Condo’s Obligations Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act

As of July 1st, 2014, all condominium corporations in Ontario who employ “workers” (superintendants, cleaners or other clerical staff…) will have to ensure that their workers complete a basic occupational health and safety awareness training program that meets the requirements of Regulation 297/13, adopted under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

This regulation requires two different levels of training depending on whether the condominium corporation employs “workers” or “supervisors”.

For those employing “workers”, the basic occupational health and safety awareness training program shall include instructions on:

1. The duties and rights of workers under the Act.
2. The duties of employers and supervisors under the Act.
3. The roles of health and safety representatives and joint health and safety committees under the Act.
4. The roles of the Ministry, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and entities with respect to occupational health and safety.
5. Common workplace hazards.
6. The requirements set out in Regulation 860 (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)) with respect to information and instruction on controlled products.
7. Occupational illness, including latency.

The government of Ontario has put together an online training program for “workers” and one for “supervisors” (which differs from the one applicable to workers).  Upon completion of these online training programs, you should receive a “Proof of completion certificate”. Corporations should save and/or print these certificates and keep them in their records in case they are required by the Ministry of Labour. The corporation must also print them and provide them to their workers upon request.

The training requirement under this regulation is not limited to condominium corporations who have employees. It also imposes these obligations on condominium corporations who contract out some of their work (to Property Managers, construction workers, window cleaners, etc) since the definition of “employer” also include corporations who contract the services of one or more workers. For those corporations without employees but who contract some of their services out, you should ensure your contractor (including your property manager) meets the requirements under the OHSA.

(This article was first published by the author on July 1, 2014)