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

Marginal note:Identification

• 158 (1) For the purpose of paragraph 210.022(c) of the Act, any container that contains a hazardous substance — other than a hazardous product — is to be clearly marked with the substance’s generic name and hazardous properties.

• Marginal note:Hazard information

  (2) If a safety data sheet or other document that identifies, and sets out hazard information in respect of, a hazardous substance — other than a hazardous product — that is stored, handled or used at a workplace may be obtained from the supplier by the employer with control over the workplace, the employer must obtain that document and make it available to every employee at the workplace.

Marginal note:Hazardous products — labelling

• 159 (1) Paragraph 210.022(d) of the Act does not apply in respect of

  • (a) a manufactured article, as defined in section 2 of the Hazardous Products Act;

  • (b) wood or any product made of wood;

  • (c) hazardous waste — or the container that contains it — if a sign that clearly and legibly sets out the product identifier and up-to-date hazard information in respect of the waste is posted in a conspicuous place near it;

  • (d) a portable container containing a hazardous product that is filled from a container that is labelled in accordance with the Act and these Regulations if

    • (i) the hazardous product is to be used immediately, or

    • (ii) the hazardous product is to be used only during the work shift in which the portable container is filled, it remains under the control of the employee who filled the portable container and is used only by them and the portable container has applied to it a label that sets out the product identifier for the product;

  • (e) a laboratory sample, as defined in subsection 5(1) of the Hazardous Products Regulations, that is not in a container received from the supplier, as defined in section 2 of the Hazardous Products Act, if the hazardous product in question is identified with sufficient clarity to permit employees to obtain hazard information in respect of it;

  • (f) a hazardous product that the employer intends to export — or the container that contains it — if a sign that clearly and legibly discloses the following information is posted in a conspicuous place near the product:

    • (i) the product identifier for the hazardous product,

    • (ii) up-to-date hazard information in respect of the hazardous product, and

    • (iii) the fact that a document referred to in paragraph 210.022(e) of the Act or paragraph 160(1)(c) in respect of the hazardous product is available at the workplace;

  • (g) any of the following hazardous products, if a sign that clearly and legibly discloses the product identifier is posted in a conspicuous place near the product:

    • (i) a fugitive emission produced at the workplace,

    • (ii) a hazardous product in a process or reaction vessel,

    • (iii) a hazardous product in a pipe or piping system, or

    • (iv) a bulk shipment, as defined in subsection 5.5(1) of the Hazardous Products Regulations, that has been received at the workplace and has not been transferred to a container; or

  • (h) any other hazardous product that is not in a container, if a sign that clearly and legibly discloses the information referred to in subparagraphs (f)(i) to (iii) is posted in a conspicuous place near the product.

• Marginal note:Requirements

  (2) For the purpose of paragraph 210.022(d) of the Act, the information that each label must disclose is the information that is required to be disclosed on a label under the Hazardous Products Regulations and the hazard symbols that the label must have displayed on it — and the manner of displaying those symbols — are those required by those Regulations.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (3) Despite subsection (2), the label need only set out

  • (a) the product identifier and up-to-date hazard information in respect of hazardous waste or the container that contains it;

  • (b) the information referred to in subparagraphs (1)(f)(i) to (iii) in respect of

    • (i) a hazardous product that is produced at the workplace or the container that contains it, or

    • (ii) a container that is not received from a supplier, as defined in section 2 of the Hazardous Products Act, or the hazardous product that it contains

    • (iii) a hazardous product or container that was previously labelled in accordance with subsection (2) if that label became illegible or was lost, or

    • (iv) a hazardous product or container for which the employer is actively seeking a label that conforms to subsection (2); or

  • (c) the information referred to in subparagraphs (1)(f)(i) and (ii) in respect of

    • (i) a product listed in Schedule 1 to the Hazardous Products Act or the container that contains it, or

    • (ii) a nuclear substance, as defined in section 2 of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, or the container that contains it.

Marginal note:Hazardous products — safety data sheets

• 160 (1) Paragraph 210.022(e) of the Act does not apply in respect of

  • (a) a manufactured article, as defined in section 2 of the Hazardous Products Act;

  • (b) wood or any product made of wood;

  • (c) the following hazardous products, if the employer makes available a document containing the product identifier and detailed, up-to-date hazard information in respect of the product:

    • (i) a product listed in Schedule 1 to the Hazardous Products Act, or

    • (ii) a nuclear substance, as defined in section 2 of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act;

  • (d) a hazardous product that is produced at the workplace and is a fugitive emission or an intermediate product undergoing reaction within a process or reaction vessel;

  • (e) hazardous waste; or

  • (f) any hazardous product for which the employer is actively seeking the document referred to in that paragraph, as long as any label affixed to, printed on or attached to the product or container that contains information about the product is not removed, defaced, modified or altered.

• Marginal note:Information required

  (2) The information that must be disclosed for the purpose of subparagraph 210.022(e)(v) of the Act is all information not referred to in subparagraphs 210.022(e)(i) to (iv) of the Act that is required to be included on a safety data sheet under the Hazardous Products Regulations.

Marginal note:Exemption from requirement to disclose

• 161 (1) Subject to subsection (2), if an employer has filed a claim under subsection 11(2) of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act for an exemption from a requirement under the Act to disclose information, it must disclose in place of that information on any safety data sheet or other document, label or sign

  • (a) if there has been no final determination in respect of the claim, the date on which the claim for exemption was filed and the registry number assigned to the claim under section 10 of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Regulations; or

  • (b) if the final determination in respect of the claim is that the claim is valid, a statement that an exemption has been granted and the date on which the exemption was granted.

• Marginal note:Product identifier

  (2) If the claim for exemption is in respect of a product identifier, the employer must disclose, in place of the product identifier on any safety data sheet or other document, label or sign, a code name or code number assigned by the employer to identify the hazardous product.

Marginal note:Instruction and training

162 The instruction and training that every employer must provide to its employees includes

• (a) if the employee is likely to handle or be exposed to a hazardous substance, training with respect to the content required on labels and safety data sheets and the purpose and significance of that content;

• (b) if the employee installs, operates, maintains or repairs a piping system that contains a hazardous substance, or any component of such a system, training with respect to the significance of the colour-coding, signage or other markings referred to in subparagraph 157(1)(q)(iii); and

• (c) if the employee is one referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), instruction with respect to procedures for the safe storage, handling, use and disposal of the hazardous substances to which they may be exposed, including procedures to be followed in an emergency involving a hazardous substance or when a fugitive emission is present.

Marginal note:Provision of information in emergency

163 For the purpose of subsection 210.023(1) of the Act, a medic is a prescribed medical professional.

PART 32Diving

Marginal note:Definitions

164 The following definitions apply in this Part.

decompression table

decompression table means a table or set of tables that shows a schedule of rates for safe descent and ascent and decompression stop times, having regard to the breathing mixture to be used by a diver during a dive. (table de décompression)

dive contractor

dive contractor means an employer that exercises direction and control over diving operations at a workplace. (entrepreneur en plongée)

dive team

dive team means all divers, standby divers, dive support personnel and dive supervisors on a dive project. (équipe de plongée)

dive safety specialist

dive safety specialist means a person designated under subsection 168(1). (spécialiste de la sécurité en plongée)

Marginal note:Occupational health and safety program

165 The risks associated with diving operations are prescribed risks for the purpose of paragraph 210.02(2)(a) of the Act and the occupational health and safety program in respect of a workplace from which a dive project is carried out must include

• (a) procedures for consulting with employees who perform a variety of roles in the diving operations, including members of the dive team, with respect to the management of risks to divers’ health and safety;

• (b) procedures for obtaining the agreement of the dive safety specialists designated in respect of the dive project with respect to the hazards identified, the risks assessed and the hazard control measures to be implemented;

• (c) procedures for safely carrying out each task associated with the dive project, including with regard to the equipment to be used;

• (d) procedures for ensuring divers’ safe and controlled entry into and exit from the water;

• (e) procedures for carrying out decompression in a manner that will minimize decompression sickness or other adverse effects on divers, including having regard to repetitive factor and residual inert gases;

• (f) procedures for treating decompression sickness, including decompression sickness that results from planned or unplanned omitted decompression, and communicating with a specialized dive physician in respect of that treatment;

• (g) procedures for responding to hazardous weather or water conditions;

• (h) procedures for aborting and resuming dives;

• (i) procedures for calculating — in a manner that allows for leakage, waste and other unplanned depletions — the quantities of breathing mixtures required by divers, including for both primary and secondary use and for therapeutic treatment;

• (j) procedures for storing breathing mixtures that, among other things, identify a single Canadian or international standard to be used for the colour-coding of all gas cylinders and quads or other banks associated with the dive project;

• (k) procedures for providing breathing mixtures to divers;

• (l) procedures for ensuring that all materials or objects introduced into or used in diving bells or compression chambers do not contain or produce gases or vapours that may be harmful to divers;

• (m) procedures for maintaining divers’ thermal balance and comfort, including by heating their breathing mixtures if necessary and ensuring the continued supply of heat in the event of any failure of the primary thermal control system;

• (n) procedures for installing barriers or isolating energy sources as necessary to protect divers from contact with hazards;

• (o) procedures for ensuring that the dive contractor is made aware of any seismic work being carried out in the vicinity of the workplace that may pose a risk to divers’ health or safety and for communicating with the persons carrying out that seismic work;

• (p) procedures for assessing seabed or seawater contamination levels in areas in which contamination is a known hazard; and

• (q) if the workplace is a dynamically positioned vessel,

  • (i) procedures for responding to changes in its station keeping status,

  • (ii) procedures for operating in close proximity to marine installations or structures or other physical obstacles,

  • (iii) procedures for guarding against thruster wash and suction effect,

  • (iv) procedures for preventing equipment entanglement, and

  • (v) procedures for repositioning the vessel that address, among other things, the maximum increments for repositioning and heading change while divers are in the water.