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A Health & Safety Representative (Rep) is required under the provincial Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) for companies with 6-19 employees.  The role can best be described as an ‘internal auditor’ - auditing the legally required health and safety responsibilities of all those in the workplace.  The Rep is required under law to perform monthly inspections, write recommendations to the owner/senior management, be involved in the investigation of serious injuries in the workplace, and consulted with on hygiene tests and other health and safety matters (a notable activity during COVID-19).  These are complicated tasks, which is why the Ministry of Labour Training and Skills Development (MLTSD) requires training for this role – in accordance with the law, “training to enable him or her to effectively exercise the powers and perform the duties of a health and safety representative.”

Training for Working at Heights has a validity period of 3 years. After 3 years, the certificate expires and a refresher training is required.  This training is needed to meet the legal requirement for those working at heights on a construction site/project and must be approved by the “Chief Prevention Officer” (CPO) of the Ministry of Labour Training and Skills Development (MLTSD).   

If the matter is imminent and someone may get hurt at any moment, and you have already made a reasonable effort to discuss and bring the matter forward to your supervisor, then contact the Ministry of Labour Health & Safety Contact Centre for more direction: 1-877-202-0008.  You have a duty under law as a ‘worker’ to report hazards, equipment defects, etc., “which may endanger himself, herself or another worker”.  See the following link: Section 28  

One possible alternative is involving your Health & Safety Rep or Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) Worker Member if you haven’t done so already.  Their role is precisely to help with the communication challenge you are having with your supervisor, and they have legal powers to take action, even in some cases without the direct presence of the Ministry of Labour.  Do you know who your Rep or JHSC Worker Member is?  If not, find out!  

In Ontario, provincially regulated employers (most companies) require ‘basic occupational health and safety awareness training’ for workers and a related training for supervisors under regulation “Reg. 297/13: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY AWARENESS AND TRAINING”.  This is part of your employee orientation and must be done.  Then, ask what do the various job titles of your new employees require under law for other areas of training?  Do they need Working at Heights, WHMIS, First Aid, etc.?  Understanding the different training needs of your employees is also the basis for having a ‘training plan’ for your company.  This means that when employees get hired or move to a different position in your company you will visit your training plan (i.e. that contains information such as required training by job title, training expiry dates, etc.)  

P.P.E.’s Consulting Services can help your company organize a training plan and remind you when training is due.

First, take the orders very seriously.  Involve your Health & Safety Rep / Joint Health and Safety Committee – but if not having a trained Health & Safety Representative / Joint Health and Safety Committee is one of your orders, then that partly explains why you have so many written orders.

Orders are common and many are administrative in nature and not indicative that you are a bad corporate citizen. Rather, you just need more knowledge and training about the steps to be in compliance with labour laws.  The majority of businesses in our economy are small and understanding how to put all the legal pieces together is not so easy.  Perhaps, you have a simple order related to posting one of various required posters: https://www.ontario.ca/page/posters-required-workplace  

A more significant order would be a Stop Work order where the MOL has stopped your operation or a piece of equipment – you may need a third-party technical expert to help to comply and lift the order.  In most cases, it is advisable to simply do what the order asks by the due date. You can talk to the MOL inspector – they can help with questions about ‘what’ they expect to see when you comply, but not ‘how’.  How you comply with a written order is up to you – so do your best!  P.P.E. does offer guidance with MOL order compliance through our Consulting Services so please feel free to contact us to start a discussion.