Occupational Health & Safety

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On June 7, 2021, the Government of Ontario filed amendments to several Regulations made under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”). The majority of the amendments relate to the reporting of workplace accidents.

Employers in Ontario should review their current incident reporting policies and procedures regarding critical injury or fatalities in the workplace to…

To ensure Ontario employers are up-to-date, we outline two new developments affecting businesses operating during the COVID-19 pandemic below, including:

  • the implementation of enhanced COVID-19 outbreak protocols for workplaces in the City of Toronto; and
  • revisions to the COVID-19 screening tool required for Ontario employees.

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Continue Reading COVID-19 Update: Ontario Screening Requirements & Toronto Workplace Outbreak Protocols

In November 2020, Ontario updated its regulations under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, requiring businesses in certain designated public health zones to develop a “safety plan” in response to COVID-19. Since then, the Ontario government’s guidance has been updated, and safety plan requirements have been extended to businesses in all public health zones, including those in “Green-Prevent Zones” and “Lockdown Zones”.…
Continue Reading Ontario’s COVID-19 “Safety Plans” for Businesses

This is an update to our recent blog post summarizing Ontario’s required COVID-19 workplace screening tool for businesses.

To recap, the Ontario Government requires most Ontario businesses and organizations to implement particular workplace screening questions, requiring workers and essential visitors to complete a medical questionnaire before entering the workplace each day. These requirements have been established under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020.

Ontario recently updated the workplace screening questions for businesses. You can find the updated questions here. The new version of the screening tool can be completed either online or on-site before the worker enters the workplace.…
Continue Reading Ontario Revises COVID-19 Workplace Screening Requirements for Businesses

On January 12, 2021, the Government of Ontario declared a second state of emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the government issued a province-wide Stay-at-Home Order and amended O. Reg. 82/20: Rules for Areas in Stage 1 (“Stage 1 Rules”) to introduce stricter lockdown measures starting January 14, 2021.…
Continue Reading Ontario Declares Second State of Emergency and Announces New Public Health Restrictions

Earlier this summer, several Ontario municipalities established bylaws requiring businesses to ensure masks or face coverings are worn by the public in enclosed public spaces (see our earlier article here). On October 3, 2020, the Ontario government amended the Rules for Areas in Stage 3, O Reg 364/20 (the “amended regulation”), establishing similar requirements for most Ontario businesses, summarized below.

Who Must Wear Masks or Face Coverings?

Generally speaking, businesses and organizations must ensure that anyone located in an indoor area within their premises, or within a vehicle that is operating as part of the business or organization, wears a mask that covers their mouth, nose, and chin.

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Continue Reading Ontario Amends Mask and Face Covering Requirements for Businesses

Starting July 7, 2020, the City of Toronto will require businesses to ensure masks or face coverings are worn by the public in their enclosed public spaces.

Key Takeaways
  • The City of Toronto’s bylaw will come into force on July 7, 2020. It is currently set to expire on or about October 1, 2020, but may be extended.
  • The new bylaw will generally apply to all indoor spaces within the City of Toronto that are openly accessible to the public. The bylaw will not require individuals to wear masks or face coverings in workplaces that are not openly accessible to the public will not be required.
  • A list of public spaces exempted from the bylaw can be found here: https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-what-you-should-do/covid-19-orders-directives-by-laws/mandatory-mask-or-face-covering-bylaw/
  • Under the bylaw, there are exceptions for individuals who are unable to wear a mask or face covering for medical reasons, and for children under two years old. There are further exceptions for individuals who are, for example, eating a meal or engaging in athletic or fitness activity.

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Continue Reading Many Municipalities Make Masks Mandatory

As of January 1, 2021, the new stand-alone Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (the “Regulations”) will come into force to ensure employers prevent harassment and violence in federally regulated industries and workplaces. The Regulations will apply to all federal work places covered under Part II of the Canada Labour Code (the Code), including the federally regulated private sector, the federal public service and parliamentary work places. It will replace Part XX (violence prevention) of the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (COHSR), as well as portions of two other regulations that include violence prevention provisions.

Key Takeaways

Once the Regulations come into force, employers must:

  1. Prepare the workplace harassment and violence prevention policy working jointly with the policy committee, the workplace committee, or the health and safety representative;
  2. Assess the risk of workplace harassment and violence;
  3. Inform and train employees, and participate in training themselves;
  4. When an incident of harassment or violence is reported, respond within seven days;
  5. Keep records on every incident of harassment and violence in the workplace and report annually to the Labour Program; and
  6. Implement corrective measures in response to the investigation report of an investigator to prevent future occurrences of harassment and violence.

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Continue Reading New Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regime for Federally Regulated Employers