The province has enacted changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, considered the largest amendment of the legislation in 30 years.
“We all have the same goal: to make sure all workers go home safe and healthy at the end of the day,” Labour Minister Charles Sousa said in a May 18 news release. “These amendments will help prevent injuries and create productive workplaces, and that’s good news for all Ontarians.”
The changes will establish the Ministry of Labour as the lead for accident prevention, transferring it from the WSIB; appoint a new chief prevention officer to co-ordinate and align the prevention system; create a new prevention council, with representatives from labour, employers and safety experts to advise the chief prevention officer and the minister.
The changes also give the minister of labour oversight of the province's health and safety associations as well as the education, training and promotion of workplace health and safety.
The amendments are a response to recommendations made by the Expert Panel on Occupational Health and Safety.
The council was formed in 2010 to lead a review of Ontario's occupational health and safety prevention and enforcement system, with the support of a panel comprised of safety experts from labour and employer groups and academic institutions.
The council, which was headed by Tony Dean, a professor in the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto, received more than 400 responses in more than 50 meetings with stakeholders across the province.
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