Supervisor Competency — Alberta OHS
Under the Alberta OHS Act, every supervisor must be competent — meaning they have the knowledge, training, and experience to perform their duties safely and to ensure workers under their direction work safely. Employers are responsible for ensuring their supervisors are competent.
Supervisor competency is one of the most important — and most commonly underdeveloped — elements of a safety program. In Alberta, the OHS Act places significant responsibility on supervisors. A supervisor who does not know their legal obligations, cannot identify hazards, or does not know how to respond to incidents is a liability for the employer.
What competency means under Alberta OHS
Competency under the Alberta OHS Act means having the knowledge, training, and experience to perform work safely and to ensure that workers under your direction perform their work safely. It is not just about completing a training course — it is about being able to apply that knowledge in the field.
For supervisors, competency includes: understanding their legal responsibilities under the OHS Act, being able to identify hazards in their work area, knowing how to conduct or oversee FLHAs and toolbox talks, knowing how to respond to incidents and near misses, and knowing how to enforce safety rules consistently.
Employer obligations for supervisor competency
The employer is responsible for ensuring their supervisors are competent. This means providing training, verifying that training was understood and can be applied, and documenting both the training and the competency verification.
In a COR audit, auditors will interview supervisors and ask them to demonstrate their knowledge of their safety responsibilities. A supervisor who cannot answer basic questions about their OHS obligations is a finding against the employer — even if the training records show they completed a course.
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