3. In this Act,

(a) "aggrieved person" means an employer, constructor, contractor, employee, self-employed person, owner, supplier, provider of an occupational health or safety service, architect, engineer or union at a workplace who is directly affected by an order or decision;

(b) "analyst" means a person appointed as an analyst by the Minister pursuant to this Act;

(c) "Board" means the Labour Board established under the Labour Board Act;

(d) "committee" means a joint occupational health and safety committee established pursuant to this Act;

(e) "compliance notice" means a response, in writing, to an order of an officer, describing the extent to which the person against whom the order was made has complied with each item identified in the order;

(f) "constructor" means a person who contracts for work on a project or who undertakes work on a project himself or herself;

(g) "contractor" means a person who contracts for work to be performed at the premises of the person contracting to have the work performed, but does not include a dependent contractor or a constructor;

(h) "contracts for work" includes contracting to perform work and contracting to have work performed;

(i) "Council" means the Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Council established pursuant to this Act;

(j) "dependent contractor" means a person, whether or not employed under a contract of employment and whether or not furnishing the person's own tools, vehicles, equipment, machinery, material or any other thing, who performs work or services for another on such terms and conditions that the person is

(i) in a position of economic dependence upon the other,

(ii) under an obligation to perform duties mainly for the other, and

(iii) in a relationship with the other more closely resembling that of an employee than an independent contractor;

(k) "Deputy Minister of Labour and Advanced Education" includes a person designated by the Deputy Minister of Labour and Advanced Education to act in the stead of the Deputy Minister;

(l) "Director" means the Executive Director of Occupational Health and Safety or any person designated by the Executive Director pursuant to this Act to act on behalf of the Executive Director;

(m) "Director of Labour Standards" means the Director of Labour Standards under the Labour Standards Code;

(n) "Division" means the Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Department of Labour and Advanced Education;

(o) "employee" means a person who is employed to do work and includes a dependent contractor;

(p) "employer" means a person who employs one or more employees or contracts for the services of one or more employees, and includes a constructor, contractor or subcontractor;

(q) "former Act" means Chapter 320 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Occupational Health and Safety Act;

(r) "health and safety" includes both physical and psychological health and safety;

(s) "Minister" means the Minister of Labour and Advanced Education;

(t) "occupation" means any employment, business, calling or pursuit;

(u) "officer" means an occupational health and safety officer appointed pursuant to this Act and includes the Director;

(v) "owner" includes a trustee, receiver, mortgagee in possession, tenant, lessee or occupier of lands or premises used as a workplace and a person who acts for, or on behalf of, an owner as an agent or delegate;

(w) "police officer" means

(i) a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or

(ii) a member or chief officer of a police force appointed pursuant to the Police Act;

(x) "policy" means an occupational health and safety policy made pursuant to this Act;

(y) "practicable" means possible, given current knowledge, technology and invention;

(z) "program" means an occupational health and safety program required pursuant to this Act, unless the context otherwise requires;

(aa) "project" means a construction project, and includes

(i) the construction, erection, excavation, renovation, repair, alteration or demolition of any structure, building, tunnel or work and the preparatory work of land clearing or earth moving, and

(ii) work of any nature or kind designated by the Director as a project;

(ab) "reasonably practicable" means practicable unless the person on whom a duty is placed can show that there is a gross disproportion between the benefit of the duty and the cost, in time, trouble and money, of the measures to secure the duty;

(ac) "regularly employed" includes seasonal employment with a predictably recurring period of employment that exceeds four weeks, unless otherwise established by regulation or ordered by an officer;

(aca) "repeatedly" means occurring more than once within the preceding three year period;

(ad) "representative" means a health and safety representative selected pursuant to this Act;

(ae) "self-employed person" means a person who is engaged in an occupation on that person's own behalf and includes a person or persons operating a sole proprietorship but does not include a dependent contractor;

(aea) "serious injury" means an injury that endangers life or causes permanent injury;

(af) "supplier" means a person who manufactures, supplies, sells, leases, distributes or installs any tool, equipment, machine or device or any biological, chemical or physical agent to be used at or near a workplace;

(ag) "union" includes a trade union as defined in the Trade Union Act that has the status of bargaining agent under that Act in respect of any bargaining unit at a workplace, and includes an organization representing employees where the organization has exclusive bargaining rights under any other Act in respect of the employees;

(ah) "workplace" means any place where an employee or a self-employed person is or is likely to be engaged in any occupation and includes any vehicle or mobile equipment used or likely to be used by an employee or a self-employed person in an occupation.

[S.N.S. 2000, c. 28, s. 86; 2010, c. 66, s. 2; 2010, c. 37, s. 117; 2011, c. 24, s. 2; 2016, c. 14, s. 1; 2024, c. 10, s. 11]

2. In these regulations,

(a) "Act" means the Occupational Health and Safety Act ;

(aa) "adequate" means sufficient to protect a person from injury or damage to health;

(b) "ALI" means the Automotive Lift Institute;

(ba) "angle of repose" means the angle with the horizontal at which material will no longer flow freely;

(c) "ANSI" means the American National Standards Institute;

(ca) "approved" means approved by the Department or by an agency or authority designated or selected by the Department to make approvals;

(d) "ASME" means the American Society of Mechanical Engineers;

(e) "ASTM" means the American Society for Testing and Materials;

(ea) "CGA" means the Compressed Gas Association;

(f) "CGSB" means the Canadian General Standards Board;

(g) "competent person" means a person who is

(i) qualified because of their knowledge, training and experience to do the assigned work in a manner that ensures the health and safety of every person in the workplace, and

(ii) knowledgeable about the provisions of the Act and regulations that apply to the assigned work, and about potential or actual danger to health or safety associated with the assigned work;

(ga) "compressed air" means air mechanically raised to a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure;

(h) "CSA" means the Canadian Standards Association;

(i) "demolition" means the destruction or removal of all, or part, of an existing building or structure;

(ia) "Department" means the Department of Labour and Advanced Education;

(j) "designated" means, in relation to an employer, appointed in writing by the employer;

(k) "electrical installation" means the wires, machinery, apparatus, appliances, devices, material and equipment used or intended for use for the generation, transmission, distribution, supply and use of electrical power or energy, and includes a power line and power line equipment;

(l) "engineer" means a person who is registered as a member or licensed to practise under the Engineering Profession Act and is competent to do the work being performed;

(m) "firefighter" means

(i) an employee who provides fire suppression services to the public from a fire department within a municipality or local service district, or

(ii) an industrial firefighter;

(n) "guardrail" means a fall protection system consisting of vertical and horizontal members that

(i) are capable of withstanding concentrated forces, as prescribed in these regulations or an applicable standard,

(ii) warn of a fall hazard, and

(iii) reduce the risk of a fall;

(o) "hazardous substance" means chemical or biological material, dangerous goods within the meaning of the Dangerous Goods Transportation Act or a controlled product within the meaning of the Hazardous Products Act (Canada) that is likely to, because of its harmful nature, cause injury or damage to the health or safety of a person exposed to it;

(p) "hoist" means a device or equipment and its structure used for lifting or lowering material, including cranes, an automotive lift, a winch, a chain fall or other similar device, but does not include a lift truck, a power operated elevating work platform, a device to which the Elevators and Lifts Act applies or a hoist that operates in a shaft in the underground at a mine;

(pa) "ITSDF" means the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation;

(q) "industrial firefighter" means an employee who

(i) is designated to fight fires at the employee's place of employment, and

(ii) is employed by an employer who does not, in the normal course of its business, provide fire suppression services to the public;

(qa) "latest version" means, in relation to a standard or other publication, the latest edition of the standard or publication as supplemented, amended, added to, replaced or superseded;

(r) "lift truck" means a lift truck as defined in the latest version of ANSI standard ANSI/ITSDF B56.1, "Safety Standard for Low Lift and High Lift Trucks";

(s) "locked out" means to have

(i) isolated the energy source or sources from a machine, equipment, tool or electrical installation,

(ii) dissipated any residual energy in a system, and

(iii) secured the isolation of the energy source or sources by an inhibiting device that is operated by a key or other process,

and to have performed a "lock-out" has a similar meaning;

(t) "machine" Repealed. [N.S. Reg. 52/2000, s. 1]

(u) "manufacturer's specifications" means

(i) the written instructions of a manufacturer of a machine, material, tool or equipment that outline the manner in which the machine, material, tool or equipment is to be erected, installed, assembled, started, operated, used, handled, stored, stopped, adjusted, carried, maintained, repaired, inspected, serviced, tested, cleaned or dismantled, and

(ii) a manufacturer's instruction, operating or maintenance manual and drawings respecting a machine, tool or equipment;

(ua) "mobile crane" means a mobile crane to which the latest version of CSA standard CSA Z150 , "Safety Code on Mobile Cranes" applies;

(v) "NFPA" means the National Fire Protection Association;

(va) "overhead crane" means any mechanical device or structure that is used to raise, lower and move material that travels overhead and that incorporates a

(i) power driven drum, bridge and cable or rope,

(ii) single or multiple girder, and

(iii) moveable bridge carrying a moveable or fixed hoisting mechanism,

but does not include wall cranes, cantilever gantry cranes and semi-gantry cranes;

(vb) "personal flotation device" means personal protective equipment that is capable of supporting a person with their head above water without the direct effort of the person wearing the equipment;

(w) "power line" means the above-ground or underground wiring that is used to distribute electricity;

(x) "power line equipment" means the components that are required to distribute electricity by means of a power line;

(y) "power operated elevating work platform" means a mobile horizontal working surface that provides access and support to a person at a workplace, and that is elevated and lowered by means of a mechanism and [that complies with] Part 23: Scaffolds and Other Elevated Work Platforms, of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations made under the Act, including a standard listed in subsection (4) thereof;

(z) "powered mobile equipment" means self-propelled equipment that is designed to operate on land in conditions other than a public highway, but does not include equipment primarily designed to transport persons, a lift truck or a power operated elevating work platform;

(aa) "SAE" means the Society of Automotive Engineers;

(ab) "structural fire-fighting" means the activities of rescue, fire suppression and conservation of property from fires involving buildings, structures, vehicles, vessels, aircraft or other large objects constructed by human effort;

(ac) "surface mine" means a work or undertaking, other than a trench, for the purpose of opening up, proving, removing or extracting any metallic or non-metallic mineral or mineral bearing substance, rock, earth, clay, sand or gravel by means of an open excavation, and includes a pit or quarry;

(ad) "tower crane" means any mechanical device or structure that

(i) incorporates a power-driven drum and cable or rope and a vertical mast or tower and a jib,

(ii) is of the traveling, fixed or climbing type, and

(iii) is used exclusively for raising, lowering and moving material;

(ae)"trench" means an excavation in which the excavation depth exceeds the excavation width;

(af) "work area" means a location at the workplace at which an employee or self-employed person is or is likely to be working;

(ag) "worked" means drilled, blasted, extracted, excavated, loaded or subjected to other similar work.

[N.S. Reg. 52/2000, s. 1; 151/2003; 53/2013, ss. 1, 93]

2. In these regulations,

(a) "Act" means the Occupational Health and Safety Act;

(b) "adequate" means sufficient to protect a person from injury or damage to health;

(c) "committee" means a committee as defined in the Act;

(d) healthcare workplace" means any of the following:

(i) a district health authority under the Health Authorities Act,

(ii) a nursing home, a home for the aged, a residential care facility under the Homes for Special Care Act or any other long-term-care facility, and

(iii) a place where emergency health services or home care services are provided;

(e) "representative" means a representative as defined in the Act;

(f) "violence" means any of the following:

(i) threats, including a threatening statement or threatening behaviour that gives an employee reasonable cause to believe that the employee is at risk of physical injury,

(ii) conduct or attempted conduct of a person that endangers the physical health or physical safety of an employee.

4. These regulations apply at any workplace where the primary business is any of the following:

(a) health services, including services provided at a healthcare workplace;

(b) ambulance, emergency ambulance and emergency health services provided under the Emergency Health Services Act;

(c) medical services;

(d) dental services;

(e) veterinary services;

(f) blood collection services;

(g) testing and diagnostic services;

(h) pharmaceutical-dispensing services, including facilities operating under the Pharmacy Act;

(i) education services provided by institutions, including any of the following:

(i) the Nova Scotia Community College,

(ii) a degree granting institution designated under the Degree Granting Act,

(iii) a private career college registered under the Private Career Colleges Regulation Act,

(iv) a school governed by the Education Act;

(j) policing services, detective services and other law enforcement services, including services provided under the Police Act, the Police Services Act and the Constables Act;

(k) correctional services, including services provided at any of the following:

(i) a correctional facility as defined in the Corrections Act,

(ii) a facility under the Correctional Services Act,

(iii) a facility under the Court Houses and Lockup Houses Act,

(iv) a place or facility designated as a youth custody facility under subsection 85(2) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Canada),

(v) a place or facility designated as a place of temporary detention under subsection 30(1) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Canada);

(l) probation services provided by a probation officer or assistant probation officer appointed under the Correctional Services Act;

(m) security and related services, including licensees under the Private Investigators and Private Guards Act;

(n) crisis counseling and intervention services, including any services provided by an agency as defined in the Children and Family Services Act;

(o) retail sales;

(p) delivery services, including parcel delivery services;

(q) financial services, including services provided by any of the following:

(i) facilities operating under the Trust and Loan Companies Act,

(ii) facilities operating under the Credit Union Act,

(iii) an insurer licensed to carry on business under the Insurance Act,

(iv) a money lender under the Money-lenders Act;

(r) sales of liquor or providing premises for consuming liquor, including premises licensed under the Liquor Control Act;

(s) taxi services;

(t) passenger transit services;

(u) gaming activities conducted and managed under the Gaming Control Act;

(v) services provided by or on behalf of the departments, offices and special operating agencies established under the Public Service Act that involve regular interaction with the public;

(w) homemakers' services as defined in the Homemakers' Services Act.

5. (1) An employer must conduct a violence risk assessment for each of their workplaces in accordance with this Section to determine if there is a risk of violence in the workplace and prepare a written report concerning the violence risk assessment detailing the extent and nature of any risk identified by the assessment.

(2) In conducting a violence risk assessment, an employer must take all of the following into consideration:

(a) violence that has occurred in the workplace in the past;

(b) violence that is known to occur in similar workplaces;

(c) the circumstances in which work takes place;

(d) the interactions that occur in the course of performing work;

(e) the physical location and layout of the workplace.

(3) An employer must consult with any committee established at the workplace when conducting a violence risk assessment and must provide the committee with a copy of the written report of the assessment.

(4) An employer must consult with any representative selected at the workplace when conducting a violence risk assessment and must provide the representative with a copy of the written report of the assessment.

6. (1) An employer must conduct a new violence risk assessment for a workplace in any of the following circumstances:

(a) the employer becomes aware of a type of violence occurring in similar workplaces that was not taken into consideration when the previous violence risk assessment was conducted;

(b) there is a significant change in any of the following:

(i) the circumstances in which work takes place,

(ii) the interactions that occur in the course of performing work,

(iii) the physical location or layout of the workplace;

(c) the employer plans to construct a new facility or renovate an existing facility;

(d) the employer is ordered to do so by an officer.

(2) An employer must conduct a new violence risk assessment for each of their workplaces at least every 5 years.

7. (1) An employer must establish and implement a workplace violence prevention plan for each workplace for which a significant risk of violence is identified through a violence risk assessment or that an officer orders a plan for.

(2) As part of a workplace violence prevention plan, an employer must do all of the following:

(a) prepare a written workplace violence prevention statement;

(b) either

(i) take and document reasonable measures to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the risk of violence in the workplace, or

(ii) adopt a code of practice on violence in the workplace published by the Director governing the primary business conducted at the employer's workplace;

(c) establish and document procedures for providing employees with the information and training required by Sections 10 and 11;

(d) establish and document procedures for reporting, documenting and investigating incidents of violence as required by Sections 12 and 13.

(3) An employer must consult with any committee established at the workplace when establishing, reviewing or revising a workplace violence prevention plan.

(4) An employer must consult with any representative selected at the workplace when establishing, reviewing or revising a workplace violence prevention plan.

(5) An employer must make a copy of the workplace violence prevention plan available for examination at the workplace by any employer, contractor, constructor, supplier, employee, owner or self-employed person in that workplace.

8. (1) If a new violence risk assessment indicates a significant change to the extent and nature of the risk of violence, an employer who is required to establish and implement a workplace violence prevention plan must ensure that the plan is reviewed and, if necessary, revised.

(2) At least every 5 years, an employer who is required to establish and implement a workplace violence prevention plan must ensure that the plan is reviewed and, if necessary, revised.

9. (1) An employer must prepare a workplace violence prevention statement that includes all of the following:

(a) a statement of the employer's recognition that violence is an occupational health and safety hazard at the workplace;

(b) a statement of the employer's recognition of the physical and emotional harm resulting from violence;

(c) a statement of the employer's recognition that any form of violence in the workplace is unacceptable;

(d) a statement of the employer's commitment to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the risk of violence in the workplace.

(2) An employer must post a copy of their workplace violence prevention statement in a prominent place or places in each of their workplaces so it can be easily accessed by employees, and must ensure that it remains posted.

10. (1) An employer must provide an employee who is exposed to a significant risk of violence in a workplace with information on the nature and extent of the risk and on any factors that may increase or decrease the extent of the risk.

(2) Except as prohibited by law, the duty to provide information to an employee under subsection (1) includes a duty to provide information related to a risk of violence from a person who has a history of violent behaviour if that person is likely to be encountered by the employee.

11. (1) In accordance with the procedure in an employer's workplace violence prevention plan, an employer must provide adequate training on all of the following for any employee who is exposed to a significant risk of violence:

(a) the rights and responsibilities of employees under the Act;

(b) the workplace violence prevention statement;

(c) the measures taken by the employer to minimize or eliminate the risk of violence;

(d) how to recognize a situation in which there is a potential for violence and how to respond appropriately;

(e) how to respond to an incident of violence, including how to obtain assistance;

(f) how to report, document and investigate incidents of violence.

(2) An employer must provide any employee who is required by the employer to perform a function under the workplace violence prevention plan with training on the plan generally and on the particular function to be performed by the employee.

12. An employer, contractor, constructor, supplier, employee, owner or self-employed person in the workplace has a duty to report all incidents of violence in a workplace to the employer.

13. (1) An employer must ensure that incidents of violence in a workplace are documented and promptly investigated to determine their causes and the actions needed to prevent reoccurrence in accordance with the procedures established under clause 7(2)(d).

(2) An employer must ensure that notice of the actions taken to prevent reoccurrence of an incident of violence are given to all of the following:

(a) any employee affected by the incident of violence;

(b) any committee established at the workplace;

(c) any representative selected at the workplace.

14. An employer must provide an employee who has been exposed to or affected by violence at the workplace with an appropriate debriefing and must advise the employee to consult a health professional of the employee's choice for treatment or counseling.

15. Despite anything in these regulations, an employer who has employees performing work at multiple temporary workplaces is not required to conduct a violence risk assessment or prepare a workplace violence prevention plan for each individual workplace if the employer conducts a violence risk assessment and prepares a workplace violence prevention plan that covers similar workplaces collectively and takes into account the circumstances and interactions that an employee is likely to encounter in the performance of their work.

16. (1) Despite anything in these regulations, 2 or more employers may enter into a written agreement to collectively provide and maintain the statements, plans and services required under these regulations.

(2) A copy of any agreement made under subsection (1) must be kept by each of the employers and must be provided to any of the following, engaged at the workplace of 1 of the employers, who request a copy:

(i) an employee;

(ii) a contractor;

(iii) a constructor;

(iv) a supplier;

(v) an owner or self-employed person;

(vi) an officer.