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UPFRONT
NEW HEALTH AND SAFETY
AWARENESS TRAINING
EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2014
Are rumours about the Ontario Ministry
of Labour (the Ministry)’s proposed man-datory
health and safety awareness training
distracting you from what you stand to
gain?
The misinformation circulating about
the ministry’s proposed awareness training
has to do with compliance requirements
and deadlines. Based on the Ministry’s an-nouncement
in mid-November 2013, here
are five facts you can count on:
1. When it comes into effect: The regula-tion
on mandatory awareness training for
all Ontario workers and supervisors – the
first of its kind in North America, and de-veloped
in consultation with employers –
will come into effect on July 1, 2014.
2. The date you’re expected to be in
compliance: By July 1, 2014, employ-ers
must ensure that all workers and
supervisors have completed a basic
occupational health and safety aware-ness
training program that meets the
requirements set out in the new regula-tion.
For employers who already meet
the minimum proposed regulatory re-quirements
prior to the effective date,
the mandatory awareness training will
pose no additional burden.
3. What training has been approved:
Employers can develop their own or use
existing training, so long as it meets re-quirements
outlined in the regulation, or
they can use a suite of tools provided at
no cost by the Ministry. The awareness
training will help employers meet exist-ing
obligations, not impose new ones.
4. What the training covers: The aware-ness
training program addresses the
most important recommendations
made by the Expert Advisory Panel on
occupational health and safety, and pro-vides
basic information to workers and
supervisors.
5. Recordkeeping: Under the regulation,
you will be required to maintain records
of workers and supervisors who have
completed the training, and to verify
that for new employees, training has oc-curred
and meets requirements.
HOW YOU BENEFIT FROM
THIS TRAINING
Basic awareness training encourages work-ers
and supervisors to participate more in
protecting themselves, each other and the
business. When combined with higher levels
of training, it helps reinforce your organiza-tion’s
health and safety culture, and reduces
the emotional and financial toll of injuries. It
teaches people the fundamentals of identify-ing
and assessing hazards and establishing
controls – equipping them to compete in a
world where new hazards are constantly in-troduced
to workplaces, and helping them
stay safe at home.
For more information, search “Awareness
Training” at www.wsps.ca.
YOUNG WOMEN FACE
BARRIERS TO WORKPLACE
ADVANCEMENT
Canadian organizations are – unintention-ally
– underestimating young women as
being too young, or not ready, to assume
increasingly more challenging leader-ship
roles. Women are therefore lowering
their career expectations, at a cost to both
their own advancement and to the success
of their organizations, according to the
findings of a recent Conference Board of
Canada study.
“This ‘unconscious bias’ means young
women are consistently underestimated
and overlooked, right from the outset of
their careers,” said Ruth Wright, director,
Human Resource Management Research
at The Conference Board of Canada.
“Organizations need to implement ob-jective
and transparent talent management
practices that guard against unconscious
bias. Otherwise, the effects are both cumu-lative
and costly – for young women who
are denied access to critical developmental
opportunities, and for organizations that
fail to recognize and develop top talent.”
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2014 ❚ 9
