January 31, 2012
Labour Article Added: B.C. Supreme Court- No Separate Procedural Duty To Treat Employee Fairly Throughout Accommodation Process
December 20, 2011
Evans, Philp is proud to sponsor the Hamilton Health Sciences 2012 Gala – “A Roaring Affair” on February 11, 2012
December 14, 2011
Labour Article Added: Court Upholds Limits on Principal’s Discretion to Conduct Teacher Performance Appraisals
November 30, 2011
Labour Article Added: Arbitrator: OHSA Violence Provisions Have Significantly Changed Workplace Law
November 23, 2011
Jury returns a zero verdict in Evans, Philp tort defence trial. Congratulations to Kieran Dickson

Ticketing for Industrial Safety Violations

EP Update - February 24, 2005

Ontario's Labour Minister, Chris Bentley, announced at the beginning of the year that the provincial government intends to reduce workplace injuries by at least 20% over the next four years. Granting ticket issuing powers to more health and safety inspectors is one of the measures introduced to achieve this goal.

Inspectors in the construction, mining and diving sectors have had the power to issue tickets for some time. However, effective January 15, 2005, this power was broadened to cover several other sectors including manufacturing, logging, restaurants and retail.

With these recent legislative amendments, violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act ("OHSA") which "pose an immediate and potentially serious hazard to workers, [which] are immediately observable by inspectors [and which] do not raise complex legal or factual issues" may be the subject of tickets issued to employers, supervisors or workers. A total of 81 violations have been listed in the ticketing regulations. They typically involve high risk activities which can lead to critical injuries such as failure to wear fall arrest equipment, failure to use adequate guarding on tools or machines and failure to operate lifting devices in a safe manner.

Tickets have set fines ranging from $195 to $295. The ticketed party has a choice between signing the guilty plea on the ticket and paying the fine or requesting a trial. If the latter option is chosen, the party has a choice between pleading not guilty or pleading guilty, with submissions. In regard to the latter, the Court has the authority to reduce the fine if it concludes it is appropriate to do so.

The Ministry describes the tickets as a means of addressing health and safety issues with immediacy and of preventing employers with unsafe workplaces from gaining an unfair fiscal advantage over their competitors. It is anticipated ticketing generally will occur during inspections or work refusal investigations by Ministry health and safety inspectors. The Ministry recently hired an additional 200 health and safety inspectors and intends to target workplaces with the highest lost time injury rates.

It will be interesting to see whether or not these newly anointed provincial health and safety inspectors apply their ticketing authority in a manner which exceeds those powers which they previously enjoyed in the construction, mining and diving sectors.