Small Business and Health & Safety Legislation
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) does not differentiate between small businesses and larger ones. If you are an organization with fewer than 20 employees, whether you have Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage or private insurance, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations apply to you.
Some small business owers incorrectly believe health and safety legislation does not apply to them. For example, owners that opt out of WSIB coverage make an assumption that they can also opt out of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Other owners may have read in the Act that a workplace with five or fewer regular employees does not need to prepare a written health and safety policy. However, the Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) states "the Act indicates that if there's a critical injury or fatality, or even a visit from a Ministry of Labour (MOL) inspector, the business owner would still be required to demonstrate and document that people are working safely, and that a disciplinary process is ready to implement."
If you own a small business and are uncertain what you can do, The Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) website offers advice to Small Business. The website also links to a Small Business Resource Book, to help small businesses understand and satisfy their legislated responsibilities, while creating a safe environment for their employees.
On the PSHSA Small Businesses page, there is a link to Get Help. In addition, the Public Services Health and Safety Association provides links to Training (e.g. web tutorials), Products (e.g. free downloads, resource guides, etc.), Consulting and much more.
The Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act is available online at the Ontario government's eLaws page.
For additional information about the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, consult the followng titles at the Toronto Public Library:
4 thoughts on “Small Business and Health & Safety Legislation”
Christina, this is a timely reminder. Well done on including links to consulting and training. It can be difficult to determine how to respond to these requirements without some level of guidance.
Thank you for your feedback. Glad to hear that the blog was helpful.
Very useful and practical blog. Good to know about the law and that there is one! I look forward to more of your blogs…
Hi Susan. Thank you for the positive feedback.