About Us

The Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA) is your new partner in preventing workplace injury and illness.

The Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA) was formed in January 2010 by amalgamating the Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO), the Electrical & Utilities Safety Association (E&USA), and Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario (THSAO). The amalgamation will lead to more efficient administration and more staff on the front lines. Savings from integrating back-office departments will go towards increasing the number of field consultants available to help firms prevent injury and illness.

We remain committed to providing you with world-class service and the information you need to prevent occupational injury and illness.

The background

This amalgamation is the result of a 2008 review by the Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario, which gathers representatives from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the Ministry of Labour, and Ontario’s 12 industry-related health and safety associations. The purpose of the review was to explore how the health and safety associations could be reorganized so that they could be as effective as possible in pursuing the objectives of the Road to Zero, the WSIB’s injury reduction plan.

The review concluded that the health and safety system has achieved major successes over the years, but now faces many challenges that cannot be met as it is organized today. The report recommended a more integrated system, more robust front-line services for Ontario’s industries, and more efficient back-office support functions. Merging back-office functions would reduce duplication and capitalize on economies of scale, freeing up resources for hiring more field consultants.

A new association

In the coming months, one amalgamated health and safety association will be launched to serve the following industries:

• construction
• electrical
• utilities
• aggregates
• natural gas
• ready-mix concrete
• transportation.

A transition board of directors has been working collaboratively on the administrative and operational details of the new association. A recent advance was the hiring of Michael Delisle—an executive with extensive experience—as the association’s CEO.

While this will be a time of transition, we are committed to keeping you informed about the changes. We remain committed to our core principles. Our job will still be to work with the industries under our jurisdiction to prevent occupational injury, illness, and death. Our field consultants will continue to be industry-specific specialists.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with you and to providing the highest quality products and services to help you prevent occupational injury and illness.

IHSA membership

You are automatically a member of IHSA if you are employed with a firm that pays premiums to the WSIB in Ontario in one of the following rate groups:

• 134 – Aggregates
• 497 – Ready-Mix Concrete
• 551 – Air Transport Industries
• 553 – Air Transport Services
• 560 – Warehousing
• 570 – General Trucking
• 577 – Courier
• 580 – Miscellaneous Transportation
• 584 – School Buses
• 681 – Lumber/Builders Supply
• 689 – Waste Materials Recycling
• 704 – Electrical and Incidental Construction
• 707 – Mechanical and Sheet Metal
• 711 – Road Building and Excavation
• 719 – Inside Finishing
• 723 – ICI Construction
• 728 – Roofing
• 732 – Heavy Civil Construction
• 737 – Millwrighting and Welding
• 741 – Masonry
• 748 – Formwork and Demolition
• 751 – Siding and Outside Finishing
• 764 – Homebuilding
• 830 – Power and Telecommunication Lines
• 833 – Electric Power Generation
• 835 – Oil, Power and Water Distribution
• 838 – Natural Gas Distribution

Special prices for products and training courses are available to members of the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA). You can order products or register for training by visiting one one the websites listed on the Contact page.