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Horizontal Initiatives

Cost Recovery: The Commission was established on the basis that it would be financially self-supporting through revenues generated by a system of user fees. Although the organization does not fully recover its cost of operations, it strives to improve upon its recovery of annual costs.

A review of the Commission’s cost recovery policy is an important part of the on-going strategic planning exercise. The original cost recovery planning assumptions have been reviewed, and program activities currently included as cost-recoverable have been examined in the context of the 1996 Treasury Board Cost Recovery and Charging Policy. The Commission’s claimants are sophisticated and knowledgeable regarding matters of government policy. It follows that the Commission must be able to maintain its program integrity by demonstrating that activities considered cost recoverable are supported by government policy and accordingly its clients are being charged fairly for the work performed by Commission personnel.

The Commission is currently working in partnership with the Health Canada Cost Recovery Committee and has full member status as a health portfolio partner. The Commission will work with Treasury Board Secretariat to examine the possibility of eliminating the recovery of costs associated with the material safety data sheet compliance work done in the public interest.

Cost Reduction: The Commission’s strategic plan has and is dramatically changing the way the Commission does business. This renewal and re-engineering of the Commission is aimed at providing value added services to all its program beneficiaries. Many initiatives have been taken to reduce costs including co-locating with another small agency with similar accommodation requirements, where hearing room, meeting facilities and postal and library services can be shared. The Commission has a Health Portfolio Partnership Agreement for Corporate Services with Health Canada for the provision of services such as: human resources, finance, information technology and facilities/assets management.

The Commission also has an arrangement with the Department of Justice for the provision of legal services. The Commission provides space and support and the Department of Justice provides shared services on a cost recovery basis to other small agencies which, like the Commission, do not require full-time legal counsel.

The Commission is an active member of the Small Agency Administrators Network and the Federal Agencies Forum, both of which offer its members the opportunity to discuss ways and means of cost containment, for example sharing of common services, and of minimizing the time and expense of responding to the requirements of the central agencies of government. In addition, membership offers the opportunity to add to the collective voice of small agencies in their efforts to make known the special resource circumstances, and to highlight other significant fundamental differences from more conventional departments.

Regulatory and Legislative Initiatives

The Commission, in consultation with its stakeholders, has just completed a consultation process on its renewal and reform. The result of this consultation is tripartite consensus on a broad outline of changes needed to modernize and bring more precision to the mandate of this federal/provincial agency—an integral part of the federal/provincial Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System Program.

Further consultation will be undertaken with stakeholders and the HMIRC Council of Governors as legislative proposals are refined.