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Terms in this guideline
These terms are provided for clarity and guidance only and, unless otherwise noted, are not definitions found under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) or the Protecting Child Performers Act, 2015 (PCPA).
- Atmospheric effects
- refer to using suspensions of solid particles or liquid droplets in the air, including but not limited to smoke and fog.
- Chaperone
- is a person who takes on the role of the parent/guardian for the child performer in certain circumstances, such as accompanying the child performer when traveling to and from the workplace, being available to the child performer at an entertainment industry workplace, or participating in health and safety training. The PCPA specifies who may be an authorized chaperone for specific circumstances in subsections 6(2), 14(3) and 20(2).
- Child attendant
- is identified in the PCPA as a person designated by an employer to be responsible for monitoring the child performers at a live entertainment workplace while the child performers are not rehearsing or performing. The PCPA sets out who may be a child attendant in subsection 21(2), and ratios for the number of child performers per child attendant in subsection 21(3).
- Child performer
- is defined in the PCPA as a child under eighteen years of age who performs work or supplies services for monetary compensation in the entertainment industry as a performer, including as a background performer (subsection 1(1) of the PCPA).
- Child performers’ co-ordinator
- is identified in subsection 15(1) of the PCPA as a person at each recorded entertainment workplace who is designated by the employer to be responsible for coordinating matters related to the welfare, safety, and comfort of child performers.
- Childproofed
- means made safe for young children. A room can be childproofed by preventing access to potential hazards or by removing potential hazards.
- Employer
- is defined in the OHSA and in the PCPA. A person who is an employer under the OHSA or the PCPA has legal duties with respect to paid child performers. The term “employer” is not commonly used in the entertainment industry. For the purposes of this guideline, the producer or engager would generally be considered the employer, as defined under the OHSA or the PCPA.
- Entertainment industry
- is defined in the PCPA as including the live entertainment industry and the recorded entertainment industry (subsection 1(1) of the PCPA).
- Guardian
- is defined in the PCPA as a person who has lawful custody of a child, other than the parent of the child (subsection 1(1) of the PCPA).
- Infant performer
- means a child performer who is less than two-years-old.
- Live entertainment industry
- is defined in the PCPA as the performing arts industry that provides live entertainment in theatre, dance, music, opera or circus (subsection 1(1) of the PCPA).
- Parent
- is defined in the PCPA as including a person who has demonstrated a settled intention to treat a child as a child of his or her family (subsection 1(1) of the PCPA).
- Recorded entertainment industry
- is defined in the PCPA as the industry of producing visual or audio-visual recorded entertainment that is intended to be replayed in cinemas, on the Internet, on the radio, as part of a television broadcast, or on a VCR or DVD player or similar device, and includes the industry of producing commercials (subsection 1(1) of the PCPA).
- Special skill
- means an activity that requires a level of physical proficiency or other physical skill superior to that of the average child.
- Supervisor
- is defined in the OHSA as “a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker” (subsection 1(1) of the OHSA). A person who qualifies as a supervisor under the OHSA has legal duties with respect to child performers and other workers.
- Workplace
- is defined in the OHSA as any land, premises, location or thing at, upon, in or near which a worker works.
Updated: March 02, 2022
Published: March 02, 2022