Madam Speaker, I have followed the debate on Bill C-12 so far and we in the PC Party as well recommend speedy approval of it. It seems that it has the general approval of both labour and management.
We support it fully because key in the bill is an expanded role for health and safety committees in the workplace that envisions identifying and dealing with hazards, potential hazards and related refusals to work quickly and efficiently in the workplace. Now we have an amendment that addresses in a very real way the dangers to pregnant and nursing mothers.
The bill claims to seek a better balance between the role of government employers and employees in dealing with such workplace incidents, with more emphasis on establishing rules and procedures to deal with these matters at the local level. I consider that to be very good indeed.
The bill has come about as a result of consultation among government, business and labour in an effort to modernize our health and safety legislation which last underwent a major overhaul probably back in 1985. The bill has significant support among the various groups of people involved in it. I understand that labour has been consulted widely on the bill and that it has significant support from management as well. In general, as I said a moment ago, we support it.
It is probably incumbent on us to raise a few questions now that we have the ear of the minister who is here today. No piece of legislation is every perfect. No piece of legislation is ever complete. The legislative process is a living one. Those of us familiar with it are used to acts of parliament being subject to ongoing changes as time goes by.
Bill C-12 introduces a new concept in the health and safety arena called ergonomics. Subsection 125.1 states that employers shall ensure that the machinery, equipment and tools used by employees in the course of their employment meet prescribed health, safety and ergonomic standards.
That sounds very good but it is a bit vague on detail. To the lay person ergonomics is a strange and very sophisticated sounding word. It is the art or the science of designing or changing the workplace to minimize the risk of injury to an employee in the course of his or her normal duties. It is based, I would assume, on the old adage we have heard time and time again that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound a cure.
It is interesting to note that the U.S. department of labour announced a major ergonomics initiative designed to prevent an estimated 300,000 workplace injuries, saving $9 billion in the American economy. An American press release showed that the U.S. federal government is very advanced in that area with a detailed description of the roles and responsibilities of labour and management in meeting these new ergonomic standards.
Perhaps the minister might give us a some information on that, and expand on it as well.
Another area of workplace safety not covered in the bill is the notion of the psychological protection of the worker in the workplace; the right to work in an environment free of harassment and various other types of discrimination. Such matters can cause grief in the workplace just as easily as a physical injury or threat of a physical injury can.
While there are protections against a worker being unfairly disciplined for reporting a potential workplace hazard, there appears to be no provision in the bill to provide for a positive psychological work environment.
Subsection 122(1) of the bill defines health as:
—the absence of physical disease or infirmity or mental illness arising out of, linked with or occurring in the course of employment...
It specifically points out that it does not include the effect of ordinary workplace stress.
In the modern world stress is often the cause of much grief in the workplace, especially if the stress, be it physical or psychological, is repetitive in nature. Indeed, repetitive physical stress is one of the main reasons we promote the sound ergonomic practices that I mentioned earlier. Perhaps the minister could address that issue later. I would have thought the avoidance or prevention of stress would have been a major goal in any occupational health and safety initiative.
We have introduced two amendments today. The amendment introduced by the minister clarifies the meaning of what a dangerous condition in the workplace involves and addresses risk related incidents in the workplace. We fully support the amendment because it expands upon the definition of danger to give reference to pregnant and nursing mothers.
This is generally a very good bill. It has the general support of both labour and management. From briefings I have had from the minister's office, I believe labour and management have been consulted widely on this. We recommend speedy passage of the bill and hopefully it will be passed before we rise.