CSSE Meeting: Prevention Office (PVO) Initiatives Shahanaz Khan and Kristen Gamble Training and Awareness Branch Prevention Office Ontario Ministry of Labour March 15, 2018

Training and Awareness Branch Update

Accreditation and Employer Recognition Development of a voluntary accreditation and employer recognition program, in consultation with stakeholders, which will recognize employers have successfully implemented an occupational health and safety management system has commenced. Extensive face-to-face consultations throughout 2017 with labour and employer stakeholders, subject matter experts, and internal stakeholders to receive initial feedback on the proposed elements of the program have taken place.  Completed public consultations (Nov 6, 2017 to January 26, 2018) sought views on: The development and implementation of a proposed accreditation framework; Elements of an occupational health and safety management system accreditation standard; Additional requirements for employer recognition; and A potential incentive framework for participants in the program.

Health and Safety Representative (HSR) While mandatory training is required to be a certified member for a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC), no such training is currently required to be a Health and Safety Representative (HSR). The ministry has been working in collaboration with the Health and Safety Associations on the development of Health and Safety Representative training guidelines and program to help small business with 6-19 workers improve health and safety. A voluntary HSR training guidelines and an eLearning program has been developed to provide basic knowledge and skills needed to enable HSRs perform their legislated duties. The voluntary HSR Training guidelines and program are planned to be released in Spring 2018, and this may provide the foundation for mandatory training at a future date.

Training Statistics Working at Heights (WAH) Training To date, the CPO has approved over 200 working at heights training programs and providers, To date, over 490,000 learners have been trained. Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) Certification Training To date, the CPO has approved 46 Part 1 programs and providers, 35 Part 2 programs and providers, and 12 Refresher programs and providers. To date, there have been over 28,000 successful learners on Part 1, over 23,000 on Part 2 and 229 on the refresher training.

Ontario College of Trades (OCOT) Opportunities for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) enhancement have been identified for general OHS, trade specific OHS, and skill specific OHS. General OHS section has been added to all trades and to the OCOT website. The Prevention Office continues to work with OCOT to review construction trade standards, during OCOT’s standards review process. This review looks to imbed enhanced occupational health and safety into apprenticeship trade skills, where dictated by legislation or necessary by hazard.