Appendix
Legislative and regulatory amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act
New Regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA): Notices and Reports under Sections 51 to 53.1 of the Act — Fatalities, Critical Injuries, Occupational Illnesses and Other Incidents (O. Reg. 420/21)
A new regulation under the OHSA came into effect on July 1, 2021 that applies to all workplaces covered by the OHSA. Among other things, O. Reg. 420/21 sets out specific information that must be included in notices and reports for fatalities, critical injuries, occupational illnesses and other incidents and incorporates the definition of critical injury, previously set out in Regulation 8 34 (Critical Injury — Defined). It also incorporates the reporting requirements, previously set out in nine regulations, into a single regulation.
Notice and report of death, critical injuries and other occurrences
Effective December 2, 2021, amendments to various sections of the OHSA included:
- Amending sections 8 and 9 to clarify that a health and safety representative or designated worker representative on a committee may share with an inspector any of the findings from inspecting the place where a fatality or critical injury occurred and any device or thing.
- Amending section 51 to require employers to submit critical injury and fatality reports to the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC), health and safety representative and trade union (if any) in addition to the current requirement to notify the ministry.
- Providing the ability for inspectors to request written notification to the ministry about subsection 52(1) occurrences for a time period requested by an inspector.
Updated regulation making authority for future opportunities
Effective December 2, 2021, amendments to various sections of the OHSA included:
- Amending subsection 25(4) so that workplaces with five or less workers may be required to have an occupational health and safety policy when prescribed.
- Amending subsection 70(2) to provide the regulation-making authority under paragraph 15 to prescribe elements and format of any program or policy required under the OHSA.
Clarification for pre-start health and safety reviews (PSHSR)
O. Reg. 434/21 amended Regulation 851 (Industrial Establishments) to streamline and clarify PSHSR requirements.
Engineering duties under OHSA and new definition for engineer
Effective July 1, 2022, “limited licence holders” are authorized as another group of engineers, in addition to professional engineers, licensed under the Professional Engineers Act to provide advice and certification under the OHSA and regulations.
To implement this change, a new defined term “engineer” was added to the definition section in the OHSA. Changes to nine regulations were also made to replace the current references to “professional engineer” with the new defined term.
Access to washrooms
The Working for Workers Act, 2021 (Bill 27) amended the OHSA to require the owner of a workplace to provide access to a washroom at their workplace to workers making deliveries to or from the workplace, subject to certain exceptions. These provisions came into force on March 1, 2022.
Amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
In 2021–2022, amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA) included:
- Limit the 2021 increase to Maximum Insurable Earnings (MIE) used by employers to calculate their premiums and create a regulation-making authority for the government to set a 2022 MIE dollar amount to support employers with high wage earners during a time of economic recovery.
- Requiring surpluses over a specified funding threshold from the WSIB’s Insurance Fund to be distributed to eligible Schedule 1 employers.
- Allow third parties such as the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) to collect Schedule 1 employer premiums directly on behalf of the WSIB.
System finances
Investments — By category
In 2021–2022, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and system partners continued to invest approximately $289 million to support the implementation of the integrated health and safety strategy.
| Investment category | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transfers to Health and Safety Associations (HSAs) | 93.61 | 90.86 | 80.67 | 94.32 | 95.62 |
| HSA self-generated revenue | 28.29 | 28.37 | 27.6 | 18.21 | 22.84 |
| Enforcement | 103.1 | 103.4 | 97.9 | 101.2 | 110.4 |
| Legislation /regulation development | 2.9 | 4 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 4.1 |
| Agencies | 15.5 | 15.6 | 15.9 | 15.5 | 14.6 |
| Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development Prevention Organization | 12.7 | 13.1 | 13.8 | 14.1 | 15.9 |
| Prevention grants | 3.25 | 2.92 | 1.20 | 1.22 | 2.34 |
| Research | 8.38 | 7.27 | 6.87 | 7.93 | 8.57 |
| WSIB’s Health and Safety Excellence program | null | null | null | 33.5 |
14.7 |
| Total | 302.33 | 299.92 | 287.24 | 289.58 | 289.07 |
Sources
Transfers to Health and Safety Associations (HSAs): Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development Transfer Payment Agreements (TPAs) with HSAs 2017–2018 to 2021–2022.
HSA Self-Generated Revenue: HSAs audited financial statements 2017–2018 to 2021–2022.
Enforcement, Legislation and Regulation Development, Agencies, Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development Prevention Division: Government of Ontario IFIS Database 2017–2018 to 2021–2022.
Prevention Grants: TPAs between the ministry and the grant recipients 2017–2018 to 2021–2022.
Research: Figures are based on the TPAs between the ministry and the grant recipients 2017–2018 to 2021–2022.
Health and Safety Excellence program: WSIB Prevention Program Statistics for 2021–2022.
Notes
Other than “Legislation and Regulation Development and Health” and “Safety Association Self-Generated Revenue,” all investments in OHS are funded by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board through a portion of employer premiums.
“Agencies” include investments associated with the Office of the Worker Adviser, Office of the Employer Adviser and the associated administration.
“HSA Self-Generated Revenue” are those generated by the Health and Safety Associations through the sale of OHS products and services, bank interest income and investments of future benefits funds. These revenues are reinvested into the health and safety system.
HSA expenditures
The chart below states total actual spending by Health and Safety Associations. For each health and safety association, most expenditures are directed to training, consulting and clinical services.
| Association | IHSA | OHCOW | PSHSA | WHSC | WSN | WSPS | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training | 14.98 | null | 2.56 | 8.50 | 3.97 | 13.20 | 43.21 |
| Consulting | 5.60 | null | 4.25 | null | 2.03 | 12.73 | 24.61 |
| Clinical | null | 4.97 | null | null | null | null | 4.97 |
| Products | 2.55 | null | 1.63 | null | 0.16 | 3.65 | 7.99 |
| Mine rescue program | null | null | null | null | 7.27 | null | 7.27 |
| Occupational disease | null | 0.90 | null | null | null | null | 0.90 |
| 10% Initiatives | 1.96 | null | 0.65 | null | 0.88 | 1.21 | 4.69 |
| COVID-19 Related | null | 1.92 | null | 0.01 | 0.38 | 0.74 | 3.05 |
| Corporate services | 4.91 | 0.83 | 0.95 | 2.39 | 1.20 | 8.86 | 19.15 |
| Capital investments | 0.02 | 0.30 | null | null | 0.42 | null | 0.73 |
| Total | 30.01 | 8.91 | 10.04 | 10.91 | 16.31 | 40.40 | 116.58 |
IHSA — Infrastructure Health & Safety Association
OHCOW — Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers
PSHSA — Public Services Health & Safety Association
WHSC — Workers Health & Safety Centre
WSN — Workplace Safety North
WSPS — Workplace Safety & Prevention Services
Source
Health and Safety Associations’ 2021–2022 Financial Reports submitted to Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Notes
Totals include expenditures from self-generated revenue.
“Mine Rescue Program” is established under the direction of the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. See Section 17 of Mines and Mining Plants, Revised Regulations of Ontario 1990 — Regulation 854 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Data limitations
The OHS data in this report is limited, as:
- Ministry enforcement data may change as a result of ongoing enforcement activities and investigations.
- Additional records could be added to the source databases after extraction, which would not be included in this report. This report is accurate as of the date the data was extracted.
System partner annual reports
More information on the work done by OHS system partners can be found in their annual reports through the links below.
- Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) (PDF)
- Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) (PDF)
- Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA) (PDF)
- Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)
- Workplace Safety North (WSN)
- The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW)
- Workers Health and Safety Centre (WHSC)
- Institute for Work & Health (IWH) (PDF)
- Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) (PDF)
- Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease (CREOD)
Footnotes
- footnote[1] Back to paragraph 2020 was a transitional year; final rebates for WSIB’s legacy health and safety program were paid at the beginning of the year and initial rebates for the Health and Safety Excellence program were paid at the end of the year ($1.5M).