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Archived - Audit of Occupational Health and Safety

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Audit

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) internal audit function provides the President, senior officials and agency managers with an independent capability to perform audits of the resources, systems, processes, structures and operational tasks of the CFIA. It helps the CFIA accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to assessing and improving the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.

The internal audit function is accountable to the CFIA's Audit Committee, of which the President is a member. All internal audit findings and recommendations must be reported to the Audit Committee, and all audits must be carried out in accordance with federal policy and legislative requirements, including the 2012 Policy on Internal Audit and the 2006 Federal Accountability Act.

CFIA internal audit projects are selected based on highest significance during an annual agency planning process, which are then reflected in the Agency's Audit Plan for review by Audit Committee and approval of the President.

Overview

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA or the Agency) is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all its employees, promoting occupational health and safety (OHS) and integrating OHS into its management and business decision making processes.

The Agency's staff provide services in multiple locations throughout Canada. CFIA employees carry out their work duties in three main types of work environments: offices, laboratories, and other work environments, such as slaughterhouse and other third party establishments. These differing environments have a direct effect on OHS requirements in each specific type of workplace.

The objective of the audit was to provide assurance that the Agency has management controls in place in support of compliance with legal requirements of the Canada Labour Code Part II and related regulations. These requirements pertain to OHS committees and health and safety representatives, training and awareness, hazard prevention, and lab safety.

Key Findings

The audit found that the Agency has a good OHS structure in place, however, this structure should be strengthened to ensure effective and consistent implementation of the OHS program and to support full compliance with federal legislative requirements.

The audit made nine recommendations. When taken in their entirety, the recommendations promote the adoption of a more centralized approach with more active management and oversight on matters related to OHS. The Vice President Human Resources is responsible for OHS.

The CFIA has accepted the conclusions of the audit and is taking action to address the recommendations.

Complete report

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