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Section 03

Workplace Health & Safety

What Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act actually requires of an employer, why a safety program isn’t the same as being compliant, and the questions employers ask before an inspector or an incident asks them.

Jurisdiction
Ontario
For
SMB owners & managers
Knowledge base
10 sourced notes
Updated
June 2026

Workplace health and safety in Ontario is a shared legal duty: the Occupational Health and Safety Act puts it on the employer, the supervisor, and the worker together. After something goes wrong, the legal test is whether you took every reasonable precaution to protect your workers.

The Act is built on the Internal Responsibility System — the principle that everyone, from the owner down to the newest hire, owns safety, each within what they control. Out of that flow the three rights every worker has: the right to know about the hazards in their work, the right to participate in health and safety through a representative or committee, and the right to refuse work they reasonably believe is unsafe. You owe duties to make those real, and above a headcount the Act sets you must have a worker-side representative and then a full committee. The exact thresholds, deadlines and figures are set in the statute and they change, so this page links them out rather than freezing them.

Workplace violence and harassment are health-and-safety duties too, but they’re owned in depth elsewhere — the mandatory written policies on our HR Policy & Compliance page, the duty to investigate on Workplace Investigations — so this page points there rather than rebuilding them. What follows is what the law requires you to have, why a program on the shelf isn’t the same as being compliant, and the questions employers ask. Each point links down to the sourced note behind it, and the statutory numbers link out to ontario.ca and the WSIB.

Ontario law

What the OHSA requires you to have

Primary OHSA duties and rights — the fixed points every Ontario employer is held to. Thresholds, deadlines and figures change, so each links out to the current rule on ontario.ca.

  1. Verified

    The three worker rights

    Every worker has three rights under the OHSA: the right to know about workplace hazards, the right to participate in health and safety, and the right to refuse work they reasonably believe is unsafe. The test is what the worker reasonably believes, not whether danger is later proven — and you cannot lawfully discipline a worker for properly exercising any of them.

    OHSA, ss. 43, 50 Occupational Health and Safety Act (Ontario)

    The right to refuse, and reprisal ›

  2. Verified

    The structure — the IRS

    Safety runs on the Internal Responsibility System: everyone shares the duty, with workers and management at the same table. Once you regularly employ more than a few workers your people must select a health and safety representative, and at a larger headcount a full Joint Health and Safety Committee — the thresholds are set in the Act — and you must answer their written recommendations in writing within the statutory window.

    OHSA, ss. 8–12 Occupational Health and Safety Act (Ontario)

    Representative vs. committee ›

  3. Verified

    The core duty

    On top of the specific rules, every employer must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect a worker and provide the information, instruction and supervision they need — and, above the smallest workplaces, keep a written health and safety policy, reviewed at least once a year, with a program that carries it out. That open-ended catch-all is where most charges land.

    OHSA, ss. 25–26 Occupational Health and Safety Act (Ontario)

    Employer duties under the OHSA ›

General information about Ontario law, not legal advice.

Where programs fail

Why a safety program isn’t the same as being compliant

Most employers who get into trouble do have a safety program. None of what follows is a legal citation — it’s where real programs come apart in practice. The gap is rarely the document; it’s whether the system around it actually runs. In safety the legal standard is <em>due diligence</em>: after an incident a Ministry inspector can arrive unannounced, order the work stopped, and a prosecution can follow — carrying <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90o01#BK123">substantial fines, and jail exposure for individuals</a> — and what you’re judged on is whether you took every reasonable precaution. You prove that with a documented, functioning system. Each of these is a way a real program still leaves you exposed.

  1. A safety program in name only

    Above the smallest workplaces a written health and safety policy and program are required, and many employers have one — bought as a template, signed once, filed. But the law’s real test isn’t the document; it’s the open-ended duty to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances, and that’s measured by what you actually do.

    Employer duties, and the catch-all ›

    Where it goes wrong A program that exists but isn’t lived is the classic finding. Due diligence is judged on the working system — training delivered, hazards controlled, records kept — not on a policy in the drawer.

  2. A committee that meets on paper only

    The representative or Joint Health and Safety Committee isn’t a formality. It inspects the workplace, can flag dangers, and makes written recommendations — and when it does, you have a set number of days to respond in writing, accepting them with a timetable or giving your reasons.

    What a rep or committee actually does ›

    Where it goes wrong A committee that never actually meets, or recommendations you let the response deadline slide past, is the Internal Responsibility System existing only on paper. Silence isn’t an option — and it’s exactly what an inspector looks for.

  3. A work refusal handled by instinct

    When a worker refuses work they reasonably believe is unsafe, a specific statutory process kicks in: you investigate at once with the worker and a worker-side representative present, the worker stays in a safe place nearby, and if they still have reasonable grounds a Ministry inspector is called to decide.

    The right to refuse, step by step ›

    Where it goes wrong Skipping the joint investigation, or quietly handing the task to the next worker without telling them about the refusal and why, are both breaches. And disciplining the worker who refused is a reprisal — where, if it’s challenged, the burden flips to you to prove the real reason was something else.

  4. Hazards you assumed instead of assessed

    The duty runs to the hazards in the actual work: you identify them, give workers the information, instruction and supervision to handle them, and deliver the training the law requires — basic awareness for every worker and supervisor, and hazard-specific training such as WHMIS where hazardous materials are present, with safety data sheets kept current and available.

    Hazardous materials, WHMIS & SDSs ›

    Where it goes wrong Treating training as a one-time orientation, missing the short window to train a new supervisor, or letting WHMIS data sheets go stale. An assessment you never really did — and controls you never checked — is the gap an incident finds first.

  5. An incident reported wrong, or too late

    When someone is killed or critically injured you must notify an inspector immediately and reach the committee or representative and the union, then file a written report; lesser injuries, occupational illnesses and certain site incidents each have their own written-notice window. Reporting the injury to the WSIB is a separate duty on its own clock.

    Reporting deaths, injuries & incidents ›

    Where it goes wrong Treating the phone call as the whole job, tidying up the scene before the inspector clears it, or missing one of the notice deadlines. The verbal notice doesn’t replace the written report, and a thin report that skips the witnesses or the prevention steps is incomplete.

What a Ministry inspection, order, or prosecution actually involves ›

Verified

The test you’re judged on

After an incident the question isn’t whether you had a policy — it’s whether you took every precaution reasonable in the circumstances. That standard is the OHSA’s due-diligence test, and proving you met it — with a working, documented system — is the defence the Act gives you on the duties it covers.

OHSA, s. 25(2)(h) Occupational Health and Safety Act (Ontario)

Penalties & the due-diligence defence ›
Article Newman HR Partners with Infuse Compliance Systems Safety training Get your team’s safety training sorted Book a consultation
In safety the law never asks whether you have a binder. It asks whether you took every reasonable precaution — and you answer that with a system people actually use, not a policy nobody’s read.
Frank Newman

Questions employers ask

Health & safety questions, answered

Do we need a health and safety representative or a full committee?

It depends on headcount, not on choice — and that’s the point: the Act sets the thresholds. Below a small number of workers you need neither. Once you regularly employ more than a few, your workers select a health and safety representative; at a larger headcount you must run a Joint Health and Safety Committee, jointly chaired, with — usually — a certified member from each side, that meets on a set schedule. The exact numbers are in the OHSA, so confirm the current threshold for your size before you assume you’re exempt.

Representative vs. committee, by size ›

What are the three rights workers have?

The right to know, the right to participate, and the right to refuse. The right to know means workers must be told about the hazards in their work and trained to handle them. The right to participate means a voice in health and safety through a representative or committee. The right to refuse means a worker can stop work they reasonably believe is unsafe, by following the Act’s procedure — and you can’t lawfully discipline them for properly using any of these rights.

The three rights and the refusal process ›

What do we do when a worker refuses unsafe work?

Follow the statutory steps, in order. The worker reports the refusal and stays in a safe place nearby; you investigate at once, with the worker and a worker-side representative present. If the worker still has reasonable grounds to believe the danger continues, either side has a Ministry inspector called in, and the inspector’s written decision governs. Don’t put another worker on the task without telling them about the refusal and why — and don’t discipline the worker who refused, which would be a reprisal.

The right to refuse, step by step ›

Is health and safety training mandatory?

Yes — some of it for everyone. Basic occupational health and safety awareness training is required for every worker and, separately, for every supervisor, and a supervisor must complete it within a short window of starting supervisory work. On top of that sits hazard- and equipment-specific training (WHMIS where there are hazardous materials, working-at-heights for fall-hazard work, and so on) and certification for committee members. The detailed requirements and timing are set out in O. Reg. 297/13 — and delivering and documenting that training is a large part of how you show due diligence.

Basic OHS awareness training ›

What does “due diligence” mean, and how do we show it?

Due diligence is the legal standard the OHSA holds you to: taking every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect your workers. It’s also the defence the Act gives you — for several of the core duties, an employer who proves it took every reasonable precaution can avoid conviction. You don’t show it with a policy on a shelf; you show it with a functioning, documented system: hazards assessed and controlled, training delivered and recorded, the committee meeting and its recommendations answered, incidents investigated and acted on.

The core duty and the reasonable-precaution test ›

What injuries do we have to report, and to whom?

It runs on severity, and there are two systems. Under the OHSA, a death or critical injury means notifying a Ministry inspector immediately and reaching the committee or representative and the union, then filing a written report; lesser injuries, occupational illnesses and certain site incidents each carry their own written-notice deadline. Separately, you report a work injury that needs health care or time off to the WSIB on its own short clock. The exact timeframes are set by statute and change, so check the current OHSA and WSIB deadlines rather than working from memory.

Reporting deaths, injuries & incidents ›

How is WSIB different from OHSA?

They do opposite jobs. The OHSA is the prevention law — the duties, the rights, the inspectors and the penalties that aim to stop injuries before they happen. The WSIB administers the workplace-injury insurance system after one does: no-fault benefits for an injured worker regardless of who was at fault, paid for by employer premiums. That’s the historic bargain — workers gave up the right to sue their employer for a workplace injury in exchange for guaranteed benefits — so a covered worker generally can’t take you to court, but you still owe every OHSA duty, and reporting an injury to the WSIB is separate from your OHSA reporting.

WSIB coverage & the no-fault bargain ›

The knowledge base

Go deeper in the knowledge base

  1. Employer Duties Under OHSA: The Core Obligations

    Read the note ›

  2. JHSCs and Health and Safety Representatives: Who You Need and What They Do

    Read the note ›

  3. The Right to Refuse Unsafe Work: How It Works

    Read the note ›

  4. Reporting Deaths, Injuries and Other Workplace Incidents

    Read the note ›

  5. Workplace Coverage and the No-Fault Bargain

    Read the note ›

  6. What workplace health & safety training do Ontario employers need, and why does it matter?

    Read the note ›

Get it sorted

Not sure where your safety program stands?

Most safety binders are fine until the day they’re tested — an inspection, a refusal, an injury — and then the gaps show. If you’ve inherited a template program, aren’t sure what the OHSA actually requires of you, or just want your team’s mandatory training delivered and documented properly, let’s go through what you have and what’s missing.

Book a consultation Or call 519-362-8352