Record your exposure to hazardous substances

Some exposures at work can make you sick, but illnesses can take years to develop. To prevent occupational illness, it is important to know when and where harmful exposures happen, and how to mitigate them.

Occupational Exposure Registry Self-Tracker

The Occupational Exposure Registry (OER) Self-Tracker gives workers an easy-to-use tool to:

Occupational Exposure Registry Self-Tracker

Record an exposure

Create a record of your workplace exposures and track control measures for your jobs and worksites.

Occupational Exposure Registry track control

Share your record

Help your doctor, employer, or insurer better understand your work exposures over time.

Occupational Exposure Registry analytics and trends

Improve safety

Be aware of hazardous substances and what may be needed to protect your health and safety.

Sign in or create an account

Access the OER Self-Tracker by logging in or creating an account with ServiceOntario.

Viewing your exposure record

Once you submit your exposure record, you will receive a confirmation email with a PDF copy of your submission at the email address associated with the account.

Why tracking is important

Having better information about harmful workplace exposures means:

  • your employer can better understand how to fulfill their duty to inform you of, and protect you from, workplace hazards
  • you will know more about what you are working with and the hazards you may be exposed to, so you can take steps to protect yourself
  • the ministry can support employers and workers to reduce levels of exposure and prevent illness

The Occupational Exposure Registry (OER) is increasing:

  • the amount of data collected about work exposures in Ontario
  • awareness of harmful exposures at work
  • worker and employer knowledge of how to reduce or eliminate harmful work exposures.

Designated substances

There are 11 hazardous substances that are called designated substances in Ontario. There are special rules about how employers must protect workers from them.

  • acrylonitrile
  • arsenic
  • asbestos (general and construction)
  • benzene
  • coke oven emissions
  • ethylene oxide
  • isocyanates
  • lead
  • mercury
  • silica
  • vinyl chloride

When you record an exposure in the OER Self-Tracker, you can select one of the designated substances. You can also choose “other” from the drop-down menu and type in a different hazardous substance that isn’t on the list.

Controlling hazardous exposures

Your employer must tell you when you are working with a hazardous substance, assess risks from those substances, and based on the assessment, put control measures in place to reduce your exposure.

The assessment must be done in consultation with the joint health and safety committee, to find out if a control program is needed for any of the 11 designated substances.

This control program would include what measures the employer will need to take to control your exposure to the designated substance, including methods and procedures for monitoring airborne exposures in the workplace.

Record control measures in the self-tracker

In the OER Self-Tracker you can record information about the following control measures that your employer put in place:

  • Substitution, or replacement with a safer alternative. For example, changing the substance you work with or changing the process or equipment used.
  • Engineering controls that reduce or prevent contact with hazard. For example, ventilation, enclosures, barriers for isolation.
  • Administrative controls that change the way workers work. For example, training, job rotation schedules, work-rest cycles and preventive maintenance procedures.
  • Hygiene facilities and practices, such as handwashing and no eating, drinking or smoking in prohibited areas at work.
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as respirators, gloves, protective clothing and other safety gear.
  • Other measures — any additional steps your workplace takes to protect you.

Exposure to hazardous substances

A hazardous substance is a biological or chemical agent that can cause illness, injury or death. Exposure to a hazardous substance may cause injuries or health problems right away, or only after long periods of exposure. The route of exposure may determine how a hazardous substance can affect your health.

Routes of exposure to a substance are:

  • breathing it in (inhalation)
  • swallowing it (ingestion), either directly or via transfer from contaminated hands
  • touching it against your skin, which might cause irritation or damage where it touches, or it could pass through your skin (absorption) and affect other parts of your body.

Inhalation is a major route of exposure for designated substances. Other routes of exposure may be more important for some substances than others. The routes of exposure should be considered when assessing workplace exposures.

Check the designated substances summary chart of primary routes of exposure for an overview. Learn more about health effects from exposure to workplace hazards.

Legal limits on exposure

Many hazardous substances including designated substances, have limits, called occupational exposure limits (OELs). These are the maximum amount of the substance that a worker can be exposed to in a given length of time.

They are listed in regulation as any of the following:

  • Time-weighted average (TWA) meaning a maximum amount that a worker can be exposed during an 8-hour work shift, or over a 40-hour work week.
  • Ceiling limit (C), meaning the maximum amount a worker can be exposed at any time.
  • Short-term exposure limit (STEL), meaning a worker can be exposed for up to 15 minutes for no more than 4 times during an 8 hour shift, with at least 1 hour between exposures.

Employers in Ontario are responsible for ensuring worker exposure does not go above these limits.

The OELs are listed in 2 Ontario regulations:

Use of information

The information provided through the Self-Tracker is used by the Chief Prevention Officer (CPO) to inform prevention initiatives to reduce occupational illness and enhance worker health and safety across Ontario, including the development of new programs and training supports.

Your information will remain within the Government of Ontario and will not be used for enforcement purposes. Aggregated and de-identified data may be used to help improve the Self-Tracker. It may also be shared with health and safety partners to inform prevention strategies.

Common health hazards in Ontario

Learn about occupational illness and diseases in the:

Report an illness, injury or unsafe work

Consult your health care professional if you are experiencing symptoms that you feel might be related to a workplace exposure.

To report unsafe work or a serious incident to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, you can either:

You can also report an injury or illness to the WSIB online.

Laws that protect you from exposure

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