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About OSH Answers

The Inquiries Service at CCOHS (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety) answers questions in two ways - through its new, global service OSH Answers and through its person-to-person information service.

OSH Answers covers many topic areas in occupational health and safety. The information is presented in a Question-and-Answer format and the topics are based on questions that the Inquiries Service has received.

The Inquiries Service started the OSH Answers with question-and-answer (Q&A) documents on various hazards - biological, chemical, ergonomic, physical (like noise and radiation) and other safety hazards found in workplaces. We also answer questions about the diseases and injuries that can result from the hazardous things people are exposed to or the kind of work activities they do.

Other work-related issues on OSH Answers are (or will include in the future) are safety programs, accident and injury prevention, personal protective equipment (PPE), occupational health and safety legislation including WHMIS (right-to-know legislation).

OSH Answers will cover more and more topics as it grows and evolves.

Meanwhile, if you don't see the answer to your question on OSH Answers, contact the Inquiries Service (Submit Inquiry). It has had a person-to-person information service that has been answering questions from Canadians for almost 20 years. Remember though, this service is primarily for Canadians since it is funded by government agencies across Canada.

The purpose of OSH Answers is to:

• promote occupational health and safety in Canada.
• provide Canadian workers and workplaces the answers to common occupational health and safety and environmental health concerns.
• provide basic occupational health and safety and environmental health information to help users to make informed decisions while addressing and resolving practical workplace concerns.
• share on the Internet occupational health and safety information for the benefit of Canadian and other workers throughout the world.
• make the occupational health and safety information readily accessible to new users including students, family members, and other people who are not in the workforce yet or who have not had much or any exposure to workplace health and safety issues.

The target audiences for the OSH Answers are the workers, managers, supervisors, joint health and safety committee members who are the "end users" of the information in the workplace. In addition, employers, policy makers, family members, people living near workplaces, students, and others will find the OSH Answers to be useful sources of information that address occupational and environmental issues arising from workplace activities.

The topics covered on this site are actually based on questions that the Inquiries Service at CCOHS have received from employers, workers, occupational hygienists, safety professionals, doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, government officials, lawyers, the media and anyone else with questions about any aspect of occupational health and safety.

Information that people need varies as widely as their roles and activities that they carry out at work. To help meet these information needs, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is starting this new information service on the Internet to provide information about:

• Canadian occupational health and safety legislation including WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous
• Materials Information System) - Canada's Right-to-Know legislation - and WHMIS II
• Identification and control or elimination of potential job hazards
• Health effects of exposure to workplace hazards (e.g., chemicals, noise, micro-organisms)
• Workplace accidents and injuries - causes and prevention
• Social and psychological issues like wellness and health promotion, stress, harassment and violence in the workplace
• Sources of information - paper sources, on-line, CD-ROM, and the Internet

Question-and-answer documents on many of these topics are on OSH Answers now. More topics and information will be added as OSH Answers expands.

The section Information Resources & Referrals supplies "pointers" to additional information like:

• Addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for agencies that are responsible for occupational health and safety in Canada.
• Reference sources where you can find regulations and information on the wide spectrum of topics covered under the multi-disciplinary subject of "occupational health and safety".

You can browse through our Directories of Topics starting at the OSH Answers Home Page to find out how we have organized our subject headings and learn what topics are covered where. You can also look for information on a topic by using the search engine. The Help section has more information about the search engine and about searching OSH Answers.

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy, currency and completeness of the information, CCOHS does not guarantee, warrant, represent or undertake that the information provided is correct, accurate or current. CCOHS is not liable for any loss, claim, or demand arising directly or indirectly from any use or reliance upon the information.

CCOHS-prepared material in OSH Answers is protected by copyright. CCOHS encourages the widest distribution of its material. CCOHS should be acknowledged in any non-commercial reproduction of this material by any means and in any form, in whole or in part. To help CCOHS make further improvements so it can better meet the users' needs, we would appreciate your filling out an information form and sending it to the Inquiries Service.

For information about permission to reproduce CCOHS material for purposes of resale or any commercial redistribution, please contact the Inquiries Service at CCOHS (tel.: 1-800-263-8466; fax: 1-905-572-4500 or e-mail inquiries@ccohs.ca.