Sun Safety Programs

What is a Sun Safety Program?

If you or colleagues work outdoors, a sun safety program is a key component of your workplace’s occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) or occupational health and safety program (OHSP). A sun safety program is focused on the prevention and management of health risks related to occupational sun exposure.

OHSMS and Sun Safety Programs

The focus of our Model Sun Safety Program is to provide effective tools and resources for managing sun safety of outdoor workers. Our approach emphasizes the role of continual improvement and the need for sun safety to be addressed through a coordinated and systematic approach.

There can be differences between an OHSMS and an OHSP, related to the specific requirements of occupational health and safety legislation in different jurisdictions. For the Model Sun Safety Program, we have taken a comprehensive OHSMS approach informed by ISO45001:2018OHSAS 18001:1999 and CSA Z1000-14.

Our approach is described in detail in Sun Safety at Work: A Management Systems Approach to Occupational Sun Safety which is available in the Resource Library or in printed copies through Amazon.

How can you use our Model Sun Safety Program resources?

Workplaces have occupational health and safety (OHS) processes in place. The purpose of our Model Sun Safety Program is to assist workplaces to incorporate sun safety within their existing OHS approaches. If you are a small employer or large employer, we have suggestions for how you can build a sun safety program.

There are many different ways that a workplace can implement a sun safety program. It depends on your workplace and what you already have in place. For example, if you have a heat stress program, you may want to use our resources to enhance the program. If you don’t have a program about solar UV exposure, you could use our resources to develop a program. If you want to combine solar UV and heat stress to develop a sun safety program, our resources also help with that.

Picture of a worker holding "Danger" sign
credit: Queensland Department of Health