Ontario MOL Proposes Changes to the Occupational Health & Safety Act

In response to the Expert Panel recommendations led by Tony Dean, the Ontario MOL has introduced Bill 160 An Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 with respect to occupational health and safety and other matters.

Under the proposed Bill the MOL assumes responsibility for prevention. A new Chief Prevention Officer, reporting to the Minister of Labour on strategic priorities, would provide leadership on the prevention of workplace injury and occupational diseases.

The MOL would expand its involvement in workplace health and safety education and promotion. The Minister would also have oversight of the province’s Health and Safety Associations under the leadership of the chief prevention officer and could delegate that oversight to the chief prevention officer.

A new Prevention Council with representatives from the worker and employer communities, and health and safety experts, would provide valuable input into the direction the health and safety system and would be asked to endorse any significant changes to the system.

The Minister would have the authority to establish standards for health and safety training in order enhance this training and ensure workers are properly trained.

Workers, especially the most vulnerable workers, would have improved protections against reprisals for exercising their rights under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The Bill would amend section 50 of the OHSA (Reprisals by Employer Prohibited) and empower inspectors to refer an alleged reprisal matter to the Board in certain circumstances.

Significant changes include:

• empowering the Minister of Labour (the “Minister”) to establish standards for training programs and training providers, and collect information and maintain records of workers’ successful completion of approved training programs;
• empowering the Minister to establish training and certification standards for members of joint health and safety committees;
• requiring constructors or employers to provide health and safety representatives with training;enabling the co-chair of a joint health and safety committee to make written recommendations to a constructor or employer if the committee fails to reach consensus; and
• authorizing a Director designated under section 6 to establish policies respecting the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the OHSA, and to require an inspector to follow such policies.

The Bill Passed First Reading on March 3, 2011

To download a pdf Copy of the Bill click here