Sign up today for this deeply discounted WHSC training
in support of 2012 RSI Awareness Day

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), also known as repetitive strain injuries (RSIs), account for more than half of lost-time injuries in the health care sector.

Sign up today for this deeply discounted training offer

More Ontario workers will suffer a repetitive strain injury (RSI) in 2012 than any other type of work-related injury or disorder. In fact, they continue to account for more than 40 per cent of lost-time injuries (LTIs) allowed by Ontario’s Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB).

Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) provides monthly statistical updates for lost-time, no-loss-time and fatality compensation claims through its Monthly Monitor publication. The information provided in the table below is the most current available from the WSIB.

More than one in four Canadian workers say their daily lives are highly stressful, according to a recently published Statistics Canada study. More than 60 per cent of these stressed out workers reported work as the main source of stress.

BFI Canada Inc., a waste management company operating in various Ontario cities, was recently fined $150,000 for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act).

The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) recently upgraded their standard for the selection, use and care of respirators.  The new standard, CSA Z94.4, was issued in August, 2011.

Keeping abreast of Ontario’s changing health and safety legal requirements can be a big job. The Ministry of Labour will soon introduce more changes including additional mandatory training for workers, supervisors and health and safety representatives in small workplaces.

A recently published study is just the latest to link nanoparticles with serious, even deadly, health outcomes.

The Workers Health and Safety Centre (WHSC) is proud to announce the eight successful candidates awarded with 2011 WHSC Post Secondary Scholarships.

A new memorial park commemorating the lives of Sudbury-area workers killed on the job was recently unveiled in Val Caron just north of Sudbury.

Toronto-based Cimco Refrigeration was recently fined $95,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) that led to a worker sustaining serious injuries.

With a number of recent legislative changes, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) has updated their online guide to occupational health and safety law.

Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) provides monthly statistical updates for lost-time, no-loss-time and fatality compensation claims through its Monthly Monitor publication. The information provided in the table below is the most current available from the WSIB.

Are you aware there are hundreds of references in Ontario’s health and safety law pertaining to an employers’ duty to provide training, education and information?

After three decades the Workers Health and Safety Centre (WHSC) commitment to healthy and safe work is as solid as ever. Ensuring workers and workplace representatives have equal access to trusted, high quality health and safety training and information is our ultimate goal. Together with you, our workplace partners, we are working for and training for this.

Sitting on the job can kill you – literally. This is the decision handed down by a United States judge on June 27 this year.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour (MOL) is currently setting standards for more mandatory health and safety training. This, and their stated commitment to more proactive enforcement, means you may be visited by a MOL inspector sooner, rather than later. Is your workplace ready? Will you meet all existing training requirements? Or do you risk stop work orders, fines and more?

Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) provides monthly statistical updates for lost-time, no-loss-time and fatality compensation claims through its Monthly Monitor publication. The information provided in the table below is the most current available from the WSIB.

The owner of a Mississauga-based construction contractor business was fined $26,000 for multiple violations of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) and the Regulation for Construction Projects (Ont. Reg. 213/91).

Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) inspectors issued more than 155,000 written orders for non-compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (the Act) or regulations during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009. Over this same time period, almost 10,000 stop work orders were issued to employers for workplace hazards deemed imminent.

Warm temperatures and high humidity, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and working alone are just a few of many occupational hazards workers face during the summer months. For many seasonal summer hires, including students, newness to a job will also place them in harm’s way.

Nearly one year ago Bill 168, An Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace officially came into force. These amendments placed significant duties on employers relating to workplace violence and harassment.

Radiation emitted from cell phones may cause brain cancer, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

A supervisor for a Toronto-area contractor was fined $12,000 for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) resulting in a worker falling off a roof.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a global challenge calling for the primary prevention of environmental and occupational cancer.

According to editors of the globally recognized Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environmental Health (SJWEH), “shift work is definitely among one of the most serious occupational health problems of our time…we cannot continue to delay taking preventive and curative public health actions in anticipation of further data.”

Canadian students were challenged to take charge of electronic waste as part of an Earth Day message delivered by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in partnership with the Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) this year.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) has consolidated all legal requirements relating to work in confined spaces into a single regulation.

On April 28, in communities across Ontario, workers and their representatives, friends and families will gather to remember workers who have been killed, suffer disease or injury as a result of work.

Responding to the December 24, 2009 fall-related incident where four construction workers were killed and another seriously injured, a recent government-commissioned report has called for mandatory fall protection training.

A Bracebridge, Ontario supervisor has been convicted, fined and ordered to complete retraining for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act.

Real training for workers, supervisors and health and safety representatives would be a welcome outcome from the Dean Report, but more work needs to be done to ensure that’s what they get, says Dave Killham, Executive Director of the Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC).

Canadian researchers are creating a database profiling approximately 170 substances they’ve determined to be high, possibly high and moderate priority occupational carcinogens.

"The fact that we don’t know everything about cell phones doesn’t mean that everything is fine,” says Devra Davis in her new book Disconnect: The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It and How to Protect Your Family.

Canadians working rotating or night shifts are twice as likely to be injured as those working a regular daytime schedule, according to a recent Canadian study.

Essar Steel Algoma Inc. was fined $325,000 for separate incidents involving violations of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) and the Industrial Regulations. One of the incidents, which occurred on October 30, 2008, resulted in a worker death.

Handling sales receipts, lottery tickets and ATM slips may contribute to the accumulation of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in workers and the public, according to recent U.S. studies.

The Workers Health and Safety Centre is pleased to announce the successful candidates for the 2010 WHSC Post Secondary Student Scholarships.

A coalition of unions representing health care workers has published resource documents to help workers and other workplace parties gain adequate protection from the health risks presented by all medical sharps.

Two Jamaican migrant workers were recently killed in yet another confined space incident in Ontario’s farm industry.

Have you taken a close look at your workplace lately? Do you know where the hazards are? Identifying and investigating all potential hazards or dangerous situations that may occur in the workplace is critical to the prevention of work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths.

Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) provides monthly statistical updates for lost-time, no-loss-time and fatality compensation claims through its Monthly Monitor publication. The information provided in the table below is the most current available from the WSIB.

The provision of contact numbers by the Ministry of Labour (MOL) to report unsafe working conditions or other health and safety concerns is not new. Though a single, dedicated toll-free phone number to call from anywhere in the province is.

The Workers Health & Safety Centre’s (WHSC) commitment to worker well-being is stronger than ever.  Amid tough recessionary times and major changes within Ontario’s health and safety system, the WHSC’s focus is clear; our work never more centred on prevention.

A Beamsville, Ontario-based company was recently fined $40,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act resulting in a co-op student suffering hand injuries.

Adding to the growing list of workplace violence resources, the Workers Health & Safety Centre has recently released two fact sheets aimed at helping raise awareness of this significant health and safety issue. Both are part of a popular series of publications known as WHSC Resource Lines.

For many, the heat of summer is a welcome change from a long, cold winter. For workers and others, however extreme temperatures and humidity can lead to heat stress and related health problems.

Bill 168, An Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace officially came into force on June 15, 2010. Is your workplace in compliance?

"Out of tragic circumstances often come important social justice achievements." So opens the Workers Health & Safety Centre 2010 Environmental Scan.

Brewers Retail Inc. was fined $120,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act). The incident took place on August 28, 2008 and resulted in worker suffering a broken ankle.

A new musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) online awareness and prevention tool has recently been posted to the Ministry of Labour web site.

The United Steelworkers Union (USW) has launched a rare private criminal prosecution against forestry company Weyerhaeuser alleging they were criminally negligent in the 2004 death of a sawmill worker.

 The 50^th anniversary of the Hogg’s Hollow disaster was recently marked with the unveiling of a permanent home for a quilt commemorating the five workers killed in this workplace tragedy.

Lafarge Canada Inc. has been fined $350,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act). The incident took place on August 27, 2008 and resulted in a worker being killed.

Ontario recently introduced new occupational exposure limits (OELs) for polyvinyl chloride and butenes along with 34 updates to existing OELs.

As of January 1, 2010, many Ontario workplaces will be required to track, report and develop plans to reduce the toxic substances they use, create and release.

Ontario's labour movement won late stage amendments to a bill that if properly enforced will begin to protect workers against workplace violence and harassment.

More than 300 activists turned out to celebrate the 10^th Annual Cesar Chavez Black Eagle Awards Dinner held in Toronto earlier this month.

A new study published recently in the European Respiratory Journal claims to be the first to link exposure to nanoparticles with ill health in humans.

Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) inspectors will blitz workplaces this November to identify hazards responsible for slips, trips and falls.

A Goderich-based window and door manufacturer has been fined $65,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act). The incident took place in September, 2008 and resulted in a worker falling and suffering wrist and head injuries.

Government Bill 168 which recognizes workplace violence and harassment as hazards in need of a legally enforceable prevention standard passed second reading in Ontario's Legislature. The bill which amends Ontario's Occupational Health & Safety Act has been referred to the Legislature's Standing Committee on Social Policy for further debate.

Calling all activists! It's not too late to have your voices heard.

More than 330 substances are known or suspected to cause or exacerbate asthma, according to a recent report from the Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction Institute (TURI). The report highlighted the fact "Much of the evidence (for identifying these substances) comes from workers exposed in the workplace."

Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) inspectors will blitz workplaces this September focusing on chemical hazards and whether or not workers have received adequate training.

Brampton-based kitchen manufacturer has been fined $75,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) that resulted in a worker death. Two supervisors from a temporary help agency were also fined $10,000 for their involvement in the same incident in August, 2006.

Two hundred and sixty Windsor teenagers recently participated in a full day of health and safety training prior to starting their summer jobs - more than most Canadian workers receive over the course of their first year on the job.

Every summer employers hire thousands of new workers, particularly in seasonal industries. This influx of new staff, many of them young, can be challenging. Studies tell us new workers are much more likely to suffer a work-related injury during their first month on the job. This, combined with a lack of training and work experience, can dramatically increase the risk of injury.

The Ministry of Environment (MOE) is another step closer to creating a greener, healthier Ontario. In a special stakeholders information session held in Toronto on July 2, 2009 Ministry representatives revealed a timetable for the consultation and development of the new Toxics Reduction Regulations. Slated for completion in the fall of 2009, these regulations could have a positive impact on the lives of workers across the province.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety (CCOHS) has updated their CanOSH website helping to provide convenient access to health and safety legislation and other resources.

After the long, cold winter we all welcome the warm, sunny weather. For certain workers however hot, humid temperatures can increase the risk of heat-related health problems.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now declared the H1N1 virus (Swine flu) a global influenza pandemic. But are workplaces ready, in other words, do they have a proper pandemic plan in place? Many workers and their representatives are still asking this question.

The Workers Health & Safety Centre has unveiled a new training program to help workers and other workplace parties translate WHMIS theory into workplace practice.

Three in 10 Canadian workers are employed in psychologically unhealthy and unsafe workplaces, according to a recently published Ipsos Reid survey.

A Mississauga-based company has been fined $90,000 in a case where a worker was killed after being exposed to a previously identified hazard.

Educating and engaging students was once again a focus for the Workers Health & Safety Centre and members of their constituency throughout the month of April.

A Toronto, Ontario-based garbage hauling company was fined $85,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act (the Act) that resulted in the death of a worker.

A recently updated Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) hazard bulletin introduces workplace parties to ideas and resources they can use to develop ergonomic changes necessary for safer patient lifting.

A persistent lobbying campaign by labour and other occupational health and safety advocates has finally convinced the Ontario government to table legislation to protect most workers from violence and harassment.

Ontario is set to become the first jurisdiction in Canada to require certain employers to develop a plan to reduce the use and production of hazardous chemicals in the workplace.

Canada's first research centre dedicated solely to the identification and ultimately elimination of worker exposure to cancer-causing substances has opened in Toronto.

On April 1, 2009 the mandatory use of safety-engineered needles was extended to long-term home care facilities, designated psychiatric facilities, laboratories and specimen collection centres.

Thirty-seven Danish women will be compensated for breast cancer linked to their night shift work, according to the Danish National Board of Industrial Injuries.

The operators of the Tim Horton's chain -The TDL Group Corporation were fined $70,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Prevent Cancer Now (PCN) has unveiled a new web site with extensive resources aimed at achieving their original, but vital goal -the elimination of preventable causes of cancer.

Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) health and safety inspectors will blitz workplaces during the month of April to identify hazards which can contribute to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).

The Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, passed on June 18, 2008, will come into force on April 22, 2009 - Earth Day. This law amends the Pesticides Act allowing a ban on the sale and use of pesticides to maintain the appearance of lawns and gardens in Ontario.

Canada is set to publish a notice making us the first country in the world to require companies to report their use of nanomaterials. The requirement will include information on the quantity, usage and toxicity of nanomaterials as well as any procedures, policies and technological solutions currently in place to protect environmental and human health.

Building upon success, the Workers Health & Safety Centre is set to release its revised Basic Certification training program this March.

A Brantford, Ontario company has been fined $60,000 for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act (the Act) and the Regulations for Industrial Establishments. The violations resulted in a worker suffering serious leg injuries. Two supervisors were also fined $5000 each in this case.

A recently published report on women's reproductive health states we cannot assume there are "safe" levels of exposure to hormone disruptors.

"End the Harvest of Death" says the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and Lorna Chandler. Both are calling on the government of Alberta to implement recommendations handed down at the inquiry into the death of farm worker Kevan Chandler.

Multinational automotive and industrial parts manufacturer, Martinrea International Inc., was fined $250,000 by the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) for failing to inform and train one of its workers in the safe operation of a scissor lift.

In an interim report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found its voluntary reporting program on nanomaterials has failed to gather key environmental and health and safety data they need to properly assess the safety of nanotechnology.

Nine in 10 Ontarians feel it's "very important" to substitute toxic chemicals with less harmful chemicals whenever possible. So found a poll sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Society published in December, 2008.

Some compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) can emit ultraviolet radiation (UVR) above current recognized guideline levels, according to research carried out by Britain s Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Quebec researchers, like others here in Canada and abroad, are calling for strict prevention procedures as the only way to ensure the safe use of nanoparticles.