Bill 160 introduces sweeping prevention amendments in Ontario

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”.

As of March 3rd, 2011, Bill 160, Occupational Health and Safety Statute Law Amendment Act, 2011 has received Second Reading and has been referred to Standing Committee.

To read Bill 160 and find out its current status go to:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_current.do?locale=en#bill160. The bill empowers the Ministry of Labour to implement a number of the key recommendations of the 46 wide-reaching recommendations submitted by the Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health and Safety [http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/eap/report/index.php] in December 2010. Within days of receiving the recommendations, the province committed to implementing them.

Among the most significant recommendations, which appear as amendments in Bill 160, are the following:

• transfer responsibility for prevention from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to the Minister of Labour to coordinate, align and strengthen prevention and enforcement activities

• appoint a new chief prevention officer who will oversee the prevention activities of the health and safety system partners

• transfer oversight of the Health & Safety Associations to the chief prevention officer to further align and coordinate prevention efforts, and eliminate duplication of services - the chief prevention officer will work with the HSAs to develop programs to support workplace health and safety and enhance the quality of training

• establish a new prevention council that will advise the chief prevention officer and the minister with respect to setting strategic priorities and measuring system progress, and engage worker, employer and other stakeholders in prevention activities and priorities.

Based on the Minister’s comments when introducing Bill 160, Ontarians can expect fast action on these amendments. The Minister advised the legislature that “the major components of these proposed amendments would, if passed, come into effect on or before April 1, 2012.”

The Minister also committed to acting on a longer-term recommendation for more health and safety training, especially for workers in high-risk occupations, and to continuing the stakeholder consultation process begun by the expert advisory panel. In total the Panel received more than 100 formal written submissions along with 250 electronic responses to the consultation paper from various stakeholders, professional organizations and individuals. Consultation meetings were held in London, Windsor, Ottawa, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Toronto where over 80 verbal presentations were made. The Chair and/or the Policy Secretariat staff attended approximately 50 meetings with stakeholders.

Interim Prevention Council now in place

To help the province in the short term with its ambitious overhaul of Ontario’s prevention system, Minister of Labour Charles Sousa has appointed a multi-stakeholder interim prevention council. “The interim council has already hit the ground running,” says chair Paavo Kivisto.

“The council was put in place by the Minister for up to a year, or until a permanent council is set up. I think the Minister’s intent,” continues Kivisto “was to get a council in place so that the ministry can work with it as it moves forward with implementing the expert advisory panel’s priority recommendations.”

The interim council’s role will be much the same as the permanent council’s. “For instance,” says Kivisto, “we would expect the ministry to table what it proposes to do in front of the council, and the council will provide its input.”

“I anticipate quite a number of proposals from the ministry,” says Kivisto. “All of the advisory panel’s top priorities are important changes.

Included on the interim council are

• Joan Eakin, Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

• Vernon Edwards, Health and Safety Director, Ontario Federation of Labour

• John Macnamara, Vice President, Health, Safety and Environment, Hydro One

• Domenic Mattina, Vice President, Sales and Estimating at Mattina Mechanical Ltd.

• Carmine Tiano, Director of the WSIB Advocacy and Occupational Services, Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario

Interim Chair Paavo Kivisto is a former Deputy Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of the Environment.

The Health and Safety Review Project Secretariat has been created and will work closely with the Interim Prevention Council and the health and safety system partners to implement the Panel’s priority recommendations.

The Ministry’s John VanderDoelen will make a presentation on “The New Shape of Health and Safety” at the Mining Health and Safety Conference on April 20. For more information, visit http://www.workplacesafetynorth.ca/conference2011/ for continued coverage on prevention system changes in upcoming issues of Health & Safety Ontario Network News.

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