Ontario Worker Health and Safety Awareness Guide 2026

What the law requires

Under O. Reg. 297/13, every Ontario employer must make sure each worker completes a basic occupational health and safety awareness program as soon as practicable. The ministry recommends training new workers in their first few days, before they face hazards. New and young workers are about three times more likely to be hurt in their first month than at any other time.

What the program must cover (s. 1(3))

• Worker duties and rights under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).
• Employer and supervisor duties.
• The roles of health and safety representatives and joint health and safety committees.
• The roles of the ministry, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and health and safety organizations.
• Common workplace hazards.
• WHMIS information and instruction.
• Occupational illness, including latency: the time between exposure and illness, which can be years.

The 4 Steps program

The ministry's Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps meets the requirement. Employers may use another program if it covers the same content. It comes in two formats:

Awareness training is a starting point. Your employer must still give you an orientation to your workplace and training on specific hazards, such as WHMIS.

Supervisors, records and earlier training

• Supervisors must complete supervisor awareness training within one week of starting as a supervisor. They generally need the worker content too.
• The employer keeps training records. The ministry does not keep them.
• A former worker who asks within six months of leaving must be given written proof.
• Earlier training counts if you give proof and the employer checks it covered the required content.

Step 1: Get on board

Ontario uses the internal responsibility system. Everyone in the workplace shares responsibility for health and safety, and each person's duties match their authority. The employer has the most authority, so it has the greatest responsibility.

A supervisor is anyone who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker, even a lead hand without the title. A competent person has the knowledge, training and experience to organize the work, knows the law and knows the dangers.

Your duties as a worker

• Wear and use the protective equipment your employer requires.
• Report hazards, broken equipment, injuries and close calls right away.
• Never remove a protective device unless an adequate temporary device is in place. Put it back as soon as you can.
• Do not use equipment in a way that could hurt you or others.
• Take part in training and use what you learn.

An employer with more than 5 regular workers must have a written health and safety policy, review it at least once a year and run a program to carry it out.

The ministry's role

The ministry sets, explains and enforces the rules from outside the workplace. Its inspectors can enter a workplace without warning, question people, issue written orders and lay charges. A copy of each order must be posted where workers can see it and given to the committee or representative.

Step 2: Get in the know

You have the right to know about the hazards in your work and how to work safely. If you are given a task you do not know well, your employer and supervisor must make sure you can do it safely. Always ask questions, even if you feel shy.

Good questions for your first day

• What are the hazards in this job?
• Do I need special training or protective equipment?
• Who do I ask about safety?
• How do I report an injury, and what do I do in an emergency?

WHMIS

The WHMIS rules require every worker who works with hazardous materials to get information and instruction on using, storing and disposing of them safely. Look for the information on labels and safety data sheets.

What must be posted

• The Act and the Health and Safety at Work: Prevention Starts Here poster.
• Names of the health and safety representative or committee members.
• The health and safety policy and the violence and harassment policies.
• First aid station location and first aid providers.

Hazards and controls

A hazard is anything at work that could hurt you or others. Some are easy to see, others are not.

The hierarchy of control

1. Elimination: remove the hazard, such as replacing a toxic chemical with a non-toxic one.
2. Engineering controls: physical changes, such as better ventilation or barriers around equipment.
3. Administrative controls: change how work is arranged to cut how long or how often you are exposed.
4. Protective equipment: hard hats, safety glasses, steel-toed boots, used when the hazard still exists.

Step 3: Get involved

You have the right to participate in health and safety. You can ask questions, point out hazards, join the committee or become a representative.

• At least half the committee members are non-managerial workers chosen by workers or the union.
• A worker member or the representative inspects the workplace monthly, or part of it monthly and all of it yearly.
• The employer must answer written recommendations within 21 days.

Getting involved can be simple: talk with co-workers about safe ways to work, tell new workers about hazards you know, and find out who your representative or committee members are. Their names must be posted.

Step 4: Refusing unsafe work

Under s. 43 of the Act, you may refuse work if you have reason to believe it is likely to endanger you or another worker. This includes unsafe equipment, unsafe conditions and workplace violence.

1. Tell your supervisor or employer right away that you are refusing, and explain why.
2. The supervisor or employer investigates with you and a worker representative (committee member, health and safety representative or a chosen worker).
3. Stay in a safe place near your workstation, unless you are given other reasonable work.
4. Most problems are fixed at this stage.
5. If you still believe the work is unsafe, you may keep refusing. A ministry inspector is called.
6. The inspector investigates and gives a written decision.

If the employer asks another worker to do the refused work, that worker must be told about the refusal and why, in front of a worker representative. Some workers, such as police officers and firefighters, cannot refuse when the danger is a normal part of the job.

Reprisals and where to get help

Your employer or supervisor must not punish, fire or threaten you for following the Act or asking the employer to follow it. This is called a reprisal.

• Union members can speak to a union official.
• Anyone can file a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
• The Office of the Worker Adviser gives free help to non-union workers.

Who can help

If someone has a death or critical injury at work, the employer must notify an inspector, the committee or representative, and the union immediately, then send a written report within 48 hours. In an emergency, call 911 first.

Workplace violence and harassment

• Workplace violence is physical force against a worker that causes or could cause injury, an attempt to use such force, or a statement or behaviour a worker could reasonably see as a threat of force.
• Workplace harassment is vexatious comment or conduct against a worker that is known, or should be known, to be unwelcome. It includes workplace sexual harassment.
• Reasonable action by a supervisor to manage and direct work is not harassment.

Employers must have violence and harassment policies, review them at least once a year, and have programs to put them into practice. If the employer knows domestic violence is likely to put a worker at risk of physical injury at work, it must take every reasonable precaution. You can refuse work if you face danger from workplace violence.