One employer’s failure to provide workers compensation for executives has led to a string of lawsuits and at least one appeal. Are your executives covered?

Involving workers in reducing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders is expected to save one Ontario clothing manufacturer $360,000, according to researchers involved in an onsite participatory ergonomics project. At a cost of $66,000, the project offers the employer a 5.5 benefit-to-cost ratio.

Canadians are clearly committed to making their communities better places to live, work and play. According to the Canada Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 2010, 13.3 million Canadians contribute 2.1 billion hours, the equivalent of 1.1 million full-time jobs to worthy causes throughout the country. At WSPS, our volunteers act as safety advocates and champions in communities across Ontario. They help to develop cultures of safety in their workplaces, their own homes, and the communities in which they live.

Every spring, DeKorte’s Landscaping doubles its workforce, hiring seasonal workers to supplement its permanent roster of about 15 employees. This poses unique challenges that many businesses with seasonal workers will recognize: how to get these workers up to speed, keep them and their co-workers safe during the busiest time of the year, and ensure compliance during the Ministry of Labour’s annual new and young worker blitz, which began on May 1.

On April 30 and May 1, 4,500 health and safety professionals will gather at Partners in Prevention 2013 Health & Safety Conference & Trade Show, Canada’s largest annual health and safety event, to learn, share and network. Put this opportunity to work for you.

Everybody loves Clara Hughes. The world’s first Olympian to earn multiple medals at both the winter and summer games, and Canada’s top ranked Olympic medal holder alongside Cindy Klassen, Clara could just as easily be the neighbour who helps you unload your groceries, or the woman in the coffee shop who gives a hand to the new mother struggling with a stroller.

Sponsorships help to fill that crucial space between what an organization would like to do and what it can do, whether it’s funding jerseys for a little league team, providing logistical support for a fundraising ride, or supporting a major event hosted by a not-for-profit, such as Partners in Prevention 2013.
 
So, what does sponsorship mean to our delegates?

A review of Ontario’s prevention programming now underway could lead to changes that will benefit Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)’s member firms. HSO Network Magazine spoke with Cordelia Clarke Julien, director of training and safety programs in the Ministry of Labour’s recently established Prevention Office about the review and its anticipated contributions to health and safety in Ontario. Find out how your workplace could benefit from these changes.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is inviting public input as it formulates the province’s first system-wide integrated occupational health and safety strategy. Deadline for input: May 17.

If you hire new or young workers, you may receive a visit from a Ministry of Labour inspector. The ministry’s sixth new or young worker safety blitz starts May 1 and continues until August 31. The goal: raise awareness of specific hazards and encourage compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and regulations. Find out more about the blitz, and how to protect young workers aged 14 to 24, and workers of any age newly hired or recently reassigned, and seasonal and temporary workers.

Nobody does things quite like Target, the upscale discount retailer. Since the 1962 opening of its first outlet, in Roseville, Minnesota, Target has evolved into a retail powerhouse with almost 1800 U.S. locations.

Two high profile court cases involving random testing of workers for drug and alcohol use have brought renewed attention to an ongoing concern: how to protect worker safety while respecting human rights.

Both cases are ongoing. Learn more about the issue, the cases and the implications of the decisions for workplaces considering drug and alcohol testing.

In late 2012, the Canadian Foundry Association presented Fairmount Minerals’ Lakeshore Sand operation in Hamilton, ON, with its annual CFA/WSPS Health and Safety Award, Certificate of Recognition. The processing and packaging operation has achieved 13 years without a single lost-time injury.

HSO Network News spoke with Bob Van Wyngaarden, the general manager, for insights on how Lakeshore Sand sustains its health and safety performance.

Interested in accessing online health and safety information any time, not just when you’re in front of your laptop or desktop? Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) has two new options for that.

Launching April 1: a WSPS Twitter feed linking you to news, resources and expertise as issues and opportunities arise. Available soon: a WSPS mobile website interface for smartphone users.

Only days remain before the early bird registration rate for Partners in Prevention 2013 Health & Safety Conference & Trade Show expires on April 2. Here are nine additional reasons to register now for Canada’s largest annual OHS event.

February 28 is Canada’s national RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) Awareness Day. To avoid the fear factor involved in launching a musculoskeletal disorder prevention program, consider simplifying the solutions. Here are eight ideas to consider. Together, they can significantly improve health in your workplace and give you something to celebrate on next year’s RSI Day.

On February 7, 2013, the Court of Appeal for Ontario handed down its highly anticipated decision in Blue Mountain Resorts Limited v. Ontario (Ministry of Labour and Ontario Labour Relations Board), 2013 ONCA 75. It found that Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act does not require employers to report every fatal or critical injury to any person at a workplace. Read on to learn more about the case, as well as suggested best practices for employers and constructors.

Access the health and safety community's most advanced thinkers, policy makers, consultants, and product and service providers by attending Health & Safety Ontario's Partners in Prevention 2013 Health & Safety Conference & Trade Show, taking place April 30-May 1 in Mississauga.

This is the time of year when Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) releases a list of businesses that will undergo a validation audit of their Safety Group activities. Time to panic?

Not necessarily, says Hanson Brick Ltd.’s John Lourenco. “Any time you go into an audit, you plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

You and your co-workers may be an untapped resource in reducing the risk of motor vehicle incidents and a proven way to enable and sustain change, according to the results of a survey conducted for Health & Safety Ontario by Montana State University’s Center for Health and Safety Culture.

Three recent court decisions acknowledge unforeseeability — the inability to anticipate the event that occurred — as a valid consideration for workplace parties mounting a due diligence defence.

The province’s Ministry of Labour is seeking input on a proposed regulation that would make specific training mandatory for all workplaces covered under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The first training to be specified: occupational health and safety awareness for workers and supervisors. The ministry anticipates filing the regulation by July 1, 2013, and having it come into force on January 1, 2014. Other types of mandatory training would follow.

All the standards, safeguards and safety committees in the world won’t help an employer keep employees safe if the company doesn’t have a culture of safety. That’s the key takeaway from the group of 10 safety experts who headed to Aurora, ON in late September to take part in Manufacturing AUTOMATION’s fourth annual machine safety roundtable.

In February and March 2013, Ministry of Labour inspectors will be visiting Ontario workplaces to look for slip, trip and fall hazards. Of particular interest: hazards involving ladders and falls from heights. Take advantage of the time remaining to ensure you have the right measures in place to protect your employees.

Across-the-board WHMIS retraining will likely be required within the next few years upon the introduction of a new international standard. The Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for Classifying and Labelling Chemicals will introduce a universal template for conveying product information in safety data sheets and a consistent labelling format using pictograms.

Students who work while still in school face a range of health and safety risks, according to recently released research. Among the health affects reported: cuts, burns and other physical injuries, symptoms or musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), psychological distress, and fatigue.

An Ontario brewery has lost an appeal of orders issued after a Ministry of Labour ergonomist observed a driver handling product on a routine delivery route. Most male workers would be physically incapable of performing some of the driver’s tasks, the ergonomist noted in her report. Read on for more about the OLRB decision and what workplaces can learn from it.

A round of improvements to the Health & Safety Ontario (HSO) and Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) websites enhances your ability to locate, access and purchase essential health and safety resources. HSO comprises four partner organizations, including WSPS, that serve Ontario’s 236,000 Ontario businesses.

A new voluntary national standard provides workplaces with the tools needed to continuously and measurably improve workers’ psychological health and safety. “It will help workplaces prevent mental harm by enabling them to identify and address root causes,” says Andrew Harkness, a healthy workplace specialist with WSPS. “It’s a strategic approach, with all the long-term benefits that come with strategic planning.”

In just one year, businesses participating in WSPS’s 2011 Safety Group collectively cut their injury frequency rate by 13.64%, and their injury severity rate by 19.82%. “These results demonstrate that participating businesses can make profound improvements to their safety performance,” says WSPS’s Safety Group program lead Lisa Graham.

As a result of their improved performance, WSPS businesses that successfully completed the 2011 program will share in a $7.3 million rebate of their 2011 WSIB premiums.

Changes to the current certification program have been discussed and reviewed for over three years. Results of these long anticipated changes are expected to be announced very soon. They are expected to help workplaces improve their injury prevention efforts by strengthening committee effectiveness and engagement.

An online survey of 4,000 full-time U.S. workers reports an increase in bullying compared to a similar survey conducted last year.

"To be honest," says Krista Schmid, an early member of WSPS's Safety Group, "I joined the group for the potential rebate. But you're not going to quote me on this, are you?" Schmid is concerned on two counts. First, she realized soon after joining that injury prevention was a much greater benefit. Second, Schmid is now a WSPS consultant who facilitates a Safety Group chapter, and whose top priority is prevention.

Two recent research reports add to a growing body of research showing that how we organize work can affect worker health. “For workplaces already investing in employee health,” says Andrew Harkness, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)’s healthy workplace specialist, “these reports provide reassurance that you’re on the right track. But for workplaces unaware of the relationship between work organization and worker health, take note that doing nothing could adversely affect your business.”

On its first Workwell audit, Miller Technology scored 17%. “It was quite an eye-opener,” says Chad Miller, vice president of operations. On its second audit, the firm scored 96.3%. How did Miller Technology close such a gap? First: the firm realized that success was less about the score and more about developing a sustainable, top-down and bottom-up health and safety program that protects its people. Second, the firm recognized it couldn’t do it alone.

This is just one of many questions Workplace Safety & Prevention Services consultants are fielding as registration for the 2013 Safety Group begins. WSPS consultant and Safety Group chapter lead Janet Bewers has her own take on the question, but first, more on the program itself. WSPS’s Safety Group helps active members improve their safety performance, lower costs, and earn Workplace Safety and Insurance Board rebates through networking meetings and one-on-one access to consultants.

Throughout October and November, Ministry of Labour inspectors will be checking workplaces in the manufacturing and service sectors for priority hazards such as inadequate machine guarding practices and lockout procedures, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), compliance with Bill 168, which introduced new requirements for preventing workplace violence and harassment, and more.  Instead of conducting individual inspection blitzes on each of these issues, inspectors will widen the scope of each visit to take these and other hazards into account.

Beth Harrington, occupational health and safety coordinator for Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. in Belleville, is about to sign up for WSPS’s 2013 Safety Group. This will be her fourth year. For Harrington, the link between WSPS’s Safety Group and stronger corporate safety performance is clear: “I’m more knowledgeable and more skilled as a result of being a Safety Group member, and I bring that back to the workplace.”

While accommodating our aging workforce may be a rising priority for the health and safety community, Ian Howcroft, vice president of CME Ontario, says it’s not just about health and safety. “We have to address the productivity gap that we’re facing globally,” says Howcroft. “One way is to ensure employers have the skilled workers they need, and continue investing in their workers so that they’re working to full effectiveness and efficiency." Find out how.

Just-released 2012/13 sector-specific enforcement plans from the Ministry of Labour provide insights into what it believes are the high-priority hazards for your industry and sub-sector. These plans can help you strengthen and focus your business’s prevention activities.

When it comes to safeguarding workers from heat stress, employers are responsible for developing, implementing and enforcing policies and procedures. However, workers also have an opportunity and responsibility to protect themselves. Many of these opportunities complement what employers can do.

While U.S. workplace fatalities have fallen 27% since 1992, workplace homicides among women increased 13% in 2010 alone, say researchers from NIOSH and West Virginia University. "Personal relations" came in a close second to "criminal intent" as the most prevalent type of homicide. This research reinforces the critical role of workplaces in protecting women from violence, including domestic violence at work. Learn more about the study results, challenges facing employers, and available solutions.

Researchers have studied 10 Ontario business operations in the first of a two-part examination of business perspectives on health and safety. One perspective contends that organizational excellence is premised partially on leveraging your human capital. So, if you don't take care of your human capital, you can't create a distinct competitive advantage. Another perspective contends that, to produce more, you have to run the system faster and take shortcuts. Find out what the researchers learned.

A corporate guilty plea to criminal negligence following a fatal workplace incident marks the first such plea in Ontario, and sends a signal to workplaces that criminal prosecution is a reality in Ontario and poses serious consequences. In this case, the Crown prosecutor had asked for a $1 million penalty. There is no limit under the Criminal Code on the amount of a fine that may be imposed upon a corporation.

An independent funding review of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) makes a series of recommendations on the board’s unfunded liability, as well as employer incentives, the existing rate group structure, and other compensation-related concerns. The recommendations draw on extensive public consultations and, if accepted, could dramatically change the way your premiums are calculated.

You've already conducted at least one assessment, right? "It's the foundation piece of a health and safety program," says Jan Hill, a consultant with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS). "You can't assess and control something if you don't know it exists." Make your assessment a living document that will help protect your workers and your operations on an ongoing basis.

A new three-year strategic plan, approved last month by the Workplace Safety & Prevention Services' (WSPS) Board of Directors, sets out a roadmap for reaching 154,000 businesses, as part of the organization's overarching mission to put health and safety solutions within reach of every employer and employee in Ontario.

In a 30-minute webinar broadcast by Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) last month, Ministry of Labour Provincial Specialist Roy Ford told participants that inspectors are taking a "zero tolerance" approach to certain contraventions. WSPS consultant Lois Weeks spoke on training challenges and opportunities.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has released a "Health & Safety at Work: Prevention Starts Here" poster that must be displayed in all workplaces effective immediately.

Throughout the months of May - August 2012, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) will be conducting an enforcement blitz on new and young workers. 

Keeping new and young workers safe continues to be a priority for Ontario's Ministry of Labour. The fifth in a series of young and new worker inspection blitzes began May 1, and continues until August 31. Last year, almost 3,000 workplaces received visits from inspectors, who issued almost 10,000 orders. Anticipate as many or more this year.

If you regularly work more than 11 hours a day, you could be twice as likely to experience a major depression compared to a colleague who works seven to eight hours a day. So says a study that examined the careers of 2,000 middle-aged British civil servants.

Ontario's Ministry of Labour will be conducting inspection blitzes on 13 different hazards, according to a newly published schedule for the 2012/13 fiscal year. Five of these blitzes affect member firms of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services.

A pictogram project led by Workplace Safety & Prevention Services promises to provide new training resources - at no cost to workplaces - that can help them address key health and safety issues while bridging literacy and educational differences among workers. Pictograms are visual representations of an action, thing, or idea, and deliver a message to viewers.

This publication serves as a reference for aboricultural safety requirements and includes information on potential hazards, legislation, mandatory requirements and safe work practices.

An about-to-be-released series of small business guides developed by Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) and key industry partners promises to simplify the process of developing or enhancing a workplace health and safety system. “Allocating time and resources to any priority is an ongoing challenge for most small and medium-sized businesses,” says Linda Sukk, a senior industrial designer with WSPS. “With these guides, we’ve created a manageable step-by-step process businesses can take on without feeling overwhelmed.”

With Canada’s aging workforce and a now delayed retirement in all of our futures, says research scientist Monique Gignac, watch for greater effort to prevent work loss due to pre-existing health conditions. A list of steps that employers can take to help employees remain productive contributors to the workplace appears below. But first, learn more about the effect of conditions like arthritis on employees and the workplace.

Results of a November 2011 inspection blitz of hazards involving racking and storage systems suggest many employers are falling short on ensuring equipment, materials and protective devices are maintained in good condition. While on site, the inspectors focused on five priorities. How would your pallet and racking system measure up? See “How to improve racking safety in your workplace” for sample tips.

Any time now, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) will be mailing out letters to firms that will be subject to a 2012 Workwell audit. The letters go out to firms whose compensation experience indicates a greater risk of injury compared to other firms doing similar work.

Seasonal workers are often enthusiastic, energetic and eager to learn, bringing a fresh energy into the workplace. However, many are also inexperienced, which can put them and their co-workers at risk. Now’s the time to minimize or eliminate the risk through orientation training, and ongoing hazard and skills training, supervision and coaching.

Recently, a would-be thief assaulted the owner of a computer store in St. Catharines with bear repellant, a form of pepper spray. An accomplice also punched an employee in the head as the thieves were escaping with store merchandise. Police eventually arrested two people, but in the interim the store owner and two employees sustained minor injuries from the spray and required treatment for eye and skin irritations.

From May 1 to August 31, 2011, almost 3,000 workplaces in the industrial and health care sectors received visits from inspectors looking for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act involving young and new workers.

In late spring, the Canadian Standards Association expects to publish a guideline on nanotechnology, which involves developing and using materials the size of 1 to 100 nanometers. One nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

The recent renewal of a 14-year strategic alliance between Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS) and the Ontario Automobile Dealer Association (OADA) highlights opportunities for workplaces from many sectors to receive customized health and safety products and services.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are injuries and disorders of the musculoskeletal system and can affect the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, and/or spinal discs that may be caused or aggravated by various hazards in the workplace.

It’s no fun getting a ticket. Coming under scrutiny is no fun either, either from an inspector or, after the inspector’s gone, your employer. But scrutiny can be a good thing if it helps identify systemic problems that, left unchecked, could lead to injuries and other consequences.

A new CSA ergonomics standard scheduled for release in March will help workplaces reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries by providing information and tools on identifying ergonomic hazards, assessing risks, and implementing a prevention and control program.

A recent decision of the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal has significantly expanded the scope of entitlement for benefits arising from workplace events that cause traumatic mental stress.

A new study on women and shiftwork received a great deal of attention at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver this October.

Unpredictable winter weather conditions and fewer hours of light can place extra demands on your vehicle and your driving skills. Heed the following hazards and precautions.

Advance notice: CSA to launch hazard identification standard In early spring, CSA is expected to launch a new standard that will help users apply a systematic approach to identifying hazards, assessing the risk they pose, and eliminating or controlling them.

Employers may be tempted to postpone training when budgets are tight, but with today’s unlimited training options, try maximizing your return on investment instead. The ultimate return on that training investment is a safety-savvy workforce that applies what it learns, shares its knowledge and skills with others, and creates a safe, productive and profitable workplace. Here’s how to make every penny count.

Ontario agriculture, manufacturing and service operations looking for a proven, expert-led and peer-supported forum for boosting health and safety performance will have at least 40 opportunities in 2012. Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) is now accepting applications for an anticipated 40 2012 Safety Group chapters located throughout the province.

A bill working its way through California’s legislative process has brought public attention to a repetitive strain issue facing a key demographic in the hospitality industry: hotel and motel housekeepers. Although the issue may seem narrowly defined, the solution applies to all industry sectors.

Scanning and bagging groceries is such a commonplace activity that shoppers barely notice the process. But grocery retailers monitor it closely for its impact on customer service, employee well-being, and productivity. Recently, a new concern has arisen: potential health and safety implications of reusable bags.

Identifying critical factors behind breakthrough change in health and safety performance is the goal of an Institute for Work and Health (IWH) study now nearing completion. “If we can identify success factors that other firms may be able to adopt,” explains IWH associate scientist Dr. Lynda Robson, “it could lead to more effective prevention of work injuries and illnesses.”

High quality e-courses provide a convenient, low-cost option for employee awareness training – any time, anywhere there’s a computer. Given Workplace Safety & Prevention Services’ 50+ course list, your options are extensive.

Twenty Canadians are diagnosed with diabetes every hour. More than 1.5 Canadians have heart disease, and 75,000 Canadians will die from cancer. You and your co-workers can help reduce these statistics, and raise your own understanding of your personal health, by completing a confidential 30-minute survey. The results will improve Ontarians’ personal lifestyle choices, promote healthy workplace behaviour, influence future clinical care, and shape government health policy.

Lawn cutters, landscapers, arborists and others responsible for maintaining public and private grounds are three times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers, reports the US Centers for Disease Control.

“There’s a lot you can do to prevent injuries, but you don’t have to do it alone,” says Sandro Perruzza, chief of client services with Workplace Safety and Prevention Services.” Appearing below are suggested steps to help create a health and safety program in your workplace…

Most people know about poison ivy, but there is a new, much more poisonous plant invading Ontario’s outdoors and putting workers at risk. It’s called giant hogweed. Use this article as a safety talk to inform your workers about the hazards.

The biggest risk Ontarians face each day as they go to work is a collision on the road. Motor vehicle incidents continue to be the greatest single cause of, and account for more than 30% of, all Ontario worker fatalities. This number increases to 45% when we include powered industrial vehicles or mobile industrial equipment in the workplace.

In 2007, Jeremy Shorthouse joined Vincor Canada is its first national environmental health and safety manager. The business has 2,000 employees across the country. Since then, Vincor Canada has achieved the following: 20% fewer incidents, 60% fewer lost-time claims, 80% decrease in severity rates. Find out how.

The MSD Prevention Guideline for Ontario is now five years old. Ontario needs to evaluate its success and work out what to do next. On June 27, 2011, 100 people came together in Toronto to learn, discuss, and plan how to take Ontario's musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) strategy one step further. The focus of the discussion forum was on ways to reduce MSDs caused by manual materials handling.

Many recent immigrants end up in jobs for which they are over-qualified, putting them at risk of poorer mental health within a short period of time, according to a recent study from the Institute for Work & Health. The study explored just how common over-qualification is among new immigrants to Canada, and how it affects their general and mental health.

In February 2011, 1,089 workplaces received 1,285 blitz-related visits by Ministry of Labour inspectors. The inspectors issued 3,233 orders, including 84 stop work orders. Inspectors found that workers are exposed to similar hazards in workplaces across all industrial sectors, regardless of the size of the workplace or nature of business.

This Ministry of Transportation site offers general information and clarification on laws applying to farm equipment and select provisions applying to farm trucks.

The first month in a new job can be a risky one, as these workers are five to seven times more likely to be injured than experienced workers. A common misconception about the higher rate of injuries among new workers is that age is a factor. However, it has nothing to do with age. As university, high school and migrant workers flood into Ontario workplaces, take advantage of this timely opportunity to keep them safe.

Over the next year, the province will be implementing changes to Ontario’s occupational health and safety system based on recommendations from the Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health and Safety. The panel made 46 recommendations, which the minister of labour accepted. To implement the recommendations, certain laws had to be amended. The government moved quickly to draft Bill 160, which was introduced to provincial parliament in March. The bill received Royal Assent on June 1.

A skier suffers a broken arm while skiing. A student is knocked unconscious during a physical education class. A patient dies in hospital. Aside from being unfortunate events, incidents such as these are generally not seen as attracting an obligation to report the matter to health and safety authorities. This is no longer the case as a result of a recent OHS decision. Circumstances leading to the decision, its potential ramifications, and practical steps that organizations may take to manage their obligations in such cases are discussed below.

Workplace Safety North passed another milestone in April, holding its first annual general meeting in conjunction with the Mining Health and Safety Conference in Sudbury April 20

This month, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour launched a 4-month blitz targeting industrial, retail and health care workplaces. This is the fourth blitz in as many years. Last year, the ministry inspected 3,097 workplaces and issued 3,555 orders, including 255 stop-work orders.

If you’re an owner or senior manager of a small business registered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) for 12 months or less, you can earn your business a 10% premium rebate by successfully completing the WSIB’s two-part Safe Communities Incentive Program (SCIP). Been in business for longer than 12 months? Earn a 5% rebate by participating in the program’s second part.

Motor vehicle collisions account for more than 45% of all Ontario worker fatalities when vehicles used to lift and move material are included. How to reduce the carnage? “If you want to have a positive effect on group behaviour,” says Dr. Jeff Linkenbach, director of the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, “we’re going to need positive approaches.”

Legislative amendments introduced by Labour Minister Charles Sousa earlier this month bring Ontario one step closer to what he describes as “the first major review and the largest overhaul of Ontario’s occupational health and safety system in 30 years.” The changes offer workplaces several benefits, including better access to health and safety resources.

Find actionable information, resources, solutions, subject experts, and service providers for virtually any health and safety issue you’re facing at Health & Safety Ontario’s Partners in Prevention 2011 Health & Safety Conference & Trade Show, taking place May 17-18 in Mississauga. The conference component offers 60+ interactive sessions, workshops and professional development courses. The trade show, 400+ exhibitors, an onsite bookstore, and feature areas.

Asbestos was a popular material used widely in construction and many other industries. If asbestos fibres are enclosed or tightly bound in a product, for example in asbestos siding or asbestos floor tiles, there are no significant health risks. Asbestos poses health risks only when fibres are present in the air that people breathe.