Occupational Health

25. (1) An employer shall ensure that,

(a) the equipment, materials and protective devices as prescribed are provided;

(b) the equipment, materials and protective devices provided by the employer are maintained in good condition;

(c) the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace;

(d) the equipment, materials and protective devices provided by the employer are used as prescribed; and

(e) a building, structure, or any part thereof, or any other part of a workplace, whether temporary or permanent, is capable of supporting any loads that may be applied to it,

(i) as determined by the applicable design requirements established under the version of the Building Code that was in force at the time of its construction,

(ii) in accordance with such other requirements as may be prescribed, or

(iii) in accordance with good engineering practice, if subclauses (i) and (ii) do not apply.

(2) Without limiting the strict duty imposed by subsection (1), an employer shall,

(a) provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of the worker;

(b) in a medical emergency for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment, provide, upon request, information in the possession of the employer, including confidential business information, to a legally qualified medical practitioner and to such other persons as may be prescribed;

(c) when appointing a supervisor, appoint a competent person;

(d) acquaint a worker or a person in authority over a worker with any hazard in the work and in the handling, storage, use, disposal and transport of any article, device, equipment or a biological, chemical or physical agent;

(e) afford assistance and co-operation to a committee and a health and safety representative in the carrying out by the committee and the health and safety representative of any of their functions;

(f) only employ in or about a workplace a person over such age as may be prescribed;

(g) not knowingly permit a person who is under such age as may be prescribed to be in or about a workplace;

(h) take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker;

(i) post, in the workplace, a copy of this Act and any explanatory material prepared by the Ministry, both in English and the majority language of the workplace, outlining the rights, responsibilities and duties of workers;

(j) prepare and review at least annually a written occupational health and safety policy and develop and maintain a program to implement that policy;

(k) post at a conspicuous location in the workplace a copy of the occupational health and safety policy;

(l) provide to the committee or to a health and safety representative the results of a report respecting occupational health and safety that is in the employer's possession and, if that report is in writing, a copy of the portions of the report that concern occupational health and safety;

(m) advise workers of the results of a report referred to in clause (l) and, if the report is in writing, make available to them on request copies of the portions of the report that concern occupational health and safety; and

(n) notify a Director if a committee or a health and safety representative, if any, has identified potential structural inadequacies of a building, structure, or any part thereof, or any other part of a workplace, whether temporary or permanent, as a source of danger or hazard to workers.

(3) For the purposes of clause (2)(c), an employer may appoint himself or herself as a supervisor where the employer is a competent person.

(3.1) Any explanatory material referred to under clause(2) (i) may be published as part of the poster required under section 2 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

(4) Unless otherwise prescribed, clause (2) (j) does not apply with respect to a workplace at which five or fewer workers are regularly employed.

(5) Clause (2) (n) does not apply to an employer that owns the workplace.

[S.O. 2009, c. 23, s. 2; 2011, c. 1, Sch. 7, s. 2; 2011, c. 11, s. 9; 2017, c. 34, Sch. 30, s. 1; 2021, c. 34, Sch. 15, s. 4]

26. (1) In addition to the duties imposed by section 25, an employer shall,

(a) establish an occupational health service for workers as prescribed;

(b) where an occupational health service is established as prescribed, maintain the same according to the standards prescribed;

(c) keep and maintain accurate records of the handling, storage, use and disposal of biological, chemical or physical agents as prescribed;

(d) accurately keep and maintain and make available to the worker affected such records of the exposure of a worker to biological, chemical or physical agents as may be prescribed;

(e) notify a Director of the use or introduction into a workplace of such biological, chemical or physical agents as may be prescribed;

(f) monitor at such time or times or at such interval or intervals the levels of biological, chemical or physical agents in a workplace and keep and post accurate records thereof as prescribed;

(g) comply with a standard limiting the exposure of a worker to biological, chemical or physical agents as prescribed;

(h) establish a medical surveillance program for the benefit of workers as prescribed;

(i) provide for safety-related medical examinations and tests for workers as prescribed.

(j) where so prescribed, only permit a worker to work or be in a workplace who has undergone such medical examinations, tests or x-rays as prescribed and who is found to be physically fit to do the work in the workplace;

(k) where so prescribed, provide a worker with written instructions as to the measures and procedures to be taken for the protection of a worker; and

(l) carry out such training programs for workers, supervisors and committee members as may be prescribed.

(2) For the purposes of clause (1)(a), a group of employers, with the approval of a Director, may act as an employer.

(3) If a worker participates in a prescribed medical surveillance program or undergoes prescribed medical examinations or tests, his or her employer shall pay,

(a) the worker's costs for medical examinations or tests required by the medical surveillance program or required by regulation;

(b) the worker's reasonable travel costs respecting the examinations or tests; and

(c) the time the worker spends to undergo the examinations or tests, including travel time, which shall be deemed to be work time for which the worker shall be paid at his or her regular or premium rate as may be proper.

[S.O. 1994, c. 27, s. 120]

28. (1) A worker shall,

(a) work in compliance with the provisions of this Act and the regulations;

(b) use or wear the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the worker's employer requires to be used or worn;

(c) report to his or her employer or supervisor the absence of or defect in any equipment or protective device of which the worker is aware and which may endanger himself, herself or another worker; and

(d) report to his or her employer or supervisor any contravention of this Act or the regulations or the existence of any hazard of which he or she knows.

(2) No worker shall,

(a) remove or make ineffective any protective device required by the regulations or by his or her employer, without providing an adequate temporary protective device and when the need for removing or making ineffective the protective device has ceased, the protective device shall be replaced immediately;

(b) use or operate any equipment, machine, device or thing or work in a manner that may endanger himself, herself or any other worker; or

(c) engage in any prank, contest, feat of strength, unnecessary running or rough and boisterous conduct.

(3) A worker is not required to participate in a prescribed medical surveillance program unless the worker consents to do so.