Alberta: OHS duties and trade certification

The hazard assessment duty

Section 7(1) of the OHS Code requires an employer to assess a work site and identify existing and potential hazards before work begins at the work site, or before construction of a new one. It is not a one-time form: section 7(2)–(3) requires a written, dated report of the results and the control methods, and section 7(4) requires the assessment to repeat at reasonably practicable intervals, when a new work process starts, when a process changes, or before significant additions or alterations. Section 8(1) requires the employer to involve affected workers in doing the assessment, not just in receiving the finished document.

The control hierarchy, in the order the Code sets it

Section 9(2)–(5) fixes the order: engineering controls first, then administrative controls kept as low as reasonably achievable, then personal protective equipment, then a combination — each level is only available once the one above it is shown impractical. Section 10(1) covers the emergency case separately: only workers competent to correct the condition, and the minimum number necessary, may be exposed, and the section 7(2)–(3) paperwork does not apply while that response is underway.

Who is allowed to do the work

Separately from safety duties, Alberta runs a compulsory certification trades list. To perform restricted activities in one of the trades on that list, a person must be a registered apprentice working under a certified journeyperson, hold journeyperson certification, or hold a recognized equivalent trade certificate — that is the regulator's own definition. The listed trades include electrician, boilermaker, gasfitter (Class A and B), crane and hoisting equipment operator, heavy equipment technician, auto body technician and elevator constructor, among others. Certification sits under the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act, with the Alberta Board of Skilled Trades named in the regulator's own navigation.

What is different from Ontario

Ontario names 23 compulsory trades in a fixed, published list of 23. Alberta's compulsory list is organized the other way — trade by trade, on a lookup page, with no single count stated anywhere on the regulator's site. That is a structural difference worth knowing before you assume a national number exists: for Alberta, the list itself is the only authority, not a headline figure.

Where this shows up city to city

The same OHS Code applies whether the site is a Calgary commercial fit-out or an Edmonton industrial turnaround, but the exposure looks different in each — see Calgary's commercial cycles and Edmonton's industrial turnaround crews. A COR audit is the other place this paperwork gets tested end to end; this piece on COR audit preparation covers what that review actually checks.

Common questions

Does the hazard assessment have to be redone for every job?

Not for every job individually, but it has to be repeated at reasonably practicable intervals and whenever the work process changes, a new process is introduced, or a significant addition or alteration is about to be built — those are the section 7(4) triggers, not a fixed calendar.

Can an uncertified worker perform any part of a compulsory trade's work?

Only as a registered apprentice working under the supervision of a certified journeyperson, or by holding a recognized equivalent certificate — those are the only two paths the regulator lists for restricted activities in a compulsory certification trade.

Takeaways

• • Alberta's hazard-assessment paperwork has to carry a date and be revised on a defined set of triggers, not filed once and forgotten.
• • The control hierarchy is fixed by the Code — engineering, then administrative, then PPE — and each step only becomes available once the one before it is shown impractical.
• • Compulsory certification in Alberta is a trade-by-trade list, not a single published count; check the specific trade rather than assuming a national or Ontario-style number applies.