Amendments to the Health and Safety Regulations (RSST)

Working conditions play a critical role in the safety and productivity of employees. Moreover, there are safety and health measures that must be put in place by employers and are governed by specific regulations. These include the RSST or Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, which are constantly being reformed in order to optimize the well-being of workers. Changes have just recently been applied.

Occupational Health and Safety Regulation Reforms

Since January 2019, changes have been made to the RSST or Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. The changes concern more particularly the prevention of falls when working at heights. This area requires constant updating of safety provisions, as it is a major cause of occupational accidents recorded each year. Based on findings, events and statistics, the regulations are updated. In particular, measures concerning the organization of the workplace and individual and collective protections have been updated.

Optimizing the prevention of falls from heights

The main reforms concerning the prevention of falls from heights include walls and floors that act as horizontal or vertical openings, railings, employee traffic routes such as service stairs, walkways or fixed ladders.Access routes such as the lifting of workers using cranes or forklifts, fixed or flying scaffolding, and enclosed spaces are also points that have undergone profound alterations or light in the regulations. Others minimal but important provisions are still listed, such as setting up a warning line for people on the ground to prevent them from frequenting an area where there is a high risk of falling objects or to replace the guardrail under certain conditions.

VSS Safety Line or warning line: an important reform

The warning line is among the reforms to regulations on making work at heights safe. If the distance between two posts was previously 3.8 meters, it is now reduced to 2.5 meters with a 50 lb recycled rubber base. This optimizes safety in terms of the steel cable already decorated with a yellow pennant.Attention, the warning line cannot replace a guardrail unless there is no risk of falling less than two meters from the edge of the roof.