YUKON TERRITORY REGULATION O.I.C. 1986/164

GENERAL SAFETY REGULATIONS

under the

Occupational Health and Safety Act

Note: This is not the official version. The full text and most current version of this
regulation is available by visiting the Government of Yukon Legislation website.

Personal Protective Equipment

(2)Every employer shall equip each worker with safety headgear, eye and ear protection, respiratory protection, personal floatation devices, foot guards, leggings, fall arresting devices, and other specialized protection where the use is required by these regulations.

(1)Where it is not practicable to provide adequate work platforms, scaffolds or staging, safety belts, life-lines or safety straps conforming with CSA Standard Z259.1-1981 shall be worn by all persons working at elevations 3 m (10 ft.) or more above grade or floor level.

(2)These regulations do not apply to structural steel erectors or similar tradesmen experienced in working at heights in circumstances where

(a)

the use of belts, life-lines, or safety-straps would produce an additional hazard or is clearly impracticable, or

(b)

safety nets or equivalent protection against falling are in use.

(1)When workers are employed under circumstances where they might become entrapped by material they shall wear a safety-belt or safety-harness attached to a life-line or other device, attended by another person who shall be stationed, equipped and capable of immediately effecting a rescue.

(2)Where the workers must be lifted through a manhole or other opening of such size as to necessitate lifting them in a vertical attitude, those workers shall each wear a harness that will enable them to be lifted in such a manner; a wrist-harness alone is not acceptable for this purpose.

(3)Life-lines and safety-straps shall be independently secured to firm structures having adequate strength to bear them; and the life-lines shall be suitably padded at points of attachment and elsewhere, as necessary, to protect against chafing or abrasion caused by contact with sharp edges.

(4)Except as allowed by subsection (5), life-lines, lanyards, and safety-straps shall be

(a)

first-grade, three-strand, hawser-laid manilla rope of not less than 19 mm (3/4 in), having a breaking strength of not less than 24 kN (5400 lbs), or

(b)

synthetic fibre rope or webbing, or wire rope having a breaking strength not less than that specified in paragraph (a).

(5)When the axes or other tools that are used are likely to sever, abrade, or burn the life-line, lanyard or safety-strap, a wire rope of equivalent strength, or four strand wire-cored manilla rope of not less than 16 mm (5/8 in) diameter and having a breaking point of not less than 23.4 kN (5,250 lbs) shall be used.

(6)Where workers are engaged in work in proximity to energized electrical circuits or in other work where conductive safety-straps cannot be used, two nonconductive safety-straps shall be worn to provide the additional protection required, in lieu of the wire or wirecored rope specified by subsection (5).

(7)Life-lines exceeding 91 m (300 ft) in length shall not be used.

(8)Terminal eye-splices in hawser-laid manila ropes shall have a minimum of 4 tucks; such eye-splices in synthetic fibre ropes shall have a minimum of 6 tucks; all splices in braided ropes shall conform with the manufacturer’s instructions.

(9)Life-lines, lanyards, and safety-straps shall be free of knots or splices except at their terminals.

(10)Life-lines shall extend to within 3 m (10 ft) of ground level or a safe landing.

(11)Safety-belts, safety-straps, and life-lines shall be arranged to limit the free-fall of a worker to 1.22 m (4 ft).

(12)Thimbles shall be installed to protect ropes from chafing at points of connection to eyes, rings, and snaps.

(13)Not more than one worker shall be attached to any one life-line.

Workplace

(1)Guardrails shall be provided around any uncovered opening in a floor, roof, or other surface to which a worker has access.

(2)Guardrails shall be provided at the perimeter of the open sides and ends of a floor, including a mezzanine and a balcony, of the surface of a bridge, of a concrete roof while the formwork remains in place, and of a scaffold platform, working platform, runway, or ramp to which a worker has access and from which the worker may fall into water or from which the worker may fall a vertical distance of 2.4 m (8 ft.) or more.

(3)A guardrail constructed in accordance with section 33 shall be provided at the open sides and ends of a scaffold platform, working platform, runway or ramp that is used as a path by wheelbarrow or other similar equipment and from which a worker may fall a distance of 1.2 m (4 ft.) or more.

(4)Where an opening in any floor or other surface to which a worker has access is not protected by a guardrail, the opening shall be covered with securely fastened planks capable of supporting or braced either permanently or temporarily to support all loads to which they may be subjected and capable of supporting at least a live load of 2.4 kN per square meter (55 lbs. per sq. ft.) without exceeding the allowable unit stress for each material used.

(1)A guardrail shall consist of a top rail, intermediate rail and toe-board, and be capable of resisting any load likely to be applied to it.

(2)The top of a guardrail shall have a height of not less than 91 cm (3 ft.) and not more than 1.07 m (3 ft. 6 in.) above the surface, floors, scaffold or roof on which it is installed.

(3)A wooden guardrail shall be free of splinters and protruding nails and shall consist of

(a)

a top rail not less than 38 mm (1-1/2 in) by 89 mm (3-1/2 in.) securely supported on posts which are not less than 38 mm (1-1/2 in.) by 89 mm (3- 1/2 in.) and spaced at intervals of not more than 2.4 m (8 ft.),

(b)

an intermediate rail not less than 19 mm (3/4 in.) by 89 mm (3-1/2 in.) in size and securely fastened to the inner side of the posts midway between the top rail and the toe-board, and

(c)

a toe-board securely fastened to the posts or other vertical supports and extending from the surface, floor, scaffold, or roof to a height of not less than 10 cm (4 in.).

(4)A wire cable guardrail shall be maintained taut by means of a turn-buckle and shall consist of

(a)

a top rail and an intermediate rail made of wire cable not less than 10 mm (2/5 in.) in diameter,

(b)

vertical separators not less than 5 cm (2 in.) wide spaced at intervals not exceeding 2.4 m (8 ft.), and

(c)

a toe-board securely fastened to the inner side of the vertical separators and extending from the surface, floor, scaffold or roof to a height of not less than 10 cm (4 in.).