As I've blogged about before, the Workplace Incident Report documentation and forms remain hidden behind a password wall here at York University. It's unnecessary, making it harder for workers to know how to report workplace injuries or near misses.
Why am I blogging about this again? Because our Health Safety and Employee Well Being (HSEWB) office sent an email on January 14 to JHSC members on a bulletin for sharing with community members in which they point to the WIR document and its supporting webpage:
And that webpage continues to be hidden behind password authentication.
Just the other day, one manager that I work with emailed to ask where to find the workplace incident report form. I suspect that this manager couldn't find it because it's not available for search engines and chatbots to find.
Me, I'm of the opinion that health and safety documents like this should be posted in an open manner without the need for authentication, because workers have the right to know and that putting documents like this behind password authentication is an unreasonable restriction of the dissemination of such information.
The full news bulletin is here:
Updates: Jan 16: modified sentences to "putting documents like this behind password authentication" and "how to report workplace injuries or near misses." Also added a link to the term "near miss".
James Andrew Smith is a Professional Engineer and Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of York University’s Lassonde School, with degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta and McGill University. Previously a program director in biomedical engineering, his research background spans robotics, locomotion, human birth, music and engineering education. While on sabbatical in 2018-19 with his wife and kids he lived in Strasbourg, France and he taught at the INSA Strasbourg and Hochschule Karlsruhe and wrote about his personal and professional perspectives. James is a proponent of using social media to advocate for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion as well as evidence-based applications of research in the public sphere. You can find him on Twitter. You can find him on BlueSky. Originally from Québec City, he now lives in Toronto, Canada.