Health and Safety Training Frequently Asked Questions
Please find below answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding health and safety training.
(Updated October 2) The following health & safety training courses are mandatory for all individuals working at McMaster University (additional training may be required by some individuals depending on worksite hazards):
- SAFE Training (replaces Slips, Trips and Falls, Asbestos Awareness, Fire Safety, and Ergonomics) NEW
- Health & Safety Orientation
- FHS Hospital Fire Safety/Code (if you work in Hospital-hosted locations, please visit http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/safetyoffice/ to complete the fire training appropriate for you)
- WHMIS 2015
- Violence and Harassment Prevention in the Workplace
- Due Diligence (for Supervisors/Managers)
- Accident Investigation (for Supervisors/Managers)
Note: Slips, Trips and Falls, Asbestos Awareness, Fire Safety (non Hospital), and Ergonomics has been replaced with SAFE training.
Auto enrollment for new employees includes the SAFE training, Health and Safety Orientation, Violence and Harassment in the Workplace, WHMIS 2015. Faculty of Health Sciences employees will be enrolled in the FHS Hospital Fire Safety/Code training. All other training needed for your position at McMaster will require you to register through Mosaic (FAQ#2).
To understand additional health and safety training courses you are required to complete, speak with your supervisor, and review the UHS training matrices, available at: https://hr.mcmaster.ca/employees/health_safety_well-being/our-safety/health-and-safety- training/ and outlined in RMM #300: Safety Orientation and Training Program.
In addition to health and safety courses, site specific hazard training and orientation on all real and potential hazards in your area (i.e. location of emergency equipment, fire extinguishers, etc.) must be arranged or completed by your supervisor.
If you are a new employee the core training sessions will be available for you in Avenue to Learn on your first day of employment (per above).
Online Training:
Online health and safety courses currently offered by University Health and Safety (UHS), the Faculty of Health Sciences Safety Office (FHSSO), Biosafety office, Privacy office and AODA are being conducted through the University’s learning management system, Avenue to Learn.
To register, select the Regulatory Training tile on the Mosaic homepage and search for your courses. Select an online session:
Home>Regulatory Training>“Search by course name”>Leave search field blank>“Search”>“View available sessions” and proceed with your registration until reaching “Submit”
15 minutes after registering for an online session of a health and safety training course in Mosaic (between 7am and 9pm), the course material and quiz will become available for review and completion by logging in to your Avenue to Learn account which can be accessed at avenue.mcmaster.ca. Please be sure that the course you register for in Mosaic is listed as ‘ONLINE’. You may also disregard the start and end time of each session when enrolling for online training as the information is solely used for administrative purposes. Once logged into Avenue to Learn, ensure your role is selected as “Student”. These online courses will be automatically graded in Avenue to Learn and the result is recorded in Mosaic one (1) business day after successful completion.
Note: If you have registered for a training session but it is no longer required, please contact us with your name, ID# for us to cancel your registration. For UHS training please email uhs@mcmaster.ca. For FHS and Biosafety training, please email fhsso@mcmaster.ca.
As of May 1, 2022, COVID-19 training is no longer required through Mosaic. Information can be found on the McMaster University Guidance for Illness Prevention.
If you are unable to view the Human Resources tab under the Main Menu in Mosaic, please contact UTS at uts@mcmaster.ca and they can arrange to have that feature added for you. Please ensure to include your full name, student/employee ID# and your MacID in the email.
If you are a new student/employee, you may not be able to complete your training until you activate your MacID. To do this, you must use your MacID and attempt to log in to Avenue to Learn (http://avenue.mcmaster.ca/) so that you can initiate the process of obtaining the necessary access. Within 1 business day, you should have access.
Please ensure that once you are logged in to Avenue to Learn, you are checking for the training courses under the main heading “My Courses” and the subheading named “Continuing”
The process to complete AODA training remains unchanged from completing the rest of your Health and Safety training. Simply follow the steps outlined in FAQ #2. Since AODA training is not offered by the UHS Safety Office, you may redirect any questions or concerns to aoda@mcmaster.ca.
Any Health and Safety Training completed in Mosaic will be recorded in a training summary that can be accessed through Mosaic. Employees, students and volunteers (persons of interest) can use the self-service functionality of Mosaic to access a copy of their training record:
Home>Regulatory Training>Training Summary
UHS: uhs@mcmaster.ca
FHS and Biosafety Office: fhsso@mcmaster.ca
The Manager Self-Service functionality allows managers to track health and safety training completed by their employees using Mosaic. Managers can also register their employees to participate in health & safety training courses. To access your employees’ training records, please navigate the following pathway:
NavBar>Navigator>Human Resources>Manager Self Service>Learning and Development>Training Summary
To enroll your employees for Health and Safety training, please navigate the following
pathway:
NavBar>Navigator>Human Resources>Manager Self Service>Learning and Development>Request Training Enrollment>Search by Course Name>Search (leave the field blank)>View Available Sessions>Select a session>Continue>Select the check box of employees you wish to enroll>Continue>Submit>OK
We have created the role of training coordinator for individuals who are responsible for keeping track of all the training records. This will allow you access to all of the training records for your department.
To set up this function you will need to submit a service request to UTS through the following path:
Mosaic Access (found on the left menu)>HR Access Request (complete the form and select depart training coordinator” from the security section)
Please also enclose or forward an email from your supervisor approving the access.
Once you successfully complete the online Golf Cart training on Avenue to Learn. please send us an email to uhs@mcmaster.ca with your ID#, department, supervisor and supervisor’s extension so that we may issue your license.
A “Person of Interest (POI) Request” form is available by submitting a UTS service request and selecting the Person of Interest link. This form is used to request Mosaic access for volunteers, visiting scientists, contractors and other visitors allowing these individuals to complete their Health and Safety training. This form should be submitted to uts@mcmaster.ca by the McMaster employee who is sponsoring or overseeing the person of interest. For example, a lab manager would submit the form for volunteers who need to complete a health and safety training course before assisting in a lab. If you have any questions regarding this form, please contact your HR office or UTS for assistance.
The process to complete a JHA remains unchanged since the launch of Mosaic. McMaster’s Health & Safety strategy includes the completion of a job hazard analysis for the main activities associated with each individual working at McMaster. A job hazard analysis is essential in clarifying the hazards and controls that are associated with each work activity. Individuals must review the job hazard analysis task forms with their supervisor to ensure all main activities have been identified, and attend the training identified on the task forms. To view further information regarding JHA’s, please refer to the JHA web site or RMM #324: Job Hazard Analysis Program.
Attempting to access other parts of the McMaster system from outside the firewall will result in an error message that requests the user connect via the McMaster Virtual Private Network. The VPN Client software allows you to connect to the McMaster University network from an off-campus computer anywhere on the Internet and appear as though your computer is on campus. It also provides extra security by encrypting data to and from your computer, in effect creating a private tunnel through the Internet for your communication.
Instructions on how to access Mosaic through the McMaster VPN can be found here: https://uts.mcmaster.ca/services/computers-printers-and-software/virtual-private-networking/
Note: Users connecting from a Hamilton Health Sciences or St. Joseph’s Healthcare facility do NOT need to use the VPN.
If a whole business day has passed and the courses you registered for have not yet appeared in Avenue to Learn please double check that Mosaic enrolled you successfully. To do this, you must ensure that your training summary status for the course that you are required to take is set to “enrolled”. For instructions on accessing your training summary, please see FAQ#8. Also ensure you are looking under the continuing tab in Avenue to Learn. If you are still unable to view the course, please contact the appropriate safety office.
UHS: uhs@mcmaster.ca
FHS and Biosafety Office: fhsso@mcmaster.ca
Please try clearing your cache or accessing the module from a different browse (Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge). If you are still experiencing technical difficulties, you may read the script but please contact us to let us know at uhs@mcmaster.ca.
For general inquiries please contact us at eohss@mcmaster.ca or extension 24352. For the Faculty of Health Sciences Safety Office contact fhsso@mcmaster.ca.