1. Tell your Supervisor. Your employer has the responsibility to keep your job safe and to provide healthy and safe working conditions. Federal and provincial occupational health and safety laws spell out your employers responsibilities. When there is a problem, the law usually specifies that you raise the health and safety issue with your supervisor first.
2. Tell your joint health and safety committee about the problem. If the joint committee functions effectively, it should address the problems brought to its attention. Committees are also responsible for conducting regular health and safety inspections to make sure working conditions are safe.
If your local does not have a joint labour-management health and safety committee, contact your CUPE staff representative, CUPE regional health and safety representatives or the National Health and Safety Branch.
3. Tell your co-workers and your local union health and safety committee, if there is one, about the problem. It is important for the committees to know about hazards so that they can keep track of them and deal with the employer with as much information as possible.
4. Talk to your CUPE regional health and safety representatives, CUPE staff representative or the National Health and Safety Branch. The CUPE staff representatives are usually more informed of your local situation than the National Office, and may be able to solve local problems much more quickly.