A machine shop teacher's work refusal was not justified, an appeals tribunal has decided, given that the teacher had the ability to manage the class environment to ensure safety.
The teacher refused to teach the class if there were more than 16 students present, stating that a larger class size would put his safety at risk.
The teacher argued that adolescents were prone to act in an unpredictable manner when working with machinery, risking creating "projectiles and other hazardous situations".
In dismissing the teacher's appeal from the decision of a health and safety officer, the tribunal noted that the collective agreement set the maximum class size at 29 and that the New Brunswick Department of Education recommended a class size of 18 to 22. As such, the teacher's personal limit of 16 was not justified.
Most importantly, the teacher had the ability to provide less hands-on teaching and more class time, which would help manage safety in the classroom.
The tribunal stated:
"While it is obvious that the teaching experience will suffer, it was apparent from the appellant's testimony that less hands-on experience and more classroom time will ensure the safety of the students. While students may not like less hands-on training, the issue before me concerns whether the January 8, 2016, decision should be overturned."
As such, the teacher's appeal was dismissed. His work refusal was not justified under the New Brunswick Occupational Health and Safety Act.
20168017 (Re), 2016 CanLII 57012 (NB WCAT)
For more information, visit our Occupational Health & Safety Law blog at www.occupationalhealthandsafetylaw.com
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