Training

All LJHSC and CUHSC members are entitled to eight hours of leave per year to attend occupational health and safety training. Additionally, a member of the committee may designate another member as being entitled to take all or part of the member’s educational leave.

This educational entitlement can be met by taking SFU specific safety training courses on Canvas and suitable training from external providers.

The University will provide the educational leave without loss of pay or other benefits.  Non-salaried employees will be compensated for their time spent completing the training courses. 

SFU Safety Committee Training

EHS has developed numerous Canvas courses for safety committee members ranging from mandated introductory topics to more specific awareness courses to aid in completion of safety committee activities. 

Mandatory Introductory Courses

As per British Columbia's legislative requirements, all new safety committee members must receive 8 hours of training on the following topics: 

• The duties and functions of a joint committee
• The rules of procedure of the joint committee
• The requirements around conducting incident investigations
• The requirements around conducting regular workplace inspections, and how to make regular inspections
• The requirements around responding to a refusal of unsafe work
• The requirements for annually evaluating the joint committee
   

EHS has developed three introductory training courses to cover this content: 

In-person Incident Investigation & Safety Inspection training sessions are offered each semester to supplement knowledge from the Canvas courses and provide practical experience for new committee members. Each in-person course is approximately 2 hours in length. 

****  Upcoming in-person training ****

• April 2025

Please contact vanessa_christner@sfu.ca about upcoming in-person training sessions.

Safety Awareness Courses

These courses have been developed to provide safety committee members with a basic understanding of committee roles and specific topics to aid in performing inspections and participating in incident investigations. 

External Training

Safety committee members are welcome to explore training courses from external providers for topics not already covered in the SFU training offerings. Check out the document below for a list of recommended providers and courses.

Steps for taking external training courses

1. Select an external training course from the list provided or alternatively, identify a relevant safety training course that is free of charge.
2. Receive approval from supervisor & support from local safety committee.
3. Verify that you have not exceeded your 8 hour annual educational leave entitlement. 
4. Submit confirmation of training completion (e.g., certificate) to EHS at ehrs_sfu@sfu.ca.
5. If members want to take a training course that  is not listed on the approved list and has a registration fee, they can submit a request form for approval.  Appproval must be received by both the safety committee co-chairs and SRS prior to registration.