Our Record

First established in 1979 with seed money from the Ontario Lottery Corporation, the Workers Health & Safety Centre has grown into Ontario's premier health and safety training and information service provider.

Our early years were spent establishing a solid reputation for program development and delivery. Important recognition soon followed in 1985 as the former Workers Compensation Board (now the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) provided sustained funding for the Workers Health & Safety Centre.

With additional resources the Workers Health & Safety Centre immediately began to address the training and information needs of workers and other workplace parties across all sectors of the economy. For instance, in 1986 we were contracted by Ontario's Ministry of Labour to develop designated substance training for Provincial health and safety inspectors. We also trained a select group of these inspectors to deliver this training to their peers.

Next in 1987, the Workers Health & Safety Centre identified the distinct training requirement outlined in the new Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) Regulation. We responded by developing WHMIS training materials offering it English, French, Cantonese, Italian, Portuguese and Punjabi. WHMIS training continues to be delivered by Workers Health & Safety Centre-qualified instructors to thousands of workplace parties each year.

In the early 1990s with the dramatic growth in soft-tissue injuries, the Workers Health & Safety Centre spearheaded the development of the comprehensive Musculoskeletal Injuries Prevention Program (MIPP). With MSIs affecting more workers than any other single classification of injury, the Workers Health & Safety Centre continues to educate workplace parties about these injuries, but more importantly we help provide them the means to implement all important prevention interventions at the workplace level.

Throughout the 1990s a training challenge was presented for all workplace parties as the Ontario government responded to worker concerns and mandated Certification Training for certain joint health and safety committee members. Once again, the Workers Health & Safety Centre responded as the government established bipartite training development teams. The Workers Health & Safety Centre provided much of the curriculum and half of the writing team responsible for the development of this comprehensive training initiative. Again attesting to our effectiveness as a training delivery organization, the Workers Health & Safety Centre delivered more than half of all certification training in Ontario.

Through an extensive consultation system, the Workers Health & Safety Centre keeps abreast of and reacts to the changing training and information needs of working people and our other clients. Reacting to these needs we continue to produce new, leading edge training programs. We also update existing programs and other information services such as hazard bulletins keeping them current and relevant.

The Workers Health & Safety Centre is well positioned to help & meet your occupational health and safety training and information service needs. For more information contact a training service representative at an office near you or call 1-888-869-7950.