

DIVISION 1General

Interpretation

243 The following definitions apply in this Part.

airborne asbestos fibres

airborne asbestos fibres means asbestos fibres that are longer than 5 μm (micrometres) with an aspect ratio equal to or greater than 3:1 and that are carried by the air. (fibres d’amiante aéroportées)

airborne chrysotile asbestos

airborne chrysotile asbestos[Repealed, SOR/2017-132, s. 13]

asbestos

asbestos means actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite and tremolite in their fibrous form. (amiante)

asbestos-containing material

asbestos-containing material means

• (a) any article that is manufactured and contains 1% or more asbestos by weight at the time of manufacture or that contains a concentration of 1% or more asbestos as determined in accordance with Method 9002 set out in the document entitled NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods, published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, as amended from time to time, or in accordance with a scientifically proven method used to collect and analyze a representative sample of the material; and

• (b) any material that contains a concentration of 1% or more asbestos as determined in accordance with Method 9002 set out in the document entitled NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods, published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, as amended from time to time, or in accordance with a scientifically proven method used to collect and analyze a representative sample of the material. (matériau contenant de l’amiante)

clearance air sampling

clearance air sampling means the action of taking samples to determine if the concentration of airborne asbestos fibres inside an enclosure is below the limit referred to in section 255 to permit the dismantling of a containment system. (échantillonnage de l’air après décontamination)

containment system

containment system means an isolation system that is designed to effectively contain asbestos fibre within a designated work area where asbestos-containing material is handled, removed, encapsulated or enclosed. (système de confinement)

encapsulation

encapsulation means the treatment of an asbestos-containing material with a sealant that penetrates the material and binds the asbestos fibres together, and the treatment of the surface of the asbestos-containing material with a sealant that creates a membrane on the surface, to prevent the release of asbestos fibres into the air. (encapsulation)

enclosure

enclosure means a physical barrier such as drywall, plywood or metal sheeting that, as part of the containment system, isolates asbestos-containing material from adjacent areas in a building to prevent the release of airborne asbestos fibres into those areas. (encloisonnement)

friable

friable means, in respect of asbestos-containing material, that the material, when dry, can be easily crumbled or powdered by hand pressure. (friable)

glove bag

glove bag means a polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride bag that is affixed around an asbestos-containing source and that permits asbestos-containing material to be removed while minimizing the release of airborne asbestos fibres into the work place. (sac à gants)

hazard information

hazard information means, in respect of a hazardous substance, information on the proper and safe storage, handling, use and disposal of the hazardous substance, including information relating to the health and physical hazards that it presents. (renseignements sur les risques)

HEPA filter

HEPA filter means a high-efficiency particulate air filter that has been tested to ensure efficiency equal to or exceeding 99.97% for removal of airborne particles having a mean aerodynamic diameter of 0.3 µm (micrometres) from the air. (filtre HEPA)

high-risk activity

high-risk activity means an activity that involves the handling or disturbance of friable asbestos-containing material or is carried out in proximity to friable asbestos-containing material, that requires a high level of control to prevent exposure to excessive concentrations of airborne asbestos fibres and that includes

• (a) the removal or disturbance of more than 1 m² of friable asbestos-containing material in a work place, even if the activity is divided into smaller jobs,

• (b) the spray application of a sealant to a friable asbestos-containing material,

• (c) the cleaning or removal of air-handling equipment, other than filters, in a building that has sprayed-on fireproofing or sprayed-on thermal insulation that is asbestos-containing material,

• (d) the repair, alteration or demolition of all or part of a kiln, metallurgical furnace or similar structure that contains asbestos-containing material,

• (e) the breaking, cutting, drilling, abrading, grinding, sanding or vibrating of non-friable asbestos-containing material, if the activity is carried out by means of power tools that are not attached to dust-collecting devices equipped with HEPA filters, and

• (f) the repair, alteration or demolition of all or part of a building in which asbestos is or was used in the manufacture of products, unless the asbestos was cleaned up and removed. (activité à risque élevé)

lower explosive limit

lower explosive limit means the lower limit of flammability of a chemical agent or a combination of chemical agents at ambient temperature and pressure, expressed

• (a) for a gas or vapour, as a percentage in air by volume; and

• (b) for dust, as the weight of dust per volume of air. (limite explosive inférieure)

low-risk activity

low-risk activity means an activity that involves the handling of asbestos-containing material or is carried out in proximity to non-friable asbestos-containing material and that includes

• (a) the installation or removal of ceiling tiles that are made of non-friable asbestos-containing material and cover an area of less than 7.5 m²,

• (b) the installation or removal of other non-friable asbestos-containing material, if the material is not being broken, cut, drilled, abraded, ground, sanded or vibrated and dust is not being generated,

• (c) the breaking, cutting, drilling, abrading, grinding, sanding or vibrating of non-friable asbestos-containing material, if the material is wetted to control the spread of dust or fibres and the activity is carried out only by means of non-powered hand-held tools, and

• (d) the removal of less than 1 m² of drywall in which joint cement containing asbestos has been used. (activité à faible risque)

moderate-risk activity

moderate-risk activity means an activity that involves the handling of asbestos-containing material or is carried out in proximity to friable asbestos-containing material, that is not otherwise classified as a low-risk activity or high-risk activity and that includes

• (a) the removal of all or part of a false ceiling to gain access to a work area, if asbestos-containing material is likely to be found on the surface of the false ceiling,

• (b) the removal or disturbance of 1 m² or less of friable asbestos-containing material during repair, alteration, maintenance or demolition work in a work place,

• (c) the enclosure of friable asbestos-containing material,

• (d) the application of tape, sealant or other covering to pipe or boiler insulation that is asbestos-containing material,

• (e) the removal of ceiling tiles that are asbestos-containing material, if the tiles cover an area of greater than 2 m² and are removed without being broken, cut, drilled, abraded, ground, sanded or vibrated,

• (f) the breaking, cutting, drilling, abrading, grinding, sanding or vibrating of non-friable asbestos-containing material, if the material is not wetted to control the spread of dust or fibres and the activity is carried out only by means of non-powered hand-held tools,

• (g) the removal of 1 m² or more of drywall in which joint cement that is asbestos-containing material has been used,

• (h) the breaking, cutting, drilling, abrading, grinding, sanding or vibrating of non-friable asbestos-containing material, if the activity is carried out by means of power tools that are attached to dust-collecting devices equipped with HEPA filters,

• (i) the removal of insulation that is asbestos-containing material from a pipe, duct or similar structure using a glove bag, and

• (j) the cleaning or removal of filters used in air-handling equipment in a building that has sprayed-on fireproofing that is asbestos-containing material. (activité à risque modéré)

product identifier

product identifier has the same meaning as in subsection 1(1) of the Hazardous Products Regulations. (identificateur de produit)

readily available

readily available means, in respect of a document, present and easily accessible at the work place at all times. (facilement accessible)

supplier

supplier has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Hazardous Products Act. (fournisseur)

work activity

work activity means any low-risk activity, moderate-risk activity or high-risk activity or any activity that is ancillary to that activity, and the supervision of that activity and that ancillary activity. (activité de travail)