February 2014 Issue 69
—Serving Québec & The Maritimes—
YOW Canada
Mandatory Health & Safety Training for All Ontario Workers By Marek Krasuski
T
he province of Ontario is the first across this country to introduce a new health and safety awareness training that will apply to every worker in the province. The progressive legislation comes in the wake of widespread lack of knowledge regarding health and safety issues and, more specifically, a tragedy on Christmas Eve in 2009 when five construction workers fell 12 floors from a suspended scaffold at a building in northwest Toronto. Four of the five died. Following the incident an investigative panel comprising representatives from organized labour, employers and the academic community studied existing laws regulating health and safety in Ontario, and in late 2010, released a report with 46 recommendations, one of which was mandatory health and safety awareness training for Ontario workers. From July 1, 2014 onward, all workers across the entire employment spectrum will require health and safety awareness training in order to work legally in this province. YOW, page 4 >>
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