Health and safety committee or representative: when you need one in each province

Across Canada, a joint health and safety committee is generally required once an employer regularly employs 20 workers, with a worker health and safety representative below that, but the exact numbers differ. Alberta requires a representative at 5 to 19 workers and a committee at 20; British Columbia a representative at more than 9 and fewer than 20 and a committee at 20; Ontario a representative at 6 to 19 and a committee at 20; Saskatchewan a committee at just 10, with a representative at 5 to 9 in prescribed industries. The tables below come from each province's legislation, with the sections behind them.

By Quick Safety Compliance · October 13, 2026 · 4 min read

Find your manual See all prices

Why it matters for your program

The committee or representative is part of your written program: who the members are, how they are chosen, how often they meet, what they inspect and how the employer responds to their recommendations. Clients and auditors check that the program matches the head count you actually have, and that minutes or representative records exist. Count the workers you regularly employ, including seasonal workers where the province says so.

Alberta

Joint Health and Safety Committee: An employer must establish a joint health and safety committee if it regularly employs 20 or more workers. Where 2 or more employers together have 20 or more regularly employed workers at a work site with no prime contractor, they must co-ordinate one committee for the site.
Health and Safety Representative: An employer must designate a health and safety representative, who is a worker not associated with management, if it regularly employs 5 to 19 workers. An employer may choose to establish a committee instead.
Fewer than 5 workers: No committee or representative is required unless a Director designates the work site; the employer involves workers directly in hazard assessment and safety matters.
Health and safety program: An employer that regularly employs 20 or more workers must establish and implement a health and safety program (section 16).

(Sections 13, 14 and 16 of the OHS Act and Part 13 of the OHS Code set out these requirements.)

An OHS Director can require a committee or a representative at any work site.

British Columbia

(Workers Compensation Act, Part 2, Division 5)

Joint Health and Safety Committee

Required in each workplace where 20 or more workers of the employer are regularly employed, or where required by order of WorkSafeBC (section 31). At least 4 members; at least half must be worker representatives; two co-chairs (section 33).

Worker Health and Safety Representative

Required in each workplace where more than 9 but fewer than 20 workers of the employer are regularly employed, or where required by order of WorkSafeBC (section 45).

New committee members and representatives must receive the minimum training set out in section 3.27 of the OHS Regulation.

Saskatchewan

(The Saskatchewan Employment Act, Part III, Division 4, and Part 4 of The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2020)

Occupational Health Committee

Every place of employment where 10 or more workers of one employer work (Act s. 3-22). The committee has 2 to 12 members, and at least half represent workers other than management.

A construction site at which 10 or more workers or self-employed persons work or are likely to work for more than 90 days - the contractor establishes the committee (Regulations s. 4-1).

The director of occupational health and safety may order an additional or new committee in writing (Act s. 3-23).

Members are designated for a term of not more than 3 years and hold office until a successor is designated (Regulations s. 4-2).

Occupational Health and Safety Representative

More than 4 but fewer than 10 workers of one employer (5 to 9 workers) at a place of employment listed in Table 7 of the Regulations, which includes building construction, road construction and earthwork, oil and gas drilling and well servicing, oilwell servicing, forestry, trucking, farming and ranching, metal manufacturing and machining, forwarding and warehousing, mines and hospitals (Act s. 3-24; Regulations s. 4-8).

Manitoba

Workplace safety and health committee: Required at each workplace where 20 or more of the employer's workers are regularly employed (averaged over the previous 12 months), and at a seasonal or temporary workplace where at least 20 workers are, or are expected to be, involved in work expected to continue for at least 90 days. At a construction project site that must have a prime contractor, the prime contractor establishes the committee where at least 20 workers are expected to be involved and the project is expected to take more than 90 days.
Worker safety and health representative: Required at a workplace (other than a construction project) with five or more regularly employed workers where a committee is not required, and at every construction project in addition to any committee. The representative is a worker not associated with management, appointed by the union or elected by the workers, and the name is posted in the workplace.
Director's order: The Director of the Workplace Safety and Health Branch may order a committee or representative at any other workplace, more than one committee at a workplace, or one committee for several workplaces.
Meetings and records: Committees meet at regular intervals not exceeding three months; minutes are signed by both co-chairpersons, given to the employer and kept at the workplace for at least 10 years (Regulation ss. 3.3 and 3.7).

(The Workplace Safety and Health Act, sections 40 and 41, and Part 3 of the Workplace Safety and Health Regulation set out when a committee or representative is required.)

Ontario

Sections 8 and 9 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act set out the requirements for health and safety representatives (section 8) and joint health and safety committees (section 9).

No. of Workers

Legislative requirement

1 to 5

You are not required to have a JHSC or a health and safety representative, unless a designated substance regulation applies to your workplace and it is not a construction project (JHSC required, s. 9 (2) (c)), or the Minister orders one.

6 to 19

You are required to have at least one health and safety representative, selected by the workers they represent (s. 8 (1)). If a designated substance regulation applies to your workplace (other than a construction project), you are required to have a JHSC (s. 9 (2) (c)).

20 to 49

You are required to have a JHSC (s. 9 (2) (a)). The committee must have at least two (2) members (s. 9 (6) (a)).

50 plus

You are required to have a JHSC. The committee must have at least four (4) members (s. 9 (6) (b)).

At least half the members must be workers who do not exercise managerial functions (s. 9 (7)), and at least one worker member and one management member must be certified members (s. 9 (12)). On a construction project, section 9 does not apply to a constructor where the work is expected to last less than three months (s. 9 (1) (a)), and certified members are not required on a project with fewer than 50 workers or expected to last less than three months (s. 9 (13)).

The Minister may order a committee or a representative at any workplace (ss. 8 (2), 9 (3)).

Atlantic provinces

New Brunswick: a written safety policy at 5 to 19 employees, and a joint health and safety committee where 20 or more are regularly employed at a place of employment, meeting at least once a month (OHS Act, s. 14 and 17). Project sites have their own committee rules (s. 14.3 and 14.4).
Nova Scotia: a health and safety representative where 5 or more persons are employed and no committee is required, and a joint committee at 20 or more regularly employed (OHS Act, s. 29 and 33). A written policy is required at 5 or more and a written program at 20 or more (s. 27 and 28).
Prince Edward Island: a joint committee at 20 or more regularly employed, including on projects of 20 or more expected to last 3 months or more, and a representative where 5 or more workers are employed and no committee is required (OHS Act, s. 25 and 26). A written program at 20 or more and a written policy at 5 or more (s. 23 and 24).
Newfoundland and Labrador: a worker health and safety representative under 20 workers, and a committee of 2 to 12 members at 20 or more that meets at least once every 3 months (OHS Act, s. 37 to 42). A written policy under 20 workers and a written program at 20 or more (s. 36.1 and 36.2).

The territories

Yukon: a health and safety committee at 20 or more regularly employed workers, meeting at least once a month, and a worker representative at 5 to 19 (Workers' Safety and Compensation Act, s. 36, 37 and 39). Employers with 20 or more workers also need a written health and safety management system (s. 44).
Northwest Territories and Nunavut: a joint committee at a work site where 20 or more workers work or are likely to work for more than 90 days, and a representative where fewer than 20 work and there is no committee (OHS Regulations, s. 37 and 39). Time on committee duties counts as time at work without loss of pay (Safety Act, s. 7.1(4)).

What the committee or representative does

The details differ, but the job is the same everywhere: take part in identifying hazards, receive and look into workers' concerns, take part in inspections and in investigations of serious incidents and work refusals, and make recommendations to the employer. Some jurisdictions set a deadline for the employer's answer: in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, the employer responds in writing within 30 days.

Training matters too. British Columbia sets minimum training for new committee members and representatives (OHS Regulation, s. 3.27), Alberta covers membership, co-chairs, terms of reference, meetings and training in Part 13 of the OHS Code (s. 196 to 201), and Yukon requires members and representatives to be oriented within 30 days and co-chairs and representatives trained within 6 months, at the employer's cost.

Write all of this into terms of reference: membership and how members are chosen, co-chairs, quorum, meeting frequency, inspection schedule, how recommendations are made and answered, and where minutes are posted and kept.

Templates and the committee section

Every manual includes a committees and representatives section and a fillable meeting minutes form, written for its province. Saskatchewan clients that ask for it separately can have the Saskatchewan Committees written program for $9, and the Health and Safety Committee sticker marks the committee board.

RAVS / Saskatchewan

Committees RAVS - Saskatchewan

Editable WordInstant download

$9CAD, one-time

Sticker

Health & Safety Committee Sticker

Printed and shipped

$71.50CAD

Read the legislation

Official sources

Questions

Do subcontractors count toward my head count?

The thresholds count workers the employer regularly employs. Workers of other employers on the same site do not count toward your committee, but some provinces add rules for shared sites, such as Alberta's single committee where 2 or more employers together have 20 or more workers at a site with no prime contractor.

How often must a committee meet?

It depends on the province: at least monthly in New Brunswick and Yukon, monthly in Prince Edward Island unless the committee's rules of procedure say otherwise, and at least every 3 months in Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. Set the frequency in the terms of reference and keep signed minutes.

Can the representative be a supervisor?

Generally no. Most provinces require the representative to be a worker who is not connected with management, chosen by the workers or their union.

Get the document today

See every section before you pay, download it in minutes and make it yours with your company name and logo.

Find your manual