Emergent bulletins are distributed to all school districts as issues arise. Some are more reference based for practitioners, others more time sensitive for both trustees and district staff.
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February 6, 2024
Now available: Refusal of Unsafe Work in K-12 FAQ
BCPSEA has worked with sector partners to prepare a new resource: Refusal of Unsafe Work in K-12 Public Education: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
This resource was developed in response to updates to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and WorkSafeBC Guideline G3.12 Refusal of unsafe work. The document provides sector-specific answers to questions that commonly come up during complex work refusals within the K-12 public school system, particularly involving interactions with dysregulated students.
WorkSafeBC (WSBC) has amended Section 3.12 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. This section outlines a worker’s rights to refuse unsafe work. The regulation directs a person not to perform any work if they have reasonable cause to believe doing so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person.
The new amendments include additional requirements for the employer around assigning refused work to another worker. As of Aug. 22, 2022, employers must not require or permit another worker to do refused work unless:
Read more on this issue in the BCPSEA OHS bulletin.
Amendments to Employment Standards Act: Paid Personal Illness or Injury Leave
Changes – General Paid Leave: Asymptomatic Employees
Public Interest Disclosure Act – New deadline
Attachment-FINAL-Public Interest Disclosure Policy Toolkit – April 2021
Distribution of BCTF FSA Pamphlets
The Workplace Violence Prevention Working Group is pleased to announce that it has concluded its main objective of providing school districts with tools, new and revised, that will support the workplace violence prevention process. The collaborative working group is comprised of representatives from CUPE, BCTF, BCPVPA, BCSSA, SSABC, BCPSEA, WorkSafeBC as well as occupational health and safety personnel representing rural and urban school districts. The tools are now available to the K-12 sector on the Occupational Health and Safety section of the BCPSEA website.
The Working Group tools can be found at the following BCPSEA OHS Resources and Tools page.
Amendments to Employment Standards Act: Paid Sick Leave
Public Interest Disclosure Act
Attachment: Public Interest Disclosure Act: Policy Toolkit
Proposed Amendments to Employment Standards Act Introduced: COVID-19 Leave — Paid Leaves for Vaccination