What are the requirements for machinery in Canada?

Canadian federal legislation consists of federal Acts and Regulations. 

An Act is made by Parliament and generally sets out the framework of a regulatory scheme and delegates the authority to develop the details and express them in regulations.

Regulations can be delegated to the Governor in Council, a Minister or an administrative agency. 

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is the federal agency for the advancement of safe and healthy workplaces and preventing work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths. 

The federal health and safety legislation (The Canada Labour Code) applies to employees of companies or sectors that operate across provincial or international borders, such as airports, banks and railways. 

Approximately 6% of the Canadian workforce falls under the CCOHS. The remaining 94% of Canadian workers fall under the legislation of the jurisdiction (province or territory) where they work.

There are fourteen jurisdictions in Canada, each having its own occupational health and safety legislation. Different provinces have slight variations in employment standards but in general all provinces require safe working conditions. 

On a federal level, there is special "right-to-know" legislation (called WHMIS) that applies to hazardous products, such as machinery (and thus vacuum formers). It is a comprehensive plan for providing information on hazardous products intended for use in workplaces. 

WHMIS applies in all Canadian workplaces which are covered by occupational health and safety legislation and where WHMIS regulated hazardous products are used. Each jurisdiction refers to the WHMIS in their own health and safety legislation. 

WHMIS requires to provide instructions, safe work procedures, labels and safety data sheets.

A manufacturer’s manual and safe work procedure based on a risk assessment are ways to achieve adequate information requirements.

Practically this means that an employer shall conduct a risk assessment, and develop a Safe Work Procedure. The requirements can also be found in the legislation of jurisdictions, such as in Manitoba and Prince Edward Island. 

For conducting a risk assessment, the following standards may be used:

• ISO 12100 – Safety of machinery
• ISO 14121 – Safety of machinery – principles of risk assessment
• IEC-61508 (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) – Functional safety

NOTICE Newfoundland & Labrador and Manitoba advise always to conduct these tasks together with the manufacturer: above all, they know their business best and should be aware of hazards.

Furthermore, safe working conditions can be demonstrated by complying with one or more of the applicable recognized machine safety standards. 

Each jurisdiction may cite standards in their own occupational health and safety legislation. For example, Ontario cites CSA standards in their health and safety regulations. 

Therefore, it is essential to check the legislation in each jurisdiction to verify which standards apply. 

We have checked some regulations of jurisdictions on CSA standards on documentation. British Columbia has adopted the CSA Z432 standard on Safeguarding in their OHS Regulation. 

It is highly likely that other jurisdictions have done the same. No specific standards on documentation for vacuum lifts was found.

Other contributing legislation includes workplace safety insurance Acts. Based on jurisdictional insurance Acts, an employer may be held liable when standards are not applied. 

Here is a text form the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act in Ontario: 

The Board may increase or decrease the premiums otherwise payable by a particular employer in such circumstances as the Board considers appropriate including the following:

1. If, in the opinion of the Board, the employer has not taken sufficient precautions to prevent accidents to workers or the working conditions are not safe for workers.
2. If the employer’s accident record has been consistently good and the employer’s ways, works, machinery and appliances conform to modern standards so as to reduce the hazard of accidents to a minimum.

In other words, using available (voluntary) standards creates the presumption of conformity with the health and safety requirements and decreases liability. 

Therefore, the use of the following voluntary standards may be considered:

• ASME B30.20-2018 Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices
• IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019 Information for Use
• ISO 20607 - Instruction Handbooks for machinery 
• ANSI Z535.6 - Product Safety Information In Product Manuals, Instructions And Other Collateral Materials
• ISO 01.110 TECHNICAL PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION
• INCLUDING RULES FOR PREPARATION OF USER GUIDES, MANUALS, PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

Summary:

• Together with the manufacturer, conduct a risk assessment
• Draw up a Safe Work Procedure
• Embed the results of the risk assessment in the Safe Work Procedure and instructions
• Use standards for the Risk Assessment, such as ISO 12100
• Provide sufficient warnings, instructions and other information to warn for hazards
• For your instructions, apply the relevant part of CSA Z432 - Safeguarding of Machinery. This is a mandatory standard, at least in some jurisdictions
• Consider using the following standards as well:
• ASME B30.20-2018 Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices
• IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019 Information for Use
• ISO 20607 - Instruction Handbooks for machinery
• ANSI Z535.6 - Product Safety Information In Product Manuals, Instructions And Other Collateral Materials
• ISO 01.110 TECHNICAL PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION
• INCLUDING RULES FOR PREPARATION OF USER GUIDES, MANUALS, PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

Ferry Vermeulen is a technical communication expert and director at INSTRKTIV. It's Ferry’s mission to create digital user instructions for all products in the world. Listen to the INSTRKTIV podcast on Spotify or read one of his latest blog articles.  Linkedin I Spotify I YouTube I Facebook I Twitter