On May 13, the Ontario government announced plans to increase enforcement of violations and enhance awareness of safety measures to protect workers on construction sites. The initiative follows a 90-day provincial enforcement campaign to ensure that workplace parties are complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) and its regulations. An expert panel will make recommendations on a number of workplace safety issues based on the Ministry of Labour’s (“MOL”) preliminary report.

As we’ve previously reported, Ministry of Labour “safety blitzes” are conducted through Safe at Work Ontario, a program which focusses on improving workplace health and safety practices through education, training and enforcement of primarily the OHSA.

The Safe at Work Ontario program works in partnership with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and Ontario’s Health and Safety Associations.

An important aspect of the Safe at Work Ontario program is the performance of sector and hazard-specific inspection blitzes. The purpose of the blitzes is to raise awareness of particular workplace hazards, to promote ongoing compliance with the OHSA and its regulations, and to enforce measures regarding non-compliance.