A. INTRODUCTION
The Government of Ontario has introduced a new regulatory
requirement to ensure that workers receive proper health and safety training in
the workplace. Subject only to a few exemptions, all workers and supervisors in
Ontario must complete basic occupational health and safety awareness training
programs by July 1, 2014. The mandatory training applies to most charities and
not-for-profits in Ontario.
This Bulletin will discuss the new health and safety training program and the
actions that charities and not-for-profits will need to take in order to comply
with this new workplace requirement.
B. WHO MUST COMPLETE THE TRAINING
As of July 1, 2014, the Ontario Ministry of Labour will
require and enforce mandatory health and safety awareness training for all
workers and supervisors in workplaces that are covered under the Ontario Occupational
Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”). The OHSA covers most workers, supervisors, employers
and workplaces in Ontario, but does not cover volunteers.
The training is intended to enhance workers’ and supervisors’ understanding
about their rights and responsibilities under the OHSA and the issues of
workplace health and safety. The training requirements are set out in the
Occupational Health and Safety Awareness and Training regulation (“Regulation”) under the OHSA.
There are two types of training: one type is specifically
for workers and the other is designed for supervisors. The OHSA section
(1) defines a “worker” as “person who performs work or supplies services for
monetary compensation but does not include an inmate of a correctional
institution or like institution or facility who participates inside the
institution or facility in a work project or rehabilitation program”; and a
“supervisor” as “a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a
worker”. However, if the worker or supervisor completed a basic occupational
health and safety training program in the past and can provide his or her
employer with proof of that training; and the employer can verify that the
previous training covers the required topics under the Regulation, additional
training under the Regulation will not be required. If employers want to rely
on that exemption they will need to carefully assess the previous training
received by their workers and supervisors to determine if that training is
sufficient. Therefore, for those workers and supervisors who are not exempted,
they must complete the training programs, as discussed below.
C. TRAINING PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
The training program for workers must include training
about the following topics:
1) The duties and rights of workers under the OHSA;
2) The duties of employers and supervisors under the OHSA;
3) The roles of health and safety representatives and joint health and
safety committees under the OHSA;
4) The roles of the Ministry of Labour, the Workplace Safety and Insurance
Board (“WSIB”) and the other entities discussed in section 22.5 of the OHSA which address occupational health and safety;
5) Workplace hazards;
6) The requirements set out in OHSA Regulation 860 - the Workplace
Hazardous Materials Information System - concerning information and instruction
on controlled products; and
7) Occupational illness. “Occupational illness” is defined in section 1 of
the OHSA as “a condition that results from exposure in a workplace to a
physical, chemical or biological agent to the extent that the normal physiological
mechanisms are affected and the health of the worker is impaired thereby and
includes an occupational disease for which a worker is entitled to benefits
under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997”.
The training program for supervisors must include training
about the following topics:
1) The duties and rights of workers under the OHSA;
2) The duties of employers and supervisors under the OHSA;
3) The roles of health and safety representatives and joint health and
safety committees under the OHSA;
4) The roles of the Ministry of Labour, the WSIB and the other entities
discussed in section 22.5 of the OHSA which address occupational health
and safety;
5) The ways to recognize, assess and control workplace hazards, and to
evaluate those controls; and
6) Sources of information on occupational health and safety.
Employers may, but are not obligated, to use the training
products that are provided by the Ontario Ministry of Labour and are accessible
on the Ministry’s website.
The Ministry’s training resources and tools include free workbooks accompanied
by employer guides and free electronic training tools that are accessible
online to help employers comply with the new regulatory requirements. If
employers chose to use their own training resources, they must ensure that
their training resources cover the required topics as specified in the
Regulation.
D. TRAINING TIME LIMITS
Beginning July 1, 2014, the training programs will be
mandatory for all those workers and supervisors that are not exempted. After
July 1, 2014, employers must ensure that the training programs for workers are
completed “as soon as practical”; and that the training programs for supervisors are completed “within one week
of performing work as a supervisor”. The “work as a supervisor” would commence when an individual’s work in the
workplace meets the definition of “supervisor” under the OHSA. The training
program for supervisors also applies to individuals who work as supervisors
temporarily or infrequently, such as when a manager is absent from the office, and
owners who also take on the role of supervising the organization’s workers.
Therefore, it is important that this training be considered as a priority
matter for both new and existing workers and supervisors.
E. PROOF OF TRAINING
Employers are required under the Regulation to keep
records of completed occupational health and safety awareness training by
workers and supervisors, and records of those employees that are exempt from
the training. Employers are not required to submit the records to the
Ministry of Labour, but must retain the records because the Ministry of Labour
may request the records during an investigation or inspection. It is
recommended by the Ministry of Labour that employers keep the records for at
least six months after the end of employment, as workers and supervisors can
request from the employer written proof of their completion or exemption of the
training within six months of leaving the workplace.
F. ADDITIONAL TRAINING
It is important to note that employers must not only
ensure that their employees complete this new basic occupational health and
safety awareness training, but employers must also continue to provide further
occupational health and safety training, such as to provide “information,
instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of the
worker” and to “acquaint a worker or a person in authority over a worker with any
hazard in the work and in the handling, storage, use, disposal and transport of
any article, device, equipment or a biological, chemical or physical agent”.
G. CONCLUSION
Charities and not-for-profits should be planning now to
ensure that all workers and supervisors complete the mandatory basic
occupational health and safety awareness training. These organizations also
will need to develop and implement a process for documenting compliance with
the Regulation in the event of a Ministry of Labour inspection. Employers
should allocate a time when the training programs are to be completed.
According to the information on the Ministry of Labour website, the training
modules should take approximately one hour to complete. Therefore, while the
obligations imposed by the Regulation may appear to be onerous, compliance with
relatively minimal effort and planning is achievable. Finally, as this training
is mandatory, the failure to implement an appropriate training program will
expose the organization, and possibly its directors, officers and managers,
pursuant to Part IX (Offences and Penalties) of the OHSA, to the
potentially significant fines and penalties under the OHSA.
