Supporting workplace parties to fulfill their occupational health and safety roles and responsibilities and achieve excellence

Some workplaces need help complying with the basic requirements of Ontario laws. Others are striving for excellence. The OHS system is committed to supporting both. In 2020–2021, OHS system partners developed new resources to support their sectors during COVID‑19 and delivered existing OHS programs. The ministry undertook initiatives to increase compliance. At the same time, the ministry launched or enhanced programs to help employers achieve OHS excellence.

Programs and resources to support workplaces to fulfil their OHS roles and responsibilities

Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) COVID‑19 resources

WSIB quickly responded to the COVID‑19 pandemic with a focused strategy. Their approach involved:

• providing COVID‑19 related information on their website and social channels, including COVID‑19 guidance documents that link users back to the ministry website
• adding pandemic readiness tools to their Health and Safety Excellence program materials, for example they created a COVID‑19 roadmap for employers
• posting online FAQs, including questions related to temporary foreign agricultural employees
• sharing links to other helpful sources of information on their website and through social channels
• allowing employers enrolled in the Health and Safety Excellence program to choose topics that would help them manage their pandemic response

Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) COVID‑19 guidance

To help workplaces prevent the spread of COVID‑19, the IHSA produced over 40 guidance resources. These resources have been downloaded by more than 61,000 unique users. IHSA also offered on-site and phone consultations to the construction, electrical utilities and transportation sectors. Between March 2020 and April 2021, the IHSA:

• completed 629 site visits, reaching the workplaces of 9,179 workers in Ontario
• placed 1,281 calls to worksites across Ontario, reaching 7,340 workers

Additionally, IHSA developed 13 on-demand COVID‑19 awareness webinars. More than 1,000 people attended these sessions.

Line Crew Ground Support Program

The IHSA worked with industry partners to create the Line Crew Ground Support Program. This program is intended for Indigenous people in Ontario. It helps participants prepare and build practical powerline and health and safety skills to help integrate more easily into the workforce. In 2020, 36 students from various Indigenous communities across the province completed this program.

Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) conferences

PSHSA delivered a free Return to the Workplace virtual conference on June 16, 2020. Nearly 1,500 participants registered for the event to learn how COVID‑19 has impacted businesses. They were able to interact with experts for guidance on how to navigate return to the workplace during COVID‑19. They were also able to hear about innovations that could help them keep workers and customers healthy and safe. An evaluation completed by 129 attendees, speakers and exhibitors showed that there was a 95% satisfaction rate.

On November 17, 2020, PSHSA followed up with a second free virtual conference: The Workplace, Reimagined. This focused on “where we go from here” and gathered innovative perspectives on what our new world of work should look like. The conference featured six knowledge streams across 33 sessions. Sessions included topics such as leadership, emerging technologies, resilience, digital learning change management and diversity, equity, and inclusion. A total of 1,103 participants registered for the event. An evaluation completed by 113 attendees, speakers, and exhibitors showed that there was a 91% satisfaction rate.

Recorded sessions for both virtual conferences — Return to the Workplace and The Workplace, Reimagined — are available online.

Supporting the agriculture sector through COVID‑19

OHS system partners worked with industry to develop educational resources and supports for the agricultural sector during COVID‑19. This included supports for Temporary Foreign Agricultural Workers (TFAW). For example, to ensure TFAWs could access and understand COVID‑19 related information, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) developed FAQs made specifically for them and their employers. Other resources — like this brochure in Spanish — are also available on WSIB’s website. In addition, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) worked with industry partners to produce several COVID‑19 related educational resources. These included webinars and guidance documents for the agriculture sector.

Partnerships were a key factor in the system’s response to COVID‑19 within the agriculture sector. For example, WSPS worked with the ministry and other government partners and sector stakeholders^{footnote 13[13]} to provide free training resources to temporary foreign agriculture workers. These resources were designed to:

• help workers protect themselves from COVID‑19 while at work and in housing
• provide information on vaccine safety to reduce vaccine hesitancy

All resources were translated into four languages.

WSPS initiatives also successfully supported the agriculture sector in different ways at a time when it was struggling through the pandemic. Highlights include:

• “Relieving the pains of greenhouse work” published by WSPS in January 2021. This article addresses the risks of musculoskeletal disorders in greenhouses with tips on how to prevent them. It has been distributed via Greenhouse Canada Magazine.
• A webinar conducted in collaboration with Greenhouse Canada. More than 90 participants attended. The event was designed to raise awareness as part of the Greenhouse Risk Assessment Project.

Webinars organized through WSPS and Landscape Ontario and a podcast organized through Landscape Ontario’s COVID‑19 Task Force. The goal was to help their members safely re-open by providing guidance and resources. In addition, the ministry worked with its OHS system partners on some of these initiatives as mentioned. The ministry also completed compliance initiatives and regular inspection work which included visits to agriculture sector workplaces. See more on ministry compliance initiatives below.

Supporting mining with the Ontario Mine Rescue Program

All underground mine owners must maintain a roster of actively trained mine rescue volunteers. There must be enough volunteers ready to respond across all work shifts. When a new mine starts, or when a currently operating mine loses workers from this list of available responders, the employer must recruit more volunteers. To qualify, these workers must complete an Introductory Mine Rescue program. Mine owners are required to have sufficient workers trained in mine rescue under the Occupational Health and Safety Act Mines and Mining Plants Regulation. In 2020-21, Workplace Safety North delivered 31 Introductory Mine Rescue Certification training sessions, totaling 7,280 participant hours of training.

Mandatory Mining Skills Training

Workplace Safety North’s (WSN) Mandatory Mining Skills Training program was designed to help learners meet the requirements for certification set by the former Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. In 2020-2021, WSN delivered 120 Mandatory Mining Skills Training sessions to a total of 1,329 participants. Much of this training was delivered online.

Annual Field Visit Activity

Enforcement

Occupational health and safety inspectors visit workplaces to provide information and conduct inspections to ensure that the workplace complies with health and safety legislation. If a workplace is not in compliance, the inspector may issue an order and the employer must correct the problem within a certain timeframe. If the problem poses an immediate threat to worker health and safety, the inspector may issue a stop work order, which means that work stops until the problem is corrected.

Inspectors also do consultations, which may happen before a workplace inspection. An inspector may discuss the purpose of their visit with the employer and/or joint health and safety committee members/worker health and safety representative and may request information from the workplace parties to prepare for their next visit.

Total inspections

In 2020-21, ministry inspectors conducted a total of 72,473 visits to 36,605 workplaces and issued 75,188 orders. Of those orders, 5,356 were stop use or stop work orders.

Proactive inspections

Proactive inspections are unannounced field visits conducted to improve safety and prevent injuries or fatalities. At proactive visits, inspectors:

• monitor compliance with occupational health and safety legislation
• promote the internal responsibility system
• advise workplace parties of their rights, duties and responsibilities
• discuss requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations

In 2020–2021, 47% of the field visits (34,399) were proactive visits.

There were 46,727 orders issued during proactive visits, which accounted for 62% of all orders issued.

Reactive Inspections

Reactive inspections are field visits conducted to investigate a fatality, critical injury, work refusal, complaint, occupational disease or other health and safety-related event in the workplace. Reactive visits are a critical part of inspectors’ work.

In 2020–2021, there were 38, 074 reactive field visits, where inspectors issued 28,461 orders. Over the past decade, the number of reactive visits has increased from 23,979 in 2009–2021 to 38,074 in 2020-2021.

• Data on OHS worker fatalities and critical injury counts can be found here.
• Data on OHS inspections can be found here.
• Data on OHS orders can be found here.
• Data on OHS events can be found here.

Compliance initiatives

Each year, the ministry schedules compliance initiatives in specific sectors. Goals of these initiatives include to:

• protect workers’ rights under the Occupational Health and Safety Act
• ensure workplace parties understand their responsibilities and comply

With the arrival of COVID‑19 in 2020, the ministry shifted its compliance focus to support workplaces in protecting workers from the virus.

Cross-sector initiatives

COVID‑19 "Stay Safe All Day” campaign

In planning this campaign, the ministry and OHS partners looked at the factors that were thought to be helping to spread COVID‑19 among workers. Most employers and their workers may be following COVID‑19 safety requirements when working. However, they may fail to maintain physical distancing in the lunchroom. They may not wear masks when travelling together in a confined vehicle. Or they may fail to take safety precautions when in common areas.

The “Stay Safe All Day” campaign focused on the factors that most often result in a workplace outbreak. Its aim was to:

• improve compliance amongst workers, supervisors and employers with COVID‑19 health and safety requirements
• enforce the related regulations^{footnote 14[14]}

As part of this campaign, ministry inspectors shared resources with workplaces that highlighted the most common gaps in COVID‑19 protection. These resources were developed by the ministry’s Pandemic Workplace Safety Branch and OHS system partners, including: Preventing the spread of COVID-19 during meal and break periods at work.

Construction initiatives

COVID‑19 Construction “Stay Safe All Day” campaign

This campaign began on February 2, 2021. It had two main goals:

• To increase awareness of the COVID‑19 workplace measures needed at construction sites. These include a workplace safety plan, hand hygiene and masking.
• To highlight the importance of daily screening, physical distancing and how to adapt the work environment to meet these requirements.

As part of this campaign, inspectors from the construction health and safety program conducted field visits. To prepare inspectors, the ministry created an Inspector Guidance Toolkit. This toolkit included quick reference information such as a COVID‑19 Inspection Checklist. The campaign increased the efforts of all workplace parties to roll out COVID‑19 procedures or protocols.

Ministry inspectors conducted 3,830 field visits in 3,117 construction workplaces. They issued 8,424 OHSA orders from February 2, 2021 to May 7, 2021.

Tower crane initiative

After two tower crane failures in the summer of 2020, the ministry conducted a province-wide tower crane initiative. This initiative ran from August 31, 2020 until December 31, 2020. The ministry sent inspectors out to review the practices in place at construction sites to inspect, install and maintain tower cranes. Ministry inspectors conducted 325 field visits at 161 workplaces. They issued a total of 911 orders.

Read More

Health care initiatives

Respiratory Infections Strategy: Long-term care homes & retirement homes

During the pandemic, the ministry has made its presence in long-term care homes and retirement homes a key priority. From the earliest days of the pandemic, we have:

• Helped workplaces understand and manage the risks and protect workers
• Maintained ongoing communications with key health care stakeholders. This includes employers, workers, unions, sector associations and others in the long-term care sector
• Participated in webinars on OHS during COVID‑19 for key stakeholders in long-term care

Prior to the second wave of the COVID‑19 pandemic, in September 2020 the ministry initiated a Respiratory Infections Strategy in long-term care homes and retirement homes. The goal was to help Ontario’s long-term care sector to prepare and respond to respiratory hazards related to COVID‑19, the flu and more. The strategy included a process for sharing information between the ministry, Ministry of Long-term Care, Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility and the Retirement Home Regulatory Authority about inspections. Specific issues were referred to the correct partners for action. This has contributed to more timely inspections for homes identified as at-risk. It has also allowed all three enforcement agencies to expand their reach.

The ministry began focused inspections as part of the strategy on September 20, 2020. However, the ministry has had an ongoing presence in the long-term care sector for many years prior to the pandemic.

From September 20, 2020 to March 29, 2021, ministry inspectors completed:

• 979 COVID‑19 related field visits to long-term care homes (317 proactive, and 662 reactive), resulting in 220 orders
• 456 COVID‑19 related field visits to retirement homes (230 proactive and 226 reactive), resulting in 224 orders

Ministry inspectors also provided information and resources to help workplaces in their response to COVID‑19.

Industrial initiatives

Temporary help agencies initiative

Many Ontario workplaces faced significant labour shortages during the COVID‑19 pandemic. They relied on workers supplied from multiple sources to fill vacant positions. These included:

• temporary foreign workers
• employment agencies
• temporary help agencies
• local workers

Workers from some of these sources may be unaware of their rights and responsibilities under Ontario legislation.^{footnote 15[15]} This created new risks for COVID‑19 transmission.

The ministry launched an initiative that focused on the use of temporary help agencies from May 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020. It included visits in the agriculture, food processing, manufacturing and storage and warehousing sectors. OHS inspectors assessed workplaces for compliance with OHSA requirements. OHSA inspectors were granted temporary Employment Standards Act, 2020 authority to collect information about the use of temporary help agencies. This information was then shared with the ministry’s Employment Standards Program and Service Canada.

Between May 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, 761 field visits were conducted under the Temporary Help Agencies initiative as part of the Underground Economy Initiative. There were 570 orders and requirements issued including 5 stop work orders under OHSA.

The ministry launched a modified version of this initiative again for the 2021 growing season. The ministry implemented new data collection tools to drive data-driven decision making for this sector.

Temporary foreign agriculture workers (TFAW) farming initiative

This initiative was conducted from May 2020 to December 2021. Its goal was to address the increase in positive COVID‑19 cases reported on farms, including those with temporary foreign workers. The information gathered during this initiative was used to begin working to solve this issue with ministry partners. These included:

• Employment and Skills Development Canada
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
• Public health units

By March 31, 2021, ministry inspectors:

• conducted 787 field visits to 707 workplaces
• issued 254 orders

Meat processing facilities initiative

This initiative was developed to help meat processing facilities control COVID‑19. The goal was twofold:

1. Raise awareness of the risks of COVID‑19 transmission for workers in these facilities.
2. Ensure employers had the information necessary to implement COVID‑19 health and safety measures.

From May 26, 2020 to March 31, 2021 ministry inspectors:

• conducted 327 field visits at 285 meat processing facilities
• issued 290 orders

Ministry inspectors also shared resources with workplaces such as Food manufacturing and processing health and safety during COVID‑19.

Warehousing / distribution initiative

This initiative was conducted in Peel Region after a high number of COVID‑19 outbreaks in local warehousing and distribution centres. It ran from February 10 to February 24, 2021, as part of a Stay Safe All Day campaign. The ministry worked closely with the local public health unit throughout the campaign.

Ministry inspectors found that employers were generally aware of the COVID‑19 safety measures. The inspectors provided education and compliance support to businesses that continued to struggle with adopting the regulations.

From February 10, 2021 to February 24, 2021 ministry inspectors:

• conducted 47 OHSA field visits
• issued 85 OHSA orders including 1 stop work order

Return to School Consultation and Yardstick initiative

The ministry conducted and completed a Return to School Consultation Initiative from August 7 to August 28, 2020. This was to prepare schools as they began to reopen from COVID‑19 lockdowns. Ministry inspectors engaged with safety staff and Joint Health and Safety Committee co-chairs at all 76 schoolboards in Ontario. These visits focused on three main areas:

1. Providing OHS compliance assistance regarding the boards’ plans for return to school.
2. Sharing information and resources.
3. Encouraging labour-management cooperation through the Joint Health and Safety Committee.

All consultation field visits were completed within school boards prior to school resuming in September 2020. Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA) published guidance documents for schools to help staff and teachers remain healthy and safe in the workplace. PSHSA also worked with the Ministry of Education to build a training module to support the reopening of schools.

From October 15, 2020 to March 31, 2021, the ministry introduced the YARDSTICK initiative. The goal was to provide ministry inspectors with a risk framework to guide proactive inspections in school settings. These inspections focused on COVID‑19 measures put into place by school boards at specific locations. These inspections were an important part of the province’s response to complaints and reports of occupational illness.

Mining initiatives

Inspector outreach for COVID‑19 in the mining sector

The ministry has made and continues to make visits to mines and mining plants a key priority throughout the pandemic. Our goal is to help employers and workers understand and manage the risk of COVID‑19 transmission and protect all workers. Ministry inspectors conducted focused inspections to address safe working conditions, proper hygiene practices and cleaning of equipment.

From March 23, 2020 to June 30, 2020, ministry inspectors:

• conducted 232 field visits (173 proactive, 59 reactive)
• issued 5 orders (all during proactive visits)

Electric battery vehicles and mobile diesel equipment maintenance in mines

The ministry led this health and safety initiative from December 14, 2020 to March 31, 2021. The goal was to help enforce employer compliance with the requirements for battery electric vehicles and mobile diesel equipment maintenance in mines under Ontario regulations.^{footnote 15[15]}

The ministry began by focusing on education, outreach and awareness for employers. We partnered with Workplace Safety North (WSN) to deliver this support. Then, beginning February 3, 2020, the ministry conducted a focused inspection blitz at mines to check that employers had complied.

Between December 14, 2020 to March 31, 2021, ministry inspectors:

• conducted 39 field visits with one support role activity^{footnote 16[16]}
• visited 35 mining workplaces
• issued 69 orders and requirements, including 4 stop work orders

Read more.

Programs supporting OHS excellence

Research indicates that healthy and safe workplaces, where people feel safe and secure every day, offer numerous benefits to employers and employees alike. They reduce absenteeism and employee turnover and increase engagement.

Health and Safety Excellence program

The Health and Safety Excellence program launched in November 2019.

From November 2019 to March 31, 2021, the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) had 2,193 businesses enrolled in the program. These businesses represent over 700,000 employees covered by WSIB. The construction sector represents the highest number of participants at 25%. Manufacturing follows at 17%.

The WSIB issued over $1.5 million in rebates to participants in the first year of the program. By March 31, 2021, Program members were working on almost 9,000 health and safety topics in workplaces across Ontario. Each topic focuses on eliminating or controlling a hazard. It includes the detail, standards, equipment and procedures required to improve this area of health and safety. Learn more here.

Workplace Safety North (WSN) has been an approved provider of this program since its launch. WSN has developed a webpage which provides:

• program background
• WSIB member guidelines
• templates and template guidelines

WSN has also provided nine regular webinar sessions and delivered a total of 56 participant training hours to provide Health and Safety Excellence program staff and client support.

The Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) has also continued to support members enrolled in the program. IHSA offers one-on-one virtual consultations to help clients adapt topics to address COVID‑19 in their workplaces.

In December of 2020, IHSA had 326 active members enrolled in the Health and Safety Excellence program. Five had completed their chosen topics for the year and shared a total of $466,869 in rebates. Members spanned across the following sectors:

• construction (205 employers)
• transportation (75 employers)
• electrical/utilities (12 employers)
• other sectors (34 employers)

Supporting Ontario’s Safe Employers (SOSE)

Supporting Ontario’s Safe Employers (SOSE) is a ministry program established by the CPO in November 2019. The voluntary program is intended to help reduce injuries and illness in the workplace by promoting the implementation of accredited Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS).

Following the first wave of COVID‑19, the ministry launched a new Accreditation and Employer Recognition application portal. We received the first request to be assessed for CPO Employer Recognition in fall 2020.

Third-party lead auditors are essential to the CPO employer recognition process. They verify whether an employer has fully implemented a CPO-accredited OHSMS. In December 2020 and January 2021, the CPO made it easier for employers to complete audits. We released the Governing Body of Auditors requirements and accepted more certification bodies accredited to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17021 standard.

On March 31, 2021, three employers received CPO Employer Recognition for having fully implemented ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems and meeting other recognition criteria. In total, these employers also received $115,000 in financial incentives from the WSIB’s Ontario Safe Employers Rebate Program. These organizations must continue to maintain their OHSMS each year to maintain CPO Recognition. If these organizations comply with the WSIB’s requirements, they may be eligible for financial incentives under the Ontario Safe Employers Rebate Program over the next two years.