Health & Safety
Orientation Page 4 of 4
Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S)
The City of St. Albert uses an Occupational Health and Safety framework to prevent staff and volunteer injury and illness. The framework includes:
Hazard Identification and Assessment
A hazard can be defined as any physical situation with a potential for injury, damage to property, or damage to the environment. The risk of injury or loss can be managed by identifying the hazard, assessing the risk, and implementing effective control measures.
Know what hazards exist at your site, suggested controls and report any additional hazards not outlined below to the Program Coordinator.
Hazard Control
Controls are used to protect and minimize hazards to people, property and equipment and prevent an incident from causing harm. A hazard control can be anything from removing the hazard, adding a barrier, using a process or procedure, or wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) like steel-toed shoes, safety glasses or shields.
All PPE is the responsibility of the Partner to provide and wear.
View Larger Hierarchy of Controls Chart
Hazards or Potential Incidents
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
- Wear protective clothing like long pants and long sleeve shirts, recommend gloves, and steel-toed boots, hearing protection and eye protection. Follow directions in the Operator’s Manual for your equipment.
- Ensure rakes, shovels and trowels are visible. Do not drag tools. Walk with tool ends pointed downwards. Clean up tools when work is complete.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Pick up debris (do a walk around your worksite to pick the litter and look for hazards). Inspect the workspace for any debris which could be sitting on or just below the soil. Before kneeling directly in the soil, partners should disturb the soil just enough to see if there are any harmful objects hidden from view.
Grass can get slippery when wet; watch your footing and wear proper shoes. Partners consider pads to kneel on, to help prevent injury.
Contact Public Operations at 780-459-1557 immediately if sharp objects are found. Do not touch or move these objects.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Shut down if the public is close by. Be aware of your surroundings. Do not leave items on the walkway. Respect everyone’s right to use walkway systems.
Wear High visibility PPE. Be aware of traffic.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Garbage tends to attract wasps and other stinging or biting insects. Give a ‘listen’ for intense buzzing upon arriving at the worksite (which could indicate a hive). Be aware that bees and wasps sometimes create nests underground in airy soil or mulch.
If a wasp gets close to you, do not swat at it. Wasps will not usually attack unless they feel threatened. Stay calm and motionless and either let it fly away or slowly walk away.
Advise your fellow Partners (if applicable) as to your allergy and the location of the EpiPen (if applicable).
To help avoid bug bites, it is recommended that Partners wear long-sleeved shirts, pants and spray their clothing with insect repellant.
Peak mosquito biting times are at dawn, early evening, and dusk. Either avoid outdoor work at these times or dress appropriately and apply insect repellant to reduce exposure.
When possible, avoid contact with low bushes and long grasses. Wear light-coloured clothing (which helps to see the ticks) and check your clothing (and skin) for ticks after working in wooded areas. Ticks do not fly; they wait on bushes and attach themselves to passers-by.
To learn more about ticks and lyme disease, visit: cdc.gov/ticks/about/
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
If encountering biohazards (some may be sharps some may not), call Public Operations for assistance. DO NOT PICK UP SHARP OBJECTS, flag the area and stay away.
If accidental exposure occurs contact your Program Coordinator, Public Operations (780-459-1557) immediately or, if appropriate, contact emergency services.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Certain plants (such as Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, Stinging Nettle and Poison Sumac) contain urushiol oil which, within 12-48 hours after skin contact, cause reactions involving severe itching, redness, swelling, and blisters (poison plant dermatitis). Workers should be trained to recognize and avoid the local species with these or similar effects.
Use heavy-duty work gloves to help them handle plants with thorns or irritating properties.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Use tools and equipment that reduces the physical strain on your body. Consider an extended garbage picker, so you do not have to bend all the way down to pick up each piece of litter. This could cause harmful strain on your back. Be aware that hand pickers can cause alternative strain on your hands and arms from repetitive use.
Avoid awkward postures and when possible, try to rotate between different tasks, so you can engage different muscle groups to allow recovery for those already strained.
Partners should stretch and/or do a few exercises to warm up and loosen their muscles before performing repetitive tasks. It is a part of best practices to take micro-breaks and do stretches regularly to prevent strain from happening. Some tools cause alternative strain, so it is important you stretch after continuous usage of a tool.
Contact your Program Coordinator about any discomfort.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Try to do a few stretches or exercises prior to lifting to warm up and loosen your back muscles.
Do not overload buckets, bags, with litter/debris; keep the loads manageable to reduce strain. Consider asking for help lifting heavy items.
Maintain strong body posture when lifting (straight back with an engaged core, bent knees with the main lifting coming from the legs and not back).
Do not reach, lean, or twist when carrying heavy objects. Carry heavy objects as close to the body as possible. Pace yourself and take breaks if necessary.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Nobody should be harassed, bullied, or threatened with violence of any kind. If it happens to you, document and follow the appropriate incident reporting procedures.
Always treat members of the public with respect and courtesy. If an individual gets physically or verbally aggressive, remove yourself from the situation and immediately call Public Operations. It may be necessary to notify the police after such incidents, so try to remember the physical features of the person in question, as well as any other relevant details (such as the vehicle they drive).
City staff will not tolerate harassment or bullying of any kind from our Partners. All incidents are documented.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Keep your eyes on the weather forecast and dress for the conditions. Regularly apply high-SPF sunscreen on all exposed skin. Ensure you are kept well hydrated. Limit the amount of skin exposed to the sun by wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and a wide-brimmed hat. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes during daylight even in cloudy conditions.
Do not work in extreme weather.
Controls / Procedures to mitigate hazards
(Engineering, Administrative, PPE)
Let someone know where you are, have regular check-ins, and/or let them know the time to expect you home. We recommend you carry a cell phone in case of an emergency.
Incident Response
Emergency planning is important and will depend on the task you complete. Basic hazards and controls reviewed in the last section can help you prevent an incident from occurring, but you need to prepare just in case.
- Know who to contact during an emergency and always have a way to contact someone (i.e. cell phone) while doing your Partner activity.
- Let someone know where you are, have regular check-ins, and/or let them know the time to expect you home.
Contact 911 for medical emergencies.
Report all incidents as soon as possible after they happen.
- Incidents or injuries that occur while volunteering must be reported to the Program Coordinator by emailing spruceup@stalbert.ca or by calling Public Operations at 780-459-1557.
- If your Program Coordinator cannot be reached during an emergent situation or it is outside of regular business hours, please call the City of St. Albert non-emergency number at 780-458-7700.
An Incident Report needs to be completed by the Program Coordinator within 24 hours of the incident. It is expected that a Partner will cooperate with the investigation.
A near miss refers to any situation that “could have” been worse. Examples include:
- Almost touching a needle on the ground or biohazardous material.
- Tripping over uneven terrain or equipment.
- A car almost causes an incident as it drives by.
Please contact the Program Coordinator with any near misses atspruceup@stalbert.ca or Public Operations at 780-459-1557 in order to implement measures to prevent potential future occurrences.
Safety inspections will be conducted by staff at Partners in Parks sites intermittently throughout the season. These inspections focus on the safety of the site and will be recorded for our records. Partners may or may not be present during the inspection. Any related concerns will be communicated to you.
Orientation Complete
Become a Partner in Parks: Now that you've completed the online orientation, you may submit your partner in parks registration form.
Partner in Parks Registration Form
Last edited: May 12, 2026