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Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Employers have many obligations under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (the “OHSA” or the “Act”). There is one essential component of the Act that creates confusion among small business owners. It is the requirement that a health and safety representative must be appointed in workplaces where the number of workers “regularly exceeds” 5 but is less than 20. In particular, small business owners struggle with understanding whether their business needs to comply with this requirement. However, before sorting through this in detail, it is necessary to explain what a health and safety representative is, and their role within a business.
Under the OHSA, workers select the health and safety representative. A health and safety representative has specific ongoing duties under the act, including:
Put simply, a health and safety representative advocates for the health and safety interests of workers within a workplace.
Recall that in Ontario, businesses must appoint a health and safety representative any workplace where the number of workers “regularly exceeds” 5 but is less than 20. Therefore, according to the Act, a health and safety representative is not mandatory for a business that regularly employs less than 5 workers. A workplace that has 20 or more employees must have a joint health and safety committee in place, as opposed to a health and safety representative. However, the OSHA does not clearly define the term “regularly exceeds”. This leads to the following questions:
When a client encounters the hurdles discussed above, I recommend that they act cautiously. This is because health and safety laws are remedial in nature, and therefore the courts interpret them very broadly. Small businesses with less than 20 employees should, as a best practice, install a health and safety representative. It will encourage safe work habits and enhance a business’s performance. Although a health and safety representative is not mandatory in a workplace with under 5 workers, section 8(2) of the OHSA states an inspector can order a business to appoint one if they determine it’s necessary.
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