Safe At Work Ontario — Annual sector-specific compliance plans

As part of Safe At Work Ontario, the ministry’s Operations division develops annual sector-specific compliance plans to guide the work of inspectors and their proactive visits. Plans are developed for four sectors and specialized services:

The plans include details about the ministry’s planned health and safety initiatives.

Each year, inspectors conduct proactive health and safety compliance initiatives and enforcement activities that target hazards and identified workplace concerns in workplaces in each sector.

The 2018-2019 initiatives are described in more detail in the following sections. More information can be found on the schedule for ministry health and safety enforcement initiatives.

Industrial Program

The Industrial Health and Safety Program is the largest and most varied of the ministry’s four occupational health and safety programs. The program enforces the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and regulations in 29 subsectors. Most workers in provincially regulated workplaces in Ontario are covered by the Industrial Health and Safety Program.

Industrial health and safety blitzes

In 2018-2019, ministry inspectors conducted four inspection blitzes. The blitzes focused on reducing hazards related to machine guarding, warehouses and big box retail, the internal responsibility system, and new and young workers.

Machine guarding

During a health and safety blitz on machine guarding from February 1 to March 29, 2019, ministry inspectors focused on electrical hazards, lockout procedures and blocking of all forms of hazardous energy.

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Warehouse and big box retail

During a health and safety blitz at warehouses and big box retail stores from October 1 to November 23, 2018, ministry inspectors checked that employers were complying with the OHSA and its regulations. This included checking whether employers were protecting workers by identifying and controlling hazards.

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New and young workers

In the Summer of 2018, inspectors visited industrial workplaces that hired new and young workers in sectors such as retail; restaurants; food, beverage and tobacco; and tourism, hospitality and recreational services. Inspectors focused on workplaces that were newly registered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and that hadn’t had a proactive health and safety visit in the last 5 years.

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Internal responsibility system (IRS)

During a health and safety blitz focusing on the internal responsibility system at new and small businesses from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, ministry inspectors checked that employers were complying with the OHSA and its regulations. They focused on whether workplaces had a functioning internal responsibility system.

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Construction Program

Construction is a dynamic industry comprising several primary sectors, each with subsectors. Activities are diverse on construction projects, with workplaces and workforces that change constantly. At a typical project, there can be multiple employers and trade unions on site. These workplaces are quite different from those in other industries.

Most construction contractors in Ontario are small- to mid-size employers. Many construction employers have fewer than eight employees. Some construction employers have more than 100 workers often working across several projects.

Construction inspectors enforce compliance with the OHSA and regulations at construction projects across the province. As part of the Safe At Work Ontario strategy, they focus on construction sectors with high injury rates, a history of non-compliance and known workplace hazards.

Construction health and safety blitzes

In 2018-2019, ministry inspectors conducted three inspection blitzes. They focused on reducing hazards related to reversing equipment, working at heights and the internal responsibility system.

Reversing equipment

In September and October 2018, the ministry conducted a health and safety blitz focused on equipment operated in reverse on construction sites across the province.

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Working at heights

In May and June 2018, the ministry conducted a health and safety blitz focused on working at heights on construction sites across the province.

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Internal responsibility system (IRS)

Between June 2018 and March 2019, ministry inspectors conducted an enforcement blitz focusing on the internal responsibility system across the province.

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Mining Program

Ontario has about 40 underground mines, with about 25,000 workers, located mostly in Northern Ontario. Minerals such as copper, nickel, gold and other precious metals, diamonds, salt and gypsum are extracted from them.

Ontario also has several thousand surface open pits, quarries, sand and gravel operations, with about 10,000 workers. Minerals such as gold, as well as material such as limestone, sand and gravel are extracted from them.

Mining health and safety blitzes

In 2018-2019, ministry inspectors conducted four inspection blitzes. The blitzes focused on reducing hazards related to conveyor guarding, mobile equipment and electrical/mechanical-mine hoist plants, the internal responsibility system and occupational disease prevention.

Conveyor guarding

In June and July 2018, ministry inspectors conducted an inspection blitz on conveyor guarding at mines and mining plants across the province.

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Mobile equipment

From October 2 to November 30, 2018, the ministry conducted proactive inspections of mobile equipment at mines and mining plants across the province.

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Electrical/mechanical — Mine hoist plants

From April 2018 to March 2019, inspectors checked that employers were complying with the OHSA and its regulations to protect workers from hazards related to mine hoist plants.

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The internal responsibility system and occupational disease in mines and mining plants

From April 2018 to March 2019, the ministry completed a one-year blitz on the internal responsibility system at mines and mining plants throughout Ontario, with a focus on occupational disease prevention.

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Materials Testing Laboratory

The ministry’s Mining Program also operates the Materials Testing Laboratory in Sudbury, which tests steel mine hoist ropes used to hoist conveyances in underground mine shafts. Under the mines and mining plants regulation of the OHSA, mine operators that use hoist ropes must have their ropes regularly tested by an approved laboratory. In 2018-2019 the Materials Testing Laboratory tested 698 rope samples from Ontario, as well as from across Canada and around the world.

Health Care Program

Health care workers provide daily care to millions of Ontarians in a variety of setting including hospitals, long-term care centres and homes. The hazards facing health care workers can be complex and require a steadfast commitment to workplace health and safety. The ministry’s Health Care Program covers health and community care services in seven settings:

  • long-term care homes (homes for nursing care)
  • retirement homes (homes for residential care)
  • hospitals
  • nursing services
  • supported group living residences and other facilities (group homes)
  • treatment clinics and specialized services
  • professional offices and agencies

In 2018-2019, health care inspectors focused on the internal responsibility system (IRS), along with their general inspection duties and field visits.

Health care health and safety blitzes

Health care sector — 10-Month

From September 18, 2017, to June 30, 2018, the ministry conducted a 10-month health care enforcement blitz, which focused on hospitals, long-term care and retirement homes and primary care workplaces (family health teams and community health centres).

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Internal responsibility system

From April 2018 to March 2019, the ministry and its health and safety partners raised awareness about the internal responsibility system as it applies to workplace violence prevention.

From July 2018 to March 2019, ministry inspectors checked for compliance with the OHSA and its regulations. The blitz focused on group homes, treatment clinics and specialized services, and professional offices and agencies.

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Specialized Professional Services

The Specialized Professional Services program at the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development provides technical support and expertise to regional staff in the industrial, construction, mining and health care programs in four key areas:

  • ergonomics
  • occupational hygiene
  • engineering
  • emergency management

Occupational hygiene health and safety blitzes

Occupational hygiene is a science devoted to anticipating, recognizing, evaluating and controlling health hazards to protect workers. The ministry’s occupational hygienists visit workplaces and provide support to inspections. They also conduct proactive occupational hygiene inspections. In 2018-2019, occupational hygiene inspections focused on chemical handling and on the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS).

Chemical handling — Chemical manufacturing

The chemical handling blitz focused on how chemical products are received, stored, used and disposed in the workplace. The ministry also looked at ventilation and other controls, worker training and personal protective equipment.

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Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)

In an inspection blitz focusing on WHMIS, the ministry visited workplaces where hazardous products were used, handled or stored. The blitz focused on verifying compliance with the WHMIS regulation of the OHSA with a specific focus on:

  • labels
  • worker education
  • communication of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals components

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Ergonomist health and safety blitzes

Ergonomics focuses on the interaction between workers and workplace elements, such as equipment, work stations, work processes and the environment. Ministry ergonomists provide technical support to inspectors and conduct inspections focusing on ergonomics to protect workers from ergonomics-related hazards. In 2018-2019, ergonomists provided technical support to several ministry inspection blitzes, including the Reversing Equipment blitz in construction, the Big Box Retail blitz at industrial workplaces and the Mobile Equipment blitz in mining. They also conducted ergonomics-specific blitzes that focused on:

  • musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) prevention in metal fabrication
  • ergonomics related to falls (ladders, stairs, platforms)

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Metal fabrication — MSD prevention

The ministry’s ergonomists visited metal fabrication workplaces to address MSD hazards associated with manual material handling and manufacturing activities often found in this sector.

Ergonomics related to falls

Ergonomists visited workplaces to address the use of ladders and other access systems (for example, stairs, platforms and walkways). Work such as manual material handling, pushing and pulling, and extended reaches when performed on a ladder, stairs or access platform can affect balance and contribute to falls. These visits targeted storage practices and ladder use as well as unsafe work practices performed from ladders, stairs or platforms.

Radiation Protection Service

The Radiation Protection Service at the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development provides technical support and expertise to regional staff on all aspects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

Radiation Protection Service focus

Radiation safety is devoted to minimizing occupational radiation exposure to workers. The ministry’s radiation protection officers conduct proactive radiation safety inspections and reactive radiation exposure investigations and provide support to inspectors. In 2018-2019, they focused on dental X-ray installations in open treatment areas at veterinary facilities, workplaces that have outstanding rejected applications for installation of an X-ray source, and workplaces with X-ray sources that have never been inspected.

Radiation Protection Service Laboratory

The Radiation Protection Service Laboratory in Toronto samples, tests, and monitors food and environmental samples for radiation around nuclear installations in and surrounding Ontario. The testing is conducted as part of the Order-in-Council responsibilities assigned to the ministry under the Provincial Nuclear Emergency Response Plan (PNERP). The laboratory also conducts radio analysis of drinking water for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks in support of the Drinking Water Surveillance Program. Over the 2018-2019 fiscal year the laboratory tested 1,723 samples performing 3,025 analysis.