Canadian Safety Laws

Canadian Safety Laws and regulations are significantly different in how they are interpreted, applied and enforced.

There are essentially multiple components in Canadian Safety Laws and regulations that make it different.

Provincial Laws

Canadian Safety laws are mandated and enacted provincially.  All federally controlled organizations and transportation organizations come under Federal laws but must also follow applicable provincial laws.

Each Province has a minimum standard for regulations, which can be different in every province.  The Provincial Occupational Health & Safety Act and it’s regulations are enforced by the Ministry of Labour for each province.  The Ministry of Labour inspectors can issue work orders, stop projects, and have numerous powers when a site is not in compliance.

Certain provinces follow the same standards for equipment and work processes, however, all provinces have different rules when it comes to safety related processes such as: accident reporting, handling emergencies, workplace inspections, Joint Committees, etc.

In certain areas one law in one province, at times can completely violate the law in another province.

The following cases have been extracted from the Ministry of Labour website to showcase examples of infringements of Occupational Health and Safety Laws in Ontario. The cases compiled here highlight the variety of potential scenarios violating health and safety in the workplace.