Emergency Preparedness and Occupational Health Directorate (EPOHD)

EPOHD is responsible for helping Canadian private and public sector employers maintain and improve the health of their workers by providing leadership and policy development in the areas that affect workplace health. A major component of EPOHD's portfolio is the Public Service Health Program. EPOHD is the principal occupational health and safety advisor to the Treasury Board Secretariat and provides a wide range of occupational health services to federal employees. The Directorate develops health contingency plans for Internationally Protected Persons on official visit or attending international summits hosted by the Prime Minister in Canada, offers confidential employee assistance programmes, wellness and organizational development, counselling services, and physical and psycho-social emergency preparedness and response.

Read more about how we are helping Canadians maintain and improve their health.

The program accomplishes its goals through the activities of the following bureaus:

• Emergency Health Planning, Preparedness and Response Bureau
• Employee Assistance Services Bureau
• Public Service Health Program

Emergency Health Planning, Preparedness and Response Bureau

The Emergency Preparedness and Occupational Health Directorate's Emergency Health Planning, Preparedness and Response (EHPPR) Bureau is responsible for preparing and responding to requests from federal departments or agencies related to suspected or actual terrorist acts. EHPPR assesses and tests federal work sites (i.e. conduct initial hazard assessments, take samples, analyse and interpret data, assess risks, and provide advice regarding decontamination, level of risk, etc.). Ultimately, EHPPR has responsibility to ensure the safety of federal workplaces prior to reoccupation and resumption of operations.

To carry out this mandate, EHPPR has a highly-trained team of industrial hygienists in three major centers in Canada, specialized in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) response. At their disposal is a suite of highly sophisticated, state-of-the-art field portable analytical equipment capable of identifying CBRN agents and/or toxic industrial chemicals in air, including unknown powders and liquids.

The Internationally Protected Persons Program (IPP) works in collaboration with all levels of government, the private sector and foreign embassies in Canada to provide health services to Internationally Protected Persons and their family members while visiting Canada. In this context, IPP prepares comprehensive health contingency plans for these visits, major international events taking place in Canada and special high security meetings of Heads of State or Government hosted by the Prime Minister.

Employee Assistance Services Bureau

The Employee Assistance Services Bureau (EAS) provides high quality Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services to a variety of Canadian public and para-public sector organizations, across Canada, the USA and Europe. Formed in 1992, EAS currently serves over 140 organizations, representing more than one million employees and their family members. A strong, regional presence with offices in Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto (in process), Edmonton and Vancouver makes EAS a truly national provider, with a regional focus and understanding.

EAS also delivers, at competitive rates, Specialized Organizational Services that includes:

• Stress and change management;
• Alternate Dispute Resolution measures including conflict resolution and mediation coaching and workshops in order to promote employee wellness;
• Workplace health and team effectiveness.

The EAS Bureau was selected by Treasury Board to undertake the Psycho-Social Emergency Preparedness and Response (P-SEPR) component of the Public Security and Anti-Terrorism initiative. The goal of P-SEPR is to promote a culture of traumatic stress-related prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response and resilience among managers and employees of federal departments and agencies. This is being achieved through an education campaign and a national Psycho-Social Emergency Response Team. The ultimate aim of P-SEPR is to help federal public servants develop and maintain a supportive environment for employees who experience a traumatic workplace event.

EAS also manages specialized Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) service to Health Canada's nursing staff providing health services to First Nations and Inuit Communities, mostly in northern Canada.

Public Service Health Program

The Public Service Health Program, on behalf of Treasury Board Secretariat, promotes the health and safety of Government of Canada employees by providing medical advice, guidance and services related to occupational health evaluations and communicable diseases.

Public Service Health Program services include:

Occupational Health:

• advisory services to Treasury Board on occupational health and safety matters
• advice and consultation to Public Service managers
• occupational health assessments for Public Service employees in high-risk jobs such as health care workers, firefighters, lighthouse keepers, divers, accident investigators and federal government employees posted overseas
• ongoing development of the Occupational Health Assessment Guide (OHAG)

Communicable Diseases:

• immunization and screening
• individual health counselling

Emerging Health Issues:

• response to emerging health issues affecting the workplace, such as SARS, Avian flu
• advice and consultation to federal departments on emerging issues.